ezefllying

I would strongly encourage DFW. I recently returned to the East Coast from Europe after a slightly (not very) stressful day of travel, involving connecting on separate tickets. Even though I was in J on the long leg, I'm now discovering I can't fly like I did in my 20s (three hours' sleep before flight day, quick international trips, multiple train-to-plane connections), at least without the predictable stress-induced cold sore a week later.

If you're going to Hawaii, you're going to relax. A sub-two-hour layover in Seattle featuring a trip through U.S. Customs ("Please stay standing in the non-citizens' line until you're good and ready to apologize for burdening America with your tourist dollars") and potentially frenetic effort to re-check with AS, followed by five hours in domestic J (we call it F, but it isn't) will not be relaxing. You will arrive in Maui exhausted, too late for a proper dinner, and groggily waiting in line a rental car, all without the benefit of sunlight to help with the jet lag. Arriving the next day will be vastly better. Get a car, get a drink, jump in the surf, and try to let it be known to your friends and colleagues where you are.

You may also be shocked to learn that Dallas actually has a lot to offer for a night. First, there are some excellent restaurants, but if you want local flavor, you can head into the city, or stay in the suburbs, and get very good barbecue. And, given that you'd be arriving at DFW before 3 PM and not departing until a reasonable hour the next morning, you probably needn't stay at a hotel right by the airport (several of which are indefensibly expensive). You might even stay in the city, which is a minor schlep from the airport but closer to restaurants.

pinkcat

We're doing LHR-JFK-SFO-HNL in March so hopefully they will have it organised by then. Antigen test is Lateral flow which you can get at T5 or drive through at T3 which will "last" long enough for the overnight in SFO and on to HNL and then an inter island to ITO

Alan T

Thanks for the advice on the SEA connection, I note it’s actually 1hr 30 mins! Interested as to why not to place the bags on the connections belt after customs, never had an issue with tight connections both at SEA and other US airports doing that in the past?

However, I think we are stuck with the routing unless there is a cancellation, as DFW was not offered as an option, it’s a BAH booking, and still isn’t if I re-run the booking (not to mention a significant price increase on all options).

Hopefully, the OP can take advantage given their circumstances?

SavvyTravel

We certainly hope so. Have tried to call once to rebook; will try again over the next few days. And will report back. Fingers crossed.

TTmex

If you can get to a Hard 8 BBQ in Dallas, the brisket is an absolute winner.

scillyisles

Never tried the DFW routing option - the flight options on BA from LHR are somewhat restricting/less flexible and the return via DFW typically involves an overnight flight from OGG to DFW and then another overnight from DFW to LHR - the routing I normally take to OGG/KOA/LIH/HNL is via LAX. You can do it all with just a transfer/connection in LAX but by the time you get to OGG you will be exhausted. I tend to stay overnight at one of the LAX airport hotels (Hyatt) and then get an onward flight to OGG the following morning to arrive in the afternoon. I am doing this route in early December with a stopover in LAX before the late afternoon flight to OGG.

There seems to be some confusion in some posters minds about whether you need a test or not for Hawaii. Fully vaccinated passengers flying into Hawaii who fly in from the US after entering the US under the current regulations are treated the same as US domestic passengers so they do not need a test provided they are fully vaccinated. They do however need to follow the SAFE Travels Program rules.
This thread https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/hawa...ov-2021-a.html explains the details.

h0und10

Seems like a wasted day of vacation unless you have family or something meaningful to do by LAX, but then again checking into a hotel at 10 pm in Hawaii is pretty much a wasted day too, I would prefer to get to the island, sleep in and be fresh the next day.

SavvyTravel

That was our thinking too - hence the original routing via SEA that was one long day exUK and arrived OGG at 8pm.

But that option no longer exists ... but for us a more leisurely one overnight stop via DFW (which would also allow for additional testing if needed, which doesn't seem the case right now) is a reasonable compromise.

ezefllying

That's what I was thinking of! Ten minutes north of DFW. Plus, if you're not from the South, it has a strong novelty value.

ericcheung

A dfw overnight makes a lot of sense.

Also consider connecting via Phoenix, PHX. The 787 operates on a number of days in February. It's not a flagship service, so not as premium as the DFW routing, but it does leave later in the day which is nice.

One other idea that might be of interest is a Las-Dfw routing. The Las flight leaves Heathrow later. I would eat and then sleep on this flight. This option leaves 6 hours in Vegas for food, entertainment, gambling. Then there is a redeye option to DFW that connects with the usual Dallas option. If you are on UK time, the 1am Las departure would feel like a morning departure. This helps with jetlag as you'll want to nap on the dfw-OGG leg.

SWISSBOBBY

Last time I did a trip to HI I took the flights in the evening each time, arrived at next stop, slept and had the morning to do something, before next leg.

No Jetlag no fatigue.

Routing GVA - LHR - LAX - KOA

Also allows plenty of time for the test you still need if traveling from the USA to HI under the HI Safe Travel Programme

scillyisles

You don't need to test if you are flying from the US to HI if you are double vaccinated with a US or WHO approved vaccine. EU/UK passengers who are only allowed into the US with approved double vaccination and a negative test before their flight to the US. Once they have entered the US under these rules at say LAX or DFW or any other mainland US gateway then they are treated in the same way as US domestic double vaccinated passengers who do not need a test under the Hawaii Safe Travels program. I posted the link to the thread explaining this in a previous post.

Alan T

Ha! Wouldn’t you know it!

Just had our flight from SEA to KOA cancelled! No alternatives provided by BAH so far so I will have to call them ( once I’ve researched options and got a preference?)..............oh joy!

SavvyTravel

I finally got through to swop the outbound flights sooner than I planned as I did a dummy booking on AA.com to see there were only four or five spare seats on the two options we had ex DFW in February.

Manage to book the mid morning AA flight, no issues (though the operator did have to check whether they could book this as an AA prime rather than a codeshare). Seats booked too so a nice 8 hour lie flat with lunch provided. 😀

Hopefully all will run smoothly but we now have a chance to do a Dallas short trip and not have to stay in an airport hotel and plenty of spare time in case of delays or queues.

All seemed fine until she checked the return — oops our LAX-JFK has been canned. No notification. So with some palaver, we got that rebooked too (only option was to take a 12 hr day time layover in NYC because the connections didn’t align).

As always, have two or three options prepared in cases like this because she was keen to get us on the AA321 overnight from OGG. No thank you!!

Good luck to anyone else and thanks for all the advice and thoughts.

mmxbreaks

I land from KOA into DFW at 05:20 and have 18(ish)hrs before the BA return flight.
In addition to getting this 'Que (best time, do they line up for best pickings?; I'll be there on a Friday btw) what other adventures would make sense for a solo daytripper?
I presume my bag will be through-checked KOA-DFW-LHR.
Kinda hijacking the thread but I sense first hand knowledge and want a piece of the pie!