When I bought tickets for our first HI visit, HA from LAX to HNL, the agent (a very helpful guy at Panda Travel) made sure to emphasize that we MUST check in 3 hours before flight time. Three hours? That's longer than for transatlantic international flights! So why so early? (Glad I didn't select the first flight of the day!)

Also, when I went back to check seat assignments, I was told none was available before checkin. Is that standard? so if we want a decent seat, do we need to check in even earlier, or will OLCI do the trick?

unless you're a premium passenger, you need to check in and get seat assignments on-line 24 hours in advance. then, if you're not checking luggage, just give yourself long enough to clear security and get to the gate. if you're checking baggage, it still should be pretty fast. but definitely check in on-line to avoid any unexpected delays.

Hawaiian fills x% of the plane until it holds all seat assignments until check-in. So, the earlier you book or the emptier the plane, the likelier it is that you'll get an advance seat assignment. I unfortunately do not know that x% off the top of my head.

We've flown Hawaiian before out of LAX (first flight out) and got there two hours prior to departure, which was still way too early. The only problem we had (post-9/11) was very slow check-in lines at LAX. It probably would have benefited us to use OLCI, but we didn't have access to the net. Security lines was a breeze.

So, as suggested above, do online check-in to select seats at 24 hours out. Try to avoid checking bags and you should be fine, not going to the airport 3 hours in advance.

slippahs:

not 100% sure on this, but i recall ha telling me that the rules i stated took effect 6/1 (no seats prior to check-in, unless pualani). i may have gotten wrong info.

We booked a trip for my mother last week for a quick trip to LAX in two weeks on HA. No problems selecting seats both on the inbound and out and she was on an award ticket to boot. So don't quite know where that restriction is? Perhaps inter-island flights?

That's for inter-island. They definitely do advance seat assignments for the west coast to Hawaii flights. If Hawaiian Airlines is telling you that none are available, that means the flight is pretty full so you need to manage this carefully.

If after calling HA a few times prior to your departure you still don't have assigned seats, I strongly suggest checking in online at as close to the 24 hour mark as you can. If you still can't get seats at that point then be at the airport no later than 2 hours in advance, as the later you arrive, the worse your seats will be (as in all middle seats, in different areas of the plane).

If you have assigned seats before arriving at the airport (either advance or via online check-in), arriving 90 minutes prior to departure should be fine. It can take a bit of time to get your bags dropped off and get through security, but at terminal 2 at LAX 90 minutes will be plenty of time.

i stand corrected. what i said is true only for inter-island. no check-in prior to 24 hours, other than for pualani.

Another wrinkle: those with the HA Visa card are "Pualani Preferred." And although it doesn't get you pre-boarding or lounge access, it does get you advance seat assignments inter-island if your HA Visa card is stored in your profile (and there are more award seats available inter-island too, I believe)

This is very true. I have one and it gives you access to premium seating on both mainland and inter-island flights and additional award seat inventory on both.

Thank you all for the helpful information. Three hours really did seem long to me: when we flew to Papeete from LAX last year, Air Tahiti Nui had the same requirement and were very adamant about it. So we obediently did what they asked and checked in early (when no-one else was on line). Of course, then we had to just sit around the terminal and wait...