flannbarr

UPDATE: We are considering a few days in Napa Valley prior to the flight to Hawaii. So that opens up flights from SFO on United. Unfortunately, it does not appear that they have wonderful aircraft to Hawaii.

SFO777

OK, but Delta doesn't even fly SFO-LIH.

Not sure how you researched this, but United has an afternoon lie flat 757 to LIH. Or is that too late or too expensive?

flannbarr

Yes I know it would be United and not Delta but that is fine. Price is awesome.

FlyinHawaiian

Mainland to LIH options are currently the following:

• Alaska Airlines - Los Angeles, San Diego, San Jose (CA), Seattle/Tacoma, and (seasonal) Portland (OR)
• American Airlines - Los Angeles, Phoenix–Sky Harbor
• Delta Air Lines - Los Angeles, Seattle/Tacoma
• Hawaiian Airlines - Honolulu, Kahului, Kailua–Kona, Los Angeles, Oakland
• Southwest Airlines - Honolulu, Oakland, San Jose (CA)
• United Airlines - Denver, Los Angeles, San Francisco

As posted above, UA's DEN-LIH and afternoon SFO-LIH are the only scheduled lie-flat service at this time.

KOA options are:

• Alaska Airlines - Los Angeles, San Diego, San Jose (CA), Seattle/Tacoma, and (seasonal) Anchorage, Portland (OR)
• American Airlines - Los Angeles, Phoenix–Sky Harbor and (seasonal) Dallas/Fort Worth
• Delta Air Lines - Los Angeles, Seattle/Tacoma
• Hawaiian Airlines - Honolulu, Kahului, Lihue, Los Angeles,
• Southwest Airlines - Honolulu, Kahului, Oakland, San Jose (CA)
• United Airlines - Chicago–O'Hare, Denver, Los Angeles, San Francisco

Beckles

Maybe I’ll try next time, I have little doubt our Thanksgiving trip will change again in the next seven months.

ryw

Alas, I believe that Hawaii flights from the west coast often don't get as nice equipment since the flights are shorter, so most flights use domestic F seats. Your easiest option is probably taking one of the direct flights to LIH from the Bay Area, probably from SFO (UA) or OAK (Hawaiian).

However if you're set on Delta, since you'll need to connect in SEA or LAX regardless, it might be worth considering routing through Sacramento rather than SFO. It's about the same distance from Napa as SFO (or OAK), but you will avoid a lot of the traffic in the SF Bay Area which might make the timing a little less predictable (and you'd avoid a couple bridge tolls as well).

xliioper

I don't believe they've flown equipment with domestic FC on HNL-SLC since they got rid of the domestic 763s. I'd be pretty confident this flight will remain flown with widebody equipment and thus continue to have D1 seating even though it is not D1 marketed (there are now no widebodies which are configured with domestic FC). The flight has been flown with a 763ER, 764, and A333 since resuming in November (all D1 equipment). For those with west coast - Hawaii flights, it will likely be easier to switch to SLC-HNL routing due to the lack of D1 marketing on this flight, than ATL/MSP-HNL which are both D1 marketed and D1 equipped.

MCO Flyer

When DL retired the domestic 763s, they were actually using a 75H on SLC-HNL during the summer months due to lack of widebody availability that was needed for Europe flights. With COVID and lack of INTL flights right now, it appears they are keeping the widebodies on SLC-HNL during the summer months and SLC-OGG is sticking around as well (which was previously winter seasonal only).

flannbarr

Ok here’s the newest plan (still first class)....

9/7: United TPA to SFO (A320)
9/10: United SFO to LIH (757-200)
Hawaiian Airlines on date tbd to Big Island
9/26: Delta KOA to SEA (757), SEA to TPA (737-800).

That’s the best I can can come up with. About $2,200 total for all segments.

FlyinHawaiian

The above may work price and schedule-wise but the only possible lie-flat segment would be SFO-LIH; the rest are normal domestic First recliners. If lie-flat is preferred. then KOA-ORD-TPA on UA would give you 8+ hours in lie-flat.

flannbarr

I am not finding that flight on 9/26.

Kmxu

On United, your best option is KoA-DEN-TPA. The KOA-ORD flight ends in early September.
UA Mainland-Hawaii Lie-Flats
BTW, TPA-SFO is currently not on schedule. You may be able to change to TPA-ORD/IAD/EWR-SFO, with lie flat on the second leg, after schedule is changed.

flannbarr

Are there any lie-flat seat options between DTW and LIH?

FlyinHawaiian

Please see https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/33202025-post34.html

vincewy

I'm planning to go from Midwest (around DTW) and so far these are the cheapest options (factoring mileage accruals too), my destinations are KOA (outbound) and HNL (return), with return having a flatbed a must (red eye), saving a night of hotel.

Outbound: CMH/MKE - LAX/SEA - KOA via DL $650 to $800, this also allows up to 2 days stopover in MSP (didn't try any day longer).

Return: HNL-LAX via HA (A330 flatbed), LAX-CMH/MKE via NK + adding Big Front Seats, $600 + $100 (paying Big Front Seats and bags with my Hilton Aspire card).

I'll be spending the weekend on my way back from NHL so this may not be suitable for everyone, total cost will be under $1500 and plan to put all my miles into KE except NK segment. I'm not considering other cities (DTW, ORD, CLE, PIT) where both NK and DL serve because those are priced much higher, not just air fares but costs for Big Front Seats. I'll be saving around $800 to $1200 out of CMH and MKE instead of DTW.

p.s. I understand this thread is about Florida - Hawaii but I also found incredibly cheap DL Z fares between MCO and LIH for less than $700. So insert MCO instead of MKE and CMH for similar pricing, if you don't need flatbed at all you can go DL all the way to save money. In addition, DL's pricing algorithm will increase fares when at least 1 segment is with A330, A350, 767.