Southwest Launches Nonstop Flight From San Diego to Honolulu
Nov 5, 2020, 7:39 pm
#1
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Southwest Launches Nonstop Flight From San Diego to Honolulu
Travelers can now fly directly from San Diego to Honolulu on a new service that took off Wednesday out of the San Diego International Airport.
Southwest Airlines launched its inaugural nonstop service from SAN to the Daniel K. Inouye International Airport (HNL) with an 8 a.m. flight. Kimberly Becker, San Diego County Regional Airport Authority President and CEO, said in a press release that the airport had been anticipating the nonstop route for months.
https://www.nbcsandiego.com/news/loc...rport/2437065/
Southwest Airlines launched its inaugural nonstop service from SAN to the Daniel K. Inouye International Airport (HNL) with an 8 a.m. flight. Kimberly Becker, San Diego County Regional Airport Authority President and CEO, said in a press release that the airport had been anticipating the nonstop route for months.
https://www.nbcsandiego.com/news/loc...rport/2437065/
Nov 5, 2020, 8:28 pm
#2
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Unless WN is getting much cheaper airport fees at SAN, this seems like an odd choice of route. From SAN, there's not a big advantage in going to HNL (compared to people starting at MSP, ORD, BOS, etc. in the winter months), so WN seems to be counting on connecting traffic which presumably would prefer LAX or SFO (or some airport with same-day COVID-19 rapid testing facilities such as OAK).
Nov 6, 2020, 8:39 pm
#3
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Unless WN is getting much cheaper airport fees at SAN, this seems like an odd choice of route. From SAN, there's not a big advantage in going to HNL (compared to people starting at MSP, ORD, BOS, etc. in the winter months), so WN seems to be counting on connecting traffic which presumably would prefer LAX or SFO (or some airport with same-day COVID-19 rapid testing facilities such as OAK).
Doesn't seem odd at all. Even with Covid, there are already nonstops on Alaska and Hawaiian daily. You can't go in the ocean in CA in the winter. Travellers from all parts of CA visit HI, and there are 3M people in SD county. Connections won't hurt, but they can fill this flight when things are normal again.
Nov 7, 2020, 6:59 am
#4
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Unless WN is getting much cheaper airport fees at SAN, this seems like an odd choice of route. From SAN, there's not a big advantage in going to HNL (compared to people starting at MSP, ORD, BOS, etc. in the winter months), so WN seems to be counting on connecting traffic which presumably would prefer LAX or SFO (or some airport with same-day COVID-19 rapid testing facilities such as OAK).
Nov 8, 2020, 11:02 am
#8
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San Diego airport is cramped and poorly designed.
Our family is flying from SAN to HNL this week and we weighed the social distance difficulties of San Diego airport against the non-stop WN service to HNL.
Some of my worst airport experiences were in SAN. It was at its nadir when flights were delayed and deregulation caused massive waits in an aircraft queue waiting for takeoff from the one runway. The terminal would resemble a packed disco. Even the bar would be swamped, so liquid relief was difficult.
Nov 8, 2020, 12:50 pm
#9
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However, it might be somewhat immaterial since I don’t recall if they ever flew direct to HI from there, or LAX for that matter.
Nov 8, 2020, 1:59 pm
#10
Join Date: Mar 2005
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Just got back from quick SAN-SJC-SAN trip today -- T1 is always a bit of a zoo precovid -- very cramped with so many flights in tight circle; but the processing was fast both days. With middle seats carved out, despite full flights, T1 was manageable distancing. Even the standing/charging tables were fairly open.
Nov 8, 2020, 9:14 pm
#11
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This has been planned for a long time. I had reservations non-stop back in April on this route. I also have $99 each way flights recently purchased for February 2021 (which Southwest gave me a free online move to March).
Nov 9, 2020, 9:40 am
#12
Join Date: Sep 2014
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As the user plans to spend days in SAN, vs the 1-2 hrs in the terminal, it still seems like a pretty nice choice.
Nov 9, 2020, 3:57 pm
#13
Join Date: Oct 2007
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I never understood the volume of HI flights from SAN, but it seems to be a multi-carrier situation (AS too). I think one possibility is that those from Mexico prefer to come across the border and then fly to Hawaii as well.
I think there is also some important cargo loads that I can't underestimate because there are/were many direct to specific island routes from SAN. I do think the passengers on the top of the plane are likely just a bonus revenue aspect.
I think there is also some important cargo loads that I can't underestimate because there are/were many direct to specific island routes from SAN. I do think the passengers on the top of the plane are likely just a bonus revenue aspect.
