HNLbasedFlyer

Yes, the flights from SFO and LAX that have Premium Economy do not have an extra charge.

techtraveler70

I'm looking at flights from SYR to KOA on Tuesday, June 29, 2021. What would be the best connecting airports to get a Polaris lie flat seat - IAD, DEN, ORD? Is the 10+ hour flight from IAD to HNL a good one or should I look at several shorter flights that connect on the west coast?

djmp

Just to clarify, do you mean the new style Polaris lie flat seat (all aisle access), or any lie flat seat (which would include the older lie flats)?

FlyinHawaiian

Welcome to FlyerTalk, techtraveler70 !

There's a nonstop ORD-KOA flight that operates a day earlier (Monday) than your date; that would be your best option, by far. Otherwise my strategy for East Coast to Hawaii is to try and make the segment into Hawaii the longest and avoid West Coast connections, so that would be ORD, EWR, or IAD to HNL and then a short hop on Hawaiian or Southwest to KOA. I prefer this strategy because I find two flight blocks of 5-6 hours not enough time to get a decent amount of uninterrupted sleep. Under no circumstances would I recommend more than one connection on the mainland to Hawaii.

techtraveler70

I'd prefer the all aisle access.

Thank you so much! I am leaning towards the longer flight for sure and avoiding the west coast connections completely. I have some travel flexibility, so I can leave on Monday instead of Tuesday if that flight is better.

birdiedouble

I have flights to KOA in October and currently flying SYR>IAD>DEN>KOA and saw they added the one stop thru ORD on the 787 a few weeks ago. I’m hoping for a schedule change so I can move over to that with no fare difference. On the return I do have KOA>DEN>SYR and happy with that routing and timing of the flights.

bluedemon211

The ORD-KOA service ends in September.

birdiedouble

I’m aware of that. Hoping they extend the service and I get a schedule change. These are strange times indeed.

IAH-OIL-TRASH

“Strange times” times won’t change fact that off-season in Hawaii is off-season - Kona, especially. I can almost guarantee that particular route will not be extended into October.

birdiedouble

I'm hopeful that off season in Hawaii is not so off season with more people looking to travel later in the year. The Hilton resorts I am able to see show limited availability for most of October and the IronMan is also Oct 5th-11th. That may carry some demand into early October, which is what I need.

CaptKornDog

Hello everyone,

Hope everyone is doing well. I've read many other Hawaii threads on here and searched around, including the recent Hawaii F thread, but wanted to post pertaining to my own personal scenario. Apologize if this post is a bit of a cliche, but not flying in over 15 months has me a bit rusty. The one bright spot during COVID is getting engaged to the love of my life and upcoming wedding. We are trying to plan a honeymoon in September with our sights set on Hawaii; keeping it domestic with perhaps an international trip when things calm down further, maybe as an anniversary. We know thousands of others are planning Hawaii, so we're trying to at least get hotels, car, and airfare locked in soon. I've been to Oahu and big island 5 times over the years, but she's never been. We are DEN-based and considering a ~2-2.5 week trip, deciding on 3 or 4 islands, possibly 3-4 days each. Including stays in potentially Princeville and Ko'Olina. I'm planning on buying my own F ticket (helps at least salvage Silver in 2022), and using my miles to pay for hers.

Naturally, I'd like to try and plan the best F experience possible for the two of us. She's never flown F (she's usually a WN flyer), so I think this would be a nice treat for her. I've only flown the old BE Aerospace and Polaris hard products once (IAD-DEN, EWR-DEN respectively), and don't have much personal experience to draw from to Hawaii outside of Y or old recliner F seats.

My initial thoughts would be to go from DEN to one of the smaller destinations to start, maybe LIH or KOA. Both showing BE 763s right now, previously 752s. This perhaps hedges my bets with a 772 should the old dorm lie-flats return by September...LIH can't physically fit a 772, and KOA doesn't seem like it would be upgauged from DEN to a 772. Interisland, consider Hawaiian Air - perhaps F if the price is minimal for the inter-island lounge access (albeit not much of a lounge and some are closed I know), and free checked bags. Then ending the trip on Oahu, returning HNL-DEN. Currently, HNL-DEN shows both a BE 763 and Polaris 772. If I shoot for the Polaris 772 and actually get Polaris, that would be fantastic...with worst case seeming to be the dorm lie-flats, but better than recliners though. Then at least I would have gotten nicer lie-flats on one leg.

Does anyone have any advice, guidance, suggestions - or is my strategy above a reasonable one to maximize the best F experience out of DEN? It seems like connecting on the west coast just opens up all kinds of 738/739/753 recliner risk. I have a UC membership; and while certainly not a true Polaris Lounge, it's at least something in DEN and HNL to pair with the "domestic F experience."

(I know it's the UA message board, but if anyone has any recent "must do" suggestions for Hawaii....on any of the islands....restaurants, hiking, luaus, beaches, things off the beaten path since I know how Waikiki can get, feel free to PM me. We'd love to hear from you. Any and all feedback is welcome!)

Thank you for reading and your time!

birdiedouble

Well first off congratulations on the engagement and upcoming wedding. As confusing as flights might be at the moment, obtaining rental cars at prices that make any sense might be more of a predicament. I would encourage you to take a look at some car rental options and see how that impacts your multi island itinerary. We did our first trip to Hawaii over 30 years ago and did 3 islands (Oahu 3 night, Maui 5 nights & Kauai 3 nights). That was well before it became more time consuming to fly. The last few trips have all been to one island (either BI or Maui) for 9-10 nights on each trip. I'm on the east cost so it's a long flight from there so it doesn't make sense for me to spend less than 9 nights there and the last thing I want to do is climb on another plane once we're there.

As you're probably aware, airline schedules and equipment is all over the place right now and equipment you see on the schedule today for September may or may not be what you end up with. Given that I'd probably pick two islands to visit and find a flight that works for you over to one and back from another and add a Inter Island flight on HA or WN.

Enjoy!

WineCountryUA

The Hawaii Forum is chock full of this sort of information and recent posts will provide up-to-date info.

ExplorerWannabe

From your post, you've been to Hawai`i countless times but this is her first. Given this is a honeymoon trip, I'd suggest starting off with a quieter spot like Kauai and get your nuptials and afterglow taken care of but then go get the usual tourism on O`ahu out of the way before proceeding to the other islands. IMO, a number of the usual tourist attractions on O`ahu are kind of "must dos" but they have the greatest impact on a "first time" trip while the outer island experience is magnified in comparison to the hustle and bustle of Honolulu. As @WineCountryUA stated, there are loads of recommendations on the Hawaii forum.

I generally don't much care about the westward flight and will book Y if the price differential is attractive but I will almost always try to find a way to book HNL-DEN for the return in order to get some decent sleep. The morning flight is too darn early for me and stopping off in California to change planes just hurts. I would even go so far as to book HNL-IAH if it wasn't for the fact the leg from IAH to Colorado is 2 hours of CRJ purgatory.

exp

Well I dawdled and prices are $400 or more since I checked a couple of weeks back.

The accommodations prices are higher on Kauai and Waikiki than it was a few weeks ago as well.

Looks like hotel/condo prices are up as well. After including taxes and resort fees, they're going for $300-400 or more a night for what looks like old/dated looking rooms, though many with ocean views in Kauai.

Car rental prices high as well.

I don't know if these prices are typical this time of the year or due to the unique conditions a year into the pandemic with limited destination options.

Europe looks like comparative bargain, if it does reopen including to Americans.