HNLbasedFlyer

MAX flights have taken over.

exp

The only advantage is that SFO-HNL do have flights with LFs but flights to HNL and OGG do not.

So conceivably, I could fly to HNL, arrive early in the afternoon and take an HA flight a couple of hours later to OGG or HNL, which I would have to do at some point.

Then fly back to HNL, spend days on Honolulu/Oahu, before returning from there to SFO.

So it would basically be one additional inter island flight, just to get a LF flight .

And it would just be SFO-HNL outbound. The HNL-SFO return does have LF flight(s) but I think it's either the redeye or the late afternoon departure. My preference is depart in the morning.

IAH-OIL-TRASH

9:45am departure HNL-SFO is currently 777 w/ lie-flats. Earlier a.m. flight is 753 w/o.

Reminder - check in anywhere w/ Hawaiian negates any UA frequent flyer baggage benefits.

Going much out of the way to get a lie-flat seat on a daytime eastbound flight to West Coast isn't worth it IMHO. Their value is on a eastbound redeye.

exp

Probably not worth it.

The only other aspect is that a muticity flying to OGG is about $500 more than a straight round-trip to HNL for business class.

I didn't check what it would be for muticity with KOA instead of OGG.

Also tracking muticity to LIH, which does have some lie flat options for SFO-LIH, and that also has a lower price than going to OGG.

However, apparently Kauai is more prone to rain, especially in February and especially the north shore.

emcampbe

i flew back SFO-OGG and return earlier in Nov. both flights were 777s with lie-flats (though I was in Y), and the flight after mine in both directions were 752 with lieflats in F. So they at least did exist, though not sure if those specific aircraft types are continuing or not.

HNLbasedFlyer

The OGG flights are being swapped to MAX planes.

MDTyKe

KOA-SFO used to have one lie flat a day but as others have noted it, and LAX seem to have been moved to MAX’s so no more lie flat.

KOA-ORD/DEN is always lie flat though, if you can bounce back to SFO that way. Longer time to sleep.

IAH-OIL-TRASH

Well, truthfiully, KOA only started getting lie-flats ex-West Coast since last year when they (the a/c) became available. UA's basically reverting their West Coast-Hawaii a/c back to mainly 738/9s. Honolulu got a wide-body or two daily ex-West Coast pre-pandemic and Lihue got 752s solely because of the short runways. I think they were starting to use MAX a/c to LIH just before the pandemic hit, but I'm not sure. UA's not close to selling out F and there's a sea of unsold economy seats nowadays. WIth UA opening up more long-haul int'l, the "pandemic Golden Age" of Hawaii fying from the West Coast is drawing to a close as UA right-sizes. Just when I was getting used to it . At least I'm in Honolulu now instead of Maui or another outer island - more lie-flats available (than on outer islands) next year.

exp

Well the airfares are good, especially if you're wiling to fly Y. But the lodging and rental car rates are very high for the foreseeable future.

Could easily spend $10k for 2 weeks and you're not even staying in any special place or driving anything better than a compact car.

steveo

Does anyone know if equipment swaps frequent these routes? I'm planning a trip to the big island next year, and the J cabin and PE cabin are pretty much sold out on the 787 flight out of ORD. I noticed the Honululu flight is a 777, and has ok availability. Would rather go direct, but I can get PE to Honululu for like 40k points less, and less than flighting to Kona direct in economy.

h0und10

I fought the same thing for the return leg, but being an overnight flight we opted for the 777 with lie flats over the 787-8 in premium plus. We had a schedule change so either option was the same price. Lots of people flying to Hawaii lately.

HNLbasedFlyer

Your plane is likely firm thru January. After that, in my opinion all bets are off.

emcampbe

we were there (OGG) in mid-November (definitely before peak for Thanksgiving - barely seemed moderately busy).

From SFO, airfare in Y was $280 roundtrip per person (not in basic - that was regular economy - I saw basic at one point for $89 ow I think - so if we went that way it would have been cheaper still). on the ground things were much more.
We used points for the Sheraton for a 5 night stay, which was a great value IME since it would have been $4K+ with taxes for cash - that’s just for the most basic type of room (we were upgraded though). Rental car was a bit shy of $400 for a standard (weekly rate). All this without any food or other non-included activities. You could go well over 10K I’d say for 2 weeks without doing pretty much anything I’d consider ‘luxury’ - you could probably end up close to 15K. Again, my experience was in a non-busy period, and a non-luxury property. I imagine airfare, rooms and car will all spike if you’re trying to do this during a holiday period like last week or anytime mid-Dec. to ~mid Jan. Or anytime when kids are out of school.

we were lucky to be able to do this when our older daughter had a non-standard holiday weekend. But being in SFO-area now, we’re lucky for this to be cheaper/easier than prior. Everytime we looked when we were in mid-size Ohio (pre-pandemic, so maybe not a completely apples-to-apples comparison), and airfare alone would be not that far off from the total amount of our recent trip.

exp

If Oceania and SE Asia were options from now until through February, then maybe prices for Hawaii would become more rational.

econ

SFO-HI fares have been pretty good throughout the year. They’ve gone up during the holidays but looks like back down to normal after early January. Probably helps that there’s non-stop competition as well.

Some hotels in Oahu can be fairly reasonable, but Maui is pretty outrageous (e.g. $400+ for the OGG airport Courtyard).