Poor connections
 

I was looking into booking our annual Hawaii vacation this winter but the Westjet options available from YQR are a nightmare with the majority of trips longer than 20 hours. Even HNL where it used to be possible to arrive at daylight has become difficult to unreasonable. I assume this may be due to 737s being grounded. Is it possible that this will improve or should I give up on WestJet?

What dates and destination?
Mid January YQR-HNL is roughly 12 hours in each direction.

I was looking for November.

This is a typical connection I get - so if there is 12h+ overnight layover, do they provide a hotel room and meal voucher (which they should do?):

Flight details

Regina (YQR) To Honolulu, Oahu (HNL)

Nov. 12, 2019

Total Trip Duration

31 hrs. 9 min.

• Dehavilland Dash 8-400 Turboprop
  • 1 hr. 50 min.
  • Regina (YQR) To Calgary (YYC)
  • WS3272 Operated by WestJet Encore
  • Depart: Tue., Nov. 12, 2019, 19:30
  • Arrive: Tue., Nov. 12, 2019, 20:20
  
  + 13 hrs. 10 min. layover
• Boeing 737-800
  • 1 hr. 38 min.
  • Calgary (YYC) To Vancouver (YVR)
  • WS119 Operated by WestJet
  • Depart: Wed., Nov. 13, 2019, 09:30
  • Arrive: Wed., Nov. 13, 2019, 10:08
  
  + 8 hrs. 7 min. layover
• Boeing 737-800
  • 6 hrs. 24 min.
  • Vancouver (YVR) To Honolulu, Oahu (HNL)
  • WS1864 Operated by WestJet
  • Depart: Wed., Nov. 13, 2019, 18:15
  • Arrive: Wed., Nov. 13, 2019, 22:39

If you leave on Nov 11 or Nov 13, there are several options around 11.5 hours without overnight connections. The airline does not provide hotels or meal allowances for overnight connections that you choose to book.

1. Midweek has poorer connections to sun destinations
2. WJ is playing whack-a-mole with their schedules and routes because of the 737 Max grounding
3. AC has a larger fleet so they have more flexibility right now on some routes

I’m guessing that if you were you booking a year ago then you’d have better options. AC has competitively priced flights with good schedules on that route. Take a look at google.com/flights to compare.

Look at WS flight options into OGG. Once you get to OGG, there are plenty of connecting flights to your final destination, most on an hourly basis. I highly recommend Mokulele airlines for that last "leg" of your journey. I love their Cessnas, but I'm an airplane geek!