Southwest Is Now Selling Flights To Hawaii (Some Are Under $100 Roundtrip)

a building with palm trees and umbrellas on a beach

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Just last week I (and quite a few others) were wondering if we were just days away from seeing Southwest Airlines officially launch flights between the mainland and Hawaii and, as of today, that’s exactly what’s happened.

There doesn’t appear to have been any official press release or public announcement (which is a little odd considering just how big this news is) but Southwest is definitely now selling fares to/from Hawaii.

Southwest Airlines Hawaii Routes & Start Dates

a map of a beach with water and land

Note: Southwest plans to offer service to Kauai (LIH) bus service dates have not yet been announced.

Non-Stop Services

From Oakland (OAK):

  • Oahu (HNL) – from 17 March 2019
  • Maui (OGG) – from 7 April 2019
  • Kona (KOA)** – from 12 May 2019

From San Jose (SJC):

  • Oahu (HNL) – from 5 May 2019
  • Maui (OGG) – from 26 May 2019
  • Kona (KOA)** – from 12 May 2019

Connecting Services

From Oakland (OAK):

  • Kona (KOA)* – from 12 May 2019

From San Jose (SJC):

  • Kona (KOA)* – from 12 May 2019

*connecting service via Honolulu


From Long Beach (LGB):

  • Oahu (HNL)** – from 24 March 2019
  • Maui (OGG)** – from 28 April 2019

From Los Angeles (LAX):

  • Oahu (HNL)** – from 24 March 2019
  • Maui (OGG)** – from 28 April 2019

From Ontario (ONT):

  • Oahu (HNL)** – from 24 March 2019
  • Maui (OGG)** – from 28 April 2019

From Orange County (SNA):

  • Oahu (HNL)** – from 24 March 2019
  • Maui (OGG)** – from 28 April 2019

**connecting service via Oakland or San Jose


What You Can Expect On Southwest’s Hawaii Flights

  • Gate to gate Wi-Fi for $8/day on Wi-Fi enables aircraft
  • 737-800 aircraft offering seats with 32 inches of pitch (legroom), 17.8 inches of width and 2-inches of recline
  • 100% free inflight entertainment on your own personal devices***
  • 2 free checked bags (weight limits apply) and a golf bag can be substituted for one checked bag.

***To view movies and select on-demand TV content, download the Southwest app from the Google Play Store or Apple App Store before your flight.

Fares

Based on a cursory search it looks like Southwest is launching these fares with a bang – $49 for a one-way fare is currently available on a number of routes….

a calendar with numbers and numbers

….and if you search carefully you can even flights costing under $100 for roundtrip travel:

a screenshot of a flight schedule

Prices rise as we head into the busier summer months but, right now, it’s still very easy to find $200/person roundtrip fares (for 4 passengers) to Maui and Honolulu (for example) from San Jose and Oakland during the school vacations.

a screenshot of a flight schedule

Bottom Line

This is fantastic news for flyers…it may even be the best news of the year.

I wasn’t expecting Southwest to offer fares quite this low when it launched its flights to/from Hawaii so I’m a little blown away here – the fact that the airline is offering $100 roundtrip fares for travel in the next couple of months and $200 roundtrip fares for travel in the busier summer months is incredible.

Let’s not forget that, not only are Southwest’s fares fantastically low, but the airline also offers 2 checked bags free (which makes the fares comparatively even cheaper) and 32″ of legroom (more than most of the other aircraft you’ll find flying between the mainland and Hawaii) so there’s good news wherever you look.

I’m delighted to see Southwest finally getting its Hawaii service of the ground (no pun intended) and, at these prices, I’d be more than happy to take a connecting flight out of LAX rather that put up with a non-stop flight on an overpriced and cramped legacy airline.

All that’s left to do now is sit back and watch how the legacy rip-off merchants carriers deal with this news.

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