Flights to Honolulu and return to Baltimore

[steffysmom]

My daughter and I are traveling on the Pride of America June 2020 and I have been researching the best flights to and from Baltimore MD via southwest airlines.  Has anyone traveled recently via Southwest that can provide any advice ?  In the past, most of our cruises have been out of Ft. Lauderdale or NY so wet coast cruising is new for us.

 

Any advice is greatly appreciated.

 

[nbist]

Southwest won't open June 2020 flights for scheduling until later this year. Is there any reason you have to fly Southwest?

[Zach1213]

On 10/7/2019 at 9:42 AM, steffysmom said:

My daughter and I are traveling on the Pride of America June 2020 and I have been researching the best flights to and from Baltimore MD via southwest airlines.  Has anyone traveled recently via Southwest that can provide any advice ?  In the past, most of our cruises have been out of Ft. Lauderdale or NY so wet coast cruising is new for us.

 

Any advice is greatly appreciated.

 

 

What kind of advice are you looking for? That’s an extremely broad question. And I recommend you look at other airlines that have already been on sale for several months...unless there’s a reason you won’t fly any other airline. 

[chipmaster]

- SW at least a decade ago had some of the most spirited and fun GA/FA as they grew.  Now that they are big and a force in industry that fun and spirited GA/FA seems much muted and almost at the level of say As service/spirit.     

 

If you book out of East coast expect two segments; one to the west-coast then on to Paradise.     

 

Expect the cattle car experience freefor all boarding but they now do allowing buying early boarding.   At least bag check is free for what that is worth.

 

Given a choice I'd take As over SW anytime and even pay a bit more for the As experience.

 

PS.  I know one roadwarrior who swears SW is the last airline he'd fly due to safety.  Not that they aren't safe but they fly their airplanes hard, they run a tight gate boarding to shave minutes, there pilots taxi as fast as they can to squeeze minutes, they look everywhere to save time to squeeze one - two more flights/plane/day than the others.   Works the plane/team and drive fast at the edge of the envelop.  I can't claim to have seen any safety bad choices, but he has claimed to experienced it.  

Edited October 11, 2019 by chipmaster

[Zach1213]

1 hour ago, chipmaster said:

- SW at least a decade ago had some of the most spirited and fun GA/FA as they grew.  Now that they are big and a force in industry that fun and spirited GA/FA seems much muted and almost at the level of say As service/spirit.     

 

If you book out of East coast expect two segments; one to the west-coast then on to Paradise.     

 

Expect the cattle car experience freefor all boarding but they now do allowing buying early boarding.   At least bag check is free for what that is worth.

 

Given a choice I'd take As over SW anytime and even pay a bit more for the As experience.

 

PS.  I know one roadwarrior who swears SW is the last airline he'd fly due to safety.  Not that they aren't safe but they fly their airplanes hard, they run a tight gate boarding to shave minutes, there pilots taxi as fast as they can to squeeze minutes, they look everywhere to save time to squeeze one - two more flights/plane/day than the others.   Works the plane/team and drive fast at the edge of the envelop.  I can't claim to have seen any safety bad choices, but he has claimed to experienced it.  

 

For OP, "As" is, I assume, "AS" or Alaska Airlines. They are really great. Would still require a change somewhere out west, though; likely LA or Seattle out of BWI). 

 

(and SW isn't Southwest but, despite being Namibian, I don't get too upset about that ;) ) 

Edited October 11, 2019 by Zach1213

[chipmaster]

4 hours ago, Zach1213 said:

 

For OP, "As" is, I assume, "AS" or Alaska Airlines. They are really great. Would still require a change somewhere out west, though; likely LA or Seattle out of BWI). 

 

(and SW isn't Southwest but, despite being Namibian, I don't get too upset about that 😉 ) 

 

Sorry As=AS=Alaskan Airlines, they rock of all the US carriers, sadly only works well for those on the West coast and sadly their loyalty program while great has lost AA/DL due to their expansion. 

[zdcatc12]

As of now you can not take SWA from Hawaii to around east of the Rockies, due to them not having any red-eye flights. It is to long of a distance. Not sure when or if they are expecting that to change. You would have to do something like fly to LAX, stay the night there and then fly to BWI.

[CruiseDigits]

2 hours ago, zdcatc12 said:

As of now you can not take SWA from Hawaii to around east of the Rockies, due to them not having any red-eye flights. It is to long of a distance. Not sure when or if they are expecting that to change. You would have to do something like fly to LAX, stay the night there and then fly to BWI.

 

To fly Southwest to HNL from BWI you'd have to book it as an advanced search, multi-city trip (i.e. leg one from say BWI-OAK then leg two on the same day from OAK-HNL).

 

To get back you'd have to book two separate tickets on the two different days, as mentioned above.  Making it back all of the way in one booking would require a red-eye, not currently available on Southwest.

[CruiserBruce]

5 hours ago, zdcatc12 said:

As of now you can not take SWA from Hawaii to around east of the Rockies, due to them not having any red-eye flights. It is to long of a distance. Not sure when or if they are expecting that to change. You would have to do something like fly to LAX, stay the night there and then fly to BWI.

No, I think the issue would be range of the 737, the only plane Southwest flies.

[zdcatc12]

3 hours ago, CruiserBruce said:

No, I think the issue would be range of the 737, the only plane Southwest flies.

No, it's because they don't have red-eyes. No one ever brought up anything about it being a non-stop flight. They do not leave Hawaii early enough to make a connection and still get back to BWI the same calendar day, due to the time change.

[Tapi]

On 10/7/2019 at 10:42 AM, steffysmom said:

I have been researching the best flights to and from Baltimore MD via southwest airlines.

OP:

 

Do yourself a favor and skip Southwest for this trip and look for airlines that fly wide body aircraft to Hawaii. Yes, a seat is a seat, but on long haul flights, it makes a big difference to fly aboard an airplane that offers a more spacious and much wider cabin, as well as on one with better inflight entertainment and meal options. You’ll appreciate the ability to move around and the feeling of less confinement. The service tends to be more comprehensive to Hawaii, even in economy, more comparable to international service, including multiple hot meals throughout the flight and some times complimentary alcohol drinks on some airlines. 
 

Since you’re looking for flights from BWI , you could drive to Washington Dulles IAD and fly nonstop to Honolulu on United and be there in 10 hours, with no need to make multiple stops and change planes along the way. It doesn’t get much easier than that. Or you could try to fly through another major hub. 
 

Have a great cruise!

Edited October 12, 2019 by Tapi

[TruckerDave]

Baltimore to Hawaii on a 737 is just cruel and unusual punishment.

[CruiserMickey]

If there is any way you can find a connection with Alaska Airlines, I would do highly recommend it. We have flown Alaska to Hawaii many times from the west coast, and I would choose them over pretty much any airline. When you are coming from so far away, I would also recommend considering their Premium seats. They have so much more legroom than regular economy and when you are on a flight for that long, the extra room is good for stretching out.

 

Good luck finding a route that suits your needs! Aloha!

[FlyerTalker]

9 hours ago, TruckerDave said:

Baltimore to Hawaii on a 737 is just cruel and unusual punishment.

 

1 hour ago, CruiserMickey said:

If there is any way you can find a connection with Alaska Airlines, I would do highly recommend it.

 

Ah, the joys of contradictory opinions on the Internet.

.

🙂

 

[Zach1213]

Seconding an above thought - look at getting yourself to Dulles or Newark, both of which have nonstops to Honolulu. The extra time spent on the ground may be worth it for that nonstop. 

Edited October 13, 2019 by Zach1213

[CruiserMickey]

2 hours ago, FlyerTalker said:

 

 

Ah, the joys of contradictory opinions on the Internet.

.

🙂

 

 

Absolutely...and we all have to find out what works for each of our situations. 😊

[slidergirl]

Two things about trying to fly WN to HNL:

1.  They had planned to use the MAX8 on this route.  For now, they have had a few -800s certified ETOPS for the route,  

2.  Everyone in the Bay Area and Southern California will be getting on that flight OAK-HNL.   Getting seats together on a very popular flight when it's first-come could prove difficult.

 

I used the OAK-HNL flight because it is the one WN shows as the connector to any BWI flights.  You could also try San Jose or Sacramento for the HNL legs.  But, then, you would have to cobble together a WN set of flights to those cities.  

 

I did see that United and American have less expensive fares from BWI to HNL (using Matrix and late March/early April timing)...

[ducklite]

I've got a bunch of WN miles due to frequent business travel to a smaller airport with limited service where WN has the best schedule and competitive rates.

 

Using them for Hawaii has been one option.  
 

If I did, I'd buy three seats for two people and buy Early Bird boarding.   It appears that the 8:00 am-ish flight always originates at OAK, it's not incoming that morning from another airport, so with Early Bird purchased months in advance, you've got a nearly 100% chance of having three across.  It would give you extra room to spread out.  

 

I'm not sure that people buying an extra seat can use the exit rows though as an FYI.

 

You could fly to OAK on a late afternoon the night before.  If you have the time, even consider flying out a couple of days early and spending a bit of time in San Francisco or Napa/Sonoma.

 

 

[Nextholiday?]

On 10/11/2019 at 11:29 PM, chipmaster said:

 

Sorry As=AS=Alaskan Airlines, they rock of all the US carriers, sadly only works well for those on the West coast and sadly their loyalty program while great has lost AA/DL due to their expansion. 

 

Hello 👋 

Is luggage included or is that an extra please 

[scottbee]

9 hours ago, Nextholiday? said:

 

Hello 👋 

Is luggage included or is that an extra please 

 

On Alaska Airlines (not Alaskan), luggage is not included unless you hold status with the airline, or have their credit card. 

 

That being said, getting their credit card, and using that would be a GREAT way of booking this trip.  it has a $99 fee, but comes with a $99 companion certificate, so for your BWI-SEA-HNL return flight, you'd pay full price for one, but get the second for $99 (aka screamin' deal from the east coast), plus you get one bag free for every ticket on the reservation.