[Not sure if this belongs here, or in TechOps? Feedback or corrections welcomed...]

I was just invited by some family to stay a few days with them in their Kauai home, for the holidays this year! It has been about 15 years since my last excursion to the islands, so this is a proposition I will not be taking lightly. As an aircraft nerd, part of my travel planning obviously takes into consideration available carriers and equipment - so would love any suggestions on the matter. Some initial demographics:

-This would be a "multi-city itinerary" - likely leaving either from somewhere in California or BOS, with a return trip to MSP.
-At least 1 x flight to/from Hawaii 100% without question needs to be a widebody, in my heart and mind.
-Hawaiian Airlines would mark many 1sts for me - never flown them before, nor ridden an A330. (I guess they don't fly 767s anymore?)
-Is United not doing many of their prominent "Island 777" routes these days? At least not to LIH? I mean, if I wanted to take a Continental (er, United) 737-800 I could do that anywhere between hubs......yawn. Flying a true United-metal 777-200 to Hawaii on the other hand would be another personal 1st.
-Taking an inter-island flight (say, HNL-LIH) would be very fun.
-Hawaiian doesn't appear to serve MSP - thus my return would seemingly need to be United, Delta, American, or other such thing.
-As a resident of MSP - NWA/Delta DOES hold a place in my heart for their service, reliability, availability, and consistency.
-Leave out LCCs (Southwest, Sun Country, etc.) - again, I could book with them anytime...

Thoughts?

Take someone to LAS then take HA to HNL ?

AlnessW wrote:

[Not sure if this belongs here, or in TechOps? Feedback or corrections welcomed...]

-This would be a "multi-city itinerary" - likely leaving either from somewhere in California or BOS, with a return trip to MSP....Thoughts?

HA BOS-HNL A332, then HNL-LIH B717
HA LIH-HNL, then DL HNL-ATL A359, ATL-MSP B739

If you have to take American home, you could consider taking American there through DFW. We flew on a 787 out of DFW in 2021 to HNL. The other bucket list flight I have is Hawaiian's service from BOS to HNL on their A330.

You’re correct that Hawaiian no longer flies the 767. Mainland-Hawaii flights are a mix of A330 and A321neo.

tjwgrr wrote:

AlnessW wrote:

[Not sure if this belongs here, or in TechOps? Feedback or corrections welcomed...]

-This would be a "multi-city itinerary" - likely leaving either from somewhere in California or BOS, with a return trip to MSP....Thoughts?

HA BOS-HNL A332, then HNL-LIH B717
HA LIH-HNL, then DL HNL-ATL A359, ATL-MSP B739

I would skip the ATL segment on the way home, and do DL from HNL-MSP on the A333.

Mahalo for the info, all - some great options so far!

Confirmed my trip from the mainland will be originating in California, so that will 100% be a Hawaiian A330 to HNL and then connection to LIH from there. I noticed Hawaiian partners with Delta, but for some reason Hawaiian wouldn't register any results LIH-MSP for my return trip?? It might be the most practical and cost-effective to do LIH-HNL on Hawaiian, then HNL-MSP on Delta's 767-300. (I didn't see that leg offered on A330?) Delta on the other hand WILL let me book this under a single itinerary, which simplifies things from a logistics and baggage standpoint.

I did unearth a few United 777-200 routes, mostly from hubs to HNL. This option could be very tricky and expensive to get home though, likely needing double connections in order to snag a widebody. I noticed several of their other intra-hub routes are still scheduled with domestic 777s, so not a dealbreaker by any means... Didn't even consider American's 787 to DFW, which would be way cool! As much as I'd absolutely love to to BOS-HNL myself, I just don't think it will work date-wise for this particular itinerary. Same goes for an LAS stopover.

Delta only partners on inter-island flights, I believe.

Do you mean to say I can only pick up SkyMiles booked on Delta LIH-HNL-MSP with the LIH-HNL leg on Hawaiian? Not an itinerary booked under Hawaiian?

AlnessW wrote:

Do you mean to say I can only pick up SkyMiles booked on Delta LIH-HNL-MSP with the LIH-HNL leg on Hawaiian? Not an itinerary booked under Hawaiian?

If you were to book LIH-HNL-MSP through Hawaiian, you would be able to earn SkyMiles for both segments, since the HNL-MSP segment is obviously operated by DL and the LIH-HNL segment operated by HA would presumably be a code-share service.

What you can't do is book LIH-HNL and HNL-MSP separately and earn SkyMiles on the LIH-HNL flight. Generally, HA inter-island flights have to be code-share flights booked in conjunction with a flight on a partner airline in order to earn miles on the HA inter-island segment.

I'm not sure if this answers your question--I don't totally understand what you're asking.

If you are looking for an island hop, my wife and I enjoyed a 5 hour excursion to Hilo for something to do. I now understand the why does ITO not get much air service threads here on airnet. The city was old and tired looking with very few hotels much past their prime. What was nice is the city bus service is free and takes you on a loop from the airport to the end of town and then downtown. Nice ride by the black sand beech full of locals. We walked a few hours (lucky it didn't rain) and had a good lunch before flying back to HNL. It made for a fun day and I would do it again.

DEN-HNL/OGG are 777s on UA, and I'm positive at least one SFO-HNL rotation is too.

If you want to play it safe, anywhere east of DEN to Hawaii would be a widebody. Or go super big and fly BOS-HNL. or go totally insane and go ICN/MSP/SYD-HNL.

UALFAson wrote:

If you were to book LIH-HNL-MSP through Hawaiian, you would be able to earn SkyMiles for both segments, since the HNL-MSP segment is obviously operated by DL and the LIH-HNL segment operated by HA would presumably be a code-share service.

What you can't do is book LIH-HNL and HNL-MSP separately and earn SkyMiles on the LIH-HNL flight. Generally, HA inter-island flights have to be code-share flights booked in conjunction with a flight on a partner airline in order to earn miles on the HA inter-island segment.

I'm not sure if this answers your question--I don't totally understand what you're asking.

Yeah - sorry, I didn't word that very clearly... You definitely have the right idea though. What I mean to say is that I've scheduled SFO-HNL-LIH under Hawaiian, but the system won't let me enter a SkyMiles number as a partnered airline program. I KNOW I've seen this option before on other carriers - for example, Alaskan has let me enter my AAdvantage number when booking with them. I guess I should just up for Hawaiian's frequent flyer program?

For my return, on the other hand - Delta registers a valid itinerary with Hawaiian LIH-HNL then Delta HNL-MSP. The agent I spoke with confirmed that I would be able to check in with Hawaiian in LIH, and have bags tagged all the way through. Since that's all booked with Delta as a Delta itinerary, no such issues earning SkyMiles.

MD8090orDRIVE wrote:

If you are looking for an island hop, my wife and I enjoyed a 5 hour excursion to Hilo for something to do. I now understand the why does ITO not get much air service threads here on airnet. The city was old and tired looking with very few hotels much past their prime. What was nice is the city bus service is free and takes you on a loop from the airport to the end of town and then downtown. Nice ride by the black sand beech full of locals. We walked a few hours (lucky it didn't rain) and had a good lunch before flying back to HNL. It made for a fun day and I would do it again.

LOVE this idea! No matter what happens, I'm excited to take an inter-island flight even if that means just getting to and from. Should be lots of time during my stay on Kauai for this sort of day trip, though - especially after hearing your report. Were you able to take a local carrier? It's too bad go!, Aloha, Island Air, etc. all no longer exist...though Mokulele appears to still be alive.

TWA772LR wrote:

DEN-HNL/OGG are 777s on UA, and I'm positive at least one SFO-HNL rotation is too.

If you want to play it safe, anywhere east of DEN to Hawaii would be a widebody. Or go super big and fly BOS-HNL. or go totally insane and go ICN/MSP/SYD-HNL.

Sounds about right to me - I'm cautiously optimistic I could always snag an intra-hub United 777 during a cross-country segment if need be (say, ORD-SFO). Funny story, I think I saw SFO-HNL or LIH scheduled with a 737 MAX. Since we all know those planes crash, I can't imagine who in their right mind would take something like this to Hawaii... I hear there's lots of water along the way.

AlnessW wrote:

Sounds about right to me - I'm cautiously optimistic I could always snag an intra-hub United 777 during a cross-country segment if need be (say, ORD-SFO). Funny story, I think I saw SFO-HNL or LIH scheduled with a 737 MAX. Since we all know those planes crash, I can't imagine who in their right mind would take something like this to Hawaii... I hear there's lots of water along the way.

The MAX kiks have been ironed out and while I don't trust Uniteds corporate practices, I do trust their pilots and their ability to handle an emergency. I worked in their flight training department and I'd fly with the 737 (and all the other fleets) gals and guys any day.

AlnessW wrote:

Funny story, I think I saw SFO-HNL or LIH scheduled with a 737 MAX. Since we all know those planes crash, I can't imagine who in their right mind would take something like this to Hawaii... I hear there's lots of water along the way.

Of all the stupid crap I see on this site this is right up there.

TWA772LR wrote:

The MAX kiks have been ironed out and while I don't trust Uniteds corporate practices, I do trust their pilots and their ability to handle an emergency. I worked in their flight training department and I'd fly with the 737 (and all the other fleets) gals and guys any day.

DualQual wrote:

Of all the stupid crap I see on this site this is right up there.

It was meant to sound rather outlandish.

AlnessW wrote:

Yeah - sorry, I didn't word that very clearly... You definitely have the right idea though. What I mean to say is that I've scheduled SFO-HNL-LIH under Hawaiian, but the system won't let me enter a SkyMiles number as a partnered airline program. I KNOW I've seen this option before on other carriers - for example, Alaskan has let me enter my AAdvantage number when booking with them. I guess I should just up for Hawaiian's frequent flyer program?

According to Delta’s SkyMiles airline partners page, when booking with Hawaiian you can’t add the SkyMiles number online, you have to call Hawaiian or give the check-in agent your SkyMiles number to add at the airport.

https://www.delta.com/gb/en/skymiles/ho ... e-partners

If you're going to take UA, bear in mind you will likely be flying on some of the oldest 777-200 fleets without seatback IFE, particularly if they are of the PW engine variety. Opt for the UA 777-300ER instead.

hawaiian717 wrote:

According to Delta’s SkyMiles airline partners page, when booking with Hawaiian you can’t add the SkyMiles number online, you have to call Hawaiian or give the check-in agent your SkyMiles number to add at the airport.

Thanks for that link, hawaiian717 - looks like I would indeed be limited to earning SkyMiles on inter-island flights however. Regardless, I'll be sure to get them my information before traveling!

phatfarmlines wrote:

If you're going to take UA, bear in mind you will likely be flying on some of the oldest 777-200 fleets without seatback IFE, particularly if they are of the PW engine variety. Opt for the UA 777-300ER instead.

A MOST timely reminder for sure... Unfortunately, I learned this the hard way some years ago after excitedly booking a United transcontinental flight on their 777-200. It wasn't until boarding that I realized/remembered that domestic 77As don't have seatback IFE. You can imagine the look on my face as I sat down... I think I read on here that PW engines (like my flight was) are United metal, and GEs were Continental-branded until the merger. I thought 77Ws were more long-haul international...