Starlink and Other Tales From Flying on Hawaiian (Trip Report)

Three days in Waikiki is not particularly relaxing. It’s fun, but it’s a city, and we wanted at least part of spring break to be more mellow. Since the best flight option we found home was from Līhuʻe on the Hawaiian nonstop to LAX for $270.70 (paid using Chase points), we had the beginnings of a plan. For the hop over to Līhuʻe, we had options. Of course, Hawaiian has flights all day long, and Southwest has several as well. We wanted to go in the morning to get more time on that island, so we just picked the 9:20am which was a mere 4,000 HawaiianMiles plus $5.60 per person.

We had checked in online for the interisland hop, but we had bought a couple boogie boards the kids wanted to check and weren’t sure how to handle that. So we went over to Terminal 1 and tried to figure that one out. At the customer service counter, the agent told us that we couldn’t tape the two boards together to make them one bag, but we also didn’t need any packaging. We would just have to check two separately. And then, I got annoyed… not with the agent but again this credit card policy….

I didn’t have the Alaska credit card when we bought these tickets, so there was no way I could have used it to purchase them. Had I done that, these bags would have been free. But even holding the Alaska card in my hand… no dice. So then, she asked if I had a HawaiianMiles number. Of course I did, but I was trying to earn on my Alaska account to make it easy to get elite status. But if I put in my HawaiianMiles number, the first bag would halve from $30 to $15. Ok, fine, so I ended up switching to my Hawaiian number. But nobody else in my family has one. Did they want to sign up? My second bag was just $20 so nobody wanted to deal with the hassle to save $5. I appreciated the agent trying to help with this, but my god this was a pain.

Once we finished with that saga, I still had to go take the boogie boards over to the bag check line, and then we went through TSA Precheck to find our gate.

These gates haven’t changed in forever, and I kind of like it that way. Though I did notice that the no-name awful Chinese fast food spot is now being Panda Express-ed.

But seating is strange since most of the gate area is higher up and you take a ramp to a lower level where the gates are. By the time they called our flight, we were slowly wandering over. They do not mess around. We were almost the last ones onboard because everyone else was ready.

Hawaiian 203
April 14, 2025

Onboard, I had to pause for a moment. You never know when your last flight on a Douglas-built airplane may be. I know they have more years to come at Hawaiian and Delta, but I still have to savor flying on a Long Beach-built airplane when I can. Coincidentally, this was the same airplane I took in 2019, the last time I departed from Līhuʻe.

We had reserved 2 in front of 2 on the port side of the aisle, and somehow all the bags fit in the overhead bins. The seat is not overly comfortable and it is it the tiniest tray table in the world, but it is such a short flight that it doesn’t matter.

Despite getting a late start, we pushed nearly on time. We had to taxi all the way out to the reef runway which meant the taxi was nearly as long as the flight. But at that time of day, there is no traffic, so we leapt into the sky and hung a right.

We topped out at 14,000 feet for a couple minutes, and then the flight attendants slung the best tasting juice in the world — POG — which I gulped down.

They came through to pick it up and soon Kauaʻi was in the window.

At baggage claim, I couldn’t help but notice the Target ad, basically suggesting it is the island’s savior by showing up. (And it kind of is.)

Our boogie boards were hand-delivered without a scratch. We dodged several of the island’s apex predators — chickens — and went off for a few days of exploration based at the Royal Sonesta (formerly Marriott) that I can’t recommend enough. Just look at that pool area….

And just like that, it was time to come home. The trade winds died on Wednesday making it humid, stuffy, and rainy the day we were leaving. Fortunately, one of the boogie boards snapped in a wave while the other was gifted to some of our friends who were also staying on the island for a couple more days. So, not having to check any bags, I was able to get boarding passes on my phone and not think about it again.

We dropped the rental car off and took the shuttle back to the terminal. The security lines were long, and there was only Precheck-lite where you had to hand the paper to the agent to walk through the metal detector.

On the other side, the kids grabbed some breakfast and we watched as the rain came down. Then it was time to head over to the crowded gate area which was boarding two flights at once.

For our flight, the scanners were down, so they had everyone tell the agent their seat numbers and she cross-referenced it with her list. Somehow, this worked.

Hawaiian 64
April 17, 2025

Onboard, the flight attendants were busy trying to help people with carry-ons.

Apparently some of the hard-sided bags don’t fit sideways, so they were moving things around up until we were ready to push. They were very talented at this game of Tetris. Meanwhile, the ramp was late adding bags in the belly, so we pushed a little late.

We got into the air, and make a quick right turn. Then we began to climb our way through the storminess.

It was a little rough for parts of the first hour when we still remained in a high overcast. The pilots had warned us that they would leave the seatbelt sign on, but the flight attendants did get up.

I took the pepperoni hot pocket and a glass of Koloa rum punch. I love that final drink before returning to reality. It’s the little things.

Then… Starlink. Listen, I know Elon is problematic, but my god is Starlink incredible. It was so fast. I even downloaded photos while writing this post, and it took less than a minute to pull in 1GB. I streamed a show on Hulu with ease. I just didn’t even know what to do with myself. It is such a different experience when you have this kind of speed:

The flight attendants did come through with water and some chocolate-covered macadamia nuts, but they still aren’t doing a second full beverage service. I think that went away during the pandemic.

This is not a short flight, and I don’t get it. Without a second beverage service, it feels really kind of cheap.

We slowly chugged our way east with a long flight time. The less uniform, tropical cumulus clouds gave way to the placid marine layer that hugs the coast.

As we got closer and the sun set, a thicker cloud formed, and we dove into it on our approach.

The flight attendant on the PA spent a whole lot of time talking to us in the cabin, and I think people were getting pretty annoyed. But there was one nugget of information. As we landed and taxied to our gate in the Bradley midfield concourse, we were told that in 5 short days on April 22, Hawaiian would move to Terminal 6 with Alaska. This is huge news considering just how long of a hike it is to get to those gates in Bradley.

We got in nearly half an hour late. I think someone needs to look at the block time on this flight, because it seems too short, at least at this time of year.

There were people waiting in the gate for the scheduled late turn to Honolulu. (I felt far worse for them once I checked later to find the plane must have broke and they didn’t leave until after 2am.)

Then we took a long walk to get out of the airport and back to the car. The pre-8pm arrival time on the West Coast is just about perfect. I was glad to be home, but as always, I missed Hawaiʻi about 5 seconds after landing.