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
From Honolulu
➤ Scheduled Departure: 920a
➤ Actual Departure: 921a
➤ From Gate: A17
➤ Wheels Up: 935a
➤ From Runway: 8R
To Līhuʻe
➤ Wheels Down: 955a
➤ On Runway: 35
➤ Scheduled Arrival: 1003a
➤ Actual Arrival: 1000a
➤ At Gate: 4
Aircraft
➤ Type: Boeing 717-2BD
➤ Delivered: December 16, 1998 (to Boeing)
➤ Registered: N489HA, msn 55002
➤ Livery: Maile Lei colors, “Po’ouli”
Flight
➤ Cabin: Coach in Seat 14A
➤ Load: ~99% Full
➤ Flight Time: 20m
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
From Līhuʻe
➤ Scheduled Departure: 1045a
➤ Actual Departure: 1056a
➤ From Gate: 3
➤ Wheels Up: 1109a
➤ From Runway: 35
To Los Angeles
➤ Wheels Down: 733p
➤ On Runway: 24R
➤ Scheduled Arrival: 715p
➤ Actual Arrival: 739p
➤ At Gate: 202
Aircraft
➤ Type: Airbus A321-271N
➤ Delivered: June 15, 2018
➤ Registered: N212HA, msn 8129
➤ Livery: Maile Lei colors
Flight
➤ Cabin: Coach in Seat 37A
➤ Load: ~99% Full
➤ Flight Time: 5h37m
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.
26 comments on “Starlink and Other Tales From Flying on Hawaiian (Trip Report)”
Always enjoy your trip reports, particularly when they involve Hawaii. Even though that makes me jealous!
Not having a second beverage service seems odd. Do the other airlines have that?
Moving to T6 is huge for Hawaiian. The airlines and their passengers stuck in that Bradley midfield concourse hell are really getting screwed.
Bill – Delta did on the way out, and United did when I flew to Honolulu last September. So it’s definitely not competitive.
Pretty sure we got 2 beverage services on Southwest last year too
I recently stayed at that Sonesta in Lihue and have more mixed feelings about it. Nice pool and beach area. (for swimming and for kids, but it’s a harbor beach with no sea life) , but it’s overpriced (what isn’t in Hawaii?) and relatively fun-less. There are basically no activities at the resort, and they try to nickel-and-dime guests for everything. I have platinum status in the Sonesta program (thanks status match!) but Sonesta allows their hotels to water down elite benefits if they like. On an award stay, we were supposed to get the resort fee waived, but I had to repeatedly remind/cajole the staff to do this. The “free breakfast” was so absurd it made me pine for breakfast at a Quality Inn. Think small bowl of instant oatmeal and a few pineapple squares. The welcome gift was six mini-cookies, quite the letdown from the giant gift baskets the Hawaii Hyatts bring us for our loyalty. And then there’s the $30/day parking fee (hard to avoid given the location of the property, but there were a few seemingly free spaces on the hill slope just off the east parking lot, and nobody bothered us). With tax, room-only rates at the Sonesta seem to start north of $600/night, and that feels batshit crazy to me for what you get.
BTW, Elon is only “problematic” if your tribal loyalties make you think he is. Nobody is perfect, but the world would be so much better off if there were more Elons.
“BTW, Elon is only “problematic” if your tribal loyalties make you think he is. Nobody is perfect, but the world would be so much better off if there were more Elons.”
Your comments were fine until you made that above remark about Elon & I’ll leave it at that.
Every liberal friend that I have now suddenly hates Elon, even though most of them previously loved him. I would submit that no rational human being would say his DOGE efforts are a net negative for the country. Just how effective they prove to be remains to be seen but, for at least for the time being, federal expenditures have significantly dropped and hardly anyone (except government employees and those dependent on their spending) has really noticed. Heck, I just visited several marquee national parks — the ones that were supposed to be having nightmare lines thanks to DOGE — and nothing changed.
It’s plainly obvious that if Biden had tasked Musk to do what he’s doing — just like Al Gore had been tasked to do basically the same thing — most liberals would be heartedly endorsing his efforts. It’s easy to deny that your opposition is tribal, but the facts speak for themselves. Especially in light of the off-the-charts TDS America has seen the past 5 years.
BTW, I’m getting the same vibes about DOT Secretary Duffy’s plan to rework our ATC system. I don’t know enough about the technology to know if his plan is good — the industry players seem to think so — but I do know the emerging opposition is far more political than substantive. Such behavior isn’t good for the country, especially when the issue shouldn’t be remotely political.
I have to disagree with you on Elon, at least in part – with DOGE, it’s not the “what he’s doing” so much as the “how he’s doing it”. (Or “how he was doing it”, since he’s downgrading his involvement.) The randomness, the ignoring of Congress’ “power of the purse”, the sheer performative cruelty of the speed of the layoffs, and the blatant violations of data security are problematic regardless of who’s doing it.
As a person, Elon also has some problematic beliefs, particularly the bizarre natalism, complete with offers to impregnate women more or less at random – there’s more than a whiff of eugenics about it all. (If he names one of his offspring “Khan” I’m getting worried.)
Getting back to aviation: as for Duffy, he really hasn’t had enough time in post to make much of a difference, and even I (as someone who generally opposes Trump’s policies) have defended him a bit. Rep. Lieu took a shot at him on Bluesky insinuating that the DC crash was more-or-less on him and I thought that was over the top. We’ll have to see his proposals in detail. I still think the best way to go is to just get on with an American version of NavCanada, but that’s just me.
iahphx – That’s interesting about the welcome gift, because I am not elite but I am a travel agent and they brought us a nice fruit basket. The rates were definitely not at $600 a night when we were there, though I was on an agent rate. It’s still significantly cheaper than big resorts on other islands. I didn’t eat breakfast there, so I can’t speak to that. But the pool was great, and the beach was as well. I’m not sure what “sea life”
you were hoping for, but for me it was all about kids and they loved the space. But most importantly to me in all of this is that the room sizes were really big, key for a 4 person family, and the central location makes it so much easier to explore all parts of the island versus staying in Po?ip? or Princeville. It’s a great base of operations, and it’s even better when you drag the kids back from an adventure and they have a big pool to play in.
As for Elon, we could have an objective discussion about why he’s problematic but since you’ve already decided the only way to find problems with Elon is to have tribal loyalties, I’m not going to engage.
Lihue is certainly a convenient spot from which to tour Kauai, since it is smack in the middle of the reverse “C” that mostly circles the island. Most people LOVE the sea life on Kauai’s beaches and that greatly influences their choice of destinations. Like in nearby Poipu (25 minutes away) you are usually greeted by sea turtles and dolphins in the morning, with a giant monk seal often sunning itself on the beach. There are also corals and tropical fish to see and, in March, whales are frequently spotted. You won’t see any of that on the Sonesta’s harbor beach. That said, the Sonesta beach is pretty and very swimable, and the beach area by the hotel is well landscaped and comfortable. My room (supposedly an upgrade as a Platinum member) was pretty standard-issue hotel size. With a family, I much prefer a condo or timeshare (assuming a suite at the Grand Hyatt is unobtainable). Club Wyndham offers some very good deals on huge, well-appointed condos (with limited availability) to Wyndham Rewards members; not sure if they’re interested in courting travel agents. Speaking of travel agents, I don’t blame this hotel for taking better care of you than me: your business is (at least theoretically) worth way more to them. The throngs of loyalty travellers cashing out their points in Hawaii seems more a cost center to the hotels than a benefit to them.
I agree with Sean, the trip report was coming along great and comments were fine until you mentioned Elon which I felt was unnecessary.
“BTW, Elon is only “problematic” if your tribal loyalties make you think he is. Nobody is perfect, but the world would be so much better off if there were more Elons.”
I was going to comment something similar. The great review was marred by an unnecessarily gratuitous remark expressing an opinion that is sure to annoy 50% of the population.
Thank you for that, but with Elon’s toxicity it is way above 50% right now.
Americans are unrelentingly assaulted by the liberal controlled, anti-Musk media. There are no stories about the insane and unsustainable deficit spending by the government that urgently needs to be corrected. I am certain that, in time, Americans will better appreciate Musk’s efforts to curtail waste and fraud in the government, just like they appreciate the other efforts Musk has made that have improved our civilization. BTW, I have never heard a liberal apologize for the way they treated Musk’s Twitter purchase, which almost single-handedly saved free speech in social media. It’s those darn tribal loyalties that keep getting in the way of rational perspective.
iahphx – Be very careful here. You have decided you know the answer to everything and that if anyone disagrees it is simply tribal loyalty. I can have a rational discussion about my problems with Elon Musk and his approach to DOGE as well as what he has done with Twitter with anyone who is open to it (not here, this is an airline site). Your tone makes it clear you have no interest in a rational discussion because you have the only answer that matters. I will not allow much more of this discussion on thread with that kind of tone.
The second beverage service really makes or breaks a long flight. The lack of it is one thing I noticed when flying transcon on JetBlue (vs the big 3). 4 hours into a flight, a second round of drinks can really ease the rest of the flight. Yes, there is certainly a cost of doing it, but it is also a second round of opportunity to sell some snacks and premium drinks.
“this was the same airplane I took in 2019, the last time I departed from L?hu?e”
How are you tracking this?
Also no TVs on the HA 321s? Not as bad as the UA 772s, but a more recent decision…
emac – Oh, well, see, I’m a huge nerd. I’ve kept a flight log since 1994 with all the aircraft I’ve flown. At some point I moved it over to a spreadsheet so I could easily see what I’ve flown.
And yes, the 321s haven’t had TVs since the beginning. It is actually more consistent with how Alaska views onboard product, so I doubt it changes.
But with Starlink, I mean, you don’t really need anything else.
Your flight log inspired me to start one last year. Right now, it’s just on the “Notes” app on my iPhone, but I’m about to convert it over to a spreadsheet. I wish mine went back to 1994, jealous! You should do a post on your log, give stats like longest flight, most common aircraft type, etc., think of all the graphs!
JB – Hmm, that would be kind of fun…
Cranky, as always, your trip reports are entertaining and informative. Thank you for taking time to write and publish these posts.
Today’s report reminded me of Alaska’s commitment to retain both brand identities, which I assume includes liveries. (Though I haven’t kept a close eye on the assimilation process.) Considering fleet utilization, fleet rotations based on seasons, and/or changes in demand, I assume we’ll see some routes on Hawaiian metal that fly between mainland cities?
I think I read somewhere that one of Hawaiian’s Tokyo slots was moving from HNL flight to SEA flight.
Doesn’t seem to be an issue operationally, more of a curiosity.
Yes they are launching Seattle to Tokyo in four days! It’s being marketed as Hawaiian for now, but will switch to Alaska eventually.
cactusneedle – Yes, but all the mainland flying is temporary. Basically, anything touching Hawai?i will be Hawaiian branded whereas anything else is Alaska. At least, that has been the plan. So for now it’s just kind of about matching up capacity with demand. That’s why Hawaiian will be flying some Seattle – Anchorage flights this summer. Eventually, the branding work will be more sensisble.
The Alaska credit card bag policy has gotten stricter, I used to be able to do some trickery by using my card to book for family and get a bag free for them or flash the card to get the bag checked for free but no more.
Having spent an enormous amount of time on Kauai during countless trips (because I have a ton of family there), I understand the Target sentiment.
There aren’t many shopping opportunities for locals on Kauai. The tourist traps are only for tourists. And the “mall” has always been lackluster at best. Plus, high prices for everyone, tourist or local, are enough to make mainlanders dizzy. And just wait until the tariffs kick in.
For many years. It was Sears and K-Mart. Then when both were gone, it was only WalMart. So, while Target is another big box discount store, it offers something that people on Kauai don’t get much of: choice.
Target’s been on Kauai since 2021. Another big box store is certainly good in a place where most things are expensive and choice is limited. I assume their revenues are a tiny fraction of Costco’s, which is pretty much THE place to shop if you live in Hawaii, as you basically get mainland pricing on lots of food and merchandise. Personally, if I lived year-round on Kauai, I think Costco, Walmart and Safeway would get the lion’s share of my local spending. Target would almost be an after-thought.
“the no-name awful Chinese fast food spot is now being Panda Express-ed.”
So it’s going from awful with no name to awful with a name. Or maybe not “awful”, just incredibly bland. It’s not even the Taco Bell of Chinese food, that’d be a step up. (Their spring rolls are pretty good, though.)
Nice report!