Travel like a champ on the most comfortable flights and save up to 33% with the best fares, too
Last month we wrote about the three Cs of travel: cost, comfort, and convenience, and how getting two out of three for premium travel ain’t bad (hey, if it’s not premium travel you can rule out comfort every time).In this report, we score all three Cs on a Hawaiian vacation. I’m talking about beautiful, big, comfy, internationally configured Domestic Business Class seats combined with a package deal that’s destined to make your next Hawaiian getaway one to remember.
Extend Your Vacation Without Telling Anyone
Vacations are precious. As far as I’m concerned, the flights to and from your vacation are part of the vacation itself. They can either add to it or detract from it. A nice comfortable widebody flight means your vacation starts at the airport, not on the beaches of Hawaii. In effect, a great flying experience adds two days to your holiday. Conversely, a bad flying experience leaves a bad taste in your mouth either at the beginning or the end (or both) when you should be arriving back home refreshed.Unfortunately, finding a widebody aircraft to Hawaii is harder now than ever.
What Happened to the Comfy Seats to Hawaii?
There were many more widebody flights to Hawaii this time last year. American Airlines had five then, but now they only have two (Dallas to Honolulu and Maui). Delta had 11, but now they only have seven (Atlanta, Los Angeles, Minneapolis, Salt Lake City, and Seattle to Honolulu, and Los Angeles or Seattle to Maui). United had 16, but now they have 10 (Chicago, Denver, Houston, Los Angeles, Newark, San Francisco to Honolulu; Chicago to Kona; Chicago, Denver, and San Francisco to Maui.)That’s a 40% decrease in widebody flights to Hawaii. Why? Because airlines are shifting aircraft to fast-growing international routes and away from former domestic routes that ruled when there was little demand for international flights due to The Lockdown.
So we thought we’d give you the ultimate Hawaiian vacation gift: a comprehensive guide to current widebody flights to paradise, COMBINED WITH a fantastic deluxe package deal.
About the Seats
Currently there are 12 nonstop routes from the U.S. mainland to Honolulu, six to Maui, and one to Kona with widebody aircraft. If you don’t fly in these aircraft, you will get a relatively crappy seat on all other flights.Widebody Aircraft Configuration by Airline
[table_opt id="6663" style="gray-header" header_rows="1" width="default" alignment="thcenter" heading="thcenter" rows="tdcenter" responsive="no" /]American Wide-Body Opportunities U.S. to Hawaii
American is primarily using the B777-200, 787-800, and the 787-900 to Honolulu and Maui. [table_opt id="6664" style="gray-header" header_rows="1" width="default" alignment="thcenter" heading="thcenter" rows="tdcenter" responsive="no" /]Delta Wide-Body Opportunities U.S. to Hawaii
Delta is primarily using their A330, A359 and B767 to Honolulu and A330 to Maui routes.[table_opt id="6665" style="gray-header" header_rows="1" width="default" alignment="thcenter" heading="thcenter" rows="tdcenter" responsive="no" /]
United Wide-Body Opportunities U.S. to Hawaii
United is primarily using the B767 on Newark-Honolulu routes, B777 on Denver, Houston, Los Angeles, and San Francisco to Honolulu and Denver- and San Francisco-Maui routes, and B787 on Chicago-Honolulu, -Kona and -Maui routes.[table_opt id="6666" style="gray-header" header_rows="1" width="default" alignment="thcenter" heading="thcenter" rows="tdcenter" responsive="no" /]
Savings on Widebody Hawaii Vacation Package Deals
Now, let’s take a look at the vacation packages to Hawaii that, when combined with those beautiful comfortable widebody cabins, mean you’ll be enjoying palm tree-swaying luxury and volcanic value. For example, hula your way from San Francisco to Maui on a 777 before staying at the Ritz Carlton. If you were to separate airfare and accommodation for two travelers, you’d pay a total of $13,534 for five nights. However, if you combine the flight and hotel into a package deal, you’d only pay $10,842, for a savings of $2,692, or 20%. The chart below details a range of packages to both Honolulu and Maui from a range of U.S. cities on the big three carriers. And all with multi-thousands of dollars in savings.Sample Package Price
Cost When Priced Separately
Sample Deals on Widebody Hawaii Vacation Packages
[table_opt id="6667" style="gray-header" header_rows="1" width="wide" alignment="thcenter" heading="thcenter" rows="tdcenter" responsive="no" /]
[["Airline","Aircraft","Version","Number of Seats","Seat Width"],["\n\n\n\n\n\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.aa.com\/i18n\/travel-info\/experience\/planes\/planes.jsp\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">American<\/a>","B777-200","\n\n1","37","21.9"],["#rowspan#","\n\nB787-800","#rowspan#","20","\n\n\n\n21"],["#rowspan#","#rowspan#","2","28","#rowspan#"],["#rowspan#","B787-900","\n\n1","30","#rowspan#"],["\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.delta.com\/us\/en\/aircraft\/overview\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Delta<\/a>","B767-300ER (K)","#rowspan#","26","\n\n\n\n\n\n20.5"],["#rowspan#","B767-300ER (L)","2","36","#rowspan#"],["#rowspan#","B767-300ER (Z)","3","26","#rowspan#"],["#rowspan#","B767-400ER","1","40","#rowspan#"],["#rowspan#","B767-400ER","2","34","19.9-20"],["#rowspan#","A330--200","\n\n\n\n\n\n1","34","\n\n19.7"],["#rowspan#","A330--300","#rowspan#","34","#rowspan#"],["#rowspan#","A330--900","#rowspan#","29","22.5"],["#rowspan#","A350-900","#rowspan#","32","20.46"],["\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.united.com\/ual\/en\/us\/fly\/travel\/inflight\/united-airlines-fleet.html\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">United<\/a>","B777-300ER (77W)","1","60","22"],["#rowspan#","\n\nB767-300","1","30","\n\n\n\n20.6"],["#rowspan#","#rowspan#","2","46","#rowspan#"],["#rowspan#","B767-400","\n\n1","39","#rowspan#"],["#rowspan#","B787-800","#rowspan#","28","20.5"],["#rowspan#","\n\nB787-900","1","48","20.6"],["#rowspan#","#rowspan#","2","48","\n\n20.5"],["#rowspan#","B787-10","1","44","#rowspan#"]]
<small>*Aircraft subject to change</small>
[["Travel Between","Flight numbers*","Aircraft","Return","Aircraft"],["\n\n\n\nDallas and Honolulu","AA0123","B777-200","AA0102","B777-200"],["#rowspan#","AA0115, AA0124","B787-800","AA0102, AA0115","B787-800"],["#rowspan#","AA0005, AA0115, AA0123","B787-900","AA0008, AA0102, AA0115","B787-900"],["\n\nDallas and Maui","AA119","B787-800","AA116","B787-800"],["#rowspan#","AA119, AA007","B787-900","AA116, AA006","B787-900"]]
<small>* Schedule through October 31. Flight number and aircraft subject to change.</small>
[["Travel Between","Flight numbers*","Aircraft","Return","Aircraft"],["\n\nAtlanta - Honolulu","DL1264","B767","\n\nDL0836","\n\nB767"],["#rowspan#","DL0837","A359","#rowspan#","#rowspan#"],["Los Angeles - Honolulu","DL0330, DL0443, DL0480","B767","DL0331, DL0368, DL0495","B767"],["Los Angeles - Maui","DL0443, DL0448, DL0462","A330","DL1031, DL0448, DL0355","A330"],["Minneapolis - Honolulu","DL0435***","\n\nB767","DL0788***","\n\nB767"],["Salt Lake City - Honolulu","DL0397","#rowspan#","DL0347","#rowspan#"],["Seattle - Honolulu","DL2874, DL2932, DL0450","A330","DL0440**","A330"],["Seattle - Maui","DL0169","A330-NE","DL1708","A330-NE"]]
<small>* Schedule through October 31. Flight number and aircraft subject to change. ** No Service on Fri. *** No service on Mon., Tue.</small>
[["Travel Between","Flight numbers*","Aircraft","Return","Aircraft"],["Chicago - Honolulu","UA219","\n\n\n\nB787","UA218","\n\n\n\nB787"],["Chicago - Kona","UA66**","#rowspan#","UA67**","#rowspan#"],["Chicago - Maui","UA202***","#rowspan#","UA348***","#rowspan#"],["Denver - Honolulu","UA384","\n\n\n\n\n\nB777","UA383","\n\n\n\n\n\nB777"],["Denver - Maui","UA1736****","#rowspan#","UA1430****","#rowspan#"],["Houston - Honolulu","UA253","#rowspan#","UA252","#rowspan#"],["Los Angeles - Honolulu","UA1158, UA1170","#rowspan#","UA534, UA1231, UA1636","#rowspan#"],["Newark - Honolulu","UA363","B767","UA362","B767"],["San Francisco - Honolulu","UA300, UA1175, UA1509, UA2380","\n\nB777","UA372, UA396, UA1141","\n\nB777"],["San Francisco - Maui","UA1273, UA1725","#rowspan#","UA1722","#rowspan#"]]
<small>* Schedule through October 31. Flight number and aircraft subject to change. **Saturday service only; ***No service Tue., Wed.; ****Service on Sun., Mon. only.</small>
[["\n\nAirline","\n\nRoute","Air Only (Lowest Advance Fare 2 people)","\n\nHotel","\n\nHotel Price","Air Ticket + Hotel Booked Separate","Package Price (Non-stop Air + 5 Nights Hotel)","\n\nSupplier","\n\nSavings","#colspan#"],["\n\n\nAmerican","Dallas-Honolulu","$7,591","Espacio Luxury Suite","$20,643","$28,234","$20,436","\n\n\n\n\nOrbitz","$7,798","28%"],["#rowspan#","Dallas - Maui","$8,591","Ritz Carlton, King","$12,909","$21,500","$17,016","#rowspan#","$4,484","21%"],["\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nDelta","Los Angeles - Maui","$3,754","Ritz Carlton, King","$10,256","$14,010","$9,423","#rowspan#","$4,587","33%"],["#rowspan#","Atlanta - Honolulu","$10,299","Royal Hawaiian, King","$2,954","$13,253","$9,580","\n\n\n\n\n\nDelta Vacations","$3,673","28%"],["#rowspan#","Salt Lake City - Honolulu","$5,798","Ritz Carlton, King","$3,686","$9,484","$6,862","#rowspan#","$2,622","28%"],["#rowspan#","Seattle - Maui","$4,374","Wailea Beach Resort, King","$10,590","$14,964","$11,118","#rowspan#","$3,846","26%"],["\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nUnited","Los Angeles - Honolulu","$3,106","Prince Waikiki, King","$2,866","$5,972","$4,484","\n\n\n\n\n\n\nOrbitz","$1,488","25%"],["#rowspan#","San Francisco - Honolulu","$2,666","Four Seasons, Resort Oahu, King","$6,795","$9,461","$7,694","#rowspan#","$1,766","19%"],["#rowspan#","San Francisco - Maui","$5,656","Ritz Carlton, King","$7,878","$13,534","$10,842","#rowspan#","$2,692","20%"],["#rowspan#","Chicago - Maui","$14,198","Wailea Beach Resort, King","$7,743","$21,941","$17,318","\n\n\nUnited Vacations","$4,623","21%"],["#rowspan#","Denver - Maui","$12,598","Wailea Beach Resort, King","$9,716","$22,314","$17,627","#rowspan#","$4,687","21%"]]
<small>Package prices valid at time of publication and are subject to change.</small>