When Southwest Airlines put its long-awaited tickets for flights to Hawaii on sale, it apparently made a scheduling error that makes it difficult to purchase tickets back to anywhere in the U.S. except the West Coast.
Passengers found plenty of seats to book from anywhere, including a change of planes in Oakland or San Jose for the final leg to Hawaii, but passengers heading home to most of the U.S. found no return flights on sale. Exceptions, other than the two California cities were Las Vegas, Denver, Portland and Seattler.
Turns out that Southwest’s flights from Hawaii, so far, land starting at 5:20 pm, and the last flights out to eastern destinations have already left by then. No flights until the next day for Chicago, Baltimore, New York, and other midwest and East Coast destinations. The only solution: book a flight from Hawaii to California, and separately book a next-day flight home.
Perhaps once Southwest ramps up its Hawaii schedules—it’s expected to be the airline’s biggest growth area this year—the problem will resolve. In the meantime, most other airlines have red-eye flights available, leaving Hawaii late at night and arriving in time for daytime transfers.
