Topic Wiki

Please post your questions in the correct thread. This thread, as the title clearly states, is for general Hawaii questions only.

If you have any questions that pertains to a particular island, post it in the appropriate island thread. See below for links to all island threads.

You'd get far better answers there, and chances are that your issue was already discussed at length too.

DansMeals: Hawaii For The Kosher Traveler:
-Part 1: General Info And The Island Of Oahu
-Part 2: The Big Island of Hawaii
-Part 3: Maui
-Part 4: Kauai

Related DD Posts:
-Ultimate Hawaii Mileage Chart and Everything You Need to Know About the Hawaiian Islands (2015)
-Trip Notes: Maui No Ka ‘Oi (2014)
-Trip Notes Kauai: Heaven On Earth (2014)
-The Hawaiian Islands. (2011)
-Traveling To Hawaii…With A 5 Month Old (2011)
-View From The Room (2011)
-Pearl Harbor…70 Years (2011)
-Shaloha! (2011)
-Hawaii Trip Notes: Kauai (2009)
-Hawaii Trip Notes: Oahu (2009)
-Which Miles To Use To Fly To Hawaii?

Related DDF Destination Threads:
-Big Island Of Hawaii Master Thread
-Kauai Master Thread
-Maui Master Thread
-Oahu Master Thread
-Lanai, Molokai, and Niihau, Hawaii Master Thread

Background on Hawaiian Islands
You've probably heard of Honolulu. That's the state capital and is located on island of Oahu, the main island with the largest airport. Honolulu hosts the famous Waikiki Beach and if you look at pictures, it looks like Miami. One long beach with a strip of hotels. Most DDFers say to go to one of the other 3 main islands which are less touristy and the hotels are more spread out. In no particular order, the other islands are Maui, Kauai and Hawaii (yes, that's the name of one of the islands. It's also known as The Big Island - confusing because Big Island sounds like it's the "Main Island", but Oahu is the main island). Direct flights from NYC only go to HNL. You can get direct flights from other cities (LAX, SFO, OAK, SJC, SAN, DEN, DFW, PHX, SEA, ORD as examples) to the other islands. Hawaii is amazing - have fun! The main airport codes are:
Oahu: HNL
Maui: OGG
Kauai: LIH
The Big Island: KOA, ITO (2 airports on 2 different sides of the island)

Interisland flights:
Hawaiian is the main interisland carrier and flies HNL, LIH, OGG, KOA, and ITO. They have countless flights each day and are nearly always on time - often even early. Never book a tight connection hoping that the interisland flight will be delayed.

Go and Island Air fly from HNL. Mokulele flies from HNL and KOA, as well as to Kapalua (JHM), Hana (HNM), Molokai (MKK), Lanai (LNY), and Waimea-Kohala (MUE) on the Big Island. Hawaiian's subsidiary Ohana flies HNL to MKK and LNY.

You can also use 5k AA, 6k UA or 7.5k HA miles each way to fly interisland. You can use 15k DL pesos for a RT interisland. United allows a free stopover on a round-trip, so for instance you can fly HNL-LIH-OGG-HNL for just 12K miles.
HA has several tiers, similar to DL, the lowest tier is the only one that's available using partner miles, but with HA miles you can purchase tickets that are otherwise unavailable for additional miles.

@Yehuda's thoughts on deciding between Kauai and Maui:
Here's a list of the main activities on both islands. Decide what interests you, and then you'll know where to go.

Kauai has what many say to be one of the best hikes in the world - Kalalau Trail. Most people will only do the first part, but it's still very highly regarded. The views atop Waimea Canyon are breathtaking, yet Maui also has breathtaking views at Haleakala. Kauai also has some supposedly awesome off-roading on Miloli'i Ridge Road. Sunset at the 12-mile long Polihale Beach is supposed to be quite the sunset. A helicopter tour of Kauai is generally said to be much better than a heli tour of Maui. If the water is calm, Queen's Bath, which is a natural pool in the ocean you can swim in that's protected from the ocean's force by hardened lava, is SICK, but Maui has the same thing by the Olivine Pools. Kayaking down the Wailua River to "Secret Falls" is supposed to be great as well. Of course, the luxurious, tropical amazingness of the Grand Hyatt Kauai is a huge boost for Kauai, except for its beach, but the great Po'ipu Beach is 5 minutes away.

Maui has the Road to Hana, which is an incredible drive through what feels like a rainforest with tons of opportunities to take small hikes to waterfalls and pools. It's just wow wow wow. Sunrise at the top Haleakala is not to be missed. A boat trip to snorkel by Molokini Crater offers what is supposedly some of the best snorkeling visibility in the world. Warren & Annabelle's Magic Show is supposed to be a great night out. The hotels are also magical, perhaps to a lesser degree than GHK, but the beaches by the main hotels are a big plus over GHK's beach. EDIT: The Grand Wailea in Maui is a gorgeous hotel that rivals the GHK (and its lazy river actually moves as opposed to GHK's ). Add in the fact that its beach (Wailea Beach) is swimmable and doesn't require the albeit short drive to Po'ipu Beach that the GHK does, I'm not sure that the GHK should be a reason enough to tip the scales in favor of Kauai over Maui anymore.

So, pick the types of activities you'd want to do and then you'll have your island. I personally liked Maui better mostly because of the Road to Hana, but to be fair, I did miss out on the Kalalau Trail in Kauai due to weather.
« Last edited by jj1000 on December 25, 2023, 10:30:33 AM »

Author Topic: Hawaii Master Thread: General Questions And Which Island To Visit?  (Read 485046 times)

Offline skyguy918

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Re: Hawaii Master Thread: General Questions And Which Island To Visit?
« Reply #860 on: July 22, 2014, 10:07:12 AM »
Objects in water appear 34% closer and 25% larger than they really are, so if your prescription is not too high you may not need anything (this works for me personally). Otherwise you could get prescription lenses for most masks, they run around $30 or so IIRC. Some rental shops also rent prescription masks.
Unfortunately, I'm well beyond the water effect making up for my prescription  ;D

I'm not sure I would spend money on this beforehand, as I've never snorkeled in my life and I don't know how much I'll like it or whether I'll want to spend significant time doing it. I'll be at the Kea Lani, so I figured I'd try it out with the 1-hour free rental they have there, and if I'm comfortable doing so, then I'd book a snorkeling tour of some sort. But that would mean using their (most likely) non-prescription mask.

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Re: Hawaii Master Thread: General Questions And Which Island To Visit?
« Reply #861 on: July 22, 2014, 10:11:30 AM »
Check the book, he mentions a couple of places that have rx masks.
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Offline Dan

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Re: Hawaii Master Thread: General Questions And Which Island To Visit?
« Reply #862 on: July 22, 2014, 10:45:38 AM »
Get a free sample of contacts from an optometrist?
Save your time, I don't answer PM. Post it in the forum and a dedicated DDF'er will get back to you as soon as possible.

Offline Joe4007

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Re: Hawaii Master Thread: General Questions And Which Island To Visit?
« Reply #863 on: July 22, 2014, 10:52:00 AM »
Objects in water appear 34% closer and 25% larger than they really are, so if your prescription is not too high you may not need anything (this works for me personally). Otherwise you could get prescription lenses for most masks, they run around $30 or so IIRC. Some rental shops also rent prescription masks.
Approx what number do you have on your prescription?

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Re: Hawaii Master Thread: General Questions And Which Island To Visit?
« Reply #864 on: July 22, 2014, 11:49:29 AM »
Approx what number do you have on your prescription?

I think something like 1.5 -1.75, nothing too major.
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Offline skyguy918

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Re: Hawaii Master Thread: General Questions And Which Island To Visit?
« Reply #865 on: July 22, 2014, 12:28:06 PM »
Check the book, he mentions a couple of places that have rx masks.
Thanks.
Get a free sample of contacts from an optometrist?
Not a bad idea, if only as a backup.

Offline Ergel

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Re: Hawaii Master Thread: General Questions And Which Island To Visit?
« Reply #866 on: July 22, 2014, 12:30:19 PM »
Not so simple just to start trying contacts. It'll take you 1/2 hour to get them in the first time. And you won't necessarily acclimate to them well...
Life isn't about checking the boxes. Nobody cares.

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Re: Hawaii Master Thread: General Questions And Which Island To Visit?
« Reply #867 on: July 22, 2014, 11:17:50 PM »
Flying Delta first class from JFK-LAX and economy LAX-HNL and HNL - LIH

Delta claims that I will get 2 free checked bags up to 70lbs.
But nobody at Delta seems to be able to answer the following question.
If I am sending my luggage from JFK straight to LIH,  will I get free checked bags on my last leg (HNL-LIH with a different airline). And vice versa I am starting my first leg in economy with a different airline and ending off first class with Delta, will I get free checked bags all the way through.
Thanks

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Re: Hawaii Master Thread: General Questions And Which Island To Visit?
« Reply #868 on: July 22, 2014, 11:22:39 PM »
Flying Delta first class from JFK-LAX and economy LAX-HNL and HNL - LIH

Delta claims that I will get 2 free checked bags up to 70lbs.
But nobody at Delta seems to be able to answer the following question.
If I am sending my luggage from JFK straight to LIH,  will I get free checked bags on my last leg (HNL-LIH with a different airline). And vice versa I am starting my first leg in economy with a different airline and ending off first class with Delta, will I get free checked bags all the way through.
Thanks

It always goes according to the first flight. If your bags are checked all the way to LIH, you'll get them for free. On the way back you'll have to pay for luggage since your first leg is in economy.
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Re: Hawaii Master Thread: General Questions And Which Island To Visit?
« Reply #869 on: July 23, 2014, 12:06:07 AM »
It always goes according to the first flight. If your bags are checked all the way to LIH, you'll get them for free. On the way back you'll have to pay for luggage since your first leg is in economy.
thank you!
does that include an inter-island flight that was booked on a completely separate site and separate itinerary?
has anyone done this personally? me and mo are in the same boat but cant get anyone in delta to give definitive answer or even to put in writing...

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Re: Hawaii Master Thread: General Questions And Which Island To Visit?
« Reply #870 on: July 23, 2014, 12:18:12 AM »
thank you!
does that include an inter-island flight that was booked on a completely separate site and separate itinerary?
has anyone done this personally? me and mo are in the same boat but cant get anyone in delta to give definitive answer or even to put in writing...

Print out both itineraries and ask the check-in agent at the airport to check your bags to your final destination. Should not be a problem.

ETA: Officially Hawaiian doesn't interline baggage anymore, but IIUC if it comes tagged to the final destination they'll send it on.
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Re: Hawaii Master Thread: General Questions And Which Island To Visit?
« Reply #871 on: July 23, 2014, 02:06:12 AM »
Snorkel Bob rents them for like 2 dollars extra. I'm -8 and it works great! They have multiples of every prescription.

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Re: Hawaii Master Thread: General Questions And Which Island To Visit?
« Reply #872 on: July 23, 2014, 09:53:17 AM »

thank you!
does that include an inter-island flight that was booked on a completely separate site and separate itinerary?
has anyone done this personally? me and mo are in the same boat but cant get anyone in delta to give definitive answer or even to put in writing...

Just did it this month.  Delta transferring to Hawaiian for the HNL-OGG leg and Hawaiian from LIH-HNL an then transferring to Delta back to JFK.

Hawaiian flights were booked separately and I just gave the agent both itineraries an they did it without a problem. 

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Re: Hawaii Master Thread: General Questions And Which Island To Visit?
« Reply #873 on: July 23, 2014, 10:54:49 AM »
Just did it this month.  Delta transferring to Hawaiian for the HNL-OGG leg and Hawaiian from LIH-HNL an then transferring to Delta back to JFK.

Hawaiian flights were booked separately and I just gave the agent both itineraries an they did it without a problem.
perfect! thank you!
does anyone know if the same applies for island air?

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Re: Hawaii Master Thread: General Questions And Which Island To Visit?
« Reply #874 on: July 23, 2014, 10:56:08 AM »
Does anyone know typical response time from JJ@dansdeals.com for inter-island flights? i emailed him almost a week ago w/ no response. JJ, are you there?? maybe someone can tell me if he's on vacation or something like that......

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Re: Hawaii Master Thread: General Questions And Which Island To Visit?
« Reply #875 on: July 23, 2014, 11:04:08 AM »
perfect! thank you!
does anyone know if the same applies for island air?

It should.
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Re: Hawaii Master Thread: General Questions And Which Island To Visit?
« Reply #876 on: July 27, 2014, 04:17:08 PM »
United didn't change the mainland to Hawaii saver prices when they devalued. The layflat seats on the EWR-HNL route are still 40k each way in saver business (there's no first class on the 767-400ER).

As for availability, all things are possible through Dan. Thanks to Plan B, I've got 3/4 flights in saver business, and I'm pretty confident that the last one will work out too.

Are they EWR to HNL Business Seats LayFlat? did something change? I went in Sep 2012. and it wasn't.

Also Am I doing something wrong? I cannot seem to find any flight saver or standard from IAD to HNL

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Re: Hawaii Master Thread: General Questions And Which Island To Visit?
« Reply #877 on: July 31, 2014, 01:50:09 PM »
I had JFK-MSP-SFO-HNL and HNL-LAX-MSP-JFK. The outbound had changes that added more than 90 minutes to total flight time, and they let me change it to JFK-LAX-HNL. Side bonus is that originally only JFK-MSP was in M (economy comfort), and now it's JFK-LAX in M. Small comfort for someone who made the mistake of not booking this glitch in business or first. The changes to the return actually shortened the total trip time and they wouldn't let me change it, but the logistics work out that I end up with similar timing anyway.

I couldn't get any traction at all trying to get it changed to go all the way to OGG. So now I'm arriving in HNL at 2:05 and still need to get to OGG. What's the earliest time I can feel comfortable booking HNL-OGG if my bags are checked all the way through? And how about if I want to go see Pearl Harbor before continuing to OGG?
This has been discussed multiple times in the general Hawaii thread.
Okay, so I see Hawaiian says 65 minutes for this connection (link). But is that with or without having to pick up and recheck luggage?

Reading through the thread a little and looking at info from the Pearl Harbor website, it seems like I'd be much better off taking the first flight to OGG on the inbound, and going back to HNL as early in the morning as possible to do Pearl Harbor on the outbound. Is it crazy to divert half a day of my 4.5 days in Maui for Pearl Harbor? Not really sure yet what I'd be doing during that time in Maui otherwise.

http://help.hawaiianairlines.com/help/Pages/Interline-Baggage-Statement.aspx
I've seen that before, but it seems like there's a lot of anecdotal evidence on DDF and elsewhere that practically speaking if I get them to tag it for OGG at JFK, they'll send it on and I won't have to pick up and re-check the luggage.

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Re: Hawaii Master Thread: General Questions And Which Island To Visit?
« Reply #878 on: July 31, 2014, 02:25:30 PM »

I've seen that before, but it seems like there's a lot of anecdotal evidence on DDF and elsewhere that practically speaking if I get them to tag it for OGG at JFK, they'll send it on and I won't have to pick up and re-check the luggage.


Their official rules are that they will no longer allow that:  "In the past, we often allowed customers to through-check baggage for connections booked on separate tickets as a courtesy. However, the associated customer service challenges have prompted us to discontinue this practice, effective June 1, 2012. "

I personally left 2 hours in HNL before my flight to OGG. I will try my luck in JFK with having my luggage checked through all the way to OGG but not counting on it.

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Re: Hawaii Master Thread: General Questions And Which Island To Visit?
« Reply #879 on: July 31, 2014, 03:13:34 PM »
Their official rules are that they will no longer allow that:  "In the past, we often allowed customers to through-check baggage for connections booked on separate tickets as a courtesy. However, the associated customer service challenges have prompted us to discontinue this practice, effective June 1, 2012. "

I personally left 2 hours in HNL before my flight to OGG. I will try my luck in JFK with having my luggage checked through all the way to OGG but not counting on it.
As I said, everyone I've seen who has posted about actually trying it has written that HA sent the luggage on through, even post-6/1/2012.