What time of day do you fly home from Hawaii? east coast question

[scottmel]

Can't decide what is best time of day to LEAVE Hawaii for a return flight to the east coast. What do you guys normally do>

 

[Midoria]

I buy whatever is the cheapest and NOT on United or American Air.

 

[scottmel]

I buy whatever is the cheapest and NOT on United or American Air.

Thx had planned on delta bc of points. Why not united or aa?

 

[buffettgirl]

since I live here it's a bit different, but "home" is the east coast, so we fly there often. I usually go for the latest flight of the day unless there is something significantly cheaper. I generally fly delta. For me, being able to sleep overnight makes the flight go by faster and I feel like I have less jet lag.

 

[Midoria]

Thx had planned on delta bc of points. Why not united or aa?

I had horrible service from both airlines in the past and have given up. I flew Delta from Honolulu to New York a few months ago and I loved it. The food was really good and the entertainment package was awesome.

 

[DieHardJoe]

We have only been once (in May) but for us there was never a second thought - Mid-late morning flight to LA (could have been San Diego or SF as well but LA worked for us), stay at an airport-vicinity hotel, and then the next day another mid-morning flight to Boston. Trying to fly all the way home without a west coast overnight stay was never even considered, and I'm glad we did it this way.

 

[adamak]

Always flew out at night. Max out my time in Hawaii. And usually has 1 connections. Land in NY some time in afternoon. Help me adjust my time zone too.

 

[islandsnoopy]

Can't decide what is best time of day to LEAVE Hawaii for a return flight to the east coast. What do you guys normally do>

I've flown Delta and usually leave Hawaii on an evening flight and return to East coast late morning/early afternoon depending on the connecting flights.

 

[scottmel]

thanks much! I was thinking evening as well..I am going to price out first class on Delta since they have beds and we have an awful long flight. I think I can get one ticket free with points but paying cash for other two. Thanks!

 

[mrswillson]

Everytime I flew home (Florida) I chose the latest possible flight departing, which usually put me flying out around 9 or 10 at night. I would arrive home the following afternoon between 2 and 3.

It was always difficult for me to leave, so I justified my departure time choice by that sentiment alone. Why cut a whole day short?

Also, if you haven't settled on an airline yet, I strongly recommend United or American Airlines. I've had no negative experiences with either, though I can't say the same for Delta.

 

[cgattis]

I'm always the weirdo on this, but I like to leave early. If I get to go do stuff, look around, etc it makes it harder to leave for me. (Exception is very short trips where I need an extra day.) We left Hawaii on a 7 am flight, which got us home at 11pm "home" time, but only 7 pm on our body clocks, so we would still be awake for the 1.5 hour drive from the airport in the dark.

 

[KayKayJS]

We flew out at 10PM hawaii time, arrived home around 430PM the next day.

It sucked but we slept most of the two flights home so it really wasn't too bad with jet lag.

 

[Midoria]

thanks much! I was thinking evening as well..I am going to price out first class on Delta since they have beds and we have an awful long flight. I think I can get one ticket free with points but paying cash for other two. Thanks!

I'd make sure that the airline has beds on the route that you will be taking. Not all flights use them.

Just my personal opinion, I don't know if I'd invest thousands of dollars for 1st class seat on a 8-9 hour flight. That money could be used to extend your Hawaiian vacation considerably, or a nice long stop somewhere else on the mainland. In my experience, melatonin and a premium or business class seat works just fine for 9 hours. But, I also understand the concept of a very long flight is relative. I'm planning for Italy in late 2018 and the shortest flight time is 16 hours, most being 18+. For me, that's extremely long. 9 hours is just sorta long, but I'm used to it having done Hawaii -> NYC or DC a few times a year for 5 years.

 

[adamak]

Make sure they have beds on the flights you want.

 

[jtkboston]

On my family’s first trip to Aulani in 2015, we flew mid-afternoon HNL-JFK, connecting to SYR. The kids (12 & 9) did NOT like the overnight flight at all.
Next year we’re going to fly early afternoon HNL-LAX, two nights/one full day in LA, then early morning flight back to east coast. We’re hoping that works out better, plus we get to be tourists in SoCal for a day!

 

[amym2]

As late as possible! The overnight flights are not fun, but that's what's available with frequent flyer miles. We've always flown United since that's what DH has miles with, and we've not had any issues (other than the wifi being spotty and having to pay for food).

 

[OKW Lover]

We usually plan on the Delta flight that leaves about 4:30 pm to ATL so we can sleep on the plane. It gives us most of that last day to continue enjoying Hawaii.

 

[nkereina]

We usually plan on the Delta flight that leaves about 4:30 pm to ATL so we can sleep on the plane. It gives us most of that last day to continue enjoying Hawaii.

This is the flight we took home, but we had a lot of difficulty trying to get to sleep. The flight lands in Atlanta around 1am Hawaii time, which is actually like 6am eastern time with the time change. Because we left at 4:30, we were awake the majority of the flight and only started to doze off during the last hour or two of the flight. By the time the plane landed and we had our layover, we were exhausted and now had to sit in the airport and wait. We liked having the morning in Hawaii and leaving late afternoon, but the lack of sleep was brutal! Next time, I think I'd either leave in the morning to get home at a semi-normal time, or try for a red eye where I'd be tired enough to sleep from the start of the flight.

 

[scottmel]

OP again.Hmmm well not sure what I will do. Valid point on stopping somewhere on the way home vs. flying first class.

If I take the 6hourflight from HI to say San Diego (Visited both San Diego and Los Angeles extensively this past July )I could stay a night in SD and fly out next evening. Part of me knows I am just going to WANT to get home after HI. I will miss my dog, my house, etc. and just be thinking ENOUGH i've been gone 13 days get me home!

If the flights warrant cost wise a stop I may but seems like a hassle. Get the luggage, etc. do the whole airport things ALLLLLL over again the next day.

Rethinking the time though on a flight...good points

 

[nkereina]

If I take the 6hourflight from HI to say San Diego (Visited both San Diego and Los Angeles extensively this past July )I could stay a night in SD and fly out next evening. Part of me knows I am just going to WANT to get home after HI. I will miss my dog, my house, etc. and just be thinking ENOUGH i've been gone 13 days get me home!

This was our train of thought as well. On the one hand, you're bummed because your two week vacation is over but knowing you have a day in San Diego to look forward to helps mitigate the sadness. But on the other hand, you're sad your trip is over and now just want to get home and get it over with since you've been gone so long. And the travel itself is the worst part of it. We wanted to maximize our time in Hawaii so we opted not to stop anywhere going or coming home, and we wanted a full day at home to recuperate/do laundry/grocery shop before going back to work to try and help the re-adjustment as well.