Delta vs. Hawaiian
 

Thoughts anyone?

We almost exclusively fly Hawaiian to and from the mainland, but Delta's fares to LA are several hundred less right now.

We flew Delta once a long, long time ago, and thought (in general) that their flight personnel were a bit "cold," though everything, as we can recall, was fine.

Thanks.

Flew Delta to Hawaii once and thought it was just a good as any typical legacy coach class airline. Just flew Delta in December in/out of Atlanta and found it no better and no worse than United or US Air.

For a few hundred dollars, you should forgive Delta for that past small error. If they treat you the same way, figure you at least get a nice dinner on them

Yeah, I'm certainly not going to boycott them because of something that happened that long ago, but was wondering how they stack up against other airlines in general since I haven't flown them for so long.

Actually, haven't flown anyone but Hawaiian for years....

We've always found Delta's people to be cold. Hawaiian is so amazing, I'd pay the extra. Do you have to book it now? Maybe the prices will go down.

All things being equal I prefer Hawaiian Air. But if you are getting a great discount then I'd go for Delta, if the only problem you had with them was "cold personnel."
Things will "warm" up once you land in Paradise!

I fly Delta extensively, and would not think twice about selecting them as a carrier. All airlines have employees that have bad days, and certainly Delta is a much larger company than Hawaiian, but your perception about service is based on the people you interact with.... It certainly wouldn't hurt to try them - BUT, if you've extremely happy with Hawaiian - just pay the extra money and stay with them. Sounds like you have 2 good options...

Right now, for a trip in September.....

Delta 422.00 RT.

Hawaiian is 560.00 RT.

Most every site I've been on shows the Delta rate as the cheapest (at least right now). Is that a good RT rate between LA-Hawaii?

Or is that still high and I should wait? Seat wise, it's wide open.

If you really like Hawaiian, they should come down and meet 422 soon. 422 is good, but not fantastic from LA

From here to the Rock, it's hard to match the ohana kind of feeling you get on Hawaiian. But from there to here, an airline like Delta helps in the transition from Paradise to.......

We have not flown Delta to HI but have flow Hawaiian, UA and AA. We always fly first class to HI. Once we flew Hawaiian, we swore we'd never fly another airline to the islands. Really, I'd wait to see if the rates go down. Are you a FF with them? If not, sign up for news to be sent to you.

Alooooha! ((H))

Since this is a relatively short flight, I would definitely pick a better deal and blow the money I save on a great meal.

Now, if this was a transatlantic flight, I would pay (a little) extra to travel with a carrier that I feel more comfortable with.

Anna Roz

TTess - Where are you flying from? Northwest with A330 and Continental (all aircrafts) offer international business class seats from the mainland to Hawaii, which are way better than Hawaiian and other airlines that basically use domestic FC seats.

You may want to look into those next time, if you're looking for the best seats to HI.

We fly from MRY to SFO to HNL to OGG or SJC to HNL to OGG. The service, leg room and food on Hawaiian are outstanding. We have flown NW to the Big Island and enjoyed their FC service (I forgot about that).

Rkkwan, where do you fly out of?

TTess - I haven't been to Hawaii for 25 years, so it doesn't matter. But what I'm saying is that some airline use international business class seats, which have at least 55in pitch, 150+ degree recline to Hawaii; which has significantly more room than what's offered on Hawaiian.

We quit flying Delta years ago after having one bad experience after another.

Daughter had a four segment flight this month. Horrible gate attendants, horible flight attendants, even worse phone center personnel.

After a huge debacle on the first leg, they made her wait three days for the next flight, mainly because none of the flights on the next three days were as cheap as the original and Delta won't put you on another airline, or upgrade you to a different class. They also "forgot" to update legs two and three, so both times she was only let on the plane because they happened to have a free seat. The last leg was last night...no ticket problems, but again delayed and with surly FAs.

Hawaiian has $139 seats OW on many of their mainlad flight from now to June. Delta is cheaper than $278 RT?

I have always considered Delta to be a superior airline, in the 80s I felt they were the best carrier domestic and intl. I flew them often, and love the Cincinati hub the most (it makes life of a business traveler so much nicer).

Phone centers for Delta are now back in the USA.I just booked a flight for my daughter last week to Florida and the agent said that they closed the Mumbai India call center because they had so many complaints on the foreign agents so are now just using them for behind the scenes work.

Just noticed that you are planning to go nine m onths from now. I'd wait a while. hawaiian's fares are always high this far out. I've found they tend to be priced better 3 months or so before the flights.

I am thinking about LAX-HNL in 2 weeks myself. Most airlines are $335 mid-week, while HA is $312. Problem is that HA's mainland-HI flights don't earn miles on any major partner FF programs I have miles with (unlike intra-island). That's over 5,000 miles roundtrip, which is worth quite a bit more than $23 on my book.

They also don't have a red-eye for HNL->LAX, which I am leaning towards.

Here is a list of all the airlines where you can earn miles:

Hawaiian boasts partnerships with six other airlines, including Alaska, America West, American, Continental, Northwest, and Virgin Atlantic,

Hotel partners are numerous, and include Castle Resorts, Consolidated Resorts, Hilton, Marriot Vacation Club, Ohana, Outrigger, and Starwood, among others. Earning varies from around five miles per dollar spent to 500 miles per stay.

Most of the airline partners only give miles for intra-island flights. AA, CO, DL, etc all don't give miles for flying HA on mainland-HI.

Anyways, I may still fly HA afterall, as if I only stay for 2 nights, they're still $312, while other airlines are significantly more.