orangetravelcat

Will arrive(hopefully) at 12:50pm on Southwest, and have a 5pm flight LAX to Kona, Hawaii. Enough connection time to get from one terminal to the other? (Probably won't have any checked luggage to wait for).

Budman

A little over 4 hours? Even with the worst security nightmare, you will probably not have any problems.

Roccco

That almost sounds like too much time to me. You will be fine with 4+ hours and should have time for a nice relaxed lunch in the airport.

Just curious, where are you staying at on the Big Island? I am strongly considering a 4 night trip to the Big Island for Labor Day weekend. I live in L.A. so it shouldn't be too long of a journey if I get a direct flight to the Big Island. So far I like the Mauna Lani Hotel & Bungalows best.

Have a great holiday and don't even worry about the connection time, even if your other flight runs two hours late.

orangetravelcat

Rococco, we're staying at Kona Village Resort.

circa

Good question...I was also wondering how long the change between terminals takes with the new security rules.

Are you doing only carry-on luggage?

Has Southwest changed?....I know a few years ago they did not forward checked baggage to another airline(LAX)

Hiroshi

Southwest does not transfer luggage to non-Southwest flights. Therefore, it's good that you don't have any luggge. If it misses the flight, it will arrive on the next flight but nobody will carry it over to United, American, or whatever airline you are flying.

If you have so much time, you can take a nice stroll to the other terminal to catch your flight. Southwest arrives at terminal 1. Between Terminal 3 and 4 is the International Terminal. They have plenty of restaurants in front of security (unlike the other terminals).

You can also eat at the Theme Building (you will know when you see it, it's a building in the center than looks like spaghetti).

Why not rent a cart since you will be able to use it for 4 hours?

If you like airplanes, there's a rarely visited Western Museum of Flight in Hawthorne about 3-4 miles away (they have a website). They have the losing (and better designed) entry to the Stealth fighter competition, a rare F-17, and other stuff. The museum staff is so nice. They will probably give you a private tour since they only get a few visitors.

orangetravelcat

Thanks to all who responded. Decided to fly Hawaiian Air from Phx to Kona. That way, don't have to hang out for hours at LAX.

freewoman

Just keep in touch with Hawaiian Air . . . they are talking about bankruptcy. I just returned from Kona last Sunday and all of my going over flights were cancelled and rescheduled. However my return flights were left intact. No problems after the flights were straightened out, but they are cutting the number of flights they are doing. So if you are not going until October, I would suggest you want to keep track of your flights.

Have a great time . . . wish I was still there. The BI is my favorite of the Hawaiian Islands.