Hold Your Horses – Southwest Withholds Flights to Hawaii Until at LEAST Late 2018

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Via Go to Travel Gal, Southwest will not be flying to Hawaii until late 2018 or early 2019. 🙁

I’m sure everyone with a Southwest Companion Pass wishes the flights to Hawaii would be starting sooner.  But for those who are trying to earn a Southwest Companion Pass valid for 2018 or 2019, this is great news!

Southwest Wont Fly To Hawaii Until Late 2018 Or Early 2019
I Don’t Know Where Southwest Will Be Flying to in Hawaii, but I’m Certain It’ll Be Beautiful!

Here’s what’s going on.

Southwest Flights to Hawaii

Link:   What to Know About Flying Southwest to Hawaii

Southwest will begin flights to Hawaii between late 2018 and early 2019.

With the extra competition of Southwest flying to Hawaii, we should start to see better deals on airfare.  Since we have ~1 year until the first Southwest flight to the Aloha State, now is the time to start earning Southwest points!

I love Southwest because there are no blackout dates on award flights, no change or cancellation fees, and 2 free checked bags on flights!  And if you earn the best deal in travel, the Southwest Companion Pass, you’ll be able to take unlimited 2-for-1 flights as long as you have it.

Earning Southwest Points

You can transfer Chase Ultimate Rewards points to Southwest at a ratio of 1:1.  So you could earn the sign-up bonus on one of these cards and transfer the Chase Ultimate Rewards Points to Southwest:

  • Chase Ink Business Preferred Credit Card
  • Chase Sapphire Preferred Card
  • Chase Sapphire Reserve

You will not earn the Southwest Companion Pass by transferring Chase Ultimate Rewards points.  But there are lots of ways to earn Southwest points toward a Companion Pass.  The easiest is by earning the welcome bonus from one of the Southwest credit cards:

  • Southwest Rapid Rewards® Plus Credit Card
  • Southwest® Rapid Rewards® Premier Business Credit Card
  • Southwest Rapid Rewards® Premier Credit Card

Bottom Line

Southwest has announced they are not flying to Hawaii until late 2018 or early 2019.

This is bad news for folks who were hoping to travel to Hawaii this spring or summer.  But it also gives you more time to collect Southwest points, and maybe even earn a Southwest Companion Pass, so you can visit for extra cheap!

Jason Stauffer was a writer for Million Mile Secrets where he covered points, miles, credit cards, airlines, hotels and general travel. His work has appeared in The Points Guy and NextAdvisor.

Editorial Note: We're the Million Mile Secrets team. And we're proud of our content, opinions and analysis, and of our reader's comments. These haven’t been reviewed, approved or endorsed by any of the airlines, hotels, or credit card issuers which we often write about. And that’s just how we like it! :)

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