What time to fly to island hop?

[ktlm]

Our current plan to go from our stay at Aulani/Oahu to spend a few days on Maui. Does anyone have any opinions of what the best time of day is to book the flight? I'm thinking about traffic, security lines at the airport, etc. It would be a weekday.

 

[alohamom]

I always try to time interisland flights so that we land early afternoon. That way we have lots of time to get a rental car, get to where ever we are staying, check in, get groceries or whatever and have time to eat dinner. For me, the optimum time is between 10:30 and 1:00. The traffic to the airport/city is busy as you mentioned but it just means giving yourself the time to get to the airport and through security (approx 2-3 hours)

 

[nkereina]

I've given thought to the same question, and have seen in another thread where someone recommends taking an early morning flight to give yourself the full day on the island you're traveling to. Plus, in their opinion, flying mid-day eats up too much time between commuting to/from airports, fly time, etc. They feel it's wasting a day if done any later than early morning. I can see their points.

That being said, we've opted to go the same route that alohamom recommends. We're taking two inter-island flights and both are around 11am-12pm. It will allow us to sleep in a little, grab breakfast, get to the airport without rushing, and by the time we get to our next destination, it should be close to check-in so we won't have to wait around for our room for too long.

 

[Mazz519]

Go for a mid morning flight by the time you get to your hotel it will be 12pm..probably to early to check in but you can go to lunch and hang out by your hotels pool or beach until you get your room... Thats what we did

 

[Vernie822]

We are spending 3 nights in Maui then flying to Oahu for 6 nights. I timed our Maui-Oahu flight so that we are flying in the evening, I think around 6-6:45 PM ish. I did this because we have more time in Oahu and I wanted to be able to spend a majority of that day in Maui. Also, I figured once we land all we will do is grab some groceries, check in, and enjoy the resort, so I didn't mind having an evening where we didn't have plans.

 

[nkereina]

Sorry to hijack, but for those who flew Hawaiian Airlines with their inter-island flights, did you experience a lot of schedule changes? We've had two inter-island flights booked with Hawaiian since last November. Our trip is in September. Both flights have had schedule changes twice now. The first time were significant - over an hour later than scheduled, and the second time was only by a few minutes. Just curious if this is typical for Hawaiian and if we should expect more before September. Thanks!