FREE AIR FROM CALIFORNIA TO HAWAII

[mderaba]

Does anyone have experience with the free or reduced airfare from California to Hawaii?  I am particularly interested in flying from southern California, and if NCL routes you directly to Honolulu or if they route you with any stops.  We are booked for the Pride of America cruise in September 2020, and are paying for our flight from the East coast to Huntington Beach for three days prior to the cruise date to break up the trip.  We want to use the free/reduced air offer to then fly from California to Hawaii.  Seems to me it should be a direct flight, from all I've been reading it seems like NCL can book routes that have stops and layovers to get the cheapest price.

[ColeThornton]

There is a thread a few pages back that is a compilation of experiences with this program.  It MAY have some useful info for you.  Here is the link:

 

 

[don't-use-real-name]

Template - 

 

Home Departure City - 

Arrival/Destination City - 

Airline(s) used - 

Number of Connections - 

Outbound Flight departure/arrival time -

Return Flight departure/arrival time - 

 

Using some of the features from the above template as a sort of guide:

 

You are in southern California

Southern Departure Cities - LAX Los Angeles and SAN San Diego

Airlines - American - Delta - Hawaiian - United - and late addition Southwest

Northern Departure Cities - SFO San Francisco - OAK Oakland - SJC San Jose

Arrival Cities - HNL Honolulu - OGG - Kahului Maui - KOA - Kailua-Kona Hawaii - ITO Hilo Hawaii - LIH Lihue Kauai 

Most all flights arrive at Honolulu - there are few that arrive at Hilo Kona Kahului continue on to Honolulu check the

schedule.

 

Check the websites for schedules times flight number and type of equipment and seat selection/assignment.

 

If planning a pre or post cruise stay there is frequent inter-island service on Hawaiian. 

All flights are over water and are direct (non-stop) no more Pan-Am Clipper flying boats -

there maybe an exception with a flight leaving Los Angeles and connecting at San Francisco Oakland San Jose

or the reverse. Rare would be a San Diego Los Angeles flight combo.

 

For more specific information contact NCL and ask the question(s) directly specifically and lay out your plans !

 

 

[WillCruiseForMoney]

For our NCL free Air we were routed from Oakland CA to Salt Lake City, then a multi-hour layover and then to Honolulu.  Same route for the return trip. The return trip departed Honolulu around 8:30pm and had us arriving in Oakland around 9am the next day. 

 

Total travel time for the round trip was over 22 hours.  If we had direct flights it would be about 10 hours. So, we notified NCL that we would not be using the free air and chose to pay for our own flights.

 

I would not plan on having good flights from California, but you could give it a shot and just cancel and book on your own if they don't work for you.

 

The Cruise is spectacular, so regardless you will have a great time

[don't-use-real-name]

4 hours ago, WillCruiseForMoney said:

For our NCL free Air we were routed from Oakland CA to Salt Lake City, then a multi-hour layover and then to Honolulu.  Same route for the return trip. The return trip departed Honolulu around 8:30pm and had us arriving in Oakland around 9am the next day. 

 

Total travel time for the round trip was over 22 hours.  If we had direct flights it would be about 10 hours. So, we notified NCL that we would not be using the free air and chose to pay for our own flights.

 

I would not plan on having good flights from California, but you could give it a shot and just cancel and book on your own if they don't work for you.

 

The Cruise is spectacular, so regardless you will have a great time

 

That strange routing to go EAST to go WEST would be on Delta Airlines - Delta having the SLC HNL nonstop.

Other lessor so would be flights to the NORTH to Seattle or Portland and thence to Honolulu.

NCL no doubt is looking to book cheap seats any which way they can helping the airlines fill planes and cruise ships.

As a rule remember that westbound flights race with the sun (daylight) and eastbound are generally red-eyes.

Hawaii doesn't go on Day Light Savings time - 3 time zones from the west coast in the summer - 2 in the winter.

Factor that in your scheduling. 

[snow1]

We took the free air from SFO for next month.  After waiting what seemed forever, we are really happy with the results.  We are flying United non stop both directions.

9:05a SFO - 12:37p HNL

1:00p HNL - 8:09p SFO

It was really frustrating waiting till 38  days out for them to ticket us.  We were able to upgrade on United to United Plus for more legroom. When we booked with Premium Air, they told me that they usually will fly you non-stop from the West coast.  But, obviously, that's not always the case. I would check Expedia to see what flights are available from the airport you want to fly from.  I don't know if we would do this again.......!!!!