Delta Air Lines has just announced three new long haul domestic flights to Hawaii, which many travelers may find convenient.
In this post:
Delta’s new Hawaii service from Atlanta, Detroit, and New York
As of late 2022, Delta will be launching three new routes to Hawaii, out of Atlanta, Detroit, and New York. While these routes have been operated in the past, what’s interesting is that these routes are expected to be year-round this time. All three routes will be operated by Boeing 767-300s, featuring Delta One (business class), Comfort+ (extra legroom economy), and Main Cabin (economy).
Let’s go over the details of the routes.
Delta’s Atlanta to Maui flight
As of November 19, 2022, Delta will launch daily nonstop flights between Atlanta (ATL) and Maui (OGG). The flight will operate with the following schedule:
Atlanta to Maui departing 11:00AM arriving 4:00PM
Maui to Atlanta departing 5:25PM arriving 6:40AM (+1 day)
The 4,431 mile flight is blocked at 10hr westbound and 8hr15min eastbound. This complements Delta’s existing flight from Atlanta to Honolulu.
Delta’s Detroit to Honolulu flight
As of November 19, 2022, Delta will launch daily nonstop flights between Detroit (DTW) and Honolulu (HNL). The flight will operate with the following schedule:
Detroit to Honolulu departing 12:15PM arriving 4:00PM
Honolulu to Detroit departing 5:00PM arriving 6:30AM (+1 day)
The 4,475 mile flight is blocked at 8hr45min westbound and 8hr30min eastbound.
Delta’s New York to Honolulu flight
As of December 17, 2022, Delta will launch daily nonstop flights between New York (JFK) and Honolulu (HNL). The flight will operate with the following schedule:
New York to Honolulu departing 9:00AM arriving 3:35PM
Honolulu to New York departing 4:55PM arriving 7:25AM (+1 day)
The 4,983 mile flight is blocked at 11hr35min westbound and 9hr30min eastbound. Delta will be competing directly with Hawaiian Airlines on this route.
Bottom line
It’s always great to see more long haul flights to Hawaii from the mainland, both because it’s convenient for those from further east in the United States, and because these flights are operated by long haul aircraft.
With Delta’s latest expansion, the airline is adding Hawaii flights out of Atlanta, Detroit, and New York. These flights will be daily and year-round, so this should be a useful option for many Delta flyers.
What do you make of Delta’s Hawaii expansion?
The JFK flight to HNL ceases operations at the end of March 2023. Where did you hear this was year round?
I noticed this too and can't find anything in the press about it being seasonal. I just booked JFK-HNL the last week it's running in March. I hope it's not bait and switch for my flight.
FINALLY they've come to their senses in Hawaii and ended all the covid cultist paranoia. NO MORE TESTING. NO REQUIREMENT TO GET THE POISON SHOTS. OPEN TO ALL AMERICANS! Great news!!!! Finally booking a trip there this summer.
Glad to see it. I'll be cashing in from Atlanta for sure.
Love Delta airlines,,great customer services ♥️
Delta definitely did operate HNL-DTW seasonally during 2019, and also operated a HNL-JFK nonstop during the Christmas/NY Holiday season in the same year. I flew the JFK nonstop round trip from HNL and it will be awesome to have both flights back on a daily schedule.
You might want to check RUC space today
Do we know the aircraft for these flights?
UA also flies EWR-HNL which will compete with Dl
As a resident of Hawaii and an ex-New Yorker, I'm happy to see a third NY-HNL nonstop. Hawaiian and Delta now fly out of JFK and United flies out of EWR. As some others have mentioned, I wished there were a nonstop NY-Kona, but probably not enough traffic to warrant it.
As an FYI, both HA and UA have 2/4/2 configuration for premium economy, and HA has a few premium economy seats in the...
As a resident of Hawaii and an ex-New Yorker, I'm happy to see a third NY-HNL nonstop. Hawaiian and Delta now fly out of JFK and United flies out of EWR. As some others have mentioned, I wished there were a nonstop NY-Kona, but probably not enough traffic to warrant it.
As an FYI, both HA and UA have 2/4/2 configuration for premium economy, and HA has a few premium economy seats in the front section behind first class. The two side seats (11A,B and 11H,J) are the best deal for premium economy. It's like a private cabin, with the First Class seperation directly in front of you and a non-bathroom wall directly behind you. No fighting for overhead space and you can fully recline without bothering anyone. I love those seats, especially flying west with the sun.
Look forward to easier way to Honolulu than the Minneapolis option from Detroit. Delta one is great for return.
I believe DTW-HNL is a service resumption. I remember hearing multiple boarding announcements for Honolulu at DTW during Nov & Dec 2019.
The HNL JFK flight will reduce jet lag considerably. You’re going to fall asleep at some point during that flight and then wake up in NYC at 7:25am
We need an airline to go NYC to KOA nonstop. It can be a seasonal summer flight but this needs to happen. Maybe add in seasonal service to Kaui as well.
UA flies nonstop EWR to OGG and that is a gamechanger.
I dropped delta because I refuse to stop at ATL for every long haul flight. Sorry NYC is a premium market and it requires premium nonstops. I don’t mind stopping if it’s one the way but going nyc to atl to HI is such a waste of time and fuel.
I remember when Delta flew New York-Tokyo nonstop. That was axed several years ago. It's pretty amazing Delta couldn't make that route work. Delta's network in Asia and the Pacific is actually pretty bad. United is where it's at if you value Asia and the Pacific.
Delta was the 2nd largest airline regardless of flag across the Pacific even if they were 60% of the size of United. The difference is that Delta made money flying to Asia while United did not.
Delta dropped JFK-NRT as the NRT beyond flights were being dismantled. DL is now the largest foreign airline at Haneda - or has the frequencies to take that title once flights to Japan reopen. Delta might restart JFK...
Delta was the 2nd largest airline regardless of flag across the Pacific even if they were 60% of the size of United. The difference is that Delta made money flying to Asia while United did not.
Delta dropped JFK-NRT as the NRT beyond flights were being dismantled. DL is now the largest foreign airline at Haneda - or has the frequencies to take that title once flights to Japan reopen. Delta might restart JFK to Tokyo by reworking its Haneda allocations.
United won't be flying large portions of its pre-pandemic Asian route system for a long time; as for now, Delta and United are authorized to operate the same number of flights to China.
"I dropped delta because I refuse to stop at ATL for every long haul flight."
While somehow not realizing that JFK had more of DL's longhauls (8hr+) flights than ATL. Brilliant!
A flyer from NYC should not be taking a US layover to any major international city. I can understand stopping on the west coast to go to Asia or the pacific. How can you justify stopping in Atl to go to Tokyo or JNB?
if you take away nyc to lhr / cdg / ams which is a business route you can fly from most major us cities, the delta network out of New York...
A flyer from NYC should not be taking a US layover to any major international city. I can understand stopping on the west coast to go to Asia or the pacific. How can you justify stopping in Atl to go to Tokyo or JNB?
if you take away nyc to lhr / cdg / ams which is a business route you can fly from most major us cities, the delta network out of New York is weak.
EWR is a more accessible airport to NYC and United has better non-stop routes to international destinations.
I loved delta for many years. They need to step up in nyc. And T4and getting to jfk is horrendously painful. It’s 2 hours by cab. That’s longer than the layover flight to atl lol
Wish somebody would fly a LHR-HNL nonstop. That would be a game changer for European travelers and also Hawaiians wanting to go to Europe.
High speculation that HA will be doing just that, once their 789s are on property.
WOW, only 170,000 points
*One way
These are all routes that have been done before using aircraft for which there won't be sufficient demand during the winter. We have watched American and United add dozens of long haul international flights during covid while Delta has been fairly restrained. There is alot of capacity that isn't returning to China and perhaps other parts of E. Asia that has to be deployed for all of the big 3.
This is Delta shifting...
These are all routes that have been done before using aircraft for which there won't be sufficient demand during the winter. We have watched American and United add dozens of long haul international flights during covid while Delta has been fairly restrained. There is alot of capacity that isn't returning to China and perhaps other parts of E. Asia that has to be deployed for all of the big 3.
This is Delta shifting longhaul aircraft to domestic routes where they are justified instead of using them to fly domestic mainland routes during the winter.
The Delta 767-300ER is still a far superior aircraft compared to American or United's 787s or 777s except for the premium cabin and still superior to a domestic to domestic aircraft connection via the western US on any airline for any cabin; given that these are leisure routes, no airline is going to get the return on investment on premium cabin products by flying to Hawaii or Cancun or other leisure markets.
You've obviously not flown a DL 767-300ER recently. A lot of them have plenty of wear and tear and seeing increasing dispatch reliability issues. If you're going to trash UA and AA all the time, please at least back it up with something more substantive than the world "superior".
I flew on one of the refurbished Delta 4 class 767-300ERs less than a month ago so you would be wrong.
The 767 seat is wider than the 787 in 9 abreast and the 777 in 10 abreast which is what AA and UA both chose to do with all of their 787 and 777 aircraft.
As much as some want to believe that everything in the forward cabin defines an airline, there are plenty...
I flew on one of the refurbished Delta 4 class 767-300ERs less than a month ago so you would be wrong.
The 767 seat is wider than the 787 in 9 abreast and the 777 in 10 abreast which is what AA and UA both chose to do with all of their 787 and 777 aircraft.
As much as some want to believe that everything in the forward cabin defines an airline, there are plenty of people that know that no Delta longhaul aircraft has seats as narrow as a 9 abreast 787 or a 10 abreast 777 which I avoid on any airline unless it is the only option.
I'd take 2-3-2 on 767 over any 777 or 787. DeltaOne is another story.
The Detroit-Honolulu flight has horrible flight times. Who wants to pay the premium for Delta One and not be able to sleep? I used to do business trips to Honolulu. I almost always did the end of the night red-eye from Honolulu to Los Angeles or Seattle and then onwards to Detroit because it was late enough at night for me to (1) enjoy a dinner in Waikiki and (2) fall asleep for 4 1/2...
The Detroit-Honolulu flight has horrible flight times. Who wants to pay the premium for Delta One and not be able to sleep? I used to do business trips to Honolulu. I almost always did the end of the night red-eye from Honolulu to Los Angeles or Seattle and then onwards to Detroit because it was late enough at night for me to (1) enjoy a dinner in Waikiki and (2) fall asleep for 4 1/2 or 5 hours on the plane. Departing before 6 pm from Waikiki is going to be brutal from a sleep standpoint.
The times are similar to nearly all other eastern US to Hawaii flights and are tied to hotel check-in times. No one wants to have to check out of their hotel and then wait for hours. There is a relatively small amount of capacity from Hawaii to the west coast that are true redeyes but there is a much larger percentage of non-vacation, Hawaii originating travel on those routes.
Looks like a great flight time to me - have lunch, take a stroll, head to the airport, get on the plane, have dinner, and then nod off, read, whatever. Wake up for breakfast before landing, and then head to work. Also, this is pretty much the same schedule as for the JFK and ATL flights.
Delta is trying to be funny using those old ass aircraft on those routes.
You seem to have misspelled "logical," as there's absolutely zero reason for them to use a higher premium-configured aircraft (which the A350s, A339s, and 764ERs all are) on Hawaiian routes.
Delta flies the 339 from SEA to HNL. Would love it on the JFK route.
Hopefully this causes a bit of competition with HA and prices to drop. I was just looking at NY flights the other day and prices were outrageous, even for economy. Meanwhile it was like 1/4 the price to connect somewhere.
Wishful thinking that they will do some SkyMiles flash sales on that route... One can dream!
That really is the question. DL One is extremely overpriced and simply cannot justify the price! I flew UA 777s and 787s with their Polaris cabins from the east coast to west coast and HI numerous times last year. In general, no complaints. I thought the pricing was also fair. Definitely beats being in a DL or AA 737 or a beat up 757. I wouldn’t hold my breath that prices will go down since...
That really is the question. DL One is extremely overpriced and simply cannot justify the price! I flew UA 777s and 787s with their Polaris cabins from the east coast to west coast and HI numerous times last year. In general, no complaints. I thought the pricing was also fair. Definitely beats being in a DL or AA 737 or a beat up 757. I wouldn’t hold my breath that prices will go down since DL seems to think that their DL One cabin is extremely superior based on their pricing. I just hope that UA prices won’t go up and match DL and HA prices out of NYC.
Looking forward to trying out the Maui flight after the New Year, however the non-stop back to ATL is $$$!
Neither DTW-HNL nor JFK-HNL are new, really. NW flew DTW-HNL seasonally pre-merger, and DL has flown JFK-HNL before, nonstop, more recently and post merger, but short intervals during the peak winter holiday period.
Delta did a Detroit-Honolulu nonstop with Delta One for a brief period in 2019 if memory serves.