San Diego to Honolulu on a Southwest 737 MAX 8

I recently flew on a Southwest Airlines 737 Max 8 from San Diego to Honolulu it was kind of neat but honestly I don't think I would do it again there are many reasons why which is exactly what I am about to show you and as always huge thanks to my favorite VPN surf shark for sponsoring this video [Music] good morning from Terminal 1 at the San Diego International Airport my name is Scott I'm most widely known for my super nerdy Airline reviews over at sandspotter.com and yes I am finally going to Fly Southwest Airlines to Hawaii by the way it's kind of hard to see but the all-new Terminal 1 build seems to be coming along nicely and it's looking great so yeah Southwest Airlines to Hawaii is a thing now and it's something that I'm still having a hard time wrapping my head around they actually serve several Hawaiian destinations from San Diego and this morning I'm going out to Honolulu on flight number 2230. I'm not gonna lie I'd much rather be doing this on a Hawaiian Airlines A330 but curiosity got the best of me so here I am knowing how behind I was on responding to comments and questions on sandspotter.com and that I'm about to be without internet access for the next five hours I launched surf shark hunker down and got typing surfshark has been my VPN of choice since 2019 and I depend on it heavily whenever I'm on public Wi-Fi like I am here in the San Diego Airport why well let me tell you it runs totally in the background on my devices doing its thing without me even noticing it allows me to browse the internet privately so that no one can see or steal my data it will allow me to change my IP address to prevent tracking from one website or app to the next it'll block ads and malware and the best part it's insanely fast I can't even tell that I'm using a VPN it's awesome and if you want to experience it for yourself Now's the Time surf shark is offering new subscribers a really hard to resist offer of 83 off plus get this an extra three months added on top of that free of charge which is kind of insane considering how well it'll protect your personal information and the only way to get this deal is to use the promo code Scott in conjunction with the link in the description below anyway thanks to surfshark being so fast I was able to get everything done that I needed to this morning just in time to soak up the unmatched opulence of terminal one yes I am being sarcastic Park here at gate 7 is the 737 Max 8 taking me to Honolulu today and when you're flying out of Terminal 1 like this all you can really hope for is an on-time departure it's always crowded in here there aren't many places to sit and yep that's just one of the reasons why I don't like flying Southwest Airlines out of San Diego that said Terminal 1 is going to be an amazing place to fly out of in just a few short years and I cannot wait for that but for now this is the pre-flight experience for Southwest flights to Hawaii out of San Diego another thing that I don't like about flying Southwest especially on longer flights is the open seating policy maybe it's just me but I would feel far less stress and anxiety with an assigned seat assignment I really don't like the idea of it being a complete free-for-all once on board as air travel can be stressful enough without having to scramble for a seat just like we did in grade school playing musical chairs I did pay extra for a business select ticket though which moved me to the front of the line for the boarding process I'm not totally sure but I don't think you can do that playing musical chairs [Music] first time ever on a Southwest Airlines 737 Max 8. which is actually kind of surprising considering that there are over 150 of these things in the southwest Fleet at the time of this recording that makes them the largest operator of the max 8 and me a little late to the game anyway I chose seat 7f today yes I know that I could have snagged a seat in the exit row if I wanted it but since I'm making a video I'll get better window view b-roll seated ahead of the wing like this but yeah yeah it's nice to be back on Southwest I'm a big fan of their newest interior which this is and it's easily as nice looking as anything that American Airlines Delta or United is doing these days are a little thin but Lightroom is decent and I highly appreciate the adjustable headrests there are no video screens of course not even power outlets if you can believe it but that's just something you have to deal with if you choose to Fly Southwest the best option Hawaiian Airlines features video screens at every seat just say it and what have we here apparently I'm either really ugly or scary looking probably both as nobody wanted to sit next to me today nice [Music] the best part about flying Southwest Airlines to Hawaii is the price impressed if I told you that I only paid 230 dollars for this one-way ticket no well what if I told you that the price included the additional cost of splurging for the business select option which adds perks such as priority boarding and a free premium drink coupon either way I was really satisfied with what I paid for this which if memory serves me correctly is the cheapest that I've ever paid for a flight from San Diego to Honolulu I just can't imagine that Hawaiian Airlines is all that happy about this then again they do offer a better in-flight experience in my opinion even an economy and I am willing to pay more for that by the way here's a closer look at the progress of the terminal 1 rebuild project and it's looking great I suppose as it's kind of hard to understand what I'm looking at exactly but I cannot wait until this opens they say it's gonna be 2025 so my fingers are crossed that they can pull it off by then and on that positive note this is it we're headed straight out over the Pacific Ocean on an aircraft type with an arguably sketchy past so if you never hear from me again thanks for all the support and it was fun while it lasted I guess [Music] flying time from San Diego to Honolulu is five and a half hours on a good day but thanks to a helpful shortcut from ATC and lighter than normal wins the captain says we're gonna do it in five which is the perfect amount of time that'll lead to decide if this is something that I ever want to do again in order to start my evaluation let's have a look at the in-flight entertainment many people don't know this but Southwest Airlines on-board entertainment is really good actually the only caveat is that you'll have to use your personal device to access it oh and it's important to know that there are no power outlets in these seats maybe there are but I couldn't find them which really shouldn't be shocking considering that I wouldn't even be able to recognize Michael Jackson if he was sitting next to me but yeah as much as I would prefer to be flying Hawaiian Airlines today I'll admit that so far this is not bad [Music] that's Catalina Island the bit of land we'll see before reaching the shores of Oahu assuming everything goes to plan that is and what better way to take your mind off crashing into the ocean at 500 miles an hour is there and having a look at the in-flight menu soda Juice coffee water and tea free on Southwest Airlines there is alcohol too but I'm gonna have to pay for it unless you paid for a business select ticket like I did in which case you'll get a free premium drink to go with your snack box yes I said snack box I've always wondered if Southwest offered anything more substantial than the usual bags of snacks on these longer Hawaii flights and well I suppose this does qualify as more substantial and I hate to say it but this is probably better than the disgusting school cafeteria quality pulled pork sandwich thing that I ate the last time that I flew Hawaiian Airlines economy class it's also more than I was expecting for sure but it goes without saying that you're probably better off bringing your own food on flights out to Hawaii and back on Southwest Airlines and for what it's worth I completely forgot about my drink coupon they don't make it obvious heck I didn't even know where to look for it so as usual I went with the tap water from El Paso after all these years of flying I still get nervous flying over Open Water like this yep we're pretty much screwed if anything happens at least it'll be a somewhat comfortable ride on the way down I guess no these seats aren't as nice as what you'll get in Hawaiian Airlines economy but I do have to say that I wasn't so eager to get up and stretch as much as I thought I would therefore this blue review is the result of drinking too much El Paso tap water and not an excuse to stretch my legs speaking of snacks this small little bag of brownie brittle was on my tray when I returned from the lavatory just for comparison Alaska Airlines serves complementary my ties to everyone in economy prior to Landing in Hawaii which is brilliant yet bold but I fully understand why Southwest decided that maybe it's not such a good idea to give out free alcohol to an entire plane load of people I mean what could possibly go wrong [Music] welcome to Hawaii well almost we've begun The Descent and I don't see anything yet but I am keeping an eye out there we go that's the northeastern shore of Oahu down there and more than anything can't believe that I actually flew to Hawaii on Southwest Airlines not that they're a bad Airline or anything as a matter of fact I've always found them to be a really convenient option to secondary and smaller cities all over the U.S but Hawaii I don't think I'm fully on board with that yet my biggest issue by far is the open seating policy choosing a seat is one of my favorite parts of the airline booking process then showing up to the airport not knowing if I'm going to have a good seat or not for a five-hour flight out to Hawaii adds a layer of stress to the journey that quite frankly I don't need or want the lack of Premium seating options is also something that'll keep me away I actually don't mind splurging on a seat with more leg room for long flights out to the islands it just adds to the experience in my opinion and I don't like how Southwest doesn't give me the option and on that grumpy old man note welcome to Honolulu by the way I didn't speed up these clips at all this is how fast we actually taxied into the gate which kind of had me concerned that maybe one of the pilots really needed to use the bathroom like now anyway it's so weird seeing Southwest Airlines here and it's not just like a flight or two a day they weren't a decent sized operation in and out of Honolulu including inner Island flights which can only lead me to believe that Hawaiian Airlines is none too pleased about it competition is healthy though and if I'm being honest I do feel that Hawaiian Airlines has been slacking a little bit over the past five years or so Southwest Airlines entering the Hawaiian Market is a good thing may not be for me but I have absolutely no doubt that they will be fine running full planes between the U.S Mainland and Hawaii for many years to come especially if they can keep prices as low as they were for this particular flight then again this flight was maybe 60 full and most everyone who wanted an empty seat next to them got it so what do I know no matter it felt really nice to be in Hawaii again and I do appreciate you watching all the way through to the end maybe someday I'll come up with an award for those of you having the strength to sit through an entire video of mine but until then thanks for watching and I will catch you in the next one [Music] come on

Channel: SANspotter

Views: 108,601

Keywords: traveller, traveling, travel blogger, travel vlog, flight review, aviation, commercial aviation, sanspotter, southwest airlines 737 max 8, southwest 737 max 8 review, southwest airlines to hawaii, southwest airlines hawaii, SAN-HNL, N1807U, southwest boeing 737 max 8, boeing 737 max 8 to hawaii, southwest airlines honolulu

Id: AhAkEazUTDs

Length: 14min 27sec (867 seconds)

Published: Sat Mar 04 2023