Southwest Airlines is launching what I’d argue is the carrier’s most uncomfortable flight to date, though it makes for great aircraft utilization, and I’m sure some customers will gladly book this.
Southwest’s new 2:45AM flight from Las Vegas to Honolulu
Southwest has announced a bunch of new routes for the spring of 2027. The airline specifically calls out how it’s “slated to begin its first ‘reverse redeye’ with a 2:45 a.m. local time departure from Las Vegas to Honolulu.”
That’s right. While eastbound redeye flights are common, this is a westbound redeye. Specifically, this flight will depart Las Vegas (LAS) at 2:45AM, landing in Honolulu at 6:10AM, with a block time of 6hr25min. Keep in mind that up until a couple of years ago, Southwest didn’t operate any redeye flights, so to see the airline go from no redeyes to reverse redeyes in such a short period is quite the evolution.
In fairness to Southwest, the airline is simply replicating a schedule that’s also operated by Hawaiian, as the carrier has a flight that takes off from Las Vegas at 1:55AM and lands in Honolulu at 5:25AM. However, Hawaiian flies a wide body plane with flat beds in first class, and it’s also a global carrier, used to operating flights like this. It just “feels” different when you see this route on a one-cabin Southwest 737, rather than a two-cabin A330.
This is a very efficient schedule, brutal as it may be
For both passengers and crew, this schedule sounds absolutely awful. It’s one thing to be on a five hour redeye from the West Coast to the East Coast departing at 9PM. But to only board the flight and depart at 2:45AM, and then to have an even longer flight, only to land so early in the morning, is rough.
I also imagine many travelers on this flight will be tourists going to Hawaii, and they probably won’t book a hotel for the night before, so they may then end up still being stuck waiting for their room until the afternoon. That’s not a very relaxing way to start a vacation!
In fairness, this routing is also extremely efficient for passengers looking to maximize their vacation time. Admittedly, I think that for most people, a “regular” early morning flight (around 7AM) that lands around 10AM sounds more pleasant.
But the real reason for this route is what brilliant aircraft utilization this is:
- Presumably the plane would otherwise spend the night on the ground in Las Vegas, so to be able to keep it flying adds to the schedule without needing extra planes; this has been one of Southwest’s goals with introducing redeye flights
- Typically if an airline wants to offer a morning flight from Hawaii to the mainland (which is a popular schedule with travelers, so that they land in the afternoon), the plane would have to overnight in Hawaii, and that involves parking a plane for eight plus hours
- So to be able to do a direct turn in Honolulu with a painful schedule in one direction and an optimal schedule in the other direction is a nice new option to have
Bottom line
While Southwest Airlines has now been flying to Hawaii for several years with all kinds of different flight schedules, the carrier’s new reverse redeye from the mainland to Hawaii is a first. The carrier’s new Las Vegas to Honolulu flight will depart at 2:45AM, only to land in Honolulu at 6:10AM, with a block time of 6hr25min.
While this schedule is brutal for passengers and crew, the aircraft utilization is spectacular, as this plane will be able to turn right around, and operate a well timed morning flight back from Hawaii to the mainland, without having to overnight at the airport.
What do you make of Southwest’s new reverse redeye? Would you consider flying it?