Flight question

[dis2cruise]

we live in NY does it pay to fly direct or fly out the day before to California and then the next day
fly to Aulani to break up the jet lag ?

 

[jtkboston]

Having done two trips from Boston to Hawaii/Aulani, with different flight arrangements, here’s my experience:
We flew all the way to Hawaii on our departure day. You’re following the sun so there’s no overnight involved, just one long day. But then you’re there! We did one trip via New York then nonstop to Honolulu; the other was via Dallas and then nonstop to Maui.

Coming home, our first trip we did Honolulu/New York nonstop overnight, connecting home from there. I thought that was OK, my kids (9 and 12 at the time) did not.
Second trip, we did Honolulu/Los Angeles, then stayed a day for a quick tourist visit, then home the next morning. That avoided any overnight flights but the day in LA was pretty much wasted and we all felt we’d have preferred to just go straight home.

So I recommend going all the way to Hawaii on departure. If you want to visit CA on the way back, do something more than a day. Otherwise just go all the way home and plan your return day to be lost in a daze of jet lag.

 

[lifegaardonduty]

I completely agree. Fly directly to Hawaii. I'm from Toronto. I did a one night stopover in LA to rest up on the way down, but that was a waste of time. I never slept that night. I ended up spending most of my time at an airport.
On the way home, if you can stay in LA for at least a few days, it will reduce your jetlag. There's lots to do there, as long as you rent a car. Plus you can visit Disneyland!
Otherwise, fly directly home as well.

 

[alohamom]

We are also from Toronto and we fly to Hawaii quite a bit.

I have been so many different ways, with lay overs, connections and direct flights but I do prefer at least a connection.

I find that the long flight there, even though I am anticipating and excited to get to Hawaii, is just so so so long I go a little bit nuts. By hour 7 I am just over it and almost frustrated.

So we build in either a connection (cheaper too) or a layover (usually more expensive for us from Toronto-depends on the situation)

I find a layover in LA really helps with the jetlag, especially if you spend a day or two in the area (we usually do Disneyland) and it stretches the vacation out. Plus it feels like you have this bonus vacation on top of your Hawaiian vacation. Silly i know but it makes leaving Hawaii a little less sad!

 

[chainkid]

I have been several times from east coast and always stop in las vegas for an overnight. We leave early 6 am from providence or boston and get into Vegas early by 11am so we have whole day to hang at pool and then at night we pick a nice dinner and a show, nap in room until next day at 9 am or take the Hawaiian airlines 2am flight to HNLwhich gets in at 6 AM Hawaiian time. Breaks up the trip in a fun place and you really arrive so early that you don't feel you wasted any time. I frankly could never handle going direct. I'd be so wiped out that first day in Hawaii would be lost anyway. Not many people think to stop las Vegas rather than LA but its a much better option with much more to do in a close area with no car necessary.

 

[nkereina]

We've only done the trip once, but we flew from Buffalo to Honolulu with a layover in Atlanta. Our flight from Atlanta to Honolulu (and vice versa) was roughly 8 hours. We opted to go with Delta because they have a slew of amenities for coach class to help pass the time comfortably, and also because the flight times were ideal. We left Buffalo around 6am, 2 hour layover in Atlanta, arrived in Honolulu around 2:30pm local time. On the way home, we left Hawaii at 4:30pm local time, two hour layover in Atlanta, and were home in Buffalo by 10am the next day if I recall.

When arriving in Hawaii, it did take us about 2 days to adjust to the time difference which caused is to wake up very early those days. We knew this would happen going in, so we took advantage of that by doing Pearl Harbor and Diamond Head those mornings because those are best done early in the morning. On the way home, we didn't sleep much on the overnight flight so when we got home, we forced ourselves to stay awake until our normal bedtime. By doing that, we didn't have a hard time re-adjusting back home.

 

[soniam]

This will be our second time. On our return, we always just come straight home. However, for both trips, we do a 2-3 day stopover in LA to see Disneyland. The flight is barely more expensive, if at all. You do have to pay for hotel though. However, it seems the only way we ever get to Disneyland, since we tend to do WDW usually. The first trip we were so exhausted from Disneyland that we all slept like babies on the plane.