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What is the best airline for island hopping in Hawaii?

So you’re planning a Hawaii vacation and maybe you’re trying to decide which Hawaii island is best. Or maybe you know they’re all awesome (true) so you’re trying to find the best airline for island hopping in Hawaii.

If you plan to stay in Hawaii for more than a few days, island hopping is probably on your itinerary. You may be wondering “what is the best airline island hopping in Hawaii?”

Which Airlines offer inter-island flights in Hawaii?

There are only three airlines that currently offer inter-island flights in Hawaii. 

• Hawaiian Airlines
• Southwest Airlines
• Mokulele Airlines

You have probably heard of Hawaiian Airlines, which handled 90% of interisland flights until Southwest came in. That number is less now that Southwest, who you’ve definitely heard of, is in Hawaii.

The one Hawaiian inter-island airline you may not have heard of is Mokulele. Mokulele is a family-owned commuter airline based in Kona on the Big Island of Hawaii.

If you’re looking at the name like “molecule,” that’s not it. Mo-Ku-lay-lay. 

Flying interisland with Southwest or Hawaiian Airlines is pretty similar to a flight on a short flight anywhere else. The only difference is that Southwest and Hawaiian airlines are both much better with customer service. 🙂

I have no problem flying with Southwest or Hawaiian and do recommend it, but I wanted to write this post about my first experience with Mokulele airlines. 

Our Mokulele Experience

How we discovered Mokulele Airlines was actually completely by accident. We booked our inter-island flight as part of a package and never closely looked at the airline. We dropped off our car and headed to the shuttle.

Our shuttle bus driver mentioned something to us about no TSA checks on Mokulele. We fly a lot and often at smaller airports.

To us, we thought that meant that they would be a very quick way to get through the TSA check as it usually is at small airports. Actually what he meant was that there would be no TSA check at all.

We went up to the counter and were asked how much we weighed. This is a little bit alarming and not something you usually experience at an airline counter. We learned that we would be flying on a tiny plane with only 9 seats +2 for the pilots.

The whole experience was an unexpected surprise, but that’s what you get when you don’t do your research! This was a while before I became a Travel Agent. 🙂 

Things to know about Mokulele Airlines

• One smaller carry-on item and one personal item are free, but there isn’t a lot of space for them. My husband and I just put our backpacks down by our feet. No big deal!
• For this particular trip, I did have a larger rolling carry-on size bag that I had to check. It only cost $20 to check this bag. I had camera gear in the bag and I normally would not have wanted to check it, but since there were only eight people on the flight besides my husband and me, I wasn’t worried. 🙂
• There are no flight attendants on Mokulele Airlines. Since there is no TSA check, you can bring your own water and snacks.
• You may bring an FAA-approved car seat on board for children.
• Mokulele does not have seat assignments, but it doesn’t really matter. There are no “inside” seats. All seats are window seats. 
• Mokulele Airlines flies from Honolulu, Kahului, Hana, Kamuela, Ho’olehua (Molokai,) Kona, and Kapalua.

The Mokulele Airlines flight

The process was actually really fun. You wait at the gate and the pilot comes and gets you to walk to the plane.

Our pilots were two women who were probably in their late 20s. Not your stereotypical airline pilot which is kind of refreshing. They were very nice and did a fantastic job.

The best part about Mokulele airlines is that planes fly very low. This gives you an incredible view of the islands both that you’re taking off and landing. It’s almost like a helicopter tour, but not quite. 🙂 

You can also see boats in the water as you fly over. We flew from Kahului (Maui) to Kona (Big Island) and the views were amazing.

You might also enjoy: The 7 best things to do on Maui

We saw parts of Maui that we definitely hadn’t seen from the ground, and we have driven all over the island!

All in all, flying on Mokulele Airlines was an incredible experience. We had flown on many interisland flights and nothing compared to the experience of flying with Mokulele. I highly recommend choosing Mokulele Airlines for your Hawaii island hopping.

Best Airline for island hopping in Hawaii? Mokulele for sure!

I hope you enjoyed this post about the best airline for island hopping in Hawaii! If you’re planning your next Hawaii vacation, I’d love to help! I am a Hawaii Destination Specialist and I’d love to help make your dream vacation a reality. Planning a vacation doesn’t need to be stressful.

You can check out the reasons why to hire a travel agent, use the contact form to email me, or schedule a call to discuss your vacation.

Want more Hawaii travel tips? Check out some of my most popular posts:

7 things to do on the Big Island

25 of my best Hawaii travel tips

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