California to Kona Hawaii - best departure city...

[m_stith]

INFO:

*Coming from the East Coast to fly out the following morning to Kona.

*We WANT to fly INTO LA so we can be tourists for a day instead of - FOR EXAMPLE -  flying out of Sacramento, which offers the first departure time for the day to Kona (assumed advantage).

*LAX flight is a connecting flight from Sacramento with a change of plane.

*We want to have / keep the best boarding obtained  via Early Bird booking.

FLIGHT Option(s):

(A) fly into Sac (a1)  miss out on visiting LA (a2) fly next morning to Kona (635am to 250pm) connecting/change of plane at LAX

or

(B) fly into LA (b1)  visit LA (b2) next morning direct flight to Kona (1050am to 250pm)

QUESTION:  In regards to Boarding, is there a PRO or CON to flying out of LAX instead of starting in Sacramento?

I hope this makes sense and I apologize if it has been asked already, but I couldn't find any ideas anywhere.  Thanks in advance

[dfwskier]

My basic rule of thumb is "don't take a connection when you can take a non stop."

The chances that something will go wrong with a change of planes are 2x what they are with a non stop.

Since you want to visit friends in LA, why would you even consider flying to Sacramento?

Plus the LA flight is a non stop.

[m_stith]

Thanks for your reply.  I don't have much experience flying SWA.

The reason I'm asking has to do with the 24 or 36 hour early check-in to get boarding assignments.  In my mind, it seems the Sacramento passengers who have the 6-ish departure time (thru to Kona) would get a boarding advantage over LAX passengers who have a 10-ish departure time even on that 2nd leg of that Kona flight out of LAX??  

Do boarding assignments carry thru on connecting flights?

I hope this clears up my question.

[chgoflyer]

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@m_stith wrote:

Thanks for your reply.  I don't have much experience flying SWA.

The reason I'm asking has to do with the 24 or 36 hour early check-in to get boarding assignments.  In my mind, it seems the Sacramento passengers who have the 6-ish departure time (thru to Kona) would get a boarding advantage over LAX passengers who have a 10-ish departure time even on that 2nd leg of that Kona flight out of LAX??  

Do boarding assignments carry thru on connecting flights?

I hope this clears up my question.

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Without EarlyBird Check-In: When you check in at t-24 for your first flight on an itinerary that includes a connection, you'll be assigned boarding positions for each leg, respectively. This does mean that you'll be able to check in, and receive a boarding position, before those who are flying non-stop from your connection point.

When you purchase EarlyBird Check-In, your boarding positions for each leg are assigned at t-36 for each departure. There's no "benefit" since the EBCI positions for each flight are all prioritized (based on purchase date) and assigned at the same time, separately, for each flight.

Hope this helps.

[m_stith]

Thanks so much.  That is exactly what I wanted to know.