How Long Is the Flight to Hawaii?

Quick answer: the flight to Hawaii (Honolulu) is about 10 h 56 min in the air from New York and 6 h 1 min from Los Angeles, non-stop; a connection adds its layover. Of the busiest US airports, San Francisco is the closest at 5 h 41 min and Boston the farthest at 11 h 9 min. Flying home from Los Angeles is 31 min shorter.

Pick two airports. See the distance, about how long a non-stop flight takes, and what time it will be when you land.

JFK → LHR · non-stop

7 h 11 minAbout 7 h 11 min gate to gate for 3,442 miles (5,540 km). Most scheduled flights of this length: 6 h 56 min to 7 h 26 min.

Distance: 3,442 mi
Lands: pick a date and time

The flight back, westbound into the jet stream, is slower: about 7 h 48 min.
An estimate from the scheduled times of 5,797 US routes (US DOT, 2026-06): half of them are within 7 minutes of it. Your airline’s schedule is the real answer.

Airports from OurAirports, time zones from mwgg/Airports, flight times fitted on US DOT schedules. An estimate for a non-stop: check your airline.

The calculator above opens on New York to Honolulu: change either airport to yours, or add a date and a departure time for the local time you land. Below, the flight from each of the busiest US airports.

How long is the flight to Hawaii from each US airport?

The FAA’s busiest US airports by passengers in 2024, the quickest first. Times are the estimated gate-to-gate time of a non-stop; the clock change is Hawaii’s time minus the airport’s, in January and in July.

From	Distance	To Honolulu	Flight back	Clock change (Jan / Jul)
San Francisco (SFO)	2,397 mi	5 h 41 min	5 h 14 min	−2 h / −3 h
Los Angeles (LAX)	2,553 mi	6 h 1 min	5 h 30 min	−2 h / −3 h
Seattle (SEA)	2,677 mi	6 h 14 min	5 h 48 min	−2 h / −3 h
Las Vegas (LAS)	2,759 mi	6 h 26 min	5 h 54 min	−2 h / −3 h
Phoenix (PHX)	2,914 mi	6 h 45 min	6 h 10 min	−3 h / −3 h
Denver (DEN)	3,360 mi	7 h 39 min	7 h 1 min	−3 h / −4 h
Dallas-Fort Worth (DFW)	3,779 mi	8 h 30 min	7 h 45 min	−4 h / −5 h
Houston (IAH)	3,898 mi	8 h 45 min	7 h 58 min	−4 h / −5 h
Minneapolis (MSP)	3,967 mi	8 h 53 min	8 h 9 min	−4 h / −5 h
Chicago O’Hare (ORD)	4,237 mi	9 h 26 min	8 h 38 min	−4 h / −5 h
Detroit (DTW)	4,468 mi	9 h 54 min	9 h 4 min	−5 h / −6 h
Atlanta (ATL)	4,495 mi	9 h 57 min	9 h 5 min	−5 h / −6 h
Charlotte (CLT)	4,671 mi	10 h 19 min	9 h 24 min	−5 h / −6 h
Orlando (MCO)	4,749 mi	10 h 28 min	9 h 31 min	−5 h / −6 h
Miami (MIA)	4,854 mi	10 h 41 min	9 h 43 min	−5 h / −6 h
Fort Lauderdale (FLL)	4,858 mi	10 h 41 min	9 h 43 min	−5 h / −6 h
Newark (EWR)	4,955 mi	10 h 53 min	9 h 58 min	−5 h / −6 h
New York JFK (JFK)	4,975 mi	10 h 56 min	10 h	−5 h / −6 h
Boston (BOS)	5,087 mi	11 h 9 min	10 h 13 min	−5 h / −6 h

1 of these routes is longer than any US route the estimate was measured on (4,983 miles), so treat that one as a rough guide: the longer the flight, the more the wind moves it. LaGuardia, the 19th busiest, is left out: its flights are short-haul, and New York’s long flights leave from JFK and Newark.

Why the flight home is shorter

From Los Angeles the flight to Honolulu is about 6 h 1 min and the flight back 5 h 30 min. The difference is the jet stream, the band of west-to-east wind at cruising height: flying east you ride it, flying west you fly into it. The estimate carries that as a single measured effect of how far east a route goes, which is why the two directions of the same route differ.

What the clock says when you land

Hawaii is 5 hours behind New York in January and 6 hours behind New York in July, when US clocks are on summer time; 2 hours behind Los Angeles in January and 3 hours behind Los Angeles in July. Leave Los Angeles at noon on Wednesday, July 15, and a non-stop would land in Honolulu at about 3:01 p.m. the same day, local time.

Flying into another airport

This page measures to Honolulu (HNL). To Kahului, Maui (OGG) it is about 10 h 49 min from New York and 5 h 52 min from Los Angeles; to Kona (KOA) it is about 10 h 52 min from New York and 5 h 54 min from Los Angeles.

Is there a non-stop?

Not from every airport in the table: the times are what a non-stop would take, and a connection adds its layover. Your airline’s schedule says which airports fly to Hawaii non-stop. For any pair of airports, the calculator above gives the distance and the time.

Plan it

Where should I go in Hawaii for the first time?

FAQ

How long is the flight to Hawaii?

About 10 h 56 min non-stop from New York and 6 h 1 min from Los Angeles. Of the busiest US airports, San Francisco is the closest at 5 h 41 min and Boston the farthest at 11 h 9 min. All are estimates of a non-stop; a connection adds its layover.

How long is the flight to Hawaii from New York?

About 10 h 56 min from JFK and 10 h 53 min from Newark, for 4,975 miles to Honolulu. The flight back to New York is 56 min shorter: about 10 h.

How long is the flight to Hawaii from Los Angeles?

About 6 h 1 min from LAX, and 5 h 41 min from San Francisco, for 2,553 miles. The flight back is 31 min shorter: about 5 h 30 min.

What is the time difference between Hawaii and the US?

Hawaii is 5 hours behind New York in January and 6 hours behind New York in July, when US clocks are on summer time; 2 hours behind Los Angeles in January and 3 hours behind Los Angeles in July.

How these times are made

Distances are great circles between the airports (OurAirports). Times come from one line fitted to the median scheduled gate-to-gate time of 5,797 US routes (US DOT, 2026-06): a fixed allowance, a time per mile, and a correction for how far east the route goes. Half of those routes are within 7 minutes of it. The busiest airports are the FAA’s 2024 passenger boardings. Your airline’s schedule is the real answer: winds, routings and the season move it by a few minutes on a short flight and by more on a long one.