Los Angeles to Honolulu (LAX–HNL): distance and flight time

Flight time each way

LAX → HNL

6 h 05 min

Estimated gate-to-gate scheduled time. Initial heading 260° (W).

Leave Los Angeles Sat 7 Nov, 10:00 local → arrive Honolulu Sat 7 Nov, 14:05 local.

HNL → LAX

5 h 25 min

Estimated gate-to-gate scheduled time. Initial heading 61° (ENE).

Leave Honolulu Sat 7 Nov, 10:00 local → arrive Los Angeles Sat 7 Nov, 17:25 local.

HNL-bound flights are the slower direction by about 45 minutes in our estimate: the route runs mostly east–west through latitudes where the prevailing westerly winds at cruise height are strong, so heading east rides a tailwind and heading west fights a headwind. How we estimate it.

Distance

Great-circle distance	4,108 km · 2,553 mi · 2,218 nmi
Initial heading	260° (W) from LAX; 61° (ENE) from HNL
Farthest from the equator	33.9°N
Crosses	neither the equator nor the 180th meridian
Share of the longest possible trip	21% of the 20,015 km to the far side of the Earth

Time zones and jet lag

LAX	America/Los_Angeles — UTC−7 now; UTC−8 standard time, UTC−7 during daylight saving time
HNL	Pacific/Honolulu — UTC−10 now; UTC−10 all year (no daylight saving time)
Difference	Honolulu is 3 hours behind Los Angeles today; −2 h in January and −3 h in July because daylight saving time starts and ends on different dates (or not at all).

Jet lag, flying LAX → HNL. Your body clock has to move 3 hours later, like a westward trip. A common rule of thumb is that the body clock adjusts by roughly one time zone a day, so expect up to about 3 days to fully adjust. Shifting later (as here) is usually the easier direction; evening daylight at the destination helps. Flying the other way, the shift is reversed.

General information, not medical advice.

The two airports

LAX Los Angeles International AirportLos Angeles, United States · longest runway 12,894 ft3,930 m

HNL Daniel K. Inouye International AirportHonolulu, United States · longest runway 12,360 ft3,767 m

More routes from LAX and HNL

LAXLAS Los Angeles – Las Vegas 380 km236 mi · 1 h 25 min LAXSEA Los Angeles – Seattle 1,537 km955 mi · 2 h 50 min EWRLAX Newark – Los Angeles 3,941 km2,449 mi · 6 h 05 min LAXAMS Los Angeles – Amsterdam 8,956 km5,565 mi · 10 h 45 min LAXTPE Los Angeles – Taipei 10,922 km6,787 mi · 14 h 40 min LAXSIN Los Angeles – Singapore 14,102 km8,762 mi · 18 h 25 min HNLOGG Honolulu – Maui (Kahului) 162 km101 mi · 1 h 15 min SEAHNL Seattle – Honolulu 4,308 km2,677 mi · 6 h 20 min HNLANC Honolulu – Anchorage 4,475 km2,781 mi · 6 h 05 min HNLHND Honolulu – Tokyo 6,191 km3,847 mi · 8 h 45 min HNLICN Honolulu – Seoul 7,353 km4,569 mi · 10 h 15 min HNLSYD Honolulu – Sydney 8,170 km5,077 mi · 10 h 35 min

Routes of a similar length

EWRSFO Newark – San Francisco 4,118 km2,559 mi · 6 h 15 min AKLPPT Auckland – Papeete (Tahiti) 4,094 km2,544 mi · 5 h 25 min JNBADD Johannesburg – Addis Ababa 4,068 km2,528 mi · 5 h 40 min JFKSFO New York – San Francisco 4,152 km2,580 mi · 6 h 20 min

Need a different pair? The flight-time calculator works for any two of 3,245 airports. Not covered: which airlines fly this route, schedules, fares and live status — that data is proprietary and we don’t guess it.

Photos on airport pages are credited there. Estimates are rounded to 5 minutes; typical error about 13 minutes (validation).

LAX Los Angeles ⇄ HNL Honolulu