The first thing to know about Hawaii from Columbus is that there is no nonstop, and there is unlikely to be one soon. Every routing is one stop, through a West Coast hub such as Los Angeles, San Francisco or Seattle, or through Dallas, Phoenix or Denver. Plan on twelve to fifteen hours door to door on the way out.
The second thing is the time change. Hawaii is six hours behind Ohio and does not observe daylight saving, so the gap is the same all year. You will land in the afternoon feeling like it is evening, and the kids will be awake at four the next morning. I plan the first day as a pool day on purpose.
Which hub matters more than which airline. A morning departure from Columbus with a comfortable connection on the West Coast protects sleep and gives you a margin if the first flight is late. A tight connection through a busy hub is where Hawaii trips go wrong before they start, so I would rather add an hour on the ground than gamble the whole day.
The way home is almost always an overnight flight, and it deserves as much planning as the way out. I book the last night near the airport you are actually flying from, keep the final day light, and plan the first day back in Ohio as a recovery day rather than a work day. Families with young children sometimes do better splitting the return with a night on the West Coast.
Fares move a lot by month. January is usually the value window; December and June are the expensive ones. If your dates are flexible, that flexibility is worth more on this route than almost any other I book.
Working with me on a Hawaii trip costs nothing extra on the resort or package side; the resort pays the commission and the price matches booking direct. The flight day, the time change and the reservations that sell out in minutes are the parts I plan for you.
