Hawaiian Airlines... The Flagship Airlines of who?
Written: Aug 22 '02 (Updated Jan 10 '03)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: New fleet, lots of destinations, sometimes cheapest fair
Cons: Poor on-time commitment, customer service, interisland first class a joke
The Bottom Line: If you want the Aloha spirit on your flight experience, fly Aloha. Hawaiian has been known for massive delays. Their new planes are good though.
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| slippahs's Full Review: Hawaiian Airlines |
Update
As of January 2003, Hawaiian Airlines and Aloha Airlines have eliminated their coupon system. Now, tickets may be purchased by the following scale.
$66 if purchased 7 days in advance
$70 at least 3 days in advance
$75 when purchased at anytime.
In addition, since an approval of an Interisland Cooperation Agreement by the US Department of Transportation, Hawaiian and Aloha Airlines are now jointly coordinating seat capacity in the Hawai'i Interisland market.
What does that mean for you? Less flights between islands. For example, there are now only 6 flights from Honolulu to Hilo for both airlines. The airlines have cut seats drastically. The bottom line? BOOK EARLY because flights are selling out like crazy. Even us local people are having finding flights.
As of Friday, August 23, 2002, Hawaiian Airlines will reduce the number of flights on the following routes:
San Francisco-Kahului, Maui
Los Angeles-Kahului, Maui
and Ontario, Calif.-Honolulu
Los Angeles-Honolulu
What's it all about?
Hawaiian Airlines is Hawaii's oldest airlines, serving the Hawaiian Islands for over 70 years. They are the nation's 12th largest carrier and have flights between the Hawaiian Islands as well as to the South Pacific and West Coast. Hawaiian Airlines has recently upgraded their interisland fleet to Boeing 717-200 and is in the process of upgrading their transpacific fleet to Boeing 767-300ER. They are still using their DC-10 aircraft for service from Honolulu to Los Angeles. Their major competition is Aloha Airlines, another airline serving the same destinations as Hawaiian -- the two have been in competition ever since Aloha began its business.
Aircraft
Hawaiian Airlines is no doubt making a good effort to improve the quality of their fleet. This is one place Aloha has faltered. Aloha still flies their old Boeing 737-200s on their interisland service. Hawaiian, on the other hand, has their new Boeing 717-200s. Their 767-300ERs are a pretty penny as well. Unfortunately, if you happen to fly from Honolulu to Los Angeles (and even continue on to Las Vegas), you'll find their DC-10s cramped and uncomfortable. The smell from the lavatories protrude throughout the plane, and even if you're sitting six rows away, you'd think something blew up in there. Hawaiian has had many problems with these planes, including landing gear failures and electricity problems. There have been times when you'll board the plane and find that the air conditioner is not working because the on-board power is off. Yet, Hawaiian has never had a fatality in all its years in business.
Customer Service
- Your flight experience is supposed to be second to none, especially with their Pacific service. Thus, when you first make your reservations you should be greeted with a friendly customer service representative. Unfortunately, that's not always the way it works. You'll probably find yourself waiting a long time to speak with a reservation agent when you call the office at Hawaiian Airlines. If you wanted to book a flight, it actually might be easier to do so online (at www.hawaiianair.com). I'll talk about their website in a second.
- When you arrive at the check-in counter for Hawaiian Airlines, you'll find that many of their check-in agents are there to do business. The Aloha spirit is dry and, especially at West Coast Airports, you'll find that many of Hawaiian Airlines check-in agents will not know what the Aloha Spirit is. This is unfortunate if you're flying to the islands, especially since you'd want to experience Aloha from the start of your journey till the end.
- Gate Representatives. When traveling from Honolulu to Los Angeles, we actually had a problem with our seats, so we needed to speak with a gate representative. We were luck enough to get upgraded from coach class to first for free. If the flight is not full and there are seats open up front in first class, the gate representatives will often choose their upgrades, so be aware of this.
- During flight, you'll find your flight attendants mean or filled with Aloha depending on where you're traveling to and what type of crew you have. If your flight crew is Hawai'i based (and they usually announce this), you'll find your flight attendants a bit more filled with the Aloha spirit. If their based in another city such as Portland or Seattle, you probably won't find anything close to the Aloha spirit. Overall, however, the flight attendants were helpful during all our flights with Hawaiian. They are fun to talk story with, and they'll do things to improve your comfort.
In-Flight Entertainment
- For West Coast/South Pacific flights: You'll find the in-flight entertainment to peril shamefully to another in-flight entertainment program like Continental Airlines. They will show you documentaries about Hawai'i and a feature film, but that's about all you'll get. The in-flight movie is standard (for example, during August 2002, you'd watch Spirit and Spiderman). However, there is a charge to utilize their in-flight entertainment system. This charge is $5 for coach passengers, even if you bring your own headphones. Compared to the $1 or $2 price you'd find on other airlines, I'd think that this is a ridiculous cost. Judge for yourself.
- For Interisland flight: On interisland flights, you'll find no in-flight entertainment programming. There may be an informational recording about the history of the islands as you pass by, but as far as a movie or music program, the flights are just too short to have them. The in-flight recordings are helpful, especially to learn about another island and such. On our flight from Honolulu to Maui, we got to learn briefly about the history of Maui, Lana'i and Moloka'i.
In-Flight Food/Beverage
- For West Coast/South Pacific flights: You'll find the same substandard airline food on these flights as you would any other. However, Aloha Airlines has been known to give out food that is unlike any other. If you're food picky, I strongly suggest going with Aloha Airlines. There are two beverage times during the duration of your flight. Once before the meal and once before landing. Yes, that's two times that you'll get hit with a cart if you're sitting in the aisle. They have a good assortment of drinks.
- For Interisland flight: You'll get one complimentary drink that usually consists of a soda or juice (soda is replaced by coffee for flights in the morning). There really isn't anything special about this service. You won't get anything to munch on, however, so bring a small snack for your short flight.
Luggage.. will they loose it?
In my some 19 years of flying with Hawaiian, they have lost my baggage once. I guess it all depends on luck, and yes, they will lose one occasionally.
On-time performance
Here is my quarrel with the airlines. Especially if you're flying to/from the West Coast, we've been delayed almost every time we've flown. There have been two occasions where we were delayed for four hours because of plane trouble. I'm glad that they're repairing the planes, but why make us wait at the airport for four hours. Watch out with Hawaiian Airlines. You might not make a desired meeting if you fly with them. Aloha Airlines has had a relatively better on-time performance rating overall. If you need to be on-time, go with them.
Price... is it worth it?
Hawaiian Airlines' prices can get pretty steep, but if you look out for sales, you'll find that it can be worth the trip. Hawai'i residents usually get the blunt end of the stick, so Hawai'i residents should try alternatives with other airlines, especially since those airlines are not concerned only with bringing tourists to the islands. For example, Hawaiian Airlines sale fare might only good if travel is originated outside of Hawai'i. This helps to promote tourism to the islands, but hurts island residents because they are forced to pay the full fare. All in all, if you're a tourist who wants to visit the islands, Hawaiian's prices are not bad.
Website
Now, here is something Hawaiian Airlines has over Aloha Airlines. Their website is quality. You can make reservations online/buy tickets, look up flight schedules, bring up your Hawaiian Air Miles account and even see what you'd be eating on your flights. Although the flight tracker has been down for some time, it's still fairly a great site overall. www.hawaiianair.com Aloha Airlines' website lacks most of these features and you can only make reservations and buy tickets. www.alohaairlines.com See for yourself.
The bottom line?
Fly with Hawaiian if you don't mind the long waits and delayed flights. Don't fly them, especially if you're flying to/from Los Angeles to Honolulu. You might want to consider flying Aloha for the West Coast flights, especially since they've got better in-flight service. Yet, for interisland service, it really doesn't matter, especially since the flights are so short (20-40 minutes). There is much more Aloha Spirit with Aloha Airlines, and that's not only because of the name.
Recommended:
No
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Epinions.com ID:
slippahs
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Location: Honolulu, Hawai'i
Reviews written: 21
Trusted by: 4 members
About Me:
Here in sunny Honolulu, Hawai'i, I type for the good of all :-)
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