Fly The Unfriendly Skies of Hawaiian Airlines
Written: Sep 29 '02 (Updated Apr 01 '03)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: All bags hand-checked; nice, new, clean planes.
Cons: Bag checkers and crew were not friendly.
The Bottom Line: Hawaiian has good and bad points. I would use them again, though and am recommending them. I would recommend choosing the least expensive.
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| jo.com's Full Review: Hawaiian Airlines |
We recently went to Hawaii and flew 2 different airlines between islands. The one I am reviewing now is Hawaiian Airlines. The other one, which I reviewed, was Aloha Airlines.
General Information:
Hawaiian Airlines was the first air carrier in the Pacific territory. Today, they are the nation's 12th largest airline, carrying about 6 million passengers each year. They offer daily all-jet Boeing 717-200 flights between the Hawaiian Islands of Kauai, Lanai, Maui, Molokai, Oahu and the Big Island, and provide DC-10 widebody and Boeing 767-300ER service to North American and South Pacific destinations. (http://www.hawaiianair.com/)
There are 3 inter island airlines: Aloha, Hawaiian and Island Air. We went in June 2002 and Island Air was the most expensive of the 3.
We originally booked ourselves from the mainland to Honolulu, Oahu since that is where we were leaving from at the end of the trip. At first it made sense. You start where you finish. Financially, this is not the way to travel if you are going to more than one island. Since these airlines charge for what they call legs, you want to avoid as many legs as possible. Booking to and from Oahu would have cost us an extra leg so we flew to Maui first using Aloha airlines and leaving from Oahu on Hawaiian airlines. There was a reason for this. Hawaiian Airlines will only give you 2 legs using frequent flyer miles. However, being able to use American Airline's frequent flyer miles is a big plus. We flew Hawaiian to the Big Island and from the Big Island to Oahu. Those were our two legs.
We booked our flights through American Airline using 500 frequent flyer miles which equals about $120 for my husband and me for the two legs.
Customer Service:
We had very little need for customer service except to book our flight since we did it by phone rather than online. The customer service representative was very nice and very patient since it took some time to explain to me the fact we could go the 2 legs and use frequent flyer miles.
Security:
I wrote in my Aloha review that being from Boston (Logan Airport) I am particularly sensitive to security issues and with everyone and everything was hand checked. I have never been so checked as I was in the Hawaiian Islands. Unlike Aloha which had an x-ray machine that all luggage goes through, Lihu'e Airport in Kauai did not and all checked bags were searched and 90% of carry on bags were checked. It seemed that those of us who were not flying round trip were checked getting on the plane.
We had a minor problem at Lihue Airport in Kauai. We waited in line for longer than usual not because the line was so long but because of the hand checking of the bags. Check-in itself went fine. There were no problems but we then went to the table where our bags are checked. There are dividers between people who are getting their bags checked to give some semblance of privacy.
The bag my husband had was admittedly very full. When the checker and my husband went to close the bag the zipper got caught on a plastic bag. It would then not move and after the checker tugged on it and tugged on it attempting to get it loose, the zipper split. Now what were we supposed to do? I really do question what was supposed to happen. After I asked for a supervisor, one came over and suggested we wrap tape around the suitcase. I told her that we still had 3 more flights ahead of us including mainland flights and that was not acceptable. She had no answer for us. She sent me over to check in and the supervisor there just sent me back telling me it was not his problem.
I was really frustrated because there is some discrimination between people who are from Hawaii and those who are not. Others told that to us and we witnessed it ourselves. This is not an issue of bigotry on my part. It is the other way around. (This was not on all islands and not widespread although I did see it in a couple of restaurants also.) I understand preferential treatment to people from the Islands. In our case the person who did help us eventually was not from the Islands.
I asked if they had a bag in the back we could use. I did not care what it looked like as long as it functioned and was told no. Eventually (and we are now going on perhaps 20 minutes of standing with a broken suitcase) a person who was not of Hawaiian heritage came over. He was very nice to us and in 10 seconds had the plastic bag unstuck and the zipper fixed.
Hawaiian:
Lihue Airport is a small airport. There is a very small waiting area but most people were sitting outside where there were a couple of stores. It was very warm both inside and outside so being outside was the better choice. Our carry-on bags were checked outside.
The plane was a new 717. It was beautiful with 3 seats across, an aisle and then 2 seats- 123 seats in all. There was decent leg room and it was very, very clean. The bathroom was also. I was impressed with the plane.
There was no music on this plane and the pilot never said one word to us. We were given a canned narration of the Big Island and what was nice is that the crew gave out maps of the Big Island (Not that we needed one-we had about 5 at this point.) by, what my notes say somewhat friendly staff. The fact is that I did not find any island as friendly as Maui and perhaps none of our crew was from that island! There were no pillows or blankets and I did not mind that, but a smile from a flight attendant is comforting and this was one of the more unfriendly crews I have come across.
The flight itself was fine. It left 15 minutes late which was miraculous to me given the fact they hand-check most of the passengers. I expected to be delayed a lot longer.
The food:
On long flights these days not getting food is no surprise but I did expect macadamia nuts! I really thought that would be a nice touch. All we got was either guava juice (mostly sugar) or coffee. This was exactly the same as on Aloha Airlines.
Other information:
Hawaiian has been rated one of the 10 Best U.S. airlines by readers of Conde Nast Traveler and Travel & Leisure for the past several years and this year was rated the top U.S. airline for Premium class service in the 2001 Zagat Survey. http://www.hawaiianair.com/about/corporate/history.asp
To see the configuration of this plane if that interests you, including measurements, the url is http://www.hawaiianair.com/about/services/b717.asp
Hawaiian advertises itself as the quietest and most environmentally friendly airplane. I did not notice that it was any quieter than any other airline I have been on and cannot find any information on their environmental commitment so I am really not sure how they make that statement but it was on a flyer I picked up at the airport.
In summary:
We landed in Lihue, Kauai and waited only a few minutes for our baggage.
Like the tails on Aloha, these tails are also painted with a face of a woman on it. It is actually very pretty.
I found Hawaiian Airlines to be a pleasant flight. Thank goodness we arrived with no problems either to the Big Island or to Oahu. It was an easy in-air flight. It did leave late, the crew was not friendly, security needs to be a little nicer to say the least and small packs of macadamia nuts would be a really nice touch. The planes we were on through Hawaiian Airlines were much nicer than the one from Aloha Airlines, but the crew was much nicer on Aloha, the pilot spoke to us and the waiting area was nicer.
I am going to recommend this Airline because they have some very positive points. They also have some very negative points. Between those two, I am rating it 3 stars. Check around among the 3 intercoastal airlines and see what the best price you can get. That would be my bottom line.
Feel free to leave me a comment or ask any questions. Other Hawaii reviews you may be interested in:
Traveling to Hawaii on a Budget
The Westin San Francisco Airport Hotel
Aloha Airlines
Garden Gate Bed and Breakfast in Maui
Maui
LahainaTown Maui
Hana Highway in Maui
Haleakala National Park in Maui
Hawaii Volcanoes National Park
Hawaiian Airlines
Puff the Magic Dragon Lived in Kauai
Waimea Canyon on Kauai
Poipou Beach Area, Kauai
Na Pali Coast, Kauai
Hideaway Cove Villa, Kauai
Royal Kona Resort,The Big Island
The Island of Hawaii - The Big Island
Pu'uhonua o Honaunau National Historical Park on the Big Island
Oahu
USS Arizona Memorial on Oahu
DiamondHead State Monument on Oahu
Polynesian Cultural Center,Oahu
Wailua River State Park in Kauai, Hawaii
Interested in other airlines?
Southwest Air
Aloha Airlines
Recommended:
Yes
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