Baggage Fees Can Sour Island Deal

I’ve just been reading about the new $50 per bag fee imposed on international flights by Continental and US Air.  But you needn’t go further than flying within Hawaii to feel the sting of the baggage fee bee.

As we’ve been discussing, the now long-standing inter-island airfare war was rekindled by what became a blunder of Mokulele Airlines. Their $299 all you can fly offer, was quickly one-up’d by Hawaiian and Go!, both of which announced $24.99 one-way fares. With egg on its face, Mokulele has matched the other carriers.

Where the baggage fees fit in.

Starting September 1, Mokulele Airlines will join Go! in charging $10 for the first check bag, while Hawaiian now charges nothing.  Therefore a $24.99 fare with one checked bag and tax turns out like this:

• $41.00 Go!
• $31.00 Hawaiian
• $41.00 Mokulele

Cost examples.

• For a family of four flying one roundtrip, with one checked bag each, Hawaiian will save you a significant $80.
• To use the $299 pass, it takes 6 roundtrips to make it worthwhile.  One person checking a single bag adds $120 to the cost of the pass.  Thus, when checking a single bag, the pass would not break even until more than 8 roundtrips.

It isn’t clear whether Hawaiian will join in the $10 baggage fee, or if Go! and Mokulele will ultimately have to back down.

Stay tuned, we’ll let you know what happens next.