All signs point to Allegiant taking the wraps off their long awaited Hawaii service in the very near future. As you know this has been in the works for years. The gossip mill has been churning again recently and I’ve been hearing from various people both whom I know and anonymously.

Here are some of the indications and where we are likely to see them flying to and from. Get our your crystal ball and chime in as to which cities will be first:

California is in the mix

The two most likely airports are Stockton and Fresno. We’ve discussed these repeatedly and all indications are that at least one of these will be in the first announcement.

Other possible markets

• A second tier Oregon airport, possible Eugene or Medford.
• A Southern California airport, possibly Santa Maria, Santa Barbara or San Luis Obisbo.

And the long shots

Others that I believe are not likely at this time include:

• Oakland – which has too much competition.
• Ontario – which has never worked for Hawaii service.
• Bellingham – it barely works for Alaska Air but enough so to probably keep Allegiant out.
• Phoenix-Mesa.

Service Starts This Summer

• Allegiant has continued to reaffirm that they will be flying to Hawaii by Summer 2012. That’s coming up very quickly now and frankly I expected there would have already been an announcement. Airlines typically want a little longer to ramp up, especially for such a new flight model. On the other hand, none of the Hawaii players wants to tip their hand, which at least in part explains the delay. They are also awaiting final government approval at the moment.
• Late last month I learned of the first job posting by Allegiant for Honolulu.
• Allegiant’s 757′s, which were on lease outside of the US, have been repainted to the Allegiant brand and have recently been spotted.

No daily service – 2 or 3 times a week

Allegiant is likely to fly only two to three times a week from any given airport. That is a model they’ve used successfully before and seems almost certain to be deployed in Hawaii as well. That also would allow them to serve more cities if desired.

Which Hawaii Airports

I’m not sure on this one. Any thoughts? My prediction is Honolulu, but I’d not be surprised to see other islands in the mix.

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There are new food and beverage options in the skies flying towards Hawaii this week. Some of these are free and others are not. Together with baggage and other ancillary fees, there’s clearly money to be made in the airline food business. Hawaii visitors won’t be left out of the new choices.

Free airline food has been all but phased out, with Hawaiian Air being the remaining exception for now. The airline industry has shifted focus to premium food. This trend will continue to escalate as carriers compete with among other things, airport gourmet food offerings. As for me, I am likely to continue bringing food on board. Surveys indicate that I’m not alone in that regard.

Alaska Airlines

Alaska made the jump this week to Starbucks coffee brewed on board its flights, including those to Hawaii. I haven’t seen any changes coming yet to their food service offerings, but I expect to in the near future. With Alaska Air and Starbucks both being Seattle-based, this was no surprise. The airline already offers other Pacific Northwest specialty food items including Beecher’s cheese, Tim’s Cascade potato chips and Alaskan Amber beer.

Hawaiian Airlines

The carrier announced today that starting Friday they will be revising their meals and snacks for purchase. They will be including more Hawaii sourced products including Kauai’s Anahola Granola (congratulations Becky) and Big Islands’ Punalu’u Bake Shop. I haven’t seen yet if there will be any corresponding changes in their premium food prices.

Hawaiian will also now offer guests purchasing a premium meal ($10) a choice of complementary beverages including alcohol. There is a new Japanese style meal too provided by Oahu’s Gokujo Sushi.

Airline Food: Your thoughts

I’d love to hear from you on airline food, both free and premium. Are you paying for it, eating it. and how are you liking it?

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There’s a surprise Hawaii travel announcement this morning from otherwise Hawaii-lackluster United Airlines. This move indicates UAL doesn’t plan on yielding the east coast anytime soon to rival Hawaiian Air’s ambitions.

The new Washington DC to Honolulu service, which will use 767-400 aircraft, is the second recent announcement of new nonstop service to Hawaii from the distant east coast. Hawaiian recently announced New York City service, which will also be starting in June. We plan to report on that service personally. Hawaiian will use it’s new Airbus A330-300, which is arguably a more comfortable plane than United’s. Do you have any thoughts on that?

This is great news for Hawaii tourism, which seems poised for a record-breaking year. The state’s HTA expects the new route will generate approximately $135 million in new visitor spending annually.

Will there be a fare sale?

No fare sale was announced by United in conjunction with the new service. In fact a check of prices is showing a range of about $900-$1,100 round trip. A Hawaii travel deal based on the new routing is a distinct possibility I’ll be watching for. When Hawaiian announced their new service, it came with a brilliant $212 one-way inaugural fare.

Will it work?

It remains to be seen if United can feed enough Hawaii-bound visitors into its DC hub to make this route a success. By itself, the DC region is not a large part of Hawaii’s tourism draw so the carrier will also need to rely on bringing traffic from adjacent areas. Pricing will have a lot to do with whether or not this will work. You may recall another east coast to Hawaii non-stop that failed recently. US Air’s Charlotte to Honolulu service was relatively short-lived. The airline was forced to heavily discount that route which resulted in it no longer being profitable.

United is struggling to retain its dominance between the US Mainland and Hawaii. It faces both legacy, regional and new competitors and more announcements from these players are imminent.

This may shape up to be the most interesting year ever for Hawaii travel. And the deals you love with definitely play a large role.

Photo taken on approach to Honolulu International Airport.

There’s an abundance of Hawaii travel news to report. In the never ending Pacific island turnstile, players continue to come and go, shrink and grow. Plus we may even find out what Allegiant is planning after a very long delay. Here are today’s updates:

Mokulele: From 8-Seater to London?

We certainly haven’t heard the last of this unusual story. Mokulele (not to be confused with regional jet carrier Go!Mokulele), known for scenic 9-seater Cessna service within the islands, is expanding to charter service between Honolulu, Chicago (Rockford) and London (Stansted). Chicago is scheduled to commence in April with London added in May. The company will lease a single Boeing 767 for the service. Sorry, but I’m struck speechless on this one. More later.

Hawaiian Air/Jet Blue partnership. Should you care?

In most cases no. But it may bring benefits to some Hawaii visitors.

Last fall I suggested Hawaiian would partner with JetBlue to feed passengers into and out of their New York slot when the Honolulu to JFK nonstop service starts in June. Jet Blue was the logical partner and my prediction is now a reality. Hawaiian will use Jet Blue’s New York terminal. The deal features code sharing wherein the airlines will sell each others flights. Passengers can book Hawaii through JetBlue and mainland destinations of JetBlue through Hawaiian. Typically, however, such arrangements don’t offer great sale pricing opportunities. Lastly, the deal allows for mileage earning and redemption across the carriers. Both JetBlue and Hawaiian have similar relationships with others.

Hawaiian call center goes 24/7. Finally.

If you’ve ever tried to call Hawaiian Airlines early in the morning or late at night, you know that this was sorely needed for years. The carrier recently expanded its reservations call center to be 24/7. I did not see any change in the call center staffing, which was moved to the Philippines several years ago.

With the addition of more Asia flights and now east coast flights, Hawaiian has to provide service that spans 11 time zones, thereby necessitating the change.

What’s up with Allegiant?

“We’ve got some big news coming next week, stay tuned…” –Allegiant Travel

I’ve gone from excitement and enthusiasm to doubt when it comes to Allegiant’s willingness to commit to any Hawaii service. This cat and mouse game that now includes Alaska and Southwest has been going on it seems for years. There was something I caught on Allegiant’s twitter last week, however, plus its timing, that gave me pause. Stick around and let’s see if it’s for real this time around.

Updated: I saw this morning that Allegiant announced Missoula and not Hawaii. They do keep telling industry folk that they will be announcing Hawaii soon. 

Disney Cruises pulls Hawaii plug

Disney has just announced their 2013 cruise schedule and something is missing. It’s Hawaii! Wasn’t it just recently that the cruise line announced it was starting Hawaii cruises? It seemed like a great play given their new Aulani Resort on Oahu. If you want to get in on the action before it’s over, Disney has two 15-night Hawaii cruises on the books this year, in April and October. They start at about $100/night. But they’re calling it quits at the port of Los Angeles starting next year, which in part explains what happened to future Hawaii itineraries. The Disney Wonder ship will be relocated to Miami for 2013.

There’s also increasing Hawaii cruise competition and it appears Disney did not want to get into that whole ruckus.

Hawaiian Air/ANA partnership

Lastly, Hawaiian has also just partnered with ANA, expanding their prior code share agreement covering flights both in Japan and Hawaii and adding mileage earning and redemption reciprocity. The carriers will be able to sell each others flights to and from termination points.

Hawaiian Air new mobile website

If you’re flying Hawaiian Air, you’ll be pleased to see that they’ve just added mobile-awareness to their website. You’ll be served up a version for your smartphone that is much easier to use.

More Hawaii visitors are choosing to voyage either one way or round trip between the west coast and the islands. As for cruise ship safety, the recent disaster will likely put an unprecedented focus on cruise regulations and enforcement. Last year more than 15 million people cruised safely world wide.

Not only is there an increase in the number of cruises coming to Hawaii, there are also more Hawaii cruise deals popping up. So much so in fact, that we’ve written about Hawaii cruise sales four times recently.

In the first eleven month of 2011, the number of people arriving in Hawaii by cruise ship rose nearly 15% from the prior year. At 104,000, that’s still below the 2007 peak. It may not be long, however, until we see a new record being set.

We’ve mentioned before that cruises can make for an ideal first time visit to Hawaii. With multiple stops, you’ll get a brief albeit limited sampler of what each island has to offer. For a more in depth Hawaii experience, of course, cruises do not allow enough time in each port to really do justice to Hawaii.

Here are the top reasons that cruises to Hawaii are regaining momentum:

1. Value.

Just this past week Jeff reported on a round trip 2+ week cruise from San Diego that came out to about $75 per day, all-inclusive. That is still available. The cruise includes transportation to and from Hawaii ($400 average value) as well as inter-island transportation ($300 average value). There are no baggage fees. Also included are 14 nights accommodations ($1,400 average value), and perhaps 42 meals ($420 average value). Even with these conservative calculations, this cruise might be worth $2,500 or more, and yet it is on offer for about $1,000. I simply cannot see any other possible way to have a two week multi-island Hawaii vacation for that price.

2. Convenience. 

There’s nothing more convenient than unpacking and packing once, sleeping in the same room every night and not being in any airports or sitting on any crowded planes.

Today Hawaiian Airlines announced an increase in service to and from Kahului Maui. That’s good news for visitors and residents alike, since it will undoubtedly rekindle already fierce competition with rival Alaska Air. This means we can expect to see even more Hawaii travel deals. It’s also going to make it easier to get to and from Maui.

All of the airlines serving Hawaii are in a jockeying frenzy to find the sweet spot in highly desirable nonstop flights.

LA Service to be restarted

This June Hawaiian will bring back its Los Angeles/Maui service which it had previously terminated. At this point it is to be seasonal service, scheduled to end on August 18. That will obviously be determined based on demand.

Five nonstop mainland routes

With the re-addition of Los Angeles, a total of five cities will be served directly to/from Kahului. Those include Seattle, Las Vegas, Oakland and San Jose. There was no word on whether Portland to Maui service might also be re-started.

Additional inter-island service

Hawaiian also plans to begin adding two dozen new inter-island flights this month. “More than half of the added flights will serve the new Maui hub with one-third providing additional nonstop service between Maui and both Hawaii Island (Kona and Hilo) and Kauai,” said Hawaiian Airlines.

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Aloha and Hau’oli Makahiki Hou.

As we start the New Year I’m offering my predictions for Hawaii travel in 2012 as has become a tradition.

2011 ended with a number of great travel deals, some of which are still in effect. Beyond that, while we continued to see many airfare sales last year, they were generally fewer than in prior years, of shorter duration and more limited availability. Sadly, Los Angeles, the number one market for Hawaii, had the least fare sales ever.

1. Prices are going up.

Airfares to Hawaii continue to rise as is also true with most other markets. All indications are for a very strong travel year in general, with airlines in unprecedented control of their seat inventory and thus pricing. That means that with the exceptions you’ll see below, and occasional airfare wars, you can generally expect to pay more to travel, including to Hawaii. If you’re planning to visit during our peak travel times which include Spring break, June 15 to August 15 and Christmas/New Years weeks, prices are being set higher than ever.

2. A new player will join the fray.

Either Allegiant or Southwest or both. As you know the airlines that serve Hawaii are non-committal at this point. In generalities, both Allegiant and Southwest  have said that they’re coming to Hawaii. Neither has said exactly when and where they plan to fly. I believe something is going to shake loose this year, one way or the other.

3. More love for cities served by Alaska Airlines.

We have Alaska Air to thank for keeping deals going in 2011. Their presence in the San Diego, Bay Area and Pacific Northwest markets have kept prices in check. If it hadn’t been for them, Hawaiian’s prices would have simply been through the roof. You can find great prices today from all these markets to and from Hawaii on both Alaska and Hawaiian.

4. More expansion from Alaska Airlines.

This company appears ready to expand and dominate the west coast to Hawaii market while Hawaiian Air has its sites set towards the likes of Asia and New York. In some ways, however, Alaska isn’t in all that different a position than either Allegiant or Southwest. They aren’t going to extend themselves too much more until they see when new players are coming and what they have in mind.

5. New inter-island carrier.

I’ll have to say that this is one thing that I’d personally like more than anything else. Hawaii’s “bus” service has been literally clipped by the high prices we saw in 2011. Alaska and Southwest have the ability to enter this market, which would dramatically shake it up and allow residents and visitors to start island-hopping once again.

6. New markets for Hawaiian Air.

With their New York service set to debut this summer, and a fleet of planes best suited to long distance runs, Hawaiian will be looking for additional opportunities afield. I’ve suggested Chicago is next, and I believe we’ll see that happen in 2012.

I’ll be monitoring for all deals to and from Hawaii, as we’ve done for the past four years. Our VIP Alerts have become a very popular way to get those short-lasting Hawaii travel deals sent immediately via SMS or email. For just over $1 a month, you can sit back and I’ll get a hold of you when your next Hawaii airfare deals shows up.

Happy New Year and A Hui Hou.

The new inter-island pricing we discussed last week was announced today by Hawaiian Airlines. It gives you an opportunity to roll back prices $10 or more per segment when you buy four round-trips. That’s a 14% savings according to Hawaiian. In exchange for that, you’ll be subjected to a number of rules, some of which may be onerous.

Here’s how it works:

Each of the Neighbor Island Travel Plans is valid for one year.

Tickets can only be used by the Hawaiian Miles member who purchases the plan.

Once reservations are made, a minimum $35 change fee applies.

The more expensive plans do not decrease the cost but instead remove some or all of the rule limitations.

My take on it:

There isn’t a plan here that will work well for most Hawaii vacation visitors. Exceptions include visitors who come here multiple times each year or those with extensive island hopping plans. I would have liked to have seen something more to encourage multi-island vacations. That may have to wait for later, or for still desperately needed competition.

$512 Alahula Plan

• 4 round trips
• Must select a specific island pair
• 14 days advance purchase; 4 night (or Saturday night) required; not valid 11am-2pm
• Reduced HawaiianMiles earning
• Plus tax

$1,078 Kipa Plan

• 8 round trips
• Any non-stop inter-island flight
• 7 days advance purchase; 2 night (or Saturday night) required; not valid 11am-2pm
• Plus tax

$1,648 Hana a Walea Plan

• 24 one-way trips
• All inter-island flights
• 3 days advance purchase; no stay requirement; not valid 11am-2pm
• Plus tax

$4,588 Noa Plan

• 60 one-way trips
• All inter-island flights
• No advance purchase; no stay requirement; valid all hours
• Plus tax

If you’ve tried flying between Kauai and Maui or Maui and the Big Island, you know it isn’t easy. In most cases you need to transit Honolulu and take two planes.

Today Go!Mokulele airlines announced convenient new non-stop service on these two routes and a reasonable fare reduction to boot.

Here are the details of today’s Hawaii travel deal

Airline: Go!Mokulele

Routes: Lihue to/from Kahului and Kona to/from Kahului.

Price: $79 each way, plus tax. Promotional pricing, which is about 20% off the normal price, is available for purchase through December 18.

Effective: The new routes are effective January 1.

Availability: Limited. Some dates are already sold out at that price.

The news media is abuzz with word that Hawaiian Air may resurrect some legacy pricing models for inter-island air travel. As you may recall, in the past there was a variety of ways to obtain discounted tickets. Those included coupon booklets sold in grocery stores that provided one way tickets for under $50. At present, however, there are no discounts available, and fares (typically for the least desirable dates/times) start at $80 and go to $160+ for one-way twenty minute flights (including tax).

The need for reduced inter-island airfare pricing is obvious. We see it here in comments, and you know it first hand if you’ve tried flying within Hawaii. The costs have nearly brought an end to the once common multi-island Hawaii vacation.

I had recently planned to fly to Honolulu for a vacation, but when the cost was approximately the same as flying to the Bay Area, I opted to fly to California instead. That’s 2,500 miles for about the same cost as flying 100 miles. Ridiculous to be sure. So what’s wrong with this picture? Read on.

Kamaaina fares

The idea of a reduced fare structure for Hawaii residents is something that’s always being discussed locally. Inter-island flights are our local bus service, and it is sometimes obligatory to be able to fly between the islands for business, medical care, and other necessities. A discount for residents isn’t unprecedented here or in other places. There now is an online petition helping further bring this matter to the public’s attention. (Please read comments before signing petition).

According to Hawaiian Air: “We know how prices affect our local customers and they depend on us for transportation between islands. For some months now we’ve been working on developing options for them.”

But will we see any results from the current discussions or the petition, either for Hawaii residents or visitors? I’m very doubtful of anything substantive developing barring significant new competitive pressure.

So Where’s the Competition?

There simply is no competition in our  air transport market at the present time to help keep costs in check. Go!Mokulele and Island Air remain in virtually perfect lockstep with Hawaiian to maintain the highest overall prices ever seen here.

It seems to me the only real hope for reduced inter-island airfare pricing is the entry of a serious competitor. That would either be Alaska Air or Southwest Airlines. I’ve widely mentioned those over the past couple of years and we’re going to find out quite soon exactly what these two big boys have in mind.