Vulture Sale Circling US Air Charlotte Nonstop
When US Air announced last June that it was starting nonstop Charlotte to Honolulu service, I was skeptical. It didn’t then and doesn’t now appear that there is adequate traffic to justify service from US Air’s east coast hub. Wide-flying industry rumors now indicate that the 767 flight is about to be scrubbed.
Helping in its demise, United, Continental and Delta have a deal for you. This Spring, you can fly round-trip for approximately $557-600 roundtrip (all-inclusive). That’s a savings of between $100 and $150 compared with the US Air flight.
If you intend to fly nonstop from Charlotte to Honolulu, I suggest you do so soon. Otherwise, plan on puddle-jumping your way to Hawaii or perhaps backtracking to Newark.
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While I’m certainly happy about the cheap fares, I won’t ever do the Charlotte to Honolulu nonstop again. I’d rather break it up into multiple flights that are shorter. We just did this in Feb – short flight from Virginia to Charlotte, 11 hours to Honolulu, then short flight to Maui.
The plane they are using is ancient (it still has ashtrays in the armrests!), the flight attendents not very friendly, and the seats are horribly uncomfortable. It was 11 hours of torture and I’m not normally a complainer! 8 hours on the way back overnight was still not terribly fun especially since the whole plane smelled like urine!
I can’t wait to visit Hawaii again – it was a magical trip – but I would rather break the three flights it takes us up into shorter legs and stop in Phoenix or LA next time. I’d also prefer NOT on US Air but they are usually the cheapest from our small, local airport so we end up flying them even though the employees all seem miserable and the planes are almost scary they are so old and poorly maintained. (We’ve had a completely different experience on Delta and Allegiant with friendly crew and much nicer planes.)
Thanks J for the very interesting feedback.
Aloha, Jeff
Can you elaborate on these “Wide-flying rumors” that the route is going to be canceled, and from what metric and/our source are you attributing to the lack of “adequate traffic to justify service”?
You’re making a lot of unsupported points, and even steering people to another airline. And, people in the East don’t need to backtrack to Newark if they don’t want to take USAirways. They can go to Chicago (AA, UA), Dallas (AA), Houston (CO) and Atlanta (DL), to name a few.
I don’t understand the comment about puddle jumping or backtracking to EWR. From CLT, you can fly non-stop to IAH on CO, then another non-stop to HNL; on AA, you can go, non-stop to DFW, then non-stop to HNL; on UAL, ORD, then HNL. One stop in a major hub is not what I would call puddle-jumping, but then I flew my first airplane flight in 1957 when it took 2.5 hours to go from Birmingham, AL to Memphis, TN (275 miles by car) because the flight made 3 stops in between. Now, that’s what I call puddle jumping.
I have flown on US Airway’s Hawaii flight and found it delightful. The crews were very professional with many beverages and food offered, both free and for sale. I never smelled urine and was happy to not have to stop on the west coast. Perhaps the smell J was experiencing was his won smelly feet and his piss poor attitude. No airline is perfect. Perhaps J should fly private next time or kyake to Hawaii next time.
Aloha Jeff,
With respect, you seem to be energetically short-selling US CLT-HNL service, beginning with your June ‘09 warning to fly “sooner rather than later.”
You also predict “great deals…They haven’t been announced yet, but don’t worry, they will come”
Now you claim the deals have arrived and service will end.
I just looked at 04/07/10 & 05/07/10 R/T NYC – HNL fares on CO, DL, UA & US and they’re all around $600 except CO in April which is $798.
Could you please be more specific about the sources of these “Wide-flying industry rumors…” indicating that service “…is about to be scrubbed.”
Mahalo
Tom
Thanks for comments.
There are certainly good ways to fly US Air to Hawaii other than Charlotte. Phoenix is an excellent access point with non-stops to Big Island, Kauai, Maui and Oahu.
The airfares indicated on the carriers were correct at the time of posting. With 25 weekly domestic fare updates and the nature of the industry, those change constantly.
Aloha, Jeff
While US Airways certainly has some comfortable aircraft in their fleet , and their food for purchase options aren’t so bad, their old 767′s aren’t some of them, unless you end up in first class.
I’ve flown that plane from Madrid to Philadelphia and thought I was on some third world charter aircraft. My advice is to try for Continental’s newer 767′s via Houston, or United’s 777′s from Chicago or San Francisco.
Its not like the flight was on time a lot anyway.. It seems like about 60% of the time it had to stop in LAX or SFO to get gas since it those 767 have the older engines that were not as fuel savvy as CO newer birds
The actual percentage of fuel diversions is 8.2% and most of those were PHX.
I enjoyed the HNL-Charlotte flight on USAir (well enjoyed is not the word as it is long) but it was certainly nice not to have to stop in Phoenix. Also nice that we can go Hilo-HNL-Charlotte. It actually ended up being about 2 hrs less travel time.
My wife and I were on that flight this past Feb and did not experience any problems. I would rather be on one flight for 11 hrs versus risking a connecting flight. With the way things are with air travel any time spent in an airport is just risking that your next flight will be delayed or cancelled.
I forgot to post that my destination was Charlotte. That makes a difference in connections as other airlines have a typical connection in Denver, Chicago or Texas, and of course USAirways in Phoenix. Wintertime departures out of Chicago and Denver airports can be problematic. Summertime departures mid-day in Phoenix have their own issues.
The other advice/notation is my brother is an airline pilot and his take is takeoffs and landings are where the most mishaps can occur. But this is neither here nor there as they are discontinuing!
When are we getting Hilo – mainland non stop??? lol
As I posted on a related thread, I had a wonderful flight non-stop from CLT to HNL in April. The plane was super comfortable and it was so nice to cut the HOURS off the travel time since vacation time is so precious. I have traveled on some horrible USAIR planes, but all of them have been associated with the flights to Hawaii via Phoenix and not the non-stop. My nonstop in April was oversold going both directions and I am very disappointed to see it stop. I would also like to note that it is common for Hawaii fares in late April/early May, Nov and February to be rock bottom pricing from the east coast, but if you price it against the nonstop from Atlanta that Delta offers, the price is right in line with it most every time. I go several times a year and price it constantly. Wish they could find a way to keep the nonstop out of Charlotte.