Hawaii-bound travelers for later in 2020 and beyond increasingly frustrated and in need of answers.
219 thoughts on “As Desperation Ensues, Hawaiian Airlines Speaks on Restarting Tourism Now”
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Home » Blog » Hawaii Travel News » As Desperation Ensues, Hawaiian Airlines Speaks on Restarting Tourism Now
I’m just floored at the lack of a game plan. 1 month, 3 months, 1 year? I agree in waiting until it’s safe, but seems like there is no plan to move forward. At the governor level, you can’t just wait to “see what tomorrow brings” as viable plan. You need to have definitive dates and procedures.
Hawaii politicians are constipated with ineptness. They can’t make a decision to save their lives (and ours). The political rust is being exposed that accumulates when we vote in the same Party decade after decade. We need a change. They have no plan, no will, no clue as to how to make a decision. No one has the backbone to make a decision for fear of losing their “place in line” for the next elected position.
Get off your butts and do something….we’re dying out here
Our family had a Maui vacation planned starting on 6/18/2020 and rescheduled it to mid-August because of the obvious epi demic issues. We love the island, its people and have visited this island several times each year for the past 25 years.
I completely understand that Hawaii needs to keep great control of the health of the islands and its people – they simply do not have the medical infrastructure to take care of people if this gets out of control. I am also of the opinion that there definitely needs to be some protocols put in place for people who are boarding a plane to Hawaii, or rules for social distancing when they arrive. I don’t believe that the FAA can enforce a pre-board request like this so it may mean that strict social distancing rules are in place in Hawaii. This latter would also mean that locals would have to abide by these rules as well. Testing obviously should be considered as well when they arrive.
I am not sure what the right answer is for travelling to Hawaii or when the state should open back up to tourism (essentially lifting the 14 day quar antine requirement) but it does appear that the Governor has a “deer in the headlights” attitude right now. Regardless of ones opinion on tourism in Hawaii, it is needed to support the local economy; it cannot be eliminated overnight. I know there are locals who say keep the tourists away forever and return to a self-sustaining environment, but that would take years, if not decades. My humble opinion, set the date for reopening to tourism and provide progress reports on the ability to meet that date.
And to the tourists out there heading to Hawaii now, respect the rules! You are the ones giving the rest of us visitors a bad name.
C0vid is killing Aloha. The Hawaii travel restrictions at this point are an unconstitutional restraint of trade and burden on interstate commerce. I like the Hawaiian Airlines ideas and temperature checks if that is what it takes to re-open.
So good to see that a major employer and not just the medical & science profession are going to give some insight on moving forward on returning jobs to the islands. Needed are those three legs of information for the leadership of Hawaii to be able to make clear decisions which the locals and tourist so desperately need to avoid continuing devastation to the economy. A plan for the unemployment “pan demic” is just as critical as the effects of the chaos caused by leadership overreaction to the pan demic itself.
” When the frightened are in charge, chaos is the outcome”
I understand the rationale for the temperature checks, and want to keep everyone safe. However, it costs my family approximately $4,000 for round trip flights to Hawaii, and if one of us can’t fly due to a temperature, then we all have to cancel. Until the airlines can guarantee our choice of either a refund for all of our tickets if one member of the party is unable to fly due to illness, or rebooking (if possible) at no extra cost, I don’t see how I can feel comfortable booking flights to Hawaii again. There’s too much money to leave on the table, and getting all of our schedules to align to re-book is virtually impossible. Thank you for all you do to keep us updated on the situation in Hawaii.
Hi Mary.
Thanks.
Aloha.
We have reservations for three weeks in the Hawaiian Islands Hawaiian airlines. All the reservations are made including first class tickets. Every day we talk about canceling, but we love this place so much it is difficult to contemplate canceling our trip. This is over 30 such trips we have made to Hawaii! But… No matter, we are seriously considering canceling our trip to Maui Oahu, and Kauai. Just wanted to vent.
Chuck, I totally understand. We. consider the Big Island our home away from home for the last 39 years, but like you, we are considering canceling as well. We have our condo deposit down and have a refundable car rental but have not made airline reservations yet, which is unusual for us. If they don’t open everything soon, there will be nothing to there to do or see. We will not go if we cannot enjoy sitting on a beach. This is all so very sad and so unnecessary.
Aloha Chuck,
We were in the same boat but realized if we were proactive in cancelli g our flights there was a chance we may be penalized. We contacted Hawaiian Airlines via Twitter and explained we’d like to rebook for a later date “at tge same discounted fare.” They replied that wasn’t possible but offered a full refund. Then as luck would have it Beat of Hawaii posted a fare sale and we jumped on it. Things are so fluid now it’s hard to predict what’s going to happen. Good luck!
The woes of living in a 1st World country…
especially when traveling to a state that has the medical capacity/availability of a 3rd world country
We know how government works it’s reactive verses proactive until the island population puts the heat on to reopen then government will do little to make it happen. I’m on a lot of Hawaii travel forums I’ve found majority of posts come from transplants and long time residents that are anti-tourism. I read very little from small business owners or 1099 tax status residents. My feeling is Hawaiian government officials will feel no pressure to reopen the state to tourism until the federal governments $600.00 additional unemployment benefit sunsets. I’ve also found that most people receiving the benefit have no idea that it ends July 31st.
We own a condo on Maui and want to come over to our home. We usually only come over for a month at a time. With the quar antine, it makes no sense what so ever to come and be locked down for 2 weeks. We will survive, but I worry about about our friends in the hospitality business, without tourism, they will not be able to reopen, the island is going to take a long time to recover if ever. My heart goes out to all the locals. The best solution I have heard to allow visitors is to require testing, nothing wrong with that.
Aloha,
How can the lieutenant governor say they may open “… tourism to New Zealand, Australia, and Japan first…”? I don’t think the United States is letting people in from other countries. Did I miss something?
Thanks for all the info and I do like reading the comments. So many opinions!
Lanell
Hi Lanell.
Thanks again.
Aloha.