What will happen at Hawaiian Airlines in the next year as it awaits acquisition. Beyond the data points to the heart of the matter.
What will happen at Hawaiian Airlines in the next year as it awaits acquisition. Beyond the data points to the heart of the matter.
I’m sorry Hawaiians, but your airline was going down the path of insolvency.
If anything you should be overjoyed with this deal it gives Hawaiian Airlines a chance to continue in some form or it’d go the way of Aloha Airlines.
Aloha
It is sad that this “merger” needed to happen to keep our airline alive.
There was no mention at the press conference of the agreement HA has with Amazon. Wonder if that played any part in HA’s acquisition.
We usually fly Alaska Airlines to Hawaii, since we each have their credit card, and like the yearly companion fares, unlike Hawaiian which is a one time benefit with their card. While Hawaiian has more of a “Hawaii vibe”, that has seemed to have diminished somewhat over the last few years. We’ve always had great service with Alaska, both on flights and with their excellent call center. Looking forward to an enhanced “Hawaii vibe” on the merged flights, with Alaska’s superior app and technology, and to use/be awarded miles for the One-World alliance. Also looking forward to non-stop flights from SMF to OGG, which currently Alaska does not have.
Just from reading BOH the last few years we all could tell something was amiss with HAL. I am not buying the “two separate entities” spin. Someone, someday, will say, “Why do we need two marketing departments? Why do we need two customer service departments?” Etc etc etc. Follow the trail, it leads to the $$. Final thought: HAL flights from the mainland were magic – once you boarded you were already in Hawaii. But the planes got smaller and the fares got much bigger – and the discriminating traveler voted with their wallet. The “Ohana” of it all cost too much for a plane ride.
Yes, that is the point of this. Hawaiian will remain in name on the customer focused side of things. Back of house, reservations, executive team, etc. will all be merged into Alaska operations. This is what will allow them to gain economies of scale to increase survivability. There will be a talent and salary drain away from Honolulu to Seattle as the high paying jobs will migrate to Seattle.
“Someone, someday, will say, “Why do we need two marketing departments? Why do we need two customer service departments?” Etc etc etc.”
I think someone already said so.
Hawaiian faced a large problems with on-time performance, call center, pricing, and a largely aging fleet including the 717. There offshore maintenance is another major issue. This should be good news for everyone.
Sadly employees should have been told before the public. Lack of leadership! That could have been a positive!
Aloha BoH!
There’s no way around it. When they did the system upgrade those on the provider side, that HA paid for – needs to do their job. And if they didn’t do it, then shame on HA mgmt. If it’s HA’s “fault”, then whoever was in charge of the rollout should be held accountable. The rollout was & IS a disaster. Still basic functions; retain user info, KTN, CC info failed. Cancellations should be available online (web/app) w/o chat/text/call center nonsense wasting everyone’s time.
Imagine Kapuna trying (& having to) keep track of cancelled tickets and credits, which should be managed and tracked by the system. Ask Southwest, they figured it out. The system rollout failure & poor project management of that was the clue to me.
part 2…We have other airline options, but we choose to fly Hawaiian, and my family and I will continue to fly Hawaiian during the interim merger period…however, that which makes Hawaiian special may not survive the merger…if not, then we have no reason to be fly a mainland airline that acts Hawaiian, if you know what I mean…honestly, I am hoping that the US government does not allow the merger and that Hawaiian is given the chance to show us if they can survive without Alaska or not…the end result will be the same as it will be with Alaska Airlines buying them: just another mainland company taking away more of Hawaii’s history…
what if they would go belly up without the merger… then we lose 100% for sure … so this at least would give the famous Aloha mode a chance to continue in some form
There is no guarantee that Alaska Airlines will continue to operate Hawaiian Airlines as a separate entity after the smoke clears from the merger…what happened to Virgin America is a good example…the end result is the same if Hawaiian ends up not making it on their own as it is if Alaska Airlines kills the Hawaiian Airlines name and entity, so might as well give Hawaiian a chance to make it on their own…
Except Virgin America wasn’t Hawaiian Airlines. I think Hawaiian has way more brand value than Virgin did, IMO.
Make sense- Hawaiian needs Alaka for survival- At least the state doesn’t have to bail them out as they did several years ago and left Aloha hanging to DIE- Thank You Alaska Air
I worked for Mid Pacific Airlines, Aloha Airlines, then Northwest Airlines. They were all great places to work. I have made friends that I consider ohana for life from each of these companies. So this doesn’t surprise me, the airline industry always goes through change. It’s a very competitive business.
My main concern is pricing, and whether or not Hawaiian can keep it’s great deals.
don’t hold your breath on prices going down. as for past great deals, really?
The reservation system as it stands is subpar. We fly HAL because it is owned by Hawaiian people and influence. I am loyal to HAL because of its brand and employees. I am saddened to see this happen.
Jimmie H.
To your point Jimmie, Hawaiian is a great airline with great people that embody the spirit of Hawaii like no other……as you said and BOH has noticed, their reservation system is not on par with the industry. This deal is the best of both worlds. Alaska will bring much needed upgrades to Hawaiian and yet is firmly committed to keeping the Hawaiian spirit alive by the way this merger is structured. A brilliant way to justify acquiring HA and keeping alive where much of the airlines value lies… This is way better than a typical merger were the identity is lost by the acquired airline. The name and the employees are a big part of what AK paid 1.9 Billion for.
You said it well that Hawaiian Airlines is the flag carrier of Hawaii…I have lived in Hawaii most of my life and I travel extensively worldwide, and regardless of my destination, I always depart on Hawaiian Airlines from Hawaii, to connect with other international carriers on the mainland…like I did last month after four flights to get to Budapest from from the Big Island and back…after a long day of flights to the west coast, it is always heartwarming to see that Hawaiian Airlines A330 sitting at the gate waiting to take me back home…and as you mentioned, Hawaiian flies with aloha spirit that no other airline possesses…to be continued on the following post
I hope Alaska will have Jet Blue as a travel partner – we use our Jet Blue miles to fly Hawaiian. It would be considerate to clarify that information prior to the finalization of the sale so we can use our remaining miles. Just one of many I’m sure concerns from loyal customers. Currently Alaska and Jet Blue are not travel partners.
This is very sad. Alaska flight attendants have zero Aloha. When you step on an Hawaiian plane, you are greeted with Aloha that starts your vacation and continues all through the flight.
That’s how I’ve felt since first flying Hawaiian over 25 years ago.
Wry sad to see this. Alaska is OK. But the comfort of their aircraft and their service just doesn’t measure up to Hawaiian- in my opinion. We have Pualani Gold status- sure hope we don’t lose those benefits. Thanks for keeping us informed on this.
I, too, love seeing those beautiful Hawaiian Airlines planes landing at my local airport. My husband and I have been fortunate that we’ve been able to pay Hawaiian’s higher airfare on our several yearly trips to Maui and Kauai; we always felt the service was just a bit better. However, the last several years (even pre-pandemic) we felt Hawaiian was falling short in the service department. You’ve noted these as well: lack of an online ‘wallet’ for flight credits, inability to make any changes on the website or the app, aging fleet, mediocre flight attendants, etc. I don’t believe Hawaiian would be able to survive without this merger. We also fly Alaska Air frequently, and have high hopes. We’ll see!
The company I work for was bought out by a large insurance company in early 2000 and then sold years later to another company. As of today, we are still the original company using the original name. Our customer base spoke and made it clear they preferred our name from the 1800’s. Names do not need to change for the Aquisition to work.
Having lived in Alaska for 26 years before moving to Maui 5 years ago I know the feeling well of Hawaiian employees. We always referred to Alaska Airlines as Seattle Air!
I know it shouldn’t be so emotional and this is life, but gosh this was hard to read yesterday: ( Hawaiian airlines was always so uniquely special & I am so sad about it all. Hoping they can keep the airlines separate like Swiss and Lufthansa’s! Those airlines did a wonderful job and keeping them separate and I always go out of my way to book Swiss whenever possible : )
It was pretty obvious that Hawaiian was in a death spiral. The call center, and horrible website reservation system has cost them a lot of vacation travelers.
The CEO has to be held accountable for all of HAs problems. A lack of transparency on just about everything from a PR standpoint doomed HA going forward. I am guessing that their problems or a lack of fixes was due to cost.
I was on flight 35 from PHX that took off at 8:10am yesterday. I found out about this at the same time the flight attendants found out. The gentleman FA I talked to had no idea this was coming.
I really thought that SWA would acquire HA.
Southwest is the worst. I am so glad they didn’t acquire Hawaiian!
Many of us who have flown SWA for more than 40 years would disagree. Merry Christmas with LUV !!!