Southwest Hawaii. How’s it going now? “The other airlines can’t touch you… Predatory and opportunistic—which we like.” — SW and SWAPO
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160 thoughts on “Go Big and Predatory: Southwest Hawaii And Costco”
Southwest Hawaii. How’s it going now? “The other airlines can’t touch you… Predatory and opportunistic—which we like.” — SW and SWAPO
Calling a free msrket “predatory” is a big stretch without providing proof of intent to defraud. Whether we like it or not what we are witnessing is a free market economy. Just because several new vendors (airlines and retail stores) entered the Hawaii msrket is not a negative in a free market. What is really happening is a normalization in the marketplace as more vendors bring prices that represent competitive choice. Jim E
If the article is supposed to make me feel sorry for Hawaiian because they are perceived as local, my memory of how they crushed competition and eventually put out of business Aloha, Mahalo, the ferries and others over the years. I want to buy a couple of these cheap tickets so I can visit some of the neighbor islands that have been prohibitively expensive for some time.
Do it quickly because these prices will change.
If a competitor has prices you can’t match, you have choices. Sell your product or service where competition is not as strong, is one approach. Given the huge capital investment facing airlines and the availability of gates that might not be so easy.
So, make your product more compelling. Instead of competing on price, compete on service. Works for Qatar and Emirates, among others. But, Hawaiian seems to have tunnel vision based on price. Hawaiian can’t win a price war.
This is called business n serving the inter island people so they can visit family on different islands.
I think southwest will not last. Hawaiian will stick to their own.
I always fly Hawaiian. If you can fly on the days when the rates are lower they compare favorably to Southwest. Hawaiian fly wide body planes which we prefer when they are available. Extra comfort seats on the wide body on either side of the plane are preferable to the southwest 737 seat configuration.
Gasoline is cheaper at Costco in Maui than in California. I don’t agree that they drove out the competition then raised up the prices. Inflation raised the prices.
We have Walmart and Target for comparison, and Costco is still cheaper on most consumer goods.
Hawaiian was gouging us before SW got into the inter-island game. The problem with SW is plane availability. One delay anywhere screws up the whole system.
Your description of the destruction of the market is much closer to Walmart’s demonstrated tactics than Costco’s.
This has been a long established airline practice and their established kings are Alaskan and Hawaiian. RIP Aloha and others. Welcome Southwest. I am a regular Kauai to Oaho flyer (I’d rather use the superferry.) and I appreciate that thing we refer to as competition.