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
I remember when Hawaiian airlines was our only choice to go Oahu or Big island. $200 one way , granted it was holiday season, but still $150 average one way ticket the rest of the year. They gouged us local people for a long time. I’m going to Kauai next weekend on southwest for $89 round trip. Thank you for reminding me, I have to go pick up a rotisserie chicken from Costco. Blessings to all
Post Covid Southwest double down on Hawaii Mainland service with a slew of new flights. Demand skyrocketed to Hawaii. Unfortunately the entire hospitality couldn’t keep pace with the demand and the Hawaii government officials begged and pleaded with All the airlines to throttle back service levels to ease the over congestion on local facilities throughout the islands.
In the same breath local business leaders told SW while they love their inter island service to help bring fares down from a historical high prices Hawaiian was charging with its monopoly.
But they HATED the slim inter island flight schedule SW was flying and asked for more flights to make it a solid option when doing a inter island business day trip.
“They’ve said their current focus is on convincing Hawaii residents to move from Hawaiian to Southwest for interisland flights.”
As a person that has flown on Southwest interisland a couple of times, I would say that the option to fly them is gaining ground. On a flight to Maui, at 6 a.m. departure, both the Lt. governor, a Congressional candidate, and current legislator, along with their staff, were on that flight. If there was a “locals only” philosophy for interisland flights, it is not be set in stone with the fact that now even our government officials are using Southwest service. It might not be a total switch, but it’s notable nonetheless.
The government has to use the lowest cost flight even if it means flying SWA. Tax dollars are paying for it, and the constituents made it law when they voted.
It Sucks that companies like SWA and Costco are predatory. It’s ok to undercut to win but if they were a lender, they would be breaking the law. For every mom and pop shop and every local job they steal, the local economy looses 10-15 more jobs.
I flew SW last week for $260 rt. Flight there had 30 open seats on a Tuesday and return had 70 seats open on a Wednesday.
I flew Southwest 2 weeks ago to Oahu for $356 RT and it’s great compared to Hawaiian air for $600..with 2 free luggage 🧳 on the side its perfect. From now on I’ll be flying southwest to my fave tropical destination.
I think southwest is great for all the islands. Hawaiian only is a monopoly. I’ve been flying Hawaiian my whole life & am dissapointed on there pricing. As soon as Southwest came to the islands I have been flying with them 90% of the time and Hawaiian 10%. The only thing that Southwest is lacking is local flight attendants & agents. Believe me we the local community’s have been discussing the same thing. And everyone, I mean everyone we talk to say the same. Thats the only thing lacking, if Southwest wants to beat Hawaiian in the long run thats what they need to do. I am born & raised here in Hawaii these things I have suggestes with lots of Aloha would make the differnce for Southwest to surpass Hawaiian as the leader in all of Hawaii.ALOHA
I shop Costco in California and when I come to Hawaii. We tend to buy like items in both places and we and the rest of the visitors would know if Costco was price gouging. They do tack on the extra freight and handling ( you can thank the Jones Act for that and your editors know this). I don’t see the article picking on Home Depot, Lowes or Walmart and Target. The Islands are an expensive place to live but why erroneously blame these retailers. In fact gas is cheaper at Costco on the big island than it is in my hometown Costco. The explanation is simple based on California Air Quality regulations. Get honest with your readers, they aren’t all as dumb as you think.
Spot on Barry! All the local politicians claim to care about their constituents while taking union money and keeping the Jones act and monopolies like Young Brothers intact. Shame on them! Southwest has never laid off an employee in 55 years. Talk to their local hires and you will find some very happy people. The Islands could need honest leaders and more great companies like Southwest Airlines!
Hawaiian has had a monopoly.
Competition is good.
The competition is good for the people and businesses of Hawaii.
Hawaiian is the one that made fares between the islands more then fares to the mainland and held the prices there for a long time. Yay, lets support more competition.
The SWA pilots union is good example of why many people in Hawaii have a problem with the arrogance of those that come to Hawaii with a sense of entitlement and complete disregard for anyone but themselves. SWA views Hawaii as somewhere they can pick apart for their own corporate profits back in Texas, with no regard for the impact on the islands.
My fav is Hawaiian. Having said that, Low cost airlines are always getting dumped on but the fact is the consumer needs choices & SWA offers that. Our #1 w/in Mainland isSWA as much as possible if the fare is right (I also have points) Prior to SWA adding Hawaii to their destinations I have always preferred to fly Hawaiian for my Hawaii trips. Thought once SWA opened up we’d fly them more to HI but generally the flight times aren’t the greatest for us. We did fly to HI 1x on SWA & it was just fine,We bought Early Bird & got the seats we wanted. Brought food with us (although they may have had something more substantial to serve because of the length of flight) and used their app for in-flight entertainment We’d do it again if we had to.
I hope that SWA begins to hire locally, and I believe they will have no choice as they increase the number of destinations and frequency of flights. I can’t help but point out that when I flew inter-island with my niece this past spring, the total was less than $157.00 round trip from HNL to KON for both of us … and 4 checked bags and a carry-on for each of us. Airfare alone on Hawaiian Airlines for the 2 of us, round trip with a similar itinerary would have been $480.00. Both flights were filled (137 passengers plus crew).