Hawaii Travel News: Airlines Expand, Disney Leaves, Will Allegiant Announce?

There’s an abundance of Hawaii travel news to report. In the never ending Pacific island turnstile, players continue to come and go, shrink and grow. Plus we may even find out what Allegiant is planning after a very long delay. Here are today’s updates:

Mokulele: From 8-Seater to London?

We certainly haven’t heard the last of this unusual story. Mokulele (not to be confused with regional jet carrier Go!Mokulele), known for scenic 9-seater Cessna service within the islands, is expanding to charter service between Honolulu, Chicago (Rockford) and London (Stansted). Chicago is scheduled to commence in April with London added in May. The company will lease a single Boeing 767 for the service. Sorry, but I’m struck speechless on this one. More later.

Hawaiian Air/Jet Blue partnership. Should you care?

In most cases no. But it may bring benefits to some Hawaii visitors.

Last fall I suggested Hawaiian would partner with JetBlue to feed passengers into and out of their New York slot when the Honolulu to JFK nonstop service starts in June. Jet Blue was the logical partner and my prediction is now a reality. Hawaiian will use Jet Blue’s New York terminal. The deal features code sharing wherein the airlines will sell each others flights. Passengers can book Hawaii through JetBlue and mainland destinations of JetBlue through Hawaiian. Typically, however, such arrangements don’t offer great sale pricing opportunities. Lastly, the deal allows for mileage earning and redemption across the carriers. Both JetBlue and Hawaiian have similar relationships with others.

Hawaiian call center goes 24/7. Finally.

If you’ve ever tried to call Hawaiian Airlines early in the morning or late at night, you know that this was sorely needed for years. The carrier recently expanded its reservations call center to be 24/7. I did not see any change in the call center staffing, which was moved to the Philippines several years ago.

With the addition of more Asia flights and now east coast flights, Hawaiian has to provide service that spans 11 time zones, thereby necessitating the change.

What’s up with Allegiant?

“We’ve got some big news coming next week, stay tuned…” –Allegiant Travel

I’ve gone from excitement and enthusiasm to doubt when it comes to Allegiant’s willingness to commit to any Hawaii service. This cat and mouse game that now includes Alaska and Southwest has been going on it seems for years. There was something I caught on Allegiant’s twitter last week, however, plus its timing, that gave me pause. Stick around and let’s see if it’s for real this time around.

Updated: I saw this morning that Allegiant announced Missoula and not Hawaii. They do keep telling industry folk that they will be announcing Hawaii soon.

Disney Cruises pulls Hawaii plug

Disney has just announced their 2013 cruise schedule and something is missing. It’s Hawaii! Wasn’t it just recently that the cruise line announced it was starting Hawaii cruises? It seemed like a great play given their new Aulani Resort on Oahu. If you want to get in on the action before it’s over, Disney has two 15-night Hawaii cruises on the books this year, in April and October. They start at about $100/night. But they’re calling it quits at the port of Los Angeles starting next year, which in part explains what happened to future Hawaii itineraries. The Disney Wonder ship will be relocated to Miami for 2013.

There’s also increasing Hawaii cruise competition and it appears Disney did not want to get into that whole ruckus.

Hawaiian Air/ANA partnership

Lastly, Hawaiian has also just partnered with ANA, expanding their prior code share agreement covering flights both in Japan and Hawaii and adding mileage earning and redemption reciprocity. The carriers will be able to sell each others flights to and from termination points.

Hawaiian Air new mobile website

If you’re flying Hawaiian Air, you’ll be pleased to see that they’ve just added mobile-awareness to their website. You’ll be served up a version for your smartphone that is much easier to use.