14 thoughts on “Kaput Hawaii Express Backer Eyes New Hawaii Flights”
Andy
Breeze is a horrible company with extremely poor Ethics of caring for its employees… even making them temporary and on contract. I wouldn’t fly them if it were free! They’d need to care for their people and support economies and family’s before I’d ever consider even going to their website! Do a little digging and see what I mean
In the section of the story “After just over one year, The Hawaii Express was no more” there is a significant error in the third paragraph:
“Despite that friendship, Southwest was not a good fit for Keeleher, and he left soon after that to launch Canada’s very successful WestJet”. I beg to differ beyond the mis-spelling of Herb’s last name (Kelleher, not Keeleher). Herb Kelleher steered Southwest to incredible success until his retirement. Mr. Neeleman went on to found Westjet, also an excellent airline.
Anyway, Herb would have enjoyed taking credit for Westjet, too!!!
Other than that, an excellent job of capturing a bit of aviation history. Mr. Neeleman reminds me of Freddie Laker. Thanks!!!
The “Flying Pineapple!” I worked at Chiat/Day who had the Pineapple Express advertising account when the ad campaign was conceived. Great memories. Fun flights.
I would be very glad to have another option when flying from here in Las Vegas to Hawaii! I have flown both Hawaiian and Southwest many times. Both have their pluses and minuses. To have another option, especially for a more comfortable seat without a huge up charge or usage of points, would be great!
Looking forward to seeing the progress of this airline and their ideas!
Additional comment…they don’t provide food in their “First Class” aka “Nicest”…it is not first class standards, it is extra legroom with ULCC standards, so you are paying an extra $50 for seats that they are marketing hype as “first class” but actually are economy plus. They could call it “cramped, marginal, and ok” class if they wanted to be accurate, but doesn’t sell as well. Sort of like SWA “Business Select”–not business class, you just get to line up and pick a seat before others and pay for that, all same seats, no service difference, just marketing hype to upsell.
Aircraft manufacturers like to show performance in a vacuum, meaning maximum range is in ideal conditions, i.e. full fuel and light on everything else (including passengers and cargo) so the range is ferry with no fuel reserve. Put passengers, and cargo (flights to Hawaii, or anywhere for that matter but definitely Hawaii carry other cargo for revenue as well as passengers) on the plane and you have to reduce fuel weight and now it can’t make it to Hawaii. Additionally it needs significant fuel reserves so the range is misleading. Pineapple express went bankrupt during less competitive times (lack of capital read they couldn’t afford to keep losing money). Grain of salt on this story….
Pleased to see that another airlines is entering the mix. Our daughter lives in Kapolei, and the last time we visited we flew Southwest from Las Vegas. Even though we usually have preferential seating as handicapped, it was still cramped and uncomfortable. Would I pay $50 extra for Breeze’s first class – in a heartbeat! And flying out of San Bernadino is a no-brainer as well, especially if the proposed “bullet” train from Vegas to L.A. becomes a reality. Looking forward to seeing Hawaii again. Mahalo and Aloha from the 9th Island!
I hope it happens. Having a little more comfort on long fights is great. Hopefully they have movies.
I flew Midwest Express a few times from San Francisco to the east coast. All seats were first class. The Food a free drinks were outstanding! Hot chocolate chip cookies. Along with the outstanding crew. To bad they got bought out!
Thank you for the always informative reporting on The Beat of Hawaii! My husband and I have been travelling yearly to Maui for several years now and for many of those years we flew direct from Bellingham, WA to Maui on Alaska Airlines until they sadly discontinued the route. Every year since we have been hoping an airline would pick this route back up-maybe Mr Neeleman would consider flying Breeze to Hawaii from there-we’d be first in line!
Breeze is a horrible company with extremely poor Ethics of caring for its employees… even making them temporary and on contract. I wouldn’t fly them if it were free! They’d need to care for their people and support economies and family’s before I’d ever consider even going to their website! Do a little digging and see what I mean
Sounds like you have a personal axe to grind Andy.
In the section of the story “After just over one year, The Hawaii Express was no more” there is a significant error in the third paragraph:
“Despite that friendship, Southwest was not a good fit for Keeleher, and he left soon after that to launch Canada’s very successful WestJet”. I beg to differ beyond the mis-spelling of Herb’s last name (Kelleher, not Keeleher). Herb Kelleher steered Southwest to incredible success until his retirement. Mr. Neeleman went on to found Westjet, also an excellent airline.
Anyway, Herb would have enjoyed taking credit for Westjet, too!!!
Other than that, an excellent job of capturing a bit of aviation history. Mr. Neeleman reminds me of Freddie Laker. Thanks!!!
Hi Peter.
Thanks. Corrected. It is Neeleman that wasn’t a good fit for Southwest. It was a fun piece to write.
Aloha.
Excited to ready about another Flight option going to Hawaii.
The “Flying Pineapple!” I worked at Chiat/Day who had the Pineapple Express advertising account when the ad campaign was conceived. Great memories. Fun flights.
I would be very glad to have another option when flying from here in Las Vegas to Hawaii! I have flown both Hawaiian and Southwest many times. Both have their pluses and minuses. To have another option, especially for a more comfortable seat without a huge up charge or usage of points, would be great!
Looking forward to seeing the progress of this airline and their ideas!
Additional comment…they don’t provide food in their “First Class” aka “Nicest”…it is not first class standards, it is extra legroom with ULCC standards, so you are paying an extra $50 for seats that they are marketing hype as “first class” but actually are economy plus. They could call it “cramped, marginal, and ok” class if they wanted to be accurate, but doesn’t sell as well. Sort of like SWA “Business Select”–not business class, you just get to line up and pick a seat before others and pay for that, all same seats, no service difference, just marketing hype to upsell.
Aircraft manufacturers like to show performance in a vacuum, meaning maximum range is in ideal conditions, i.e. full fuel and light on everything else (including passengers and cargo) so the range is ferry with no fuel reserve. Put passengers, and cargo (flights to Hawaii, or anywhere for that matter but definitely Hawaii carry other cargo for revenue as well as passengers) on the plane and you have to reduce fuel weight and now it can’t make it to Hawaii. Additionally it needs significant fuel reserves so the range is misleading. Pineapple express went bankrupt during less competitive times (lack of capital read they couldn’t afford to keep losing money). Grain of salt on this story….
Pleased to see that another airlines is entering the mix. Our daughter lives in Kapolei, and the last time we visited we flew Southwest from Las Vegas. Even though we usually have preferential seating as handicapped, it was still cramped and uncomfortable. Would I pay $50 extra for Breeze’s first class – in a heartbeat! And flying out of San Bernadino is a no-brainer as well, especially if the proposed “bullet” train from Vegas to L.A. becomes a reality. Looking forward to seeing Hawaii again. Mahalo and Aloha from the 9th Island!
I hope it happens. Having a little more comfort on long fights is great. Hopefully they have movies.
I flew Midwest Express a few times from San Francisco to the east coast. All seats were first class. The Food a free drinks were outstanding! Hot chocolate chip cookies. Along with the outstanding crew. To bad they got bought out!
Thank you for the always informative reporting on The Beat of Hawaii! My husband and I have been travelling yearly to Maui for several years now and for many of those years we flew direct from Bellingham, WA to Maui on Alaska Airlines until they sadly discontinued the route. Every year since we have been hoping an airline would pick this route back up-maybe Mr Neeleman would consider flying Breeze to Hawaii from there-we’d be first in line!