What falloff could mean for you and your Hawaii vacation.
34 thoughts on “Southwest Announces Big Travel Slowdown That’s Hitting Hawaii”
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Home » Blog » Hawaii Travel News » Southwest Announces Big Travel Slowdown That’s Hitting Hawaii
We had reservations to Big Island from Toronto with United. They changed with a 2 stop flight… We were able to get a better option. We are going Nov.2 I hope Delta is gone by that time!
A comment on the Hawaiian vs SWA flight option mentioned below…..there is simply no comparison. Hawaiian obviously has the better product but more important, they are based in Hawaii. They gear their service to Hawaii’s needs. They don’t go anywhere when times get tough. It’s really the only airline that supports the state.
BOH you guys are on Kauai, I think you’ll agree….after a major hurricane everyone pulls out and it’s Hawaiian that is there supporting the island. Their employees live in Hawaii and treat it like what it is, their home. Frankly I am a little biased against SWA in particular as they are very aggressive and loud for newcomers and really focused on trying to get market share without any thought to how it effects Hawaii. I am sure they will always do what’s best for themselves, they are very good at that.
Personally I always try to fly local.
Aloha
Lol wrong…any local knows that actually Hawaiian does the opposite of all you just said. They wait until locals need to travel for their kids sports events, halaus for merrie monarch, holidays and Jack up their prices solely based on their knowledge of our commitments. They priced out Aloha Air in order to monopolize the states inter island travel. That’s how I know you are not local. SW coming to Hawaii was what we needed.
Be careful what you ask for, you might get it. And go it you did. You wanted Southwest and lower airfares, and you got them. But you also go a different class/level of tourist into Hawaii. Maybe those that don’t respect the people or the land like previous tourist did. Remember, people that buy SW airfare are those looking for cheapest fars and bag costs. Do you really think those are the same people spending money to support the Hawaiian economy? You complain about too many tourist…2 years ago SW started flying to Hawaii from the mainland. They probably now have at least 50 flights daily flying into hawaii. That’s a lot of tourist flying in on a daily basis. At 75% capacity. that’s about 7,000 flying in everyday. Now you know why Hawaii is inundated with tourist. For $300 RT, they flying in, and don’t give a crap about respecting anything.
Just my observation…
Well maybe you should also need to stay home when things get tough and not travel to Hawaii. Sorry but less of you and your attitudes are better for us locals. Alot if travels are so rude to workers and its annoying. Travels should learn to show respect and ALOHA since we are servicing you.
hawaii deserves a break please
Hal was ripping off the locals for 20 years on interisland flights. 300 bucks for 1 20 min flight. And den they screw us all by blocking the ferry. Imagine a island chain with no ferry service. Humm something wrong here yeah. Guess how many united and delta and American employees in Hawaii. 1 united flight from narita and 1 delta flight from Osaka prob bring more cash and jobs into Hawaii then Hawaiians flight to Vegas.
The rental car price reduction is real! About a week I priced a 3-day rental of a compact car from Honolulu airport for late August – it was almost $500. Wasn’t sure what we needed so held off booking. So glad I did! Went back online yesterday – same cars are now going for $49 a day!
Thanks for all your great articles as keeping us up to date on the COVID situation.
Hi Jeanette.
Thanks for the feedback. Were so glad to hear that worked out well for you.
Aloha.
Aloha BOH Travel Gods
We’d booked SWA out of Sacramento for our upcoming October travel to Maui using points, but in the last 2 weeks SWA changed our departure flight from Sacramento twice putting us on Maui 4 hours later then our original booked flight.
Last week I caught a good deal from Hawaiian re-booked with them and canceled SWA. We are still booked with SWA for our return flight to Sacramento.
I’ve been following other travel sites there’s been a lot of complaints about SWA changing flights it’s just adding to travelers frustrations. My be another reason folks are throwing in the towel on travel to Hawaii
Hi Richard.
You are too kind. And funny. Yes others have been reporting the same thing to us recently about sW. Glad you were able to find a better option. Lastly, do have a great time!
Aloha.
Mai Tai in hand, sun on my bun and some tasty waves or crashed out snoring on Wailea Beach it’s all good dude’s.
Hi Richard.
Happy to hear you’ve arrived. Have a great time.
Aloha.
I loved “The Descendants”. I watch it every once in a while, particularly in winter. I miss Kauai so much and hope everybody will be more careful as we are not out of the woods, yet.
I was listening to an English scientist who said Delta variant cases are subsiding in India and Britain. I hope it will be the same here. He also said to keep an eye for different variants. It is just so sad that so many people didn’t trust science and the vaccine. I hope you are both well. I never miss reading your newsletter).
Hi Nadege.
Thanks. We are always glad to hear from you and wish you and your family the best.
Aloha. R/J
Thank you for these articles about SWA and fares/flights, car rentals and Tahiti Nui. As always, I look forward daily to my BOH news email to share with my travelling friends. JM
Yes I too noticed that most all the airlines are reporting a drop in demand after Labor Day.
A contributing factor could be the expiration of the federal employee paid leave benefit in the American Rescue Plan. Starting in March federal employees could self-certify for up to 15 weeks of paid leave of $1400 a week. The program ends September 30th or when the $570 million of funding runs out.I am guessing quite a few federal employees visited Hawaii to recover from the stress of the last year.
All that paid leave might be part of the reason passports are taking months to process and 35 million tax returns have not been processed.
Aloha – or is it? Why has Oahu completely shut down the AirBnB app? Have the hotels gotten that much power? Is there a reason, perhaps? Now, if travel to HI may be impacted again, wouldn’t it be better to allow vaccinated/tested travelers the freedom to be in a safer location than a hotel? We appreciate the work that you do to inform us of what is happening. Mahalo – keep it up!
We’ll be to our beloved Kaua’i in 4 weeks. Have to admit, the downturn is a positive in our book. Less people = a much better experience.
I’ve been following the data for the UK closely all spring / summer. The Delta spike lasted around 3 – 4 weeks and has once again turned downward in the last week each day. I believe by the end of September this Delta variant will be well behind us.