49 thoughts on “Southwest Drops 10 Hawaii Routes | Fare War Starts | Expedia Out”
Stacy
We are planning a trip to the Big Island of Hawaii in February, do you forsee any flight sales in the near future? We’ve been waiting to book our airfare but not sure if we should just book now or wait a bit longer.
Just curious, do Southwest inter-island flights operate out of the inter-island terminal at HNL like Hawaiian does? We’ll be needing inter-island from HNL and normally have to trek to the inter-island terminal, but might consider Southwest depending on where they operate from.
It’s interesting that the airport website shows WN using the “G” gates still. WN’s website shows current arrival using gate E1-F7 for the last several weeks.
Of course, the airport website also shows AA using “E” gates when they’ve been using “C” and “D” gates since at least last October, when we flew though HNL last.
We’ll be through HNL at the end of August; can report then.
Thanks again. Yes, please let us know what you find.
Aloha.
Ernie S.
The misinformation from Honolulu Airport shows a lackluster responsiveness in real-time updating to assist passengers, it hardly surprises me. I have been noticing that certain employees, a very small amount, are about as friendly and helpful as Russians are to the Ukraine. That’s not an exaggeration but a simple fact that we have experienced the past several flights. Those few are a part of the many employees that Represent Hawaii as a whole and are the first impressions everyone sees deplaning and experiencing the lengthy walk to Baggage. Hawaii can do better, why have a Tourism Budget when you allow Anti-Tourist employees greet them first? Do Better!
1
Candace H.
Southwest will also being flying 1 daily OGG-Kona.
From this Sacramento customer to Southwest “boo hiss.” No fair Sacramento area customers have to connect in Honolulu or (shudder) drive to a bay area airport. No offense meant to either, but at my age last thing I want is a stressful drive to the airport and/or a tight connection. Or a long layover to avoid a tight connection.
Southwest went against their usual model of being the lowest cost of the non-budget airlines and chose to take advantage of the ability to charge more and ended up being higher than even Hawaiian Airlines for a flight over the Thanksgiving holiday week, at $1,500. I was one of those who opted to wait until the release date for fares covering that week, and when it became apparent that my previous target of $800 (slightly lower than my all-time high of $900 from Thanksgiving 2015) wasn’t going to happen, I went crawling back to Hawaiian Airlines to book for $1,139 for my group of 12. Surprisingly, that was a slight drop and the price has not fallen back to that level since for the first flight out of LA the Saturday before the holiday week.
I always flew Alaska from San Diego to Hawaii until Southwest came into the market. However after booking a nonstop flight on Southwest to Kauai, only to be rerouted to a connecting flight at the height of the summer when fares were high, having to go backwards to Las Vegas, my usual 5 hour trip became a 12 hour trip. I travel to Maui as well, and now they just pulled those trips too. They have completely lost my business, and I will go back to Alaska. It is not worth losing 2 full days of my trip to travel–I might as well go to Europe! Foolish on their part to not keep at least Maui. Hope the inter island business is enough for them. Can’t imagine any California residents wanting to take a connecting flight.
Let’s be very clear here, this is a very aggressive large mainland company trying to take advantage of a smaller local company and siphon resources from Hawaii’s economy and take it home to Texas. Simple as that. But local, fly local.
Business is business. When Aloha and Go! were around, where were the locals when HA and Go! did Aloha dirty? And after Aloha and Go! left, HA jacked up airfares. Completely their right so they can try to make money right? Cuz business is business! Same thing here, the biggest and strongest survive. SW has been around for a long time and has been profitable for the majority of its existence. If it wasn’t them, then someone else would have challenged HA at some point. It’s too bad HA never expanded outside of Hawaii to grow its business and be profitable. They are a money losing company with loads of debt. They became too overly Hawaii-centric and should have expanded elsewhere sooner — so that they could be profitable enough to compete.
Sorry but the thumbs down from the SWA supporters is also an indication of what SWA brings to Hawaii. Not appreciating the local airline is another example of not respecting Hawaii. SWA does in fact take from our economy and pockets it in the mainland.
That said competition isn’t bad per se, the ideal situation is HA will match their deal and you can support Hawaii by flying on them. I actually remember $9.95 inter island fares when their was HA, Aloha and Mid Pacific back in the 80’s…I guess with inflation this is about the same.
Seems that JOHNW has always had a bone to pick with SWA. What about Delta, United, American, and Alaskan? Do they also take from “our economy” and pocket it “in the mainland”? HA has done more than its share of damage to consumers over the years as well.
Curtis, I live in Hawaii and Hawaiian is our hometown airline and has served the State well. I don’t appreciate the fact that SWA uses their large size to grab market share by flooding a market with cheap fares, then gradually raising them, as is their way of growing. You think the TSA lines in OGG are bad now? Try wait, SWA doesn’t care about Hawaii, they care about SWA .
6
Candace H.
Please know business is business. When Aloha and Go! were around, where were the locals when HA and Go! did Aloha dirty? And after Aloha and Go! left, HA jacked up airfares. Completely their right so they can try to make $ right? Cuz business is business. Same thing here, the biggest and strongest survive. SW has been around for a long time and has been profitable for the majority of its existence. If it wasn’t them, then someone else would have challenged HA at some point. It’s too bad HA never expanded outside of Hawaii to grow its business and be profitable, so that they could effectively compete in situations like now. Instead, they are a money losing company with loads of debt due to their lack of expansion outside of Hawaii.
Southwest is making a mistake and the Kauai, The Big Island, and to a degree Maui will pay the price as no one wants to fly 5 to 6 hours and have to spend another 2 to 3 hours taking another plane to the other islands. Pathetic decision.
Please understand that locals were upset that SW was flying in more mainlanders causing overcrowding (even though all the other airlines added flights and flew bigger wide bodies to Hawaii than before at the same time). And now that they’re cutting mainland flights and increasing interisland, it’s a bad thing? Perhaps this is Southwest trying to right size capacity with demand and concentrate more on local Hawaii point of sale while still offering mainland customers access to HI.
I dunno, folks. I mean it’s pretty clear that since Andy Watterson came from Hawaiian Air and developed this interisland strategy then Southwest has Hawaii business in mind more than mainland. All the major carriers have a flight here so execs can ride free, but to give Hawaiians and tourists quality service without regular cancelled /consolidated flights that also don’t make you spend half a day at each airport is something we deserve .
At these inter-island fares and with both the HA and SWA slights not being totally full, there’s no way that either of them are making a profit on these inter-island flights. With $39 fares, some of which covers airport fees, etc., the airline is probably getting less than $25 and that’s before their expenses. At this rate there are three likely outcomes for us in Hawaii:
1) SWA gets tired of using these flights as a loss-leader and reduces capacity, allowing HA to increase fares to cover their costs
2) SWA bleeds HA until HA shuts down their inter-island flights. No doubt SWA has deeper pockets than HA. SWA then increases fares to cover their costs.
3) Someone buys HA or at least HA’s inter-island business.
We are planning a trip to the Big Island of Hawaii in February, do you forsee any flight sales in the near future? We’ve been waiting to book our airfare but not sure if we should just book now or wait a bit longer.
Southwest thought for sure it would make a splash in Hawaii, but it seems more like a mere ripple. Tic Tac?
Just curious, do Southwest inter-island flights operate out of the inter-island terminal at HNL like Hawaiian does? We’ll be needing inter-island from HNL and normally have to trek to the inter-island terminal, but might consider Southwest depending on where they operate from.
Mahalo, BOH!
Hi Ed.
No they do not. They were at the other side of the airport by United Airlines but they have moved. Here’s the link to the state site with their positions. https://hidot.hawaii.gov/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/HNL-SOUTHWEST-AIRLINES-LOBBY_6_GATES_G-2019.pdf
Aloha.
Thanks!
Southwest is now flying from the ‘E” concourse, which is the “Y” shaped entranceto the gate, in the middle of the airport.
Whe they started flying to HI, they flew out of ground level gate at the far end of the airport,near United.
Mahalo, David
Hi David.
Thanks for that. Here’s the link to their positions at HNL. https://hidot.hawaii.gov/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/HNL-SOUTHWEST-AIRLINES-LOBBY_6_GATES_G-2019.pdf.
Aloha.
It’s interesting that the airport website shows WN using the “G” gates still. WN’s website shows current arrival using gate E1-F7 for the last several weeks.
Of course, the airport website also shows AA using “E” gates when they’ve been using “C” and “D” gates since at least last October, when we flew though HNL last.
We’ll be through HNL at the end of August; can report then.
Mahalo, David
Hi David.
Thanks again. Yes, please let us know what you find.
Aloha.
The misinformation from Honolulu Airport shows a lackluster responsiveness in real-time updating to assist passengers, it hardly surprises me. I have been noticing that certain employees, a very small amount, are about as friendly and helpful as Russians are to the Ukraine. That’s not an exaggeration but a simple fact that we have experienced the past several flights. Those few are a part of the many employees that Represent Hawaii as a whole and are the first impressions everyone sees deplaning and experiencing the lengthy walk to Baggage. Hawaii can do better, why have a Tourism Budget when you allow Anti-Tourist employees greet them first? Do Better!
Southwest will also being flying 1 daily OGG-Kona.
From this Sacramento customer to Southwest “boo hiss.” No fair Sacramento area customers have to connect in Honolulu or (shudder) drive to a bay area airport. No offense meant to either, but at my age last thing I want is a stressful drive to the airport and/or a tight connection. Or a long layover to avoid a tight connection.
its a bummer for sure. would drive from reno to take those nonstops out of SMF
I have been on many non-stop flights from SMF to OGG most were full, so why are they doing this?
I will be flying Hawaiian now.
Southwest went against their usual model of being the lowest cost of the non-budget airlines and chose to take advantage of the ability to charge more and ended up being higher than even Hawaiian Airlines for a flight over the Thanksgiving holiday week, at $1,500. I was one of those who opted to wait until the release date for fares covering that week, and when it became apparent that my previous target of $800 (slightly lower than my all-time high of $900 from Thanksgiving 2015) wasn’t going to happen, I went crawling back to Hawaiian Airlines to book for $1,139 for my group of 12. Surprisingly, that was a slight drop and the price has not fallen back to that level since for the first flight out of LA the Saturday before the holiday week.
Southwest is also adding a new once daily flight between Maui and Kauai.
I always flew Alaska from San Diego to Hawaii until Southwest came into the market. However after booking a nonstop flight on Southwest to Kauai, only to be rerouted to a connecting flight at the height of the summer when fares were high, having to go backwards to Las Vegas, my usual 5 hour trip became a 12 hour trip. I travel to Maui as well, and now they just pulled those trips too. They have completely lost my business, and I will go back to Alaska. It is not worth losing 2 full days of my trip to travel–I might as well go to Europe! Foolish on their part to not keep at least Maui. Hope the inter island business is enough for them. Can’t imagine any California residents wanting to take a connecting flight.
Let’s be very clear here, this is a very aggressive large mainland company trying to take advantage of a smaller local company and siphon resources from Hawaii’s economy and take it home to Texas. Simple as that. But local, fly local.
Business is business. When Aloha and Go! were around, where were the locals when HA and Go! did Aloha dirty? And after Aloha and Go! left, HA jacked up airfares. Completely their right so they can try to make money right? Cuz business is business! Same thing here, the biggest and strongest survive. SW has been around for a long time and has been profitable for the majority of its existence. If it wasn’t them, then someone else would have challenged HA at some point. It’s too bad HA never expanded outside of Hawaii to grow its business and be profitable. They are a money losing company with loads of debt. They became too overly Hawaii-centric and should have expanded elsewhere sooner — so that they could be profitable enough to compete.
Sorry but the thumbs down from the SWA supporters is also an indication of what SWA brings to Hawaii. Not appreciating the local airline is another example of not respecting Hawaii. SWA does in fact take from our economy and pockets it in the mainland.
That said competition isn’t bad per se, the ideal situation is HA will match their deal and you can support Hawaii by flying on them. I actually remember $9.95 inter island fares when their was HA, Aloha and Mid Pacific back in the 80’s…I guess with inflation this is about the same.
Seems that JOHNW has always had a bone to pick with SWA. What about Delta, United, American, and Alaskan? Do they also take from “our economy” and pocket it “in the mainland”? HA has done more than its share of damage to consumers over the years as well.
Curtis, I live in Hawaii and Hawaiian is our hometown airline and has served the State well. I don’t appreciate the fact that SWA uses their large size to grab market share by flooding a market with cheap fares, then gradually raising them, as is their way of growing. You think the TSA lines in OGG are bad now? Try wait, SWA doesn’t care about Hawaii, they care about SWA .
Please know business is business. When Aloha and Go! were around, where were the locals when HA and Go! did Aloha dirty? And after Aloha and Go! left, HA jacked up airfares. Completely their right so they can try to make $ right? Cuz business is business. Same thing here, the biggest and strongest survive. SW has been around for a long time and has been profitable for the majority of its existence. If it wasn’t them, then someone else would have challenged HA at some point. It’s too bad HA never expanded outside of Hawaii to grow its business and be profitable, so that they could effectively compete in situations like now. Instead, they are a money losing company with loads of debt due to their lack of expansion outside of Hawaii.
You are correct
Southwest is making a mistake and the Kauai, The Big Island, and to a degree Maui will pay the price as no one wants to fly 5 to 6 hours and have to spend another 2 to 3 hours taking another plane to the other islands. Pathetic decision.
Southwast can’t afford to fly underperforming flights to the other islands. These are long flights that take up significant resouces.
ive flown both SMFOGG and SMFKOA routes and they were always full flights
That is what I just said, big mistake on their part. I will always choose non-stop flight or Alaska through Seattle.
Please understand that locals were upset that SW was flying in more mainlanders causing overcrowding (even though all the other airlines added flights and flew bigger wide bodies to Hawaii than before at the same time). And now that they’re cutting mainland flights and increasing interisland, it’s a bad thing? Perhaps this is Southwest trying to right size capacity with demand and concentrate more on local Hawaii point of sale while still offering mainland customers access to HI.
I dunno, folks. I mean it’s pretty clear that since Andy Watterson came from Hawaiian Air and developed this interisland strategy then Southwest has Hawaii business in mind more than mainland. All the major carriers have a flight here so execs can ride free, but to give Hawaiians and tourists quality service without regular cancelled /consolidated flights that also don’t make you spend half a day at each airport is something we deserve .
At these inter-island fares and with both the HA and SWA slights not being totally full, there’s no way that either of them are making a profit on these inter-island flights. With $39 fares, some of which covers airport fees, etc., the airline is probably getting less than $25 and that’s before their expenses. At this rate there are three likely outcomes for us in Hawaii:
1) SWA gets tired of using these flights as a loss-leader and reduces capacity, allowing HA to increase fares to cover their costs
2) SWA bleeds HA until HA shuts down their inter-island flights. No doubt SWA has deeper pockets than HA. SWA then increases fares to cover their costs.
3) Someone buys HA or at least HA’s inter-island business.
When do the cancellations begin? I have tickets from LAX to Kauai at the end of the month.