34 thoughts on “Tenacious Southwest Hawaii Refocus Includes New Fleet, Routes”
Erica D.
I no longer fly SW as I don’t agree with their aggressive pricing strategy, no one wants to pay too much to travel but I rather pay a few hundred more and deal with a company who has been flying the routes for years for a reasonable price. I never found Hawaii flights to be outrageous. Shorter 2 hr flights can sometimes be as much as the 10-14 hr flights with transfer from Indianapolis. I wish I could fly without a change if planes
I’m a former resident from the island of. Kauai. Now in Reno. Nv. We have no direct flights from. Reno. NV to. Hawaii. Would. Love it. Aloha Airlines was perfect. Mahalo
Their inter island operation lacks the operational expertise and experience of Hawaiian. It’s dispatched, crewed and maintained from the mainland and that makes a big deal on bad weather days or when unusual events like a volcano eruption occurs. I prefer experience.
Southwest Airlines cancelled all flights in & out of Hilo last November, when Mauna Loa did it’s brief, every-few-decades eruption, as if the sky was falling. Hawaiian Airlines knew better & kept flying … after all it’s not Krakatoa or Mt. St. Helens here. Big difference between strato-volcanoes and shield volcanoes.
I lived in Texas when Southwest got started. It was all about money, power, and expansion. I don’t think that has changed.
I like choosing my seat in advance, so won’t try Southwest again unless & until they fly directly to & from Hilo from the mainland. Beat-of-Hawaii should do a story on United Airlines ending all service between Hilo & LAX. East Hawaii residents have been very inconvenienced by that.
SWA dispatchers are on the mainland and their crews are here for a day from the mainland. They really didn’t have the experience to make the call to fly that day. Probably best SWA erred on the side of caution. But a very good example of the benefit of having a Hawaii based inter island operation. Big difference between Hawaiian and SWA when adversity ( weather, volcanoes etc) strikes. Experience is a very good thing, HA has been flying in Hawaii since 1929, they know a thing or two about the islands!
Will there be more leg room because of 25 less seats?
SW leg room is still better than any other airline in economy class.
Having a center here is important along with calls being handled in the US unlike Hawaiian. Sometimes you can’t understand Hawaiians call center, all foreign language!
my loyalty to Hawaiian is due to decades of living on Kauai through economic disruptions,Hurricane Iniki ,the pandemic and seeing Hawaiian loyally landing on Kauai ,sometimes enveloped in storms and clouds.
I am also not a fan of Southwest’s boarding policy,I prefer an assigned seat -and ,when I boarded with my sister,a wheelchair passenger,I felt it was a mad dash to board;,not kind or respectful
I hope we don’t allow Southwest to obtain inter-island monopoly
I feel they are corporate and impersonal
To your point I believe the competition is good. SWA also charges very high fares on routes that they lack competition. Without the competition perhaps HA never would have made the investment to add four TSA lines in Terminal One? SWA will likely stay in Hawaii for a long time. The solution for me is to support the Hawaii economy and local jobs by flying Hawaiian and reap the benefits of the added competition. All airlines raise their fares when their is little competition, it’s not a HA thing. But supporting Hawaiian Air is good for the State.
I’ve flown Southwest from Oakland to Lihue (or vice versa) several times and have been very happy with the flights and the pricing. The flights take off at convenient times, the “2 free bags” is a benefit unique to SWA, and I do think there is a little more leg room than at the back of the plane on United or Hawaiian.
This article fails to mention anything about the SW debacle reported by BOH on December 26. It’s like it didn’t happen. And that chaos continued in 2023. Do you know SW’s reliability (cancelled, delayed) today for inter island flights? I flew SW for over 20 years on the Mainland for business, but now living on Kauai, I don’t trust them. A $39 fare means very little if your flight is cancelled or delayed. I have lost all confidence in SW. They have prove themselves again. And that’s going to take some time.
It will be a long time before they fix their IT problem.. They are still vulnerable to an operational meltdown. They, like any business try to save money but this was an area they blew it on. An airline shouldn’t scrimp on IT. It can cause all sorts of problems behind the scenes.
It’s credible “bologna”. The facts and records are out there. It doesn’t matter because ticket prices are going up already. Eventually, $200 interisland airfare will come back shared between two airlines, and my support will still go towards our local home carrier.
I no longer fly SW as I don’t agree with their aggressive pricing strategy, no one wants to pay too much to travel but I rather pay a few hundred more and deal with a company who has been flying the routes for years for a reasonable price. I never found Hawaii flights to be outrageous. Shorter 2 hr flights can sometimes be as much as the 10-14 hr flights with transfer from Indianapolis. I wish I could fly without a change if planes
I’m a former resident from the island of. Kauai. Now in Reno. Nv. We have no direct flights from. Reno. NV to. Hawaii. Would. Love it. Aloha Airlines was perfect. Mahalo
Their inter island operation lacks the operational expertise and experience of Hawaiian. It’s dispatched, crewed and maintained from the mainland and that makes a big deal on bad weather days or when unusual events like a volcano eruption occurs. I prefer experience.
Most important of all, when you buy a ticket on Hawaiian you are supporting the local economy much more than when you buy a ticket on SWA.
Southwest Airlines cancelled all flights in & out of Hilo last November, when Mauna Loa did it’s brief, every-few-decades eruption, as if the sky was falling. Hawaiian Airlines knew better & kept flying … after all it’s not Krakatoa or Mt. St. Helens here. Big difference between strato-volcanoes and shield volcanoes.
I lived in Texas when Southwest got started. It was all about money, power, and expansion. I don’t think that has changed.
I like choosing my seat in advance, so won’t try Southwest again unless & until they fly directly to & from Hilo from the mainland. Beat-of-Hawaii should do a story on United Airlines ending all service between Hilo & LAX. East Hawaii residents have been very inconvenienced by that.
SWA dispatchers are on the mainland and their crews are here for a day from the mainland. They really didn’t have the experience to make the call to fly that day. Probably best SWA erred on the side of caution. But a very good example of the benefit of having a Hawaii based inter island operation. Big difference between Hawaiian and SWA when adversity ( weather, volcanoes etc) strikes. Experience is a very good thing, HA has been flying in Hawaii since 1929, they know a thing or two about the islands!
Sounds like they are biting off more than they can chew. I prefer Hawaiian.
That’s the smarter and logical choice when it comes to air travel
Will there be more leg room because of 25 less seats?
SW leg room is still better than any other airline in economy class.
Having a center here is important along with calls being handled in the US unlike Hawaiian. Sometimes you can’t understand Hawaiians call center, all foreign language!
my loyalty to Hawaiian is due to decades of living on Kauai through economic disruptions,Hurricane Iniki ,the pandemic and seeing Hawaiian loyally landing on Kauai ,sometimes enveloped in storms and clouds.
I am also not a fan of Southwest’s boarding policy,I prefer an assigned seat -and ,when I boarded with my sister,a wheelchair passenger,I felt it was a mad dash to board;,not kind or respectful
I hope we don’t allow Southwest to obtain inter-island monopoly
I feel they are corporate and impersonal
Would you rather have HA monopolize the inter island market with 200 dollar fares like they did in the past?
To your point I believe the competition is good. SWA also charges very high fares on routes that they lack competition. Without the competition perhaps HA never would have made the investment to add four TSA lines in Terminal One? SWA will likely stay in Hawaii for a long time. The solution for me is to support the Hawaii economy and local jobs by flying Hawaiian and reap the benefits of the added competition. All airlines raise their fares when their is little competition, it’s not a HA thing. But supporting Hawaiian Air is good for the State.
I’ve flown Southwest from Oakland to Lihue (or vice versa) several times and have been very happy with the flights and the pricing. The flights take off at convenient times, the “2 free bags” is a benefit unique to SWA, and I do think there is a little more leg room than at the back of the plane on United or Hawaiian.
This article fails to mention anything about the SW debacle reported by BOH on December 26. It’s like it didn’t happen. And that chaos continued in 2023. Do you know SW’s reliability (cancelled, delayed) today for inter island flights? I flew SW for over 20 years on the Mainland for business, but now living on Kauai, I don’t trust them. A $39 fare means very little if your flight is cancelled or delayed. I have lost all confidence in SW. They have prove themselves again. And that’s going to take some time.
It will be a long time before they fix their IT problem.. They are still vulnerable to an operational meltdown. They, like any business try to save money but this was an area they blew it on. An airline shouldn’t scrimp on IT. It can cause all sorts of problems behind the scenes.
ill never understand the hawaiians’ seeming hate for SW over other carriers like hawaiian
the provide a great service for aina and tourists alike
Yet they don’t. Stop believing the southworst bologna
It’s credible “bologna”. The facts and records are out there. It doesn’t matter because ticket prices are going up already. Eventually, $200 interisland airfare will come back shared between two airlines, and my support will still go towards our local home carrier.