It is being reported that Hawaiian Airlines has new issues at overcrowded LAX, and has just been asked to move, against its will and prior agreement. This time, to a terminal that has no domestic baggage facilities. Luggage will be handled at another terminal, requiring significant additional time for passengers to transit by bus (to pick up luggage) and extra handling for Hawaiian. That and more.
According to the multiple sources, Hawaiian, which admittedly only represents about 1% of LAX’s traffic, will be booted from its current Terminal 5 location next year. That, to accommodate consolidation by American Airlines in the same terminal. American represents nearly 20% of the total traffic at that airport. Hawaiian claims that this plan is discriminatory. We have had the experience of having to change terminals when flying American through LAX and understand why they want to consolidate.
American is planning to largely transfer their problem to Hawaiian, which is being asked to relocate to the currently under construction Midfield Satellite Concourse. The company is quoted as saying that this could increase their costs at the airport by three times, causing harm to them and significant delays and inconvenience to their passengers. Point well taken.
The Midfield Satellite Concourse extension of the Bradley international terminal will be located in the center of the airfield, to the International Terminal and will connect via underground tunnels for passengers and baggage.
Another complication of the possible move, is that passengers connecting to or from JetBlue (Hawaiian’s code share partner) will also need to transit between terminals via bus. Passengers on other airlines generally do not have to change terminals when transiting LAX.
This matter came to light in an unrelated Hawaiian Air filing with the US DOT last month. Hawaiian does not have preferential gate rights at LAX, and this could end up in protracted negotiations or legal proceedings.
According to Hawaiian, “Los Angeles World Airports (LAWA) is blatantly favoring large legacy airlines such as American, Delta and United to the competitive detriment of smaller carriers such as Hawaiian…. Hawaiian’s forced move to the Midfield Satellite Concourse (MSC) will irreparably harm Hawaiian’s operations at LAX.”
Hawaiian moved last from Terminal 2 to Terminal 5 in 2017 as an accommodation for Delta Airlines. The company claims that they were told they would not need to move again until one of the new terminals (0 and 9) are open, which could be years away. The airport has not responded to this matter.
Hawaiian Airlines’ six daily flights from LAX are to Honolulu, Maui, Kona and Kauai. Further complicating the matter is that Hawaiian competes directly with American Airlines on all of these LAX to Hawaii routes.
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Aloha, Any updates on this situation? Mahalo from Albuquerque
Hi Dodge.
We have heard nothing new since we last reported on this.
Aloha.
Tried to check in and leave bags at 10am for a 6pm flight to HNL. Had to sit on the floor (both senior citizens) for 4.5 hours before allowed to check bags in to go thru security.Doesnt seem to be very service oriented. We did not have any other options on the timing. Hopefully the HA employees/bosses parents are treated the same way as they make their way thru the world. Auwe!!
Why doesn’t Hawaiian just move back to Burbank?
Runway at BUR is too short for aircraft that have a full load of fuel to make it to Hawaii
Significant changes to Lax passengers on Hawaiian it was a nightmare when Hawaiian flew in/out of T2 and Hawaiians lost bags count will sky rocket!
Hope a change is not happening we have a trip to hawaii March 2020
Jet Blue and Hawaiian Airlines should both move to Ontario. I refuse to go to LAX but would be glad to use Jet Blue if it flew out of Ontario.
Agree with you 100%
If Hawaiian is concerned about Jet Blue connections, they could move to Long Beach 😀
Ok, I’m biased. I live in Orange County and Long Beach would be so much better than the nightmare known as LAX.
Hawaiian airlines flies to long beach
It’s already a hassle going from 1(southwest) to 5 Hawaiian. I can’t begin to understand what has been described as convenient for the customer. Thanks
Why anyone would fly that crappy airline know as Southwest is beyond me
The international terminal DOES have domestic baggage claim. Etihad uses it since they pre clear and I believe Qantas uses it for the JFK flight.
Move Hawaiian to Ontario International Airport…we would love to have you there. All of the inland empire would welcome you. I hate driving to lax to go to Hawaii. LAX screwed Ontario years back.
I don’t want to have to travel from LA to Ontario!
That’s the American way of doing business. American has driven numerous airlines into bankruptcy or out of DFW for decades. American has a virtual monopoly at DFW with expensive fares domestically.
Including themselves
To clarify the first phase of the midfield satellite will be linked by a pedestrian tunnel to the main Tom Bradley terminal. It’s primarily international. Domestic Hawaiian passengers would still check in at terminal 5 and then pass through security and be transferred by bus On the inbound they will be taken by bus to t5 for baggage claim. I understand once the second phase of the midfield is opened there will be an underground train However it’s an airside building therefore checkin will not be affected and bag claim will also be in t5
There’s John Wayne, ONT, or bump up SAN flights. Why not also consider PSP? LAX wants control of it in the south land, but options exist. HI air is a nice airline to fly with.
Come to ontario fastest growing airport.
PLEASE come back to Ontario !
Tried to check in and leave bags at 10am for a 6pm flight to HNL. Had to sit on the floor (both senior citizens) for 4.5 hours before allowed to check bags in to go thru security.Doesnt seem to be very service oriented. We did not have any other options on the timing. Hopefully the HA employees/bosses parents are treated the same way as they make their way thru the world. Auwe!! THANKS
Hi Stu.
As far as we know about 4 hrs is the maximum advance check in time on all airlines. That’s been true for decades.
Aloha.
Need to relocate to ONT. The facilities are waiting for you. Passanger parking, arrival and pickup is a breese compared to LAX. Gates are open for you, also. You will also have aircraft and GSE maintenance available by one of your top maintenance venders, JettPro.
Like a few others have commented, Hawaiian PLEASE dump LAX and come to BUR instead. 🙂
I live just a few miles away and it’s a quick and easy Uber ride and the TSA lines are way faster than LAX. Some of you can leave your cars in my neighborhood even and Uber over there too!
I also hope Southwest can add BUR to HNL flights some day. I wouldn’t mind putting up with the extra air traffic noise over my place!
They can’t fly from BUR to Hawaii. The runway is too short. That is why JetBlue even has to tech stop often for fuel on flights from BUR to the east coast.
Robert is correct.
I think the most viable for them would be half of their operation to LGB, and the other half to ONT. With ONT, they also have JetBlue which can route their codeshares to their flights to Hawaii since its getting crazy on how LAX is getting overstuffed.
I don’t think HA be able to depart BUR with any sort of load going to Hawaii. BUR’s longest runway is 6886 feet. Meanwhile, the two LAX runways normally used for takeoffs are 10885 and 12923 feet.
Once again LAX making more stupid moves to inconvenience the traveling public. They neither have any concern for the traveling public nor the airlines, just their profitability. It would be great if Hawaiian elected to move their LAX operations to an adequate and worthy airport such as Ontario. yes, it is slightly further for the LA passengers to travel east but the time savings and aggravation over LAX would be well worth it. Less congestion, better parking, great freeway access, shorter wait times for runway use, better terminal, lower landing fees, and central location will make for a better Hawaiian experience!!!
Oh boy. Seems that it would be better for them to move out to Long Beach and also start flights from ONT since JetBlue is also there, it wouldn’t be a problem for their codeshares since its horrible being tossed around like someone used trash.
I think what LAX is doing to Hawaiian 🌺 once again is wrong. Once again Hawaiian Air is left to yet again move to accommodate a bigger airline. THAT IS WRONG AND SHOUKD MOT BE HAPPENING AGAIN! Just because Hawaiian isn’t as big as the others they and their customers shouldn’t have to be put once again. Hawaiian should stand it’s ground and not allow LAX to get away with this AGAIN. FIGHT BACH HAWAIIAN!
sad to hear about HA and lax – I hope it works out for them and their customers – thank you for keeping us updated – I appreciate it.
Hi Marilyn.
Thanks!
Aloha.
Mahalo for informing us of this plan. I am 76 and fly 2 or 3 times per year to HNL from LAX. LAX is horrible and this will make it worse. SNA would be good if you can get space there.
I always appreciate your articles about Hawaii and particularly airfare deals. However, this particular article is very one-side and quite misleading. I understand that Hawaii media wants to root for the hometown airline. However, the truth is that the LAWA signed an agreement with American several years ago, which allocated all of Terminal 5 to AA after a certain period. THIS IS NOT AMERICAN’s FAULT…it was part of a larger airport plan. Once again, you make it sound like American is kicking them out…it has nothing to do with American…and a whole lot to do with LAWA (LAX Airport Authority).
In the future, I suggest that you do a little bit more research before publishing misleading news and articles. American (along with Hawaiian and other carriers) flights to Hawaii are a vital part of Hawaii’s economy. To blame an individual airline for the airport authority’s future plans is downright shoddy journalism.
My daughters and I are flying to Spain this summer from HNL and reading this article makes me sick to think about what traveling is going to be like this summer! We are not checking any bags, for many reasons. Am I crazy or did crappy air travel just significantly skyrocket? I swear it wasn’t this bad last summer! Between the TSA lines at HNL and the overcrowded airports and (some) nasty airline employees – I just want to stay home and never leave this island again! 🙁
PLease use John Wayne, happily pay a little extra for convenience. But will start flying in and out of San Diego.
I just had to wait about 40 minutes just to exit after getting our luggage. Usually that takes 5-10 minutes.
We got to the front of the line and found another much shorter line had just opened, but they were still directing people to the super long line.
I’ll never fly in to LAX again. What a disgrace. Los Angeles city officials should be ashamed of themselves.
I fly to Maui every summer and I fly to Kauai every December the worst part is LAX. Flying out to Maui in 12 days, in fact. Would be thrilled if they moved their 1% business to the Burbank Airport. I’m all for that in fact do it regardless if they move your terminal!
Mahalo
Why can’t they move operations to Ontario? It’s wide open and no carriers fly to Hawaii from there?
It’s very disappointing to hear that Hawaiian is being treated this way. I live in Seattle now, they are the preferred airline for me to Maui. The service is amazing. Listen Hawaiian, fly out of Long Beach and Burbank,skip LAX. Many customers will gladly fly out of a smaller airport in order to avoid the nightmare called LAX
Yes give up LAX. We’ll take those cheap flights here in Vegas
For what its worth, and as far as this paragraph: (quote) “Luggage will be handled at another terminal, requiring significant additional time for passengers to transit by bus (to pick up luggage) and extra handling for Hawaiian.’ (End quote).
This happens to be the way Delta’s passengers flying LAX to ATLanta (and several other destinations) must experience. Check bags at Terminal 2, go through security, then take a back alley and a service elevator to this small, crowded, unventilated, jetfuel fumes filled waiting room to wait for a bus/shuttle to take you to terminal 3.
Yes, I did say DELTA… and this is AFTER Delta’s reported “Airport Shuffle” they did a while back (May of 2017,I think). However, I assume (and certainly HOPE) that for Delta, this is only temporary!
Tell Hawaiian to solve all their problems and their guests problems and ditch the huge headache of LAX by flying into wide-open Ontario instead. Very convenient on all levels compared to LAX.
If moving Hawaiian to another terminal within LAX but away from its code-share partner (Jetblue) has been a cause for concern (for fear it might be an inconvenience to their passengers, I don’t think moving Hawaiian over 50 miles to an airport in a whole other city and county would solve Hawaiian’s problem!
But in addition, taxes and fees are higher when flying through Ontario as compared to LAX! (Might only be a few dollars higher, but still “higher”). I doubt Hawaiian would want to absorb the difference, and not sure they’d be allowed to pay part of the tax on behalf of passengers.
I made the mistake of booking American Airlines from LAX to Maui because the price was quite a bit less. The American Airlines LAX gate was scamming everyone with carry-on bags, making them insert them into the baggage size testing compartment and then making them pay the fees if there was any resistance. They said you had to just drop it in, couldn’t push it down at all or it was too big. 90% of the people were told to check the bag and pay their fee. I dropped mine and it went down about 80% so I gave it a slight push down. She says, “Sorry, you need to pay the fee!” I then remove it, push out some air pickets in the bag and easily drop it in the testing compartment with no resistance. She says, “Sorry, you squeezed the bag first and you can’t do that! I said, “Are you kidding me? Let me talk to your manager.” She said “We are boarding and I don’t have time for that.” Then I said you need to get your manager or I will film my bag inside the testing compartment with my cell phone and put it on YouTube to make sure everyone understands your unreasonable baggage policies?” Only then, she says ‘Fine, just go on the plane.” I swear, she must have been getting a commission for each baggage fee she generated.
On the flight home, I took Hawaiian Airlines and they were awesome and seemed to understand how customer satisfaction is important. My point, I will never fly American to Hawaii again and it is a shame they are getting priority over Hawaiian Airlines in LAX.
I would definitely email or preferably tweet to AA. Sounds like a person with a chip on their shoulder
OK… So which came first…
(a) Passengers taking advantage and trying to sneak “carry on” bags that are larger than what can fit in a overhead bin and/or under the seat in front of them….
OR…..
(b) Airlines charging a per bag fee for bags that are checked-in?
I know you’ll agree that its (a).
Another one:
Which came first:(a) The sizing bin (that contraption you’ll find near the check-in desk that some airlines might force passengers to use prior to boarding)…
OR….
(b) Airlines charging a per bag fee for bags that are checked in.
I know you’ll agree (again) that its (a).
You can call it a scam, if you’d like, just keep in mind that the only passengers who are going to complain about being forced to use the sizing bin, are those who are trying to sneak a bag that would not fit in the sizing bin.
And keep in mind, it is those same passengers who, if they were able to sneak that bag on-board, are the ones holding up the boarding process as they try to stuff their oversized bag in the much smaller overhead bin (or are trying to “squeeze air” out of their bag to make it fit)!
It should be noted that Hawaiian made $11M last year on baggage fees and cancellation/change fees last year.
Very irrelevant to the article 🙄. This is about convenience to the passengers. What does bag fees have to do with it? Almost all airlines charge bag fees.
First bag should be free and included in our airfare. Just because all the airlines charge does not make it right.
Just to clarify, if a carry-on clearly can’t fit into the testing compartment then I have no issue with an airline asking it to be checked and having the passenger pay a fee. But if a passenger can get the carry on to fit, even by squeezing the air pockets out a little bit, then all should be good. This flight attendant was basically saying if there was any resistance whatsoever, it needs to be checked. It had to drop right – which was way over the top.
Funny, I had the same problem here in Phoenix except it was the scamming Hawaiian Airlines agent. I haven’t flown Hawaiian for 10 years because of the one agent in Phoenix was trying to scam me to pay an additional baggage fee. I wrote to Hawaiian and told them about the situation and they didn’t even bother to respond. Very poor customer service by Hawaiian and they lost 10 years worth of my twice a year travel to Hawaii!
Mahalo for the update. Wow. Is there a time table for this to take place? We’re flying out soon.
Hi Jon.
If it happens, it is due to be sometime in 2020. We don’t have anything more specific at this time.
Aloha.
Clearly Hawaiian has been been THE way to fly to Hawaii from LAX for a long time now (disregard the 10% on the Internet that need to throw stones to feel validated 😀) The difference between Hawaiian and the mainland airlines is as palpable as the difference between the mainland and Hawaii. There’s a reason why people go to Hawaii and for the same reason people choose Hawaiian Air. A little cliche, but you really are in Hawaii when you board the airplane and on mainland airlines you have have to wait, sometimes painfully so!
This is a very sad example of money “trumping” quality and the common good.
Sure hope HA fights this, as it does appear to be discriminatory, and having Jet Blue and HA in the same terminal is extremely advantageous to passengers. Separating them will further diminish HA business, not to mention the inconvenience to passengers. I note that there is no mention of a terminal “train” on the lower level. I’ve had to traverse the underground tunnels and they are long and isolating! Expecting kapuna or disabled to do this is unrealistic! Sadly I believe this is being done in part to enhance the patronage of the three carriers flights to Hawaii and do minimize the use of Hawaiian Air. The partnership between HA and Jet Blue has benefited both airlines. Separating them will be very harmful. I fly LIH-LAX several times a year and know the problems of getting around the terminals.
Maybe Hawaiian Airlines could simply dump LAX and move to Long Beach or even Burbank. One of the major reasons I can’t fly Hawaiian is the fact LAX is a horrible airport for passenger facilities. It is difficult for me to travel between concourses and this proposed move is unacceptable. I depart out of SLC for LIH and usually try, try, try to connect in SFO or take the direct SLC-HNL flight on Delta at 11:30am. It’s more expensive but worth it for me.
Hawaiian flies to LGB.
I’m sure ONT would love to have HA. Just 40 miles from downtown Los Angeles, long runways, low airport congestion, rare weather delays and much easier access to the region than the traffic hell that is LAX.
How fun! Now Hawaiian can experience what “bait and switch” really means! They are very good at it when they are dealing with their passengers. Thanks, LAX!
LAX is a huge outdated mess and needs redesigned especially on the south side of the airport. Alway gate delays because of the small alleys between terminals. Maybe HNL should put American over in the PAD area where Southwest parks. Hawaiian could also ask Alaska if they could use their terminal 6 end gates in LAX. That would be more convenient for the transferring JetBlue Pax to Hawaiian.
LAX is truly an outdated mess. Even with the newly or half way renovated departure terminals, it stills looks and feels hideous. You would think it would be better. No reason to fly in or our of LAX because if I want old and outdated, I’ll stick with Burbank (BUR). It’s old, outdated, doesn’t have all the bells and whistles, but it’s efficient, airport staff is extremely nice, easy to navigate, they appreciate there customer, and they’ll go out of there way to fix any traveling matter, good or bad without hesitation. A connection is almost inevitable, but hey, BUR is awesome.
Thank you for this information. It is terrible news. I go to Hawaii at least once a year always using LAX. This change would definitely affect my HI travels. I appreciate this website and all the updated news.
Hi Gwen.
Thank you.
Aloha.
Why don’t they fly out of Santa Ana?
If I had to guess, it’s probably due to lack of capacity at John Wayne.
Like Kevin mentioned, the capacity at SNA and the lack of aircraft since its runway is a bit too short for their A330 and upcoming 787.