68 thoughts on “After $49 Airfares What’s Next | Southwest vs. Hawaiian Airlines”

  1. Aloha. I sure hope SouthWest comes in with inter island flights. Hawaiian has no real competition and charges a fortune. They advertise sales but that is if you fly at 6 am or really late at night. For those of us who have to fly over for medical or business reasons it is completely ridiculous!!!! Not to mention there is NO MERCY if you are involved even in a medical emergency – unless you are in the hospital. Even United is better than that! So over Hawaiian!!

  2. Interesting the AB321, having sat in American Airlines AB321’s I have to admit they have the most uncomfortable seats my wife and I have sat in. Thin padding, lower part of the seat is too short (rear of seat to front of seat). The tray table is too small for even a small laptop, it has a “form fitting” cut out so the tray has an opening where your body is. The tray table was too tight of a fit for even the skinny guy sitting next to me, let along a bigger guy like myself. I can’t imagine a long flight on one of those, we had a short flight from DFW to DEN and were pretty miserable.

    Hopefully Hawaiian addresses these issues on their configuration of this aircraft.

    Thanks,
    Dean

    1. Hi Dean.

      Yes compared with legacy wide-body planes, the new single isle ones (both Airbus and Boeing) are very tight. Seems to be the way of the industry rather than airline specific.

      We often end up upgrading at extra cost just to get back to the basic comforts of days gone by.

      Aloha.

  3. I want to fly from the Bay Area( Oakland or S.F.) to Maui on Sat Nov. 24 returning on Sat Dec. 1st. Since it appears that Southwest won’t be flying to Hawaii by then, when do you suggest I book the tickets and do you think Hawaiian Airline is the best way to go?

    Thanks,
    Rick N

  4. Competition is not what this should be about! Lower prices don’t come from competition. Prices of flights is generated by how many people fly to a certain destination and returning from that destination, fuel prices and consumption for the flight, employee wages benefits to get the flight scheduled and on to it’s destination and back,ground handling of baggage’s and cargo, air craft maintenance and pre-flight inspections, safety training for flight crew and ground handling crews. The flight times schedule bidding. Every major Airlines that are at the top 10 in America has this cost to factor into ticket pricing each passenger. These are just a few of thing that go into consideration and cost of getting us there and back safely. Competition just adds more flights to go to certain destinations.

    1. Paul,
      While a cost-of-services analysis is key to determining airfares of any given airline, it is ultimately 100% controlled by competition’s pricing because people speak with their wallets. However, the lower pricing introduced by competitive airlines will force others to follow suit to prevent losing market share. Therefore, competition will overrule most other factors, including desire for profit.

      1. Yes, it’s called “the Southwest affect”, google it, it’s a phenomenon that says every market Southwest enters, they eventually dominate it, but in doing so, their competitors are forced to lower air fares as a result.

  5. It is long past due for Hawaiian to have some formidable competition after years of arrogant, selfish and uncaring policies by its former CEO. His only purpose was to make money for himself and HA shareholders with little regard for passengers, crew and employees. As a decades-long, loyal customer of Hawaiian since Aloha met its demise, I was treated with little respect or value even as I nearly earned Platinum status just from vacation flying after retirement. Even appeals to supervisors and a letter to the CEO went unheeded. I’ll never pay for another Hawaiian flight, but will continue to use up my built-up Hawaiianmiles until they are exhausted or Hawaiian goes under.

  6. Aloha. I’m a HUGE fan of Southwest & love NO baggage fees! This is my 1st trip to Hawaii to celebrate our 15th anniversary in September. It seems like price gouging for Hawaii Air to charge $25/bag for a 35 minute flight on top of ticket fees. I’m paying for the trip with my social security for this #1 bucket list dream (4 islands in 3 weeks.) This will be the only time I can afford to do it. For our 2 checked bags it will cost us $250 in bag fees on top of almost $2K in airfare. Southwest = cheap fares & no bag fees. Hawaiian Air = lots of money. Heavy sigh.

    1. Dawn, it is probably too late if you already bought your ticket, but if you get a Hawaiian Credit card, your bag is free. I travel to Hawaii a lot and it really helps. Although I usually fly United, I have a CC there as well.
      Have a wonderful trip. Aloha

    2. Join Hawaiian air mileage program. It’s free and when you’re a member the baggage fees are cheaper ($15 vs $25 for 1st bag, $20 vs $35 for 2nd bag) for inter island flights. I did this last year and saved $60 In fees by signing up me and my family. Enjoy your trip!

    3. We never check luggage to Hawaii any more; carry-on only. No problem, and no lost luggage!

    4. I totally understand what you are saying about plane costs. yes southwest is the best .hoping it starts soon as my daughter moved to the big island two yrs ago. I live in florida so it makes it more costly. I fly united because I have the credit card and with it get free bag ,priority boarding, even priority security which is good as I am retired and disabled. this past month I flew the shortest flight which was tampa to denver ,denver to Kona. we had to drive 2.5 hrs to airport but it was still cheaper. my ticket was 921.00 plus think 56.00 for the insurance. I recommend whatever airline you use to get the insurance. I t takes me six months to save for a ticket and little spending money. oh forgot one thing with a united credit card I also pay nothing for my seats unless I want first class. Happy 15th anniversary to you

    1. I live in Dallas and we have a neighborhood couple that both work for SWA. They are saying not to count on LAX to HNL or OGG anytime soon. Evidently SWA concerned about a big percentage of those flights being taken by “non revenue” points holders, particularly from CA and TX. I personally have over 100K SWA points and am waiting anxiously as well.

    2. Unfortunately, no. My husband and I will be relocating to Hawaii when Southwest opens flights. Though we have received the initial confirmation of selection for relocation, there has not been any additional updates to final dates. The initial date we had was possibly “mid” Oct, but that is coming up fast and no update yet.

  7. Hopefully, the first revenue flight will be OAK-HNL on an aircraft adorned with “State of Hawaii” livery.

  8. Thank you for this informative information!
    So we plan to travel at the end of June from Las Vegas to Maui. We were hoping for Southwest to be in action by then. So reading this makes me think, we should book now? What do you advise?

    1. Diane, have you tried try the Hopper app? I use it quite often. It is a price predictor for when you want to fly. It gives you an idea of when to book, now or wait.

  9. We NEED true inter-island service that would break the choke hold that Hawaiian has had for some time now. We need AFFORDABLE, competitive inter-island. And we need it yesterday!

Comments are closed.

Scroll to Top