I'm not the best at flying (actually i'm terrible at it) and i was curious if anyone has flown with aloha airlines recently? Is it a tiny plane? Was it bumpy?

*I've heard bad reviews about the small planes that fly between islands, but i can't remember which airline it was.

Aloha Airlines has an all jet Boeing-737 fleet, which hold between 150 and 188 passengers.

The airline which has the small planes is Island Air. (used to be Aloha Island Air). They have flights to or from Kapalua (JHM), Kalaupapa (LUP), Kaunakakai (MKK), Lanai (LNY). So if you're not flying to any of these smaller airports, you shouldn't have a problem.

actually, island air also flies to hilo, kona, maui and oahu. some connections booked on aloha use island air so check before you book. it is a nice flight though, longer but lower so you can see more. and yes, it can be bumpy!

We just got back from Hawaii and flew Aloha from Maui to Oahu and on to Kauai then back to Oahu with no problems at all. Very smooth flight with great takeoff and landings. Each flight is 20 min.long from the other Islands.Hope this helps!

The flights from the mainland are all on big 737's and are very comfortable, no different than the other carriers. The inter-island flights can be a little bumpy, but remember there are flights almost every hour, so the pilots are very experienced at this. If you have a choice, the earliest flights in the day are likely to be the smoothest.

Thanks everyone for clearing that up for me! I think i can do 20 minutes, bumpy or not (i mean i am flying from NY to get to Hawaii... so whats 20 minutes?)

I flew Aloha a few years ago and their planes were big then too. But regarding the Island air I can confirm those planes are small, propeller planes. I am swimming by Black Rock last week and I heard this loud noise and I looked up and it was flying over the beach landing in Kapalua. If you are afraid to fly stay away from it.

Hi Aliwec how are you flying from NYC. I fly from New York once a year.

I am not sure where you heard the interisland flights are bumpy?

Usually people are referring to turbo engine planes but Aloha and Hawaiian don't use them and they are the main inter-island planes.

Which islands are you flying too.

I have had bumpy rides from Honolulu to Kauai but at night and during a storm. So no worries. You will be fine. Fear in the air is almost always irrational. That is what I remember if I get spooked.

aliwec seatguru.com and see where you are sitting on all planes. See if you are next to the babies on that flight from NYC, that is what I like to do.

Did you also check to see of you are the most scenic side of the plane. I always arrange this if I am taking new people to Hawaii.

Sarah... I meant that if i can take the flight from JFK to OGG airport for 11 hours, than whats a little 20 minute island hop ride.

Normally, the whole checking out where you are seated on the plane thing would be a good idea and checking the scenic side, but i hate to fly. So there will be no looking out the window for me! The less i see, the better! But thanks for the suggestion.

oh that is so funny ali


Listen for whatever reason after a few years of skiing I developed a fear of down hill skiing. OUT OF THE BLUE.

I was fortunate enough on one of my club trips to meet a member that was a license hypnotherapist. Anyway, what he told me was that many fears and phobias are connected to other issues people have and they are frequently not related to the potential accident or whatever they are afraid of. He said some fears are connected to guilt and things that you would never suspect. He has to also administer counceling in his sessions to reveal to the client what is connected to their fear.

For me I get...in my slope side session LOL. You are out of work (03) and you are skiing, think you might feel some guilt about that. Had to laugh but that is exactly when my fear started. I think understand these kind of connections can relieve some of the angxiety.

Food for thought is all I am saying.

Oh believe me i totally know that your fear is related to some other issue. I have a psychology degree... so i'm a bit familiar with it. I even thought about doing virtual reality therapy, but i was in college and it was on the expensive side.

Anyways, my issue... is lack of control. My fear of flying is the inability to let someone else be in charge and have complete faith in planes and the pilots. I used to fly to florida 3 times a year when i was little to see my father and as i got older, i got more afraid.

But don't worry... i don't let it stop me from going anywhere. I always suck it up anyways. Its just not a fun day, thats all.

so Ali because I got to Hawaii just about yearly I am always curious in the routes people use from NYC. What are the legs of your flight?

We're flying American Airlines and we leave at 2:30pm from JFK. We fly to LAX and then get into OGG in maui at 8:30pm. I think its an 11 hour trip all together. We're stopping in LAX for only like 25 minutes (i called the airline to see if we were changing planes or just refueling and they said anything under an hour is refueling).

not to freak you out Ali just make sure its refueling because sometimes they do book you with inadequate change time.

LAX is huge and long ago I can remember hiking at record speed to make a connections, huge trolly in tow.

Like i said above, they already told me that they'll be refueling and not changing planes. But thanks for the suggestion.

aliwnec - When are you going? I don't see a direct JFK-LAX-OGG flight on American's timetable. It'll be even better if you give me your flight number.

And whoever tell you it's just only to be a fuel stop is most likely wrong.

We are going in october of 2006. And i called the airline to ask them specifically about the stop and they said it was to refuel. Why would they lie??

The agent didn't lie. He/she just didn't know what he/she's talking about. Which is not that unusual.

The two LAX-OGG flights on AA are 161 and 253. I checked all the way to 10/31/2006, and neither one originates from JFK. And neither arrives 8:30pm. Further more, AA uses mostly 767-200 for JFK-LAX, while 161/253 are on 757-200.

She probably did not lie she was just misinformed, not unusual and that it what I meant about the need for a second call. In your origninal response she said "(i called the airline to see if we were changing planes or just refueling and they said anything under an hour is refueling" that sounds like a guess to me. I have bought tickets that were mistakenly sold with too short of a connection and its never been about refueling. On AA I might add too.

Also its fair to state that airlines frequently add a plane in these incidents. AA might be watching seat sales before they do this.

okay so i have to ask RKKWAN... why are you checking out my flights and why are you so interested??? I'm not lying. We're flying out of JFK on october 9th 2006 and flying to LAX then to Maui at 8:30pm. Whats the big deal?