Planning a trip to Hawaii for October...

I checked 1-way flights from HNL to OGG about a week ago, and cheapest was $49 (only looking at Hawaiian and Aloha). Now, today they're $54. Should we go ahead and book? Not familiar with that price market, I need advice. Should we wait since it's so far out and wait for a lower fare? Or will the fuel prices continue to drive these flights up?

They may go up, not so much because of fuel cost, but because Aloha is in bankruptcy and many people don't think they'll survive. That'll be remove a bunch of capacity - and competition - so prices can go up.

so should we avoid booking with Aloha?

Definitely avoid booking with Aloha at this time for flights that many months away.

You can look at Go or Island Air though.

You do not have to avoid booking with Aloha. Almost every airline has declared for bankruptcy protection. They are safe for many months.

I would avoid go! as they are the ones causing the problems with Aloha.

I highly disagree. Aloha has little cash left, and they may not survive. It's their 2nd time in Ch11 in 3 years. It's not a "simple" restructuring. The chance of it actually shutting down is significant.

Whether you like go! or not is a different matter. No one needs to book them if you don't agree with their tactics or if you worry about their pilots falling asleep. But their parent Mesa Group is financially much stronger. In fact, they're moving two more CRJs to the islands.

I don't think Governor Lingle or the legislature will allow Aloha to shutdown. They will take some action to prevent it.

As far as GO! airlines, they'd better hope they don't lose the Aloha suit or they will go out of business according the airline analyists.

The one thing that really bugged me about GO! was how stupid they thought us Hawaii folk are. They try to position themselves as a knight on a white horse coming in to "save" us from Hawaiian and Aloha. Riiiiggghhhtttt......

If they succeed in driving Aloha out of business, I guarantee you airfares go right back up to where they were, if not higher.

go! come in with fares below cost exactly because they see Aloha is venerable, and once they Aloha closes its doors, they can raise prices and HA will follow suit.

go! isn't a charity.

And maybe you Hawaiians are smart enough to stay away from go!, but vacationers who care only about lowest fares will continue to fly them. Or whoever has the cheapest tickets.

Airlines are commerical businesses. I don't see how the State of Hawaii can legally keep Aloha flying. That will not be fair to Hawaiian or go!

go! is far more vulnerable as they owe Hawaiian Airlines more than $80 million & after Aloha's suit against go! for the same thing, they will owe Aloha $80 million or so.

Aloha will survive. go! will not.

That may be your optimistic view, but to tell a fellow Fodorite it's okay to book Aloha for an October flight is pretty irresponsible, in my opinion.

BTW, many airlines didn't survive after filing for Ch 11. Maxjet shut down last December, and Independence Air shut down just over 2 years ago.

Meanwhile, while ATA emerged from Ch11 two years ago after getting funding from Southwest, it just announced it'll end most scheduled operations except for those to Hawaii. Many think it'll shut those down too, and return to just becoming a charter.

I don't think it is at all irresponsible to recommend Aloha Airlines.

I live in Hawaii & have followed the airline industry in Hawaii for years.

If there is an airline that is really in trouble it is go!

Aloha is a fairly decent sized airline company.

How big were Maxjet or Independence Air?

Maxjet had 5 aircraft at their maximum operations.

Independence Air was bigger but according to this article, they were in financial trouble almost as soon as they started.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Independence_Air

How long do you think Mesa will continue supporting a losing operation in Hawaii with go!? Especially after Aloha Airlines wins their suit against go! & Mesa. It is almost an identical suit that Hawaiian Airlines has won against go!

I would feel confident that Aloha will survive, if not bu itself, then with merging with another company.

I feel just as confident that go! will not survive.

Court case between Aloha and Mesa won't start until later this year. And Mesa is still appealing the judgement against it from Hawaiian. By the time Aloha wins its case and gets its money, it may not have an airline at that time.

Anyways, that's my opinion. The OP can read both sides, investigate more, and decide.

If prices are about the same, I don't see why he/she should book with Aloha and not Hawaiian.

rkkwan~the state of Hawaii made the same offer to Hawaiian when they filed for bankruptcy...loan guarantees, that's all. Hawaiian chose not to take the state up on it, maybe Aloha will, maybe they won't.

"If prices are about the same, I don't see why he/she should book with Aloha and not Hawaiian."

Nothing wrong with that if the price & schedule are about the same.

I was answering questions about whether or not to avoid Aloha. I don't think that is necessary.

More on Aloha's situation. From today's Honolulu Advertiser:


"State lawmakers are considering a financial rescue for Aloha that could include loan guarantees, landing fee waivers and the elimination of the excise tax on jet fuel."

By the way, conversations like this is why the state needs to do something right now and allow Aloha to get the word out that they are indeed OK and IN BUSINESS!!

It won't be long before word of mouth (like here) starts to cost Aloha even more business.

Back to the OP:
You should sign up for email alerts from the inter-island airlines, as people on their email lists get first crack at some good prices.

$49 is a pretty good price, though.

i don't know what the big deal is. aloha has enough faithful customers, i highly doubt word of mouth here, will threaten their business. unlike mahalo and mid pac airlines, aloha is not another short timer like them.

if it was me, i'd book the $54 flight, but i wouldn't recommend it to someone having doubts. book with ha. i flew go! once, not bad. the only reason i like them is because they forced the two airlines (aloha and ha) i do like to lower their prices. so yes, they are a knight in shining armor. since then, i’ve flown more interisland flights (aloha/ha) last year for leisure than in the past five years combined. not just to weddings, funerals, birthdays and merrie monarch anymore

That "knight" is going to come back and lance you (and all of us right in the you-know-where) if their plan succeeds.

Enjoy the lower fares right now. Nothing wrong with that. But I hope we all know exactly what's going on here. It's capitalism at it's worse.