More competition needed with interisland travel
So my wife and many Kauai residents made the trek to Oahu for the Bruno Mars concert last weekend. A concert and weekend we will never forget! Especially the cost to fly! It cost $204 round-trip each for the 25-minute flight each way. Combined, that’s $408 and fees for two people on a 100-minute flight. So to compare apples and oranges, today you can buy a round-trip ticket to Japan from Honolulu for around $248 and fees. FYI it’s a seven-hour flight. I’m not a mathematician but something doesn’t add up.
Flying to Las Vegas from Kauai is cheaper than flying to Kona and the same to Maui. And now Hawaii residents are notified that the cost of checked luggage has increased $5 to $10 per bag. Are you kidding me? What has changed? Are the bags going to be at baggage claim so much quicker? Are the baggage handlers (who are hard workers and probably underpaid, just saying) going to clean our bags and make them sit upright on the conveyor belt? Maybe a free mai tai or soda and peanuts for everyone? Not a chance.
Hawaiian Airlines spends so much money on enticing and welcoming visitors/tourists to Hawaii, but makes it so expensive and difficult to fly interisland to visit family, loved ones and, sure, a Bruno Mars concert.
So where does it leave us? We, my wife, our ohana and many friends will encourage and support any airline to set up business in Hawaii and give Hawaiian Airlines some competition. With open arms, please do.
Jules Canon, Lawai
Military training in Hawaii is nonsense
I wonder if the U.S. military leaders ever heard Franklin D. Roosevelt’s famous saying: “A smooth sea never made a good sailor.”
Well, your article (TGI, Nov. 13) just reminded me of this saying when reading that the U.S. military is eyeing Hawaii for the training of its soldiers. The described on-the-water training will be directed at swimming and diving and recovering submersible small vehicles and extracting special ops in our nice, calm waters?
Beach crossing on foot? That’s training? That’s a vacation! Take them to the North Atlantic, to Gloucester, Mass., where the water is really rough. That’s the right training site. You want to train the soldiers for high-angle climbing? Take them to the Rocky Mountains! For the parachute training with good drop and landing zones, the Nevada desert is more appropriate.
And why does armed training take place exactly in the area of our sacred Mauna Kea? Just to irate Pele or our Native Hawaiians? Are you preparing the military for a conflict with the protectors of the sacred mountain?
For real training there are plenty of places on the so-called mainland where wildlife has already been killed and you can practice your deadly games. We don’t see any benefit anyway, so we don’t need any of it here. We need peace.
Now I see the connection between the U.S. military training and the lack of success of their forces in Afghanistan, the country that they could not conquer or liberate with their 17-year-old occupation. Perhaps those soldiers had their training here or at other tropical vacation locations and cannot tackle the rough mountains of the Hindu Kush Mountain Range in Afghanistan. It’s time to heed Frankiln D. Roosevelt’s advice.
János Keoni Samu, Kalaheo
Remember Aloha Airlines Jules Canon? They couldn’t make it. What about the other carrier with the lousy turboprop airplanes? First, the inter-island market won’t support two carriers. Second, HAL is making it because they’ve become a national as well as a regional airline. That takes a whole lot of money and logistical skill.s
‘so called mainland’….where ‘wildlife has already been killed’….wow! Such care and empathy, don’t forget those on the ‘so called mainland’ prefer a country at peace too. Please remember Hawaii is situated right in the middle of a target!
Good Letter Jules! What we now have is an old-fashioned monopoly. There is only one airline serving Kauai, so they charge exorbitant prices. The County should do something about it. Maybe the County should regulate the prices. This certainly has its downsides. If the airline doesn’t like the County’s price, they may just not fly, which is worse. But, if it is done carefully, it could work.
Maybe the County could sponsor a competitor airline and find a way to make sure Hawaiian Airlines doesn’t put them out of business by offering $25 flights until they fail and Hawaiian Airlines gets their monopoly back.
Federal law prohibits the County and the State from the types of Airport Revenues you are suggesting.
https://www.faa.gov/airports/airport_compliance/media/airportSponsorAndUserRightsBrochure.pdf
Jules, could not agree more.
But right about the time someone says “High Speed Boat Transit”, then all the hippies, granola, environmentalists, say “Nooooooooo, what about the marine life”???
Stop the madness!
“We don’t see any benefit anyway, so we don’t need any of it here. We need peace.”
Ah, Janos, ah,…..everyone wants peace. Unfortunately, there are a lot of people out there that don’t like us, sincerely want to kill Americans, and under the right circumstances, might just gang up on the poor old USA. And um, some 17 years ago, um, the USA was attacked by, um, 4 commercial plane bombs, organized by terrorists in Afghanistan, killing thousands of Americans and shut down the USA. You sound like a 10 year old with your naivety. Another person that has never left the Hawaiian islands…..right? So, I guess, as leader of the Free World, when an appropriate response has to be made you, ah, are going to say “Surf’s up”, and go to the beach, and, um, do nothing…….right?? Hindsight is a great thing for critics.
Glad you know where the next conflict is going to be. Yes, I’m sure it will be in the desert, with lots of heat and sand…..obviously not in the tropics.
Actually, Janos is a 75+ y.o. Hungarian born & raised translator who’s lived and travelled all over the world. His page implies he spends time annually in the Virgin Islands too.
Some people just bring politics with them, like baggage, no matter where they land.
Heh Janos. Did you defect to another country when the draft was up during the Vietnam War? Or, “did the military just did not want you!” You sound angry.
Hey Hawaiian Airlines—how about a Kamaaina rate for those of us who live bere? I have provided that in my business for 20 years—it’s a good way to respect the effort it takes to live and work here. In fact, the public utilities commission should step up and enforce such a policy for us. Our state is uniquely segmented (by ocean) and transport here is a public service for many—not a luxury!
Hellooo…When Aloha and Hawaiian Airlines were in competition, but really in cahoots, interisland airfares approached those to the mainland. The Superferry was to be an option that would reduce our interisland travel cost, even allowing us to take our own cars with us. Then the airline called go! started up and the price wars cost us the competitive opportunity as Aloha went bankrupt and go! failed as well. Meanwhile, the post-hippy fringe managed to impair operation of the Superferry as the Sierra Club, et.al. pursued legal action to put the Superferry out of business. Now we are stuck with a monopoly for interisland travel. Maybe Southwest Airlines can do better…