Are You GO for $39?

[kamasamikong!]

Re: Are You GO for $39?

I bought two round-trip tickets yesterday on Hawaiian to go to Maui this weekend to visit mom.

I spent $366.

I hope go! sticks with the cheap prices. I have family on Maui and the Big Island. I'd like to see them more often than I do now...

I'm pretty sure from a business stand point they will stay cheap if not get cheaper. They have the leeverage to follow like Southwest Airlines to stuff like "Go anytime anywhere for $79" on the west coast just for example, no restrictions. Well maybe one restriction for GO - No more than one balakbiyan box than 12X12! Because da plane small eh!
Have fun!
Peace!

[dick]

Re: Are You GO for $39?

You know they are only going to be flying interisland, don't you? It may be cheaper to fly to Honolulu on HA or AQ and then on to Maui on go!, but I don't think so.
Arturo

I bought tix from HNL to OGG.

[p0id0g]

Re: Are You GO for $39?

if Go! uses the commuter terminal at HNL, then i will definitely fly on them all the time. i travel to the neighbor islands quite a bit, and i always fly on island air because of the convenience of the parking lot at the commuter terminal. i usually leave and return on the same day so i need to park my car at the airport and finding parking at the interisland terminal parking structure is nearly impossible after 9am.

oh, and the DH Q400 that Island Air uses is very sweet! very comparable to one of Hawaiian's or Aloha's jets.

[pzarquon]

Re: Are You GO for $39?

GO! is advertising $59 round trip fares this week. Hawaiian and Aloha have matched it.

These are definitely below-cost, money-losing, promotional fares, but no doubt travelers will take advantage of them. I wonder how much pain they'll bring, if any, to our established carriers?

[Miulang]

Re: Are You GO for $39?

Some airline industry analysts predict that in the showdown between HA, AQ and Go, there will be one loser. In the meantime, Island Air is growing like crazy and flying well below the radar of most folks. Given the option, I think I'd fly Island Air now that they are bringing in new equipment.

If go! can't secure space in the commuter terminals, I think it highly likely that those $39 fares will go by the wayside. I don't care how deep Mesa's pockets are...when your landing fees are almost quadruple to use the main interisland terminals v. the commuter terminals, eventually your bottom line is going to look pretty red.

Miulang

[aloha-anon]

Re: Are You GO for $39?

Read about Mesa's Flight #5733 and what it means to Hawaii's Malahini

http://mesalies.blogspot.com/

[zztype]

Re: Are You GO for $39?

Hey, I had reason to go Big Island this coming Monday, so I jumped online went to Go! site looking for flights. They don't start until June 8 or so.

OK, so I jumped on Aloha site. Hmmm... where's the cheap airfare? Oh, here! Oh, no more until, uh, June 8.

OK, jump on Hawaiian site. Where's the cheap fare? Hmmmm... June 8 again.

If the local airlines want to convince me they're on my side and don't just consider me a cash cow, THEY WOULD LOWER THEIR PRICES NOW, not after Mesa opens.

If they want to engender some sense of loyalty from me, they wouldn't wait and do a "me too" on the fares. They need to show loyalty to me, in return.

Ended up I had to drop nearly $160 for a round trip to Big Isle. Grrr!

Blaine

[mel]

Re: Are You GO for $39?

Ended up I had to drop nearly $160 for a round trip to Big Isle. Grrr!

The whole problem with travelling interisland these days is that if you need to go tomorrow, or even next week or anytime that there is a very short time between making the reservation/purchase and actually traveling, is that we have to pay the higher fare. And that sucks.

The $39 fares, $59 r/t fares or even the standard $79 "low" fares are all subject to 1. limited seating and 2. advance planning on part of the consumer. That means if you want to go, plan it for about a month or more ahead of time.... and be sure to keep to the plan... because if you change your reservation, bam... you get hit with a change fee. What are the change fees now? $45? OUCH!

And this applies to all the local airlines as far as I know. Doesn't matter if they are "local" or owned by investors on the mainland (which most of them are, so "local" only applies to the fancy colors and logos flying on the planes).... The money comes from and goes back to mainland investors and holding companies in most cases.

[LikaNui]

Re: Are You GO for $39?

Hey, I had reason to go Big Island this coming Monday, so (...)

Did you ask about bereavement rates?
I had to fly off for a funeral a while back. Checked regular flight info on all the major airlines, then asked for the 'bereavement rate' and found the BR was noticeably higher than the regular fare... even on the exact same flights (same dates and times)!
What the heck is up with that?!?


Good luck to ya, Blaine.

[pzarquon]

Re: Are You GO for $39?

Meta note... I love how the "contextual ad" being served up by Google for this particular thread is for GO! Wonder if there's a keyword bidding war out there, and if we'll start seeing Aloha and Hawaiian ads in the mix?

[arturo_h]

Re: Are You GO for $39?

go!'s first CRJ-200 arrived in Hawai'i today around 12:30pm. Here's a picture of it near the Inter-Island Terminal, parked next to an Aloha 732 no less. It flew PHX-SFO-HNL as ASH (Mesa Airlines) flight #1.

go! at HNL

Arturo

[kamasamikong!]

Re: Are You GO for $39?

Nice paint job on the airplane. Press release says they will ramp up service by the end of the month to 62 daily flights. THAT's pretty darn fast for a start up! Can you say Tora!Tora!Tora! I understand Aloha is beefing up with United on code-share scheduled flights. Let the air-war games begin!

Peace!

[aloha-anon]

Re: Are You GO for $39?

go!'s first CRJ-200 arrived in Hawai'i today around 12:30pm. Here's a picture of it near the Inter-Island Terminal, parked next to an Aloha 732 no less. It flew PHX-SFO-HNL as ASH (Mesa Airlines) flight #1.

go! at HNL

Arturo

a pig with a ring in its nose is still a pig

[Hawaii SEO]

Re: Are You GO for $39?

I don't know if you're interested in what Mesa has to say but here are some links to their own words. It's not very flattering stuff. I think they need to get a new PR guy.

In this article, Jonathan Ornstein, chairman and chief executive of Mesa indicates that even Mesa is loosing money on their interisland fare structure and that eventually fares will be higher.
http://www.bizjournals.com/pacific/s...0/daily55.html

“Sources at Aloha Airlines have told Pacific Business News that Ornstein has got to be selling seats at a loss because his jets seat only 50 passengers, less than half as many as they do.” “Ornstein did not dispute that”

This article ominously titled “New interisland air war likely to claim a victim” Ornstein indicates that their pricing strategy is basically a war of attrition where the first company who bleeds to death looses.
http://pacific.bizjournals.com/pacif...03/story7.html

"Yeah, they responded to our $39 fares, but how many seats can they sell for $39?" he asked. "I don't think they can do it for long. We can fly planes empty and cover it. The Hawaii operation costs about $20 million to $25 million a year -- we can lose that much money. We can cover it."

In this article, Jonathan Ornstein, indicates that a local airline will likely be going out of business.
http://starbulletin.com/2006/02/07/news/story04.html

"I think it will be a very competitive market, and it clearly will be a difficult situation with four carriers in the market," Ornstein said. "I'm not sure it's sustainable."

Later in the same article, he indicates that there will be little impact on Hawaii employment opportunities because of existing union contracts. Most of the employees will be coming over from the mainland.

“Most positions for Mesa's Hawaii operations will be filled by current Mesa employees because the company's labor agreement requires that Mesa employees get first choice, Ornstein said.”

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

So there you “go!”

A local business or two will “go!” out of business, the money will “go!” back to Arizona, possibly thousands of good local jobs “go!’ to folks on the mainland and the airfare will “go!” right back up to where it was to begin with.

[CranBeree]

Re: Are You GO for $39?

no matter what, i would choose an airline that would be easier on the wallet. if Go! is offering lower fares than Aloha or HAL i'd definitely use them instead. HAL and Aloha should lower their fares all around. I booked ATA since it only cost $400 RT Las Vegas to HNL while they where charing $600 and up. Ihave friends/family that rather fly to Vegas since its cheaper to do that instead of going interisland.