Are You GO for $39?

[aloha-anon]

Re: Are You GO for $39?

What’s better than a $19 fare?
ALOHA SAYS “THANKS, HAWAII” WITH 2,000 FREE TICKETS
HONOLULU– Now in its 60th year, Aloha Airlines is thanking Hawaii for its loyalty by giving
away 1,000 round-trip tickets on Aloha Airlines for flights between Honolulu and the Neighbor
Islands. 500 inter-island round-trip tickets will be given away at Honolulu’s Inter-island
Terminal and 100 inter-island round trips each at Kahului, Lihue, Kona and Hilo airports.
Aloha’s “Great Go Away Giveaway” will take place on June 9, 2006, beginning at 7 a.m. at
Honolulu Airport and 9 a.m. at Kahului, Lihue, Kona and Hilo.
The first 500 persons in line at Honolulu and the first 100 in line at each of the other Aloha
Airlines airport ticket counters in Hawaii will receive an award letter redeemable for round-trip
inter-island travel on Aloha Airlines. In addition, Aloha will give away another 100 roundtrips
to people who enter a random drawing at the airport. A picture ID must be presented to
qualify for an award letter and free ticket.
“We’re saying mahalo Hawaii for making Aloha your favorite airline,” said Thom Nulty,
Aloha’s Sr. Vice President Marketing & Sales. “It’s not all about price. Anybody can offer a
$19 fare. It’s about being an active part of the community and all of the great things Aloha
brings to inter-island flying: a high-frequency schedule on full-size Boeing jets with plenty of
headroom and large overhead bins, Alii Club airport lounges, jet bridge boarding at Honolulu,
and AlohaPass miles from Hawaii’s first frequent flyer program.”
“Great Go Away Giveaway” award letters can be redeemed for travel between June 24 and
December 14, 2006. Two weeks’ notice is required to fulfill booking requests. Award letters
and tickets are non-refundable, non-transferable, and valid for travel only by the person to
whom they were issued. Award letters must be redeemed by September 30, 2006. Seats are
limited and may not be available on all flights. Some black-out dates apply. Award letters and
tickets have no cash value and travel does not earn AlohaPass miles. To qualify, travelers must
be 12 years or older.
Here’s when and where the Great Go Away Giveaway will take place:
7 a.m. HONOLULU INTER-ISLAND TERMINAL
Outside the Aloha Airlines Departures Lobby (2nd level)
9 a.m. KAHULUI AIRPORT
South end of the Aloha Airlines Terminal/ Bus area
9 a.m. LIHUE, KONA and HILO
Aloha Airlines Baggage Claim Area
The state Airports Division is advising the public not to queue up more than one hour in
advance of the start time.

[damontucker]

Re: Are You GO for $39?

Looks like all the $19.00 flights have been taken at this point...

I was thinking... sheesh...my as well buy as many as I can.... but dang...
I guess others were thinking the same way before me

The Free Aloha air voucher deal is looking tempting though.... I bet toomorow morning is going to look like a walmart on the "Boxing day/Day After Thanksgiving" sales.

I can see people lining up by about 3:00 am... it's only the first 500 w/ ID.

I work by there... so I'm thinking... If I leave by 5... go see what the line looks like....maybe take an hour off work...

Maybe I can scoop up a r/t voucher for an hour off of work?

Will let you know if I try toomorow

[pzarquon]

Re: Are You GO for $39?

The state Airports Division is advising the public not to queue up more than one hour in advance of the start time.

Yeah, that'll work out great.

Interesting, this giveaway. Folks will turn out in droves for anything free, so no doubt we'll see a crowd and several TV cameras. But is however many hours in line to possibly get a free roundtrip ticket worth saving the $40 or so you'd spend to get a regular (well, at the current special price) pair of ticket sat Go! or Hawaiian?

I was surprised that Hawaiian matched Go! for the $19 one way price, but even more surprised when Aloha didn't, and instead came up with this promotion. In the interisland fare war, does that count as blinking first?

[damontucker]

Re: Are You GO for $39?

Yeah, that'll work out great.

Interesting, this giveaway. Folks will turn out in droves for anything free, so no doubt we'll see a crowd and several TV cameras. But is however many hours in line to possibly get a free roundtrip ticket worth saving the $40 or so you'd spend to get a regular (well, at the current special price) pair of ticket sat Go! or Hawaiian?

I was surprised that Hawaiian matched Go! for the $19 one way price, but even more surprised when Aloha didn't, and instead came up with this promotion. In the interisland fare war, does that count as blinking first?

PZ -

I can't even find the $19.00 flights either!!!

both airlines!

Frustrations... I want to take advantage... and I'm not able to

[Hawaii SEO]

Re: Are You GO for $39?

Sounds like Bait & Stitch to me. If go! is going to advertise something like that, they should have it available. It’s illegal to advertise something if there is no availability.

Hawaiian on the other hand did not advertise the fare or distribute a press release to my knowledge. The press checked the prices and saw they were doing their best to match the competition and then ran the story. (Not Bait & Switch)

Aloha might not have had enough seats available to qualify for a matching promotion so they did something different. (Good Move)

If Go! is issuing these ridiculous fare promotions, it’s probably safe to assume that they are either unable to sell seats because no one wants to fly with an arrogant mainland predator or it’s a Bait & Switch trick to fool the people of Hawaii into believing something that isn’t true.

[Miulang]

Re: Are You GO for $39?

I'm sure go! protected itself when it started advertising those $19 promotional fares by saying something like "subject to availability", meaning that there were only a limited number of $19 seats available, so once those were sold out, they just removed the ad from the website. Same with HAL. I like Aloha's thinking out of the box, though, because at least you know how many free tickets were going to be available upfront and could decide for yourself if it was worth standing in line to see if you could snatch up one of the free vouchers.

Miulang

[aloha-anon]

Re: Are You GO for $39?

I was surprised that Hawaiian matched Go! for the $19 one way price, but even more surprised when Aloha didn't, and instead came up with this promotion. In the interisland fare war, does that count as blinking first?

It is actually quite brilliant. Mesa dumped all their seats at $19 to put faces in the windows and just fill up their flights, even at a loss. Aloha then let go 2000 empty seats, there is no way Mesa can match now as they already dumped all their seats.

Aloha wins this round.

The difference between $19 and entirely free is a mere $38K. Spread out over more than 5 months, between June 24 and Dec. 14, it is only 12 free seats a day out of something like 15,000 seats Aloha produces every day. While Mesa has dumped all their seats at $19 and $39 and is presumably full or close to full at their money losing rates. Aloha is now free to make money on the rest of their seats, JUST LIKE A BUSINESS IS SUPPOSED TO.

Aloha was voted the BEST AIRLINE IN HAWAII by the Honolulu Advertisers readers. This is Aloha's way of saying MAHALO to the people of Hawaii.

If Go! is issuing these ridiculous fare promotions, it’s probably safe to assume that they are either unable to sell seats because no one wants to fly with an arrogant mainland predator or it’s a Bait & Switch trick to fool the people of Hawaii

I really like your posts SEO. Aloha

[Hawaii SEO]

Re: Are You GO for $39?

I agree. Aloha in the easy winner in this round.

I believe it’s arrogant for Jonathan Ornstein (CEO at Mesa) to assume he can muscle himself into our islands the way he is. It would be a different story if he was a bit more respectful.

Quotes like this bug me.
"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.”

To me, statements like that sound spiteful and arrogant. It’s certainly not in the way a local business person would be communicating with the public.

The guy is only concerned with validating his tough guy ego. Mesa will never have the Hawaiian spirit or have Aloha. He’s just another foolish Haole from the mainland who arrogantly assumes he can come in and take over an entire local industry purely out of ego driven spite.

It’s common knowledge that Mesa posed as a potential investor in both Hawaiian & Aloha while they were in bankruptcy and submitted unacceptably low offers after thoroughly going through their books and business plans.

Mesa should have also asked to see the plans for what the response would be if a mainland competitor decided to enter the market while they were at it.

Jonathan Ornstein has my pity. He’s trying to surf on Hawaiian & Aloha’s home break. It’s not going to be as easy for the new Haole boy as he thinks.

[aloha-anon]

Re: Are You GO for $39?

It’s common knowledge that Mesa posed as a potential investor in both Hawaiian & Aloha while they were in bankruptcy and submitted unacceptably low offers after thoroughly going through their books and business plans.

true, and while this cant be proven (if it could there would be mesa execs behind bars already) it is also commonly believed that mesa went around the bankruptcy court, went directly to cerberus and goldman sachs and offered to pay them off if they would call Aloha's loan on non-compliance clauses, basically shutting down Aloha. If Banmiller could prove that, Mesa would find themselves in much deeper kimchee than Hawaiian's lawsuit.

[Miulang]

Re: Are You GO for $39?

Here's an interesting little story about how Mesa and Ornstein have their eyes on Mainland China as another route. But what's even more interesting is a possible reason why Mesa is in the Hawai'i market: they may be seeking a code share agreement with US Air or Delta for the Hawai'i market.

A couple of years ago, Mesa was having financial difficulties too, until it started engaging in code share agreements with United, Delta and American Airways which appear to have turned its financial picture around.

Miulang

[aloha-anon]

Re: Are You GO for $39?

Here's an interesting little story about how Mesa and Ornstein have their eyes on Mainland China as another route. But what's even more interesting is a possible reason why Mesa is in the Hawai'i market: they may be seeking a code share agreement with US Air or Delta for the Hawai'i market.

A couple of years ago, Mesa was having financial difficulties too, until it started engaging in code share agreements with United, Delta and American Airways which appear to have turned its financial picture around.

Miulang

You have that entirely backwards. A few years ago, 1997, Mesa was one of the LARGEST United Express carriers and the poster child of Wall Street.

Mesa ran into financial difficulties when United dumped them like yesterdays trash and Mesa lost OVERNIGHT 48% of their flying and had to park 80 aircraft. HERE IS THE OLD STORY.

To be perfectly honest Jonathan Ornstien turned mesa around by coming back from Europe where he was running Virgin Express for Richard Branson. He took over Mesa from Larry Risley the founder and in 2003, finally got back the United code share. Risley recently died, Ornstien continues to pillage and burn for mesa, now he has come to Hawaii.

[Miulang]

Re: Are You GO for $39?

They must be doing something right, though. According to this June 7, newstory, their May traffic was up 6% even as their capacity declined.

Miulang

[aloha-anon]

Re: Are You GO for $39?

They must be doing something right, though. According to this June 7, newstory, their May traffic was up 6% even as their capacity declined.

Miulang

They dont sell their own tickets anywhere in the USA except Hawaii and New Mexico. Those numbers dont mean anything except that their codeshare partners are selling lots of tickets. Part of the reason mesa is making so much money is they get paid no matter how many seats are sold. Except in Hawaii, they are on their own out here. As mesa opened Hawaii this week their stock price has tumbled. Wall Street does not like their CEO bragging about how much money they will lose in Hawaii.

[Miulang]

Re: Are You GO for $39?

They dont sell their own tickets anywhere in the USA except Hawaii and New Mexico. Those numbers dont mean anything except that their codeshare partners are selling lots of tickets. Part of the reason mesa is making so much money is they get paid no matter how many seats are sold. Except in Hawaii, they are on their own out here. As mesa opened Hawaii this week their stock price has tumbled. Wall Street does not like their CEO bragging about how much money they will lose in Hawaii.

I dunno if I would call a 1.65% drop in share price catastrophic. At the close on Friday, the price of a share was still more than MESA's lowest price in the previous 52-week period, which was way down around $6.50. And because of all the money they are making through their code sharing agreements, they can afford to be the loss leader in Hawai'i for awhile, with the eventual intention of negotiating a code share agreement with one of the carriers that has no service right now to Hawai'i. And then in a few years, they could take their planes to China, which is a vast untapped market.

Miulang

[Hawaii SEO]

Re: Are You GO for $39?

You might want to check the ridiculous fares they demand from the poor folks in New Mexico. Then compare similar distances in Hawaii. This is what the people of Hawaii can look forward to.