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I just got back from Honolulu and was shocked at the chaos and inept service at Hawaiian Airlines. It was so bad I went over to Aloha Airlines and bought tickets to Hilo - abandoning my HA flights.
When we arrived at the inter island terminal I found that Hawaiian had apparently laid off most of their counter staff in favor of computer screens. When we had a glitch at the screen the only recourse was to wait in the only (1) line that actually had customer service. This caused us to miss our flight and Hawaiian then wanted an additional $70 to change our schedule. Needless to say I was not happy so we went to Aloha where the service was fine.
So I thought I'd start this topic to explore the changing world of inter island travel. It seems to keep getting more indifferent and costly to locals trying to fly inter island.
Anyone else having experiences like this?
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I don't have a bad experience to share, rather a great one! I used Pacific Wings to fly from Hilo to Maui about a year ago. They are in the commuter terminal so you don't have to go through the airport at all! We just had to be there 30 minutes before the plane left. It was a nice 12 seater plane. The downside is that they don't fly direct from Hilo to Honolulu, you'd have to go to another island first. Check out their website at
www.pacificwings.com
Emily
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I took a Pacific Wings flight from Hilo to Maui and back and it was indeed a very nice trip.
Wish they flew to Honolulu.
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On our first two trips to Hawaii, we flew into Honolulu on a major airline and then visited two other islands before returning to Honolulu. This time we came from Honolulu to Hilo. That is a total of 7 trips on Aloha so far, and we have not had a problem on any of them.
Howard
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Aloha,
Has anyone has heard of FlyHawaii airlines? They were billing themselves as the new inexpensive inter-island alternative and were to begin flights in '06. There was a lot of hype on their website, flyhawaii.com, but now the site won't load and I'm wondering if they are no longer a possibility or just experiencing start-up delays.
Another group, Mesa Airlines out of Phoenix, was also in the news, wanting to get in the inter-island market catering to locals wanting less expensive flights. Seems like Hawaiian and Aloha have the market cornered- though some deals can be had on their websites.
Linda in CO
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I hate horror stories, I'm sorry you had such a bad experience Rob. It seems that as the corporate world keeps finding ways to save a buck, it's all of us who suffer. I am flying to Honolulu next month to pickup my cat and unfortunatley I already booked my flight with Hawaiian. I will let you know what my experience was and if my kity came through OK.
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Thought I'd bring this forward as I just flew over to Honolulu to pick up my cat. I took Hawaiian Air. You're right Rob about the lack of customer service reps available at the airport. This time there were two lines open and they went very slowly. I had already got my e-ticket but I still needed to go through the customer line to pay additional for my cat and to check her in. I waited about 20 minutes with only about 4 people in front of me. They hand carried my cat both in Honolulu and Hilo. The trip back to Hilo was late by nearly an hour with no explaination given.
For those of you who will be bringing dogs and cats over from the mainland, the animal quarantine went flawlessly, they are very nice and caring people, at least the ones I had contact with.
Pacific Wings does fly from Hilo to Honolulu but you have one or two stops depending on the route. The price was exactly the same as Hawaiian. I like flying in small planes so I think I'll go with them next time for the fun of it.
Glenn
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You can take Pacific Wings from Waimea to Honolulu and I don't remember if it was free to leave the truck in Waimea or if we had to pay $5 for the weekend. They do have very limited flights, though, only one flight in and one out per day. But the smaller planes are nice and no airport hassles.
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