Ripper3785

The answer for me is, I can earn UA miles on AQ. If they're cheaper or the same price, I'll fly AQ for those UA miles.

Gas guzzling? Could they perhaps be using these because they have a somewhat efficient fuel burn with their smaller engines for these short flights? Sure, they burn dirtier, I'll give you that.

Assuming Aloha is able to weather this 'storm', they'll have an interesting decision to make when they run out of cycles on the 737-200 airframes.

cblaisd

They're also waaaaaaay noisier. One just went overhead and boy are they loud on climb-out.

It sort of depends on what you're needing. As Ripper points out, you can earn United RDMs on both Aloha and IslandAir.

But I so much more like HA's planes, and I find having assigned seats so much nicer than having to line up 40 minutes ahead of time if you want a shot at an aisle seat. (And as an HA Visa card holder, I can pick seats at the time of booking -- this was true even before I had Pualani Gold status)

Otoh, even the longest interisland flight is no more than 40 minutes.....

slippahs

The problem with AQ is that they can't seem to find a solid replacement for the Hawaii salt-water, high cycle environment. Just think why they had to get rid of the 734s they brought in last decade. The engines couldn't handle it.

We'll see how HA's 717s turn out in about 10 years. The Hawaiian enviornment is one of the worst to fly in.

kaukau

I think WP was very dissapointed when they had to return the 3 Bombardier Q-400 airplanes they ordered, due to go!'s entry into the marketplace. They had high expectations of the airframes ability to perform in the Hawai'ian environment. Their fleet of DeHavilland Dash-8s seem to be well suited to our environment. Mrs. kaukau and I are going to step into one in about 2 hours, as a matter of fact!

acvitale

The AQ planes have a lot of scab patching on the exteriors, a lot of messy interior work and frankly look around the doors at the multiple layers or patching. I am sorry but, I believe that they would have learned from the can opener plane. In reality they are still pushing the limits at AQ.

On HA the planes are clean, no patching, holes, etc. In 10-20 years it may be different but today it is HA for me..

Not to mention 50% fewer middle seats on HA with 2-3 vs 3-3 on AQ.

Ripper3785

On the other hand....... the patching could be a proactive step to prevent the can opener.... it's worked for... oh.... 19 years

slippahs

Those Q400s are probably nicely suited for the interisland environment. If only local residents could get over the prop plane bias...

acvitale

I have a belief on scab patches. When it is only a few fine. As the aircraft get older and older and the key areas are covered with multiple layers of scab patches then you have an invitation to fail.

Each rivet actually weakens the overall structure and creates an additional point of failure.

We can get into a serious debate but more holes in less space (even with rivets in them) creates serious points of weakness.

A single unaltered piece of metal is stronger then layer on layer on layer of patches, holes drilled and rivets installed.

When you get some aircraft with 3,4,5 or even 6 layers of patching. You would be better to pull the skins and reskin on the next D check.

Of course that is more $$$ and thus with a financially ailing airline like AQ not going to happen. Hence, My safety and well being are flying on HA and not AQ which I consider to be unsafe.

The interiors also tell alot about what the airline maintenance is like. If they ignore or defer items that are within customer sight then what is going on with items out of site.

Specifically, I know that the 737s tend to have a great deal of hidden corrosion under the cabin floor near the pressure bulkhead in the rear.

An airline that is skimping on maintenance in the cabin is likely not going to pull the cabin floor and do an unrequired inspection to be proactive.

I wonder what the wiring looks like

All things that we as passengers cannot see but, if the carrier is cutting corners are important.

Does this mean AQ is definately skimping... Nope... I do not know. I only know that if I am flying that I value the lives of my family and myself and hence I will spend a couple $$$ more to fly the carrier I feel safer on.

I would rather my 1 year old daughter has a daddy to who is not in a pine box after a trip to Hawaii...

I will refrain from any other comments. I did not want to go into this level of detail but this is my opinion. I am sure that those who like AQ will jump on this and those who value the savings of $10 over safety will still fly AQ.

Ripper3785

You are, of course, 100% entitled to your opinion. That's what's great about Flyertalk, so many different opinions and thoughts.

But I object to boiling it down to "those who value $10 savings over safety". I'm guessing that I'm more likely to win the lottery than I am to dying in an AQ accident. I do agree that HA's planes are probably 'safer'.

I'm sure if you were in an AQ accident(which you wouldn't be because you don't fly 'em), that AQ would at the very least send you home in a nice native wood box and not a pine one. You may even be able to secure an upgrade to a Koa box with miles.

Aloha.

msett

How bad is flying go!?

mrblueeyes

Not bad at all. It is such a short flight that it does not really matter what airlines you fly.

cblaisd

Bad enough that if you have a choice, fly the possibilities in this order (imho ): Hawaiian, IslandAir, Pacific Wings, Aloha, go!

Daze

I wasn't really sure where to post this, but to stay on topic, if I base my choice of AQ vs. HA on which FF program I want to collect miles in (AA or UA), once I arrive at the Interisland terminal at HNL, is it possible to stay behind security while I go to the Diamond Head (UA) or Ewa (AA) concourses?
Or will I have to reclear security to make this connection?

kaukau

------NO

KeaauFlyer

No TSA to deal with, as the always helpful kaukau pointed out. You do have to clear the Agricultural checkpoint, however. It it no big deal, though, and there usually isn't even a line. If you are planning to take plants, seeds, or tubers to the mainland, they have to be packaged and stamped by the Agriculture Department. Most of such items sold as souvenirs are stamped, but always check, or they might get confiscated.