Back in the early 00's Sun Country Airlines went belly up. A lot of customers who paid for tickets with Credit Cards found out the hard way that BK does not mean you'll get a refund.
In the Sun County case Visa and Mastercard had liens on airline assets already. However, American Express did not. VC and MC refunded money to customers. Amex did not.
Auwe! I have been reading all of the posts and this is so sad. The TV news have been reporting on AQ's shutdown in Los Angeles tonight as I suspect is now known worldwide on CNN, etc.
While posts are sharing fond memories, I can share some of mine as well. I used to fly AQ as well as HA interisland every weekend when I was a kid. The FAs used to remember me and took care of me. I was too young to remember AQ's Vistaliner DC-3s, however, I do remember flying their Fairchild F-27s, which were the first "jet-powered" high-winged planes that offered dramatic views of the islands during each flight. You can see AQ's F-27s if you see the 1962 film "Blue Hawaii" with Elvis Presley. I have very fond memories flying AQ's Vickers Viscounts with its large oval windows. I also enjoyed flying the BAC One-Eleven 200s, which were AQs first pure jets flying interisland, which I believe might have gone into service just before HA started flying DC-9s. AQ used to fly a very interesting all British fleet of Rolls Royce powered a/c.
In AQ's Boeing era, I remember some of the 737-200s with the very complicated folding airstair rear door that used to get stuck every so often, causing flight delays. Lastly, I also remembered flying the 732 "Queen Liliuokalani" years before its accident and I also remembered flying many times with the FA that was lost during the accident. That flight was also the subject of a made for TV movie. It is unfortunate that after this accident that AQ went to 737 -300/400s then back to 732s for interisland service while mainland flights got the 737 700/800s.
I think my fondest memories are still with the British aircraft that AQ used to fly. But it saddens me deeply to think that so many employees started with AQ when they were young and that AQ was their only job until now.
Mahalo nui loa, AQ, for taking care of me when I was a kid. I will remember the flying Bird of Paradise symbol, the Baba Kea designed "Flower Power" FA uniforms, the deep navy blue FA uniforms, the Funbirds and the complimentary pineapple juice. Mahalo for all the good times in passenger service as AQ's employees made the airline, the airline of Aloha.
Programs: NW PE, CO PE, DL, UA 1P, AA, CI, IC PLAT AMB
Posts: 1,644
Quote:
Originally Posted by DanTravels
Did you ever fly FF? If so, do you miss them?
They are not part of my airlines with a history. At least not that kind of
history. But I did never fly them, do remember their planes though.
Being a Boeing supporter is another reason to miss AQ, now that the
remaining local competitor has decided to go French.
__________________
PAN AMERICAN. GONE, BUT NOT FORGOTTEN...........
Last edited by FlyinHawaiian; Apr 1, 08 at 9:28 am.
Reason: fix html
Being a Boeing supporter is another reason to miss AQ, now that the remaining local competitor has decided to go French.
Well... if they can get the planes. Last I heard they had a 4-year wait for A330s and a 9-year wait for the A350XYZ, and were trying to figure out whether they could scrounge up any lease A330s to lease in the meantime, or whether they should just extend their 767 leases.
(Un?)fortunately, the airlines that have A330s don't seem to want to park them or get out of their leases just yet.
__________________
I think of Delta as the New Worldwide Airline.
OGG-SNA, ORD-HNL, HNL-OGG... uh... how were you getting from SNA to ORD? That's a bit of a walk.
If what you really want is OGG-ORD, and you don't have to stop in SNA, UA3 does OGG-KOA-ORD-OGG. I've been on the KOA-ORD segment before; pretty sure they're still using a 777.
I was spending 3 days in CA then was AA SNA-ORD that was the only leg that was not AQ. Now have a AA itenary with stop in LAX.
As a frequent visitor to the islands, I had flown AQ several times and will miss them.
As to the islanders who supported go!, I hope its hard for them to watch the faces of AQ's employees on what must be a terrible day for them. Sometimes the cost of saving a couple bucks on a flight is very high indeed
And for those who aren't yet convinced that AQ employees believed in the spirit of 'ohana, see the AQ Ohana photos on PBase: http://www.pbase.com/aqohana/welcome
Back in the early 00's Sun Country Airlines went belly up. A lot of customers who paid for tickets with Credit Cards found out the hard way that BK does not mean you'll get a refund.
In the Sun County case Visa and Mastercard had liens on airline assets already. However, American Express did not. VC and MC refunded money to customers. Amex did not.
Sorry to hear about the demise of Aloha passenger service and the job losses.
If part of the itinerary is on airline other than Aloha, the other airline will usually do what they can to help in a situation like this. Thought was a better alternative in my case than trying to do a credit card dispute.
Have a BDL to LIH flight via DFW and HNL at end of this year. Weak link on my Expedia (who referred me to AA and HA) booking was the AQ HNL to LIH flight. Normally take HA for interisland and occassionally mainland to Hawaii flights, but decided to try Aloha for the first time(and never got the chance). Called AA and they rebooked my AQ flights on HA for only the difference in airfare ($15) and waived any change fees. AA may be handling this on a case-to-case basis but thought they handled this fairly for me.
The Star-Bulletin says there's a squabble between ALPA and Aloha over which pilots will get to stay on with the cargo operations. AQ wants its current cargo pilots, who are familiar with flying the cargo jets; ALPA was apparently saying the most senior pilots from the combined fleet should get the spots. AQ's asking for an injunction or something.
The Star-Bull quotes Tom Nulty (AQ CMO) saying there were 700 mainland pax stuck, and about 400,000 outstanding tickets through the end of the year that'll have to be sorted out.
John Monahan, president and chief executive of the Hawaii Visitors and Convention Bureau, was quoted as saying AQ was flying with only a 65% load factor, so the increased frequencies from HA and YV actually will fill the gap. Monahan also said AQ only had 9% of mainland market share, so he figures other carriers will pick that up easily.
And an editorial rumors that "United Airlines, Aloha's marketing partner, may have backed away from a proposal involving ATA and Mesa to save the airline's passenger service," which the Advertiser says "called for United to increase its stake in Aloha and provide money for Aloha to purchase West Coast routes operated by ATA Airlines. The deal also included an unexpected proposal by Mesa Air Group, go!'s parent, to invest in Aloha."
__________________
I think of Delta as the New Worldwide Airline.
