(Q) MisterNice, please tell me, what is the significance of the YOW code?

(A) It is the fare basis in HA coach. It has one of the highest "priorities"* in reserving space for a flight (remember, no reserved seats in inter-island service). I bought some a week ago and these now nicely state fare basis: YPAII1 (ie better forget YOW) and are good until 9/30/00.

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(Q) Another question: so, when I board my DL flight in VA, can I tell DL that my final destination is Lihue, and can I then avoid having to drag my luggage around HNL?

(A) OK, this is exactly what I do. I make my nice reservation with HA and fill out the coupon with my name, date, flt # etc. I then present it along with my CO ticket (or E-reservation printout) to the CO ticket agent and REQUEST my bags be checked to Kahului or whatever. The ticket agent will telephone HA, confirm the reservation and then ticket the bag to Kahului. In fact if flying CO and inter-islanding HA, you get the HA boarding pass too.

My best guess is the above will NOT happen unless you have the HA ticket nicely in hand. I had previously reserved bags to HNL, picked them up and then checked in with HA to go to onto Kahului. It is a friggin mess and adds 45-90 min to the process depending on date, time of arrival etc as well as then lugging the bags about 0.4 mi to the inter-island terminal and upstairs.

I formerly flew mostly DL and Aloha Airlines. Believe me, it is currently FAR better and FAR nicer on CO and BusinessFirst (I do this 8-12 times/year so I have a fairly good viewpoint to Hawaii on DL, UA, AA, CO etc). If and when DL introduces BusinessElite to HNL, I will again re-evaluate them.

Until then, the tired, cramped, filthy L-1011's are out for transporting my bod, both f/c or coach, and I flew them often from mainland to HI.

*similar to priority waitlist, I assume