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AA can't fly as many pax back to the mainland as they fly from the mainland to Hawaii

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AA can't fly as many pax back to the mainland as they fly from the mainland to Hawaii

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Old Sep 25, 2018, 10:09 am
  #31  
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Last year around this time I was on an HNL -> PHX in J when they were looking for volunteers. I took a $1,000 voucher and took the HNL -> DFW in J on the 777! Much better J product so I came out ahead.
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Old Sep 25, 2018, 11:04 am
  #32  
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Originally Posted by Science Goy
Along those lines, I suspect the employee's assertion that they leave people in Hawaii "every day" is a substantial exaggeration, at the very least.
I agree. It also may likely refer mostly to nonrev / employee travel, which wouldn't factor into what equipment AA chooses to schedule (but of course may be a concern to the employee asking the question). Nonrevs would be the first - and often probably the only - people to be impacted by this.

I wonder how often they have to deny boarding to or offload actual revenue passengers instead of just nonrevs.
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Old Sep 25, 2018, 11:14 am
  #33  
 
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Originally Posted by CPRich
In the context of buying a bigger plane to serve that one route with occasional weight restrictions, $6K isn't really that much money. List price on a 321 is $115M. That's $6K daily for 52 years.
True, but this is only one element of their costs. Think about lost revenue due to capacity constraints, additional meal/hotel costs which may span multiple days if capacity is not there to get people home the following day (would have been my case), lost cargo revenue, etc.

Originally Posted by cedric
Keeping a subfleet that's less fuel efficient for a particular route doesn't exactly sound like it would be a "good" management decision. I'm not sure why you believe this is short-sighted - the choice could well be current aircraft, or none at all.
They are already running a subfleet for these flights. The Hawaii A321's are the only ETOPS planes in the fleet, they only fly West Coast-Hawaii. While they share parts commonality with the other A321's AA owns, they require specialized maintenance.

I wouldn't call the decision to use this plane on this route short sighted, they didn't have a lot of options with the 757 gone. The problem is they are not planning loads very well, and it's going to get worse as they add more of these planes to PHX routes.
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Old Sep 25, 2018, 11:18 am
  #34  
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It's worth noting that it's expected that overall capacity will increase to Hawaii with the addition of WN to the market, while demand should remain relatively consent. It should reduce some demand for AA tickets.
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Old Sep 25, 2018, 11:30 am
  #35  
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If demand is exceeding capacity because there's a gulf between the 321 and the 777/333 (too few 757, 767, 332 needed for TATL routes) then AA should price accordingly. But as stated above some of the paxs may be non revers and AA still might come ahead if it has to pay for VDBs.
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Old Sep 25, 2018, 2:18 pm
  #36  
 
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Originally Posted by donotblink
It's worth noting that it's expected that overall capacity will increase to Hawaii with the addition of WN to the market, while demand should remain relatively consent. It should reduce some demand for AA tickets.
Friends that live on Kauai say this summer has been packed. Hotels are expected to have high occupancy rates through the holidays. Demand is definitely up this year according to them. Not sure how it is on the other islands. I think that Southwest's entry to the market and adding more capcity is going to bring prices down and drive more people to go there.

On the other hand Southwest is not adding any premium seats to the market. Years ago it was pretty much a guaranteed EXP upgrade LAX-LIH. Since the A321's have come online I often struggle to even find an F seat for sale.
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Old Sep 25, 2018, 8:49 pm
  #37  
 
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Originally Posted by SNA_Flyer
They are already running a subfleet for these flights. The Hawaii A321's are the only ETOPS planes in the fleet, they only fly West Coast-Hawaii. While they share parts commonality with the other A321's AA owns, they require specialized maintenance.
That's disappointing to know. This sub fleet of planes have long stage lengths, why do they configure them the same as the rest of the fleet? A few extra inches in F and a foot rest would have been nice. And add an extra row of first for 20 seats. Sheesh.
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Old Sep 25, 2018, 8:51 pm
  #38  
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Originally Posted by tikchik
That's disappointing to know. This sub fleet of planes have long stage lengths, why do they configure them the same as the rest of the fleet? A few extra inches in F and a foot rest would have been nice. And add an extra row of first for 20 seats. Sheesh.
Perhaps they de used not to do that because the A321neos will displace the current A321S? (Inherent cheapness.)
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Old Sep 25, 2018, 8:55 pm
  #39  
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Originally Posted by MSPeconomist
The problem is that it's very inefficient and costly to operate very small numbers of an aircraft type. Training, including pilot certification and scheduling, cabin crew training (with most USA airlines requiring FAs to be qualified on all aircraft in the fleet, maintenance (including training), parts (including inventory costs at various hubs), etc. really become expensive, although the minumum number of matching aircraft needed to obtain most of the efficiently gains is actually very reasonable. In fact, in an earlier era, the number was documented to be about six in a study by the CAB that helped to support the move to deregulate airlines.
Pilots are cross-qualified to fly the 757 and 767. A few RR powered 757s retained for the interim to fly the west coast - Hawaii routes might have worked well.
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Old Sep 25, 2018, 9:21 pm
  #40  
 
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Originally Posted by JDiver
Perhaps they de used not to do that because the A321neos will displace the current A321S? (Inherent cheapness.)
Definitely possible. An indicator of this is that they installed Gogo ATG on these planes. Why do that when it’s only good for the short time it can be in contact with the antennas on the west coast and these airframes only fly to Hawaii?

That said I won’t be shocked to see the Hawaii neos configured the exact same way as the mainland (non-ETOPS) neos. At least they should have satellite Internet (which still won’t work to overwater Hawaii if they go with ViaSat as they have been - another brilliant plan).

And that also probably means the same seat layout in a premium light configuration (compared to the 757’s they replace).
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Old Sep 25, 2018, 9:35 pm
  #41  
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Originally Posted by SNA_Flyer


Definitely possible. An indicator of this is that they installed Gogo ATG on these planes. Why do that when it’s only good for the short time it can be in contact with the antennas on the west coast and these airframes only fly to Hawaii?

That said I won’t be shocked to see the Hawaii neos configured the exact same way as the mainland (non-ETOPS) neos. At least they should have satellite Internet (which still won’t work to overwater Hawaii if they go with ViaSat as they have been - another brilliant plan).

And that also probably means the same seat layout in a premium light configuration (compared to the 757’s they replace).
wait Viasat should work over water to HI since it's satellite based, no?
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Old Sep 25, 2018, 10:23 pm
  #42  
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Originally Posted by AANYC1981
wait Viasat should work over water to HI since it's satellite based, no?
Possibly, it depends on the area covered by the satellite(s) they use.
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Old Sep 25, 2018, 11:06 pm
  #43  
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Originally Posted by mvoight
Possibly, it depends on the area covered by the satellite(s) they use.
it better work if AA is expecting me to watch a movie on my phone for 5-6 hours since they’re ripping out the screens on these planes.
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Old Sep 25, 2018, 11:26 pm
  #44  
 
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Originally Posted by AANYC1981
wait Viasat should work over water to HI since it's satellite based, no?
Originally Posted by AANYC1981
it better work if AA is expecting me to watch a movie on my phone for 5-6 hours since they’re ripping out the screens on these planes.
Not looking super promising...

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Old Sep 25, 2018, 11:38 pm
  #45  
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For the “worlds largest airline” that is the most pathetic WiFi coverage.

maybe the entertainment content is at least streamed via an onboard server which doesn’t need WiFi, but geez that’s sad.
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