OZFLYER86

speaking to someone in the know, who said bookings on flights BNE & SYD to HNL after January 5, 2020 are just awful.

Only 4 months out & some aircraft have 200 or so unsold seats. The HA A332s have around 290 seats in total or thereabouts.

They have to be careful cancelling any flights, as much better loads going back to BNE & SYD, but they are looking at how they can cancel some.

HA have 10 flights a week when add BNE & SYD to HNL. They can either cancel 1 or 2 of these a week or have massive sales on fares.

If they were to cancel any SYD/HNL flights, they would have to be on the days they fly BNE/HNL & then would have to include a SYD/BNE domestic sector, which would be a pain for those who thought they were flying nonstop. Would add at least 3 hours, but that would be with a 2 hour connect at BNE & BNE is nearly as bad as SYD to change terminals at.

or they could offer those on a cancelled flight to go day before or day after.

The other options would be to offer fares to places other airlines don't fly to 1 stop like Long Beach or Sacramento, or to other USA mainland ports, with a stopover option in Hawaii. If HA can't swing some good stopover rates at hotels in Hawaii, no one can.

With Qantas, Virgin & other dropping sale fares in what is meant to be the end of peak season, it's a hard one to solve. Be interesting to see what happens in next few weeks or months.

henrus

Seriously why are these people telling you this stuff... all you seem to do is post it online.

You've taken people on other forums for a ride before:

https://www.australianfrequentflyer....e-quiet.95881/
https://www.australianfrequentflyer....f-seats.95715/
https://www.australianfrequentflyer....filling.95696/
major cutbacks coming to SYD [?]
don't fly Qantas protest gains momentum

For all we know having "200 unsold seats 4 months out" could be normal for that time of year.

OZFLYER86

don't know what the 1st 3 references are.

Time are certainly bleak for all airlines, with many folding around the world. The really scary thing is even towards the end of peak season, forward bookings are awful. According to source, in previous year, rather than 200 unsold seats for these dates, there might be 20-30 maximum.

OZFLYER86

just noticed HA are dropping some cheaper fares out of BNE to HNL & west coast USA to price match some of the other options.

They have got to fill seats somehow.

Why do HA have such a large checked baggage allowance ?

OZFLYER86

talking to HA people Friday ... still have big problems filling aircraft BNE/HNL in January, plus HA have let some staff go in SYD office, including in groups, which seems strange.

HNLbasedFlyer

The exchange rate is awful right now for Australians at 68 US cents for every Australian Dollar. I doubt any Australian airline is filling a lot seats to Hawaii right now.

OZFLYER86

exchange rate is not awful. Average for last 10 months is about 70 cents, so off about 3%, that's all.

It's the economy in Australia. We're in recession & it's going to get much much worse. Discretionary spending on things like travel has plummeted as many put the money instead into their huge mortgages, plus airline marketing staff, many of whom too young to remember last real recession in 1992, have no idea.

HNLbasedFlyer

It is the lowest in 5 years. 3% adds up when hotels in Honolulu routinely go for over $300 night and higher on Maui. A year ago it was 77 cents.

OZFLYER86

17 Jan 2016 it was 68.5

6 Sep 2015 is was 69

so yes it was up between then & now but

30 Oct 2018 was 70

3 Jan 2019 it was 69

so not that much difference, plus the big factor is

Australians pay less than Americans, for a number of reasons

1) any hotel/resort that traditionally gets a lot of Australians adjust their prices to AUD$ (adjusts not sets)

2) Australians stay longer, much longer, due to fact that most Australians get 2 to 4 times the annual vacation time that Americans get & get paid a loading when they do. Most get 17.5% or more pay, than when they are actually working. As a result, there are many long stay discounts out there, but can't be found with OTAs, only through Australian wholesalers.

OTA are hardly ever the cheapest, but are good comparison sites (but many stupidly believe the garbage advertising that says they are)

davistev

Perhaps the homeless people of Waikiki are finally having an impact on tourism. I recently sat on a bench on the boardwalk and the smell of urine was over powering, the begging on corners rampant and the homeless sleeping in the parks frightened my two kids. No thanks - will not be going back anytime soon.

HNLbasedFlyer

You've had a unique experience. It is essentially illegal to be homeless in Waikiki as they very much enforce the sit-lie laws. The police will certainly pick you up quickly if you are begging in Waikiki and they sweep the parks after 10pm. I'm in Waikiki all the time, I've not seen anyone begging the past 5 years.

As of this article being written in 2016, 7,000 tickets were written for being in the park after hours many of them tourists.

https://www.khon2.com/news/unsuspect...n-trespassing/

davistev

I was just there last week and I beg to differ. The place smells like piss, homeless people sitting around everywhere near the Zoo side of the beach right near the Police station. On my early morning walk, people sleeping in hammocks tied to the bus shelter posts and on the benches. Maybe it was under control in 2016 but apparently some of the 7,000 homeless people you mentioned who were ticketed are back.

sullim4

It depends on the time. During the day and evening - yes. But just a few months ago, I walked from the Royal Hawaiian over to St. Augustine's for Mass on Sunday morning at 6am. There were a few "interesting" people on Kalakaua at that time, and I'm not talking about the tourists lined up to buy Dean & Deluca bags .

We also got up early to do a hike up Diamond Head for sunrise and saw a similar situation from our car. Early mornings seem to be the interesting time for Waikiki. But, compared to say Seattle or San Francisco at all hours of the day, it was nothing.