DanTravels

Heck yeah. There aren't a lot of places you see a jet go less than a hundred or so miles, turn, go a hundred or so miles, turn, go a hundred or so miles, turn... all day. And fewer still where it's a mainline jet!

slippahs

Let me first put in a disclaimer. I do not work for any airline (some people think I work for either Aloha/Hawaiian), nor am I an elite of Aloha/Hawaiian. I do, however, fly interisland once in awhile (less so than a few years ago when I was an elite on Aloha).

And, for those interested in the pictures, please note that the password is flyertalk . Please do not reproduce these photos.

Flew go! on Friday, flight 1026 from Honolulu to Keahole Airport near Kona. As every mentor-type figure always told me in life, you really need to try things out before criticizing. So that we did.

Check-in: Checking in online was a breeze. Looks like go! is using a Mesa Air based OLCI process as our OLCI boarding passes had the Mesa logo on the top. Also, unlike other carriers that print two copies of your boarding pass on one page, Mesa only prints one, so you really should print out a second page for record keeping or if your go! miles don’t come through. Nothing else out of the ordinary here.

Security/Boarding Area: We got to the commuter terminal at roughly 10 minutes to boarding, flew through security (as was to be expected at the commuter terminal) and got to the gate. My SO thought it was pretty funny that go! had a nicely made sign for what gates the flights were departing from, but that the gate numbers were written in (pictured here*). Also, our first glance of the go! uniforms seemed rather unprofessional—or perhaps not what’s I’m used to. Go! employees wear a white collared shirt, which is a change from the Aloha print attire I’m used to. Boarding itself was quick, we were the first at the gate waiting for general boarding. Although there wasn’t anyone preboarding on our flight, it seemed that go! brings around a cart to escort those needing special assistance to the plane, as the planes were parked pretty far away from the gates themselves (as opposed to Island Air), roughly 150 feet away. We were instructed by the gate agent to head to a particular plane (since we were the first ones in line), and headed in that general direction until stopped by a vest wearing man. Then, we proceeded onto the plane.

Pre-Flight: The interior of the aircraft was like any other CRJ-200: small and cramped. But we quickly took the exit row seats 9-AB, IIRC and felt that the seats were very comfortable, especially for the CRJ-200. skierbri was correct in saying that the seats were comfortable—even more, perhaps, than the Hawaiian 717 seats we flew back in. You can see the exit row seats pictured here* (sorry for the poor quality), the seat back fronting me in flight pictured here* and the rest of the cabin pictured here*.

The rest of the pax seemed mostly tourists transiting to Kona—I think we may have been the only local people on the flight (mid-day on a Friday, so I’m not too surprised). And, the loads were okay, with maybe 10-15 empty seats.

Flight Attendant/Announcements: The Flight Attendant was very friendly, especially when giving us the exit row “talk”. The in-flight announcements made by people who I assumed were local seemed rather ridiculous, and although the volume was okay, it still was rather hard to understand what was being said. Again, as noted before, the in-flight announcement says that your gate checked bags would be waiting for you by the plane, but upon arrival in Kona, they were actually being taken to baggage claim… guess that’s “good service” in Mesa speak. In any case, we pushed back and was on our way. Very professionally, the flight attendant did have to firmly ask two people to sit down as we taxied to the runway. I think both were trying to switch seats in flight (two separate occasions—which is weird) and didn’t fly very much. Still, the FA was very professional about it.

Take-off/In-Flight Service: We had to wait on the taxi-way for 10-15 minutes as 6 aircraft cleared for landing at HNL Rwy 8. Then we were off, not using the entire runway but taking off from where the interisland taxi-way entrance was. Now, I’m not good with small planes the size of a CRJ or ERJ. And, it being a slightly windy day, we experienced some moderate chop taking off out of HNL. So, as I watched Downtown Honolulu bounce by, I wasn’t too happy that I was on a CRJ-200. Also, as with any CRJ, the windows were painfully set too low, making for a very painful bow of the head to see outside. Why the CRJ makers made it this way, I do not know… but this is where the ERJs shine.

While we were finally at our cruising altitude, I noticed that there was no complimentary in-flight service. If you need to drink anything, you have to pay, and a laminated menu along with prices is provided for you in the seat pocket (pictured here*). Great prices for the alcohol... a rip off for the beverages that should be complimentary (juice, water... come on!). We chose to skip it altogether.

Landing in Kona gave us some light chop again, but otherwise the entire flight was rather uneventful. No scenic announcements done by the FA on our way to Kona as we passed Maui County. And, we landed roughly on time, perhaps a few minutes earlier than our arrival time.

Bottom Line: IMHO, I think the bottom line is your own personal preference. I personally won’t fly on go! again if I can avoid it, as I absolutely hate flying on CRJs. And, there seemed to be something “aloha-ish” missing that you get from Aloha or Hawaiian… neither I nor my SO could put my finger on it. I also wasn’t incredibly impressed by any portion of my experience with go! (nothing that stood out as making it better than Aloha/Hawaiian), and with no frequent flyer partnerships, there really isn’t any reason for me to stick with flying go! between the islands.

*Please do not reproduce any of these photos. Mahalo!

gemac

Hi, Slippahs. Thanks for a great trip report - detailed and factual.

One question - while you clearly expressed a preference for other carriers, I am assuming that you are talking about situations where the price is roughly the same. Would you pay more to fly another carrier? Roughly how much more? If the other carriers returned to pre-go! pricing, and go! stayed where they are, would you still choose the other carriers? I ask because there has been a lot of discussion on here about locals and loyalty, "islandness", etc., and I was just wondering.

FourWheels

All perfectly good questions. I'll be waiting to see what slippahs has to say.

The most recent ii I bought was w/ HA. I tried to get the $29 fares on go! first, but had some trouble w/ the website, waited a day or two, then fares went up. So for $14+ more I'll at least get FF credit.

Thanks for the report, slippahs. Glad you had a good birthday weekend. Shame on you for not using sunscreen. Nice photos.

kaukau

AQ, HA, & WP loyalty counts for alot. go! is going to get the infrequent flyers and bargain hunter, if it stays a bargain. That's their market. go! does have a "buy 10, get one free" program of it's own, though.

slippahs

Good questions.

When on the Mainland, I avoid every commuter-jet segment (sans EMBs) I can unless for scheduling issues. In all my flying, I've successfully only been on 2 ERJs and 1, now 2 CRJs, and I have dreaded each and every flight. I've even avoided the RJs by taking a connection through a hub if needed. Hence, one of the reasons why I'm a mid-tier elite on Northwest. Though the -9s are old, they still fly to where most carriers would only think of operating an RJ to.

I paid $46 for each segment of this trip, (outbound on go! and inbound on Hawaiian). I think I will pay up to $20 more to fly Aloha/Hawaiian just to avoid the CRJ-200 (hey, an upgrade to HA inter-island FC costs only $25, right?). And, if I'm on Hawaiian, that'll allow me to build up my EQMs with Northwest, flying a more expensive fare. And, for an additional $20 per segment, that might be well worth trying to get over 50k EQMs every year (again, go!'s inferior frequent flyer partnerships are a big turn off).

That said, I don't think I'll have too much of a concern of the overall interisland pricing of Aloha/Hawaiian being too different from whatever go!'s pricing out to be. Aloha/Hawaiian/go! can't afford to be too different from each other... and IMHO go! can't keep hashing out $39 fares for much longer. But, to answer your question, if Aloha/Hawaiian returned to pre-go! arrival fares and go! stayed the same, I think it would be foolish to be paying $40-50 more per flight to stick with Aloha/Hawaiian. I'm sure both carriers are well aware of that. Personally, I'd probably won't be taking trips like this to a neighbor island, but instead be heading to Vegas.

slippahs

Mea culpa. The exit row seats were 8AB. And, FWIW, they didn't seem all too beneficial over the other seats affording us no real advantage in terms of leg room or pitch. In fact, I think these seats were worse since you're closer to the roaring engines...

gemac

Thanks again for another great answer. I asked mostly because of assertions on this forum that locals would never fly go! no matter what the cost differential, because of <fill in reason of your choice>. I regard you as not having a dog in this fight, so I thought I could get a reasonable, logical answer from you, and you delivered.

skierbri10

Exit rows have an extra 2 inches.

JW74

I must agree wholeheartedly. If GO! suddenly announced code sharing and FFM Agreements with any major airline, even at those low rates, then the carrot to fly GO! is much bigger and more compelling. For now, I am content to bounce between Hawaiian and GO! depending on which has the better fare (esp. since they price it as one ways. I can fly out on one airline, and back on another). I would be a fool to NOT fly hawaiian if they had a matching fare since I am a premier member. The lounge does me just fine. But if I can save 10+ per segment on the flight that I want, I would take the lower priced segment.

That bieng said, there is a HUGE difference in flight markets.

A 10$ difference interisland per segment is tatamount to 25% price difference in some cases.

But If someone offered me up 45$ less r/t on a bargain carrier on a flight from HNL to SFO, I would decline. I dont know about you but I barely sneeze at 5-10% discounts anymore, no matter what the market. 45$ one way...now theres compelling arguements for that.

Go is no different. CRJ aside (I honestly like the damn thing. nothing irks me more than standing in a plane waiting to get off, so the smaller, the better), it would depend on the price vs. distance.

I flew ATA once. Once.

didnt even use the return ticket. used miles to get back from SFO.

slippahs

Perhaps you're right, and if so, where the heck are those 2 extra inches coming from? Most of the other carriers' (Delta's Connection Carriers, UAX, etc) CRJ-200 exit rows barely even have an extra inch of legroom.

I tried finding an old SeatGuru map for the Independence Air's CRJ-200s without any luck. Tried www.webarchive.org and other avenues to no avail. Perhaps someone else might be more saavy than I?

UAPremierExec

Don't forget that Mesa's go! operation uses the Independence Air planes and they (I-Air) spent a pretty penny trying to make them comfortable.

I have flown go! in the exit row on a leg that included a United Express CRJ in the exit row (and return leg was in row 11 on Skywest) and it does seem like there is a bit more legroom on go! than on others - in the exit row and regular rows.

cblaisd

I took my first flights on go! on Friday, October 6, ITO-HNL-LIH and LIH-HNL-ITO, to have lunch with an old friend from California.....

ITO-HNL

Couldn't check in online (and there are no kiosks at ITO) so checked in at the ticket counter. No one in line; the two staff and I talked story for awhile. They were cheerful and very helpful and clearly enjoyed their work and both of them wished me good flights and expressed the hope that I'd be back on go! soon.

Load was probably 40; I was in 2B with (thankfully) no one beside me. I would guess the flight was about 95% locals. The FA took drink orders before we pushed. (I still think it's a bit chintzy to charge for soda, and even for water -- the person behind me asked for a cup of water and was told the only water available was a bottle at $1.50. Otoh, their price of alcoholic drinks is 1/2 the price of the other guys).

The recorded "local style" safety and other announcements by "the bruddah" were cute (although they weren't as cute by the fourth repitition later in the day )

Pushback was 7 minutes early.

Pilot took us over the top of Mauna Kea; an absolutely stunning view of the summit and the observatories.

A word about the seats: they are somewhat more comfortable than the seats on United's CRJ200s, but..... it's still a CRJ200. The width of the seat is just brutal. And the CRJ200s windows are set way too low making it difficult to see out without contorting and adding to the cramped and claustrophic feel of this aircraft. The aircraft itself was very clean; much cleaner than most of the UA aircraft I've been on lately.

We arrived about 10 minutes or so early in HNL.

HNL-LIH

The HNL plane-change experience (plus what happened on my HNL-ITO flight later in the day) suggests that the procedures at HNL really need work. I exited the from-ITO plane (and noted that there were four boarding ramps side-by-side with big signs on each labeled Kona, Hilo, Maui, and Kauai. Very helpful) and walked to the terminal. There was a go! CSR at the door to the entrance to baggage claim and she saw the onward bp in my pocket and asked me if I were connecting and then told me to stand right there. She did this with a couple of other folks too. We probably stood there for 10 minutes. If you have a problem with either noise or jet fuel fumes, this would not be a good idea. Finally, she said "follow me" and we did. About 100 yards later she stopped and said to us "You're plane is over there, you need to board it; why are you following me?" I was rather Next time I have a connection I suppose I'll just get off the outbound and walk to the next flight without even going to the terminal.

There were only 17 people on the flight to LIH. The pilot came on the PA and talked for a long time. I *think* he was telling us about what we'd see on the flight (I caught snatches of "Waikiki" and "downtown") but the roar from the tarmac through the open door was so loud and the PA's volume so quiet that nothing he said could really be understood.

We pushed 9 minutes early and arrived 10 minutes early or so at LIH.

LIH-HNL

After a long lunch I was back at LIH at 3:30pm for my 4:30pm flight. Went to the boarding area where there are really, really nice electronic signs telling you when the next go! flight is arriving and from where, and when to and to where the next flight is departing.

Unfortunately the were never updated. The inbound aircraft was late. It didn't arrive until 4:25pm. The whole time the sign said it was on-time, and our flight never showed our delayed departure. (go! clearly uses UA personnel for its gate ops at LIH; perhaps updating the departure/arrival info isn't a high priority for them?). Even after the inbound plane arrived and until the time I boarded the sign continued to say that the inbound aircraft would be arriving at 4:10pm.

Load was about 40, and pushback was only 13 minutes late at 4:43pm

The usual quick hop to Oahu, but a very unusual approach -- we flew directly over the airport, then southeast-bound (nice view of Waikiki), then a long left turn that had us lined up for (the unusual east-to-west) approach to 26L. Why we had to use the reef runway, I don't know, but it added 10 minutes to our taxi time after landing

HNL-ITO

I had an hour and a half before my ITO flight. I checked out the "tunnel" that goes from the Commuter Terminal's baggage claim air to the HA gates in the interisland terminal. It appears that if you're going go! to interisland/main terminal you can use the tunnel to stay airside. But (unless I was confused) going the opposite way you have to go landside after the tunnel ends at the Commuter Terminal and thus have to re-clear security if you're connecting mainline to go!

Finally it was time to board, and the plane was 100% booked. This is, though, where the HNL procedures/staff may need some work? The CSR told us all to follow her to the plane -- and then she stopped all of us 200 feet from the plane at "the yellow line" and we stood and we stood and we stood, all 50 of us for about ten minutes out on the tarmac. Turns out (apparently) the plane wasn't in fact ready for boarding but they were still cleaning it. Again, standing out on the tarmac, particularly for this long, and with no building to duck into, could well be a problem for some folks. Maybe I just hit HNL on a bad day, but two connections there were marred by glitches.

Flight to ITO was the usual. Unfortunately since the plane was full, I had a thigh-opponent in 2A. (Interestingly, the same tutu and granddaughter who'd sat in front of me in 1AB on my ITO-HNL flight earlier that day were also again in 1AB on this flight).

We took off "normally" to the east, but landed (after a mercifully short flight) to the west at ITO.

A few points....

Every go! staffer I met this day (with the sort-of exception of the agent meeting the passengers from our ITO-HNL flight) was cheerful and clearly enjoying their work.

The go! CRJ200 seat is slightly more comfortable than United's version -- but when all is said and done, it's still a CRJ200 and that is the most miserable aircraft I know for passenger comfort.

Will I fly go! again? Yes; I'm flying them in a week or so on the late HNL-ITO flight (this is go!'s niche, imo -- later flights than the others' to neighbor islands which allow you to therefore take much later mainline flights from the mainland). But if the price is more-or-less the same, I'll still fly HA where I can get an assigned seat and usually (if I want) an upgrade to F for $15, and where I can earn FF miles that are useful not just interisland.

slippahs

They were probably using 22L & 26R for departures as they do for Kona-wind days leaving 26R congested and forcing the flight to the reef runway (26L). It's really interesting to pick up on the live ATC feed from the HNL tower and hear the shift in winds.

Sounds like another okay flight experience. That's what I've mostly heard from others who've taken go! over the past few months. Flight experiences have ranged from slightly poor to okay; nothing spectacular. Granted, this is interisland service, so there really isn't anything to be wowed about...

jtkauai

Thanks for the well thought out detailed trip report cblaisd!

We haven't flown Go!, but certainly wouldn't hesitate to do so. Fortunately or not, we are requalifying for HA Platinum, which pretty much keeps us locked in to flying them for now.