asu-ua772

.....because Mesa's mainland operations have been subsidizing this money-loser from Day 1 despite greater recent calls from institutions to either recoup losses or pull out.

Agreed.

If that means returning to $60-$70 OW fares with the occasional $49 special, then so be it. I know I'll get flamed for this remark. <bracing>

Grace B

I won't flame you. What you have said is very sensible.

However, Mesa's business approach seems to be quite despicable.

Remind me not to fly any UX flight that Mesa operates.

DanTravels

When I started flying interisland back in late 1999, the fill-it-in-yourself vouchers were still in use, and on a good day, I could get them for $48 one-way. That was before Hawaiian got new (and more fuel-efficient) jets, before 9/11, before DHS and TSA, and oil was $25 a barrel (up from $11/barrel earlier that year!).

CASM has since gone through the roof, so I honestly don't expect to see $48 one-way interisland fares, nor would I think the airlines were acting rationally if I did see them.

ah7e

http://www.united.com/page/article/0,6722,52609,00.html

# How do I know if my flight is cancelled or will operate?

If you have a flight number that is between UA 0001 and UA 1699 it is operated by UA and is not impacted.

If you have a flight number that is between UA 3940- 4299 it is operated by AQ and is cancelled.

If you have a flight number that is shown as AQ 1100- AQ 1299 these flights are operated by UA and will continue to operate.

If your flight carries either a UA or an AQ flight number and is operated by Island Air, your flight will operate as normal since they are not affected by Alohas discontinuation of service.

Exleftseat

It is a sad day to see AQ bite the dust. I never did warm up to HA,
so it's double sad for me to see another carrier go by the wayside.
I feel sad for the employees. Dreadful to wake up to this news.

ExCrew

In my job, I may be picking up the Hawai'ian Islands as part of my territory very shortly. I have to say, the thought of ever having to fly on go! makes my stomach turn...for several reasons:

1) Their a/c are all ex-FlyI (Independence Air) aircraft, which was my former employer. Oh, the eeriness I would feel in that cabin!

2) Johnny O has no scruples. He will (and has, just as in his failed bid to overtake the board at ACA, pre-FlyI) stoop to any level to ruin businesses.

3) Mesa is a bottom feeder airline. There, in my book, is no other airline out there who has a more miserable, more unprofessional work group than Mesa. And don't get me started on their aircraft. Have you ever flown on an RJ that's APU was working?

I could go on and on...but why? The bottom line is, I have not and will never fly go! There are plenty of other options for me. Yes, I will probably forfeit points. But to me, points are more worth sacrificing than giving a scum bag like Johnny O. one thin dime of my company's money.

Citabria

...For a short period of time anyway. If an interisland seat (just an educated guess here) costs $50 to fly each way, then the average fare / average load factor has to match that to break even (cargo notwithstanding).

To speculate, I imagine Mesa probably did use the HA/AQ information that the lawsuit is based upon to help calculate AQ as the weakest link and to what extent they'd have to bleed before AQ's demise in order to jack fares back up.

dliesse

That's easy -- just look at the UA forum now and then. Mesa is almost universally regarded as the worst regional on the face of the planet (well deserving of its nickname, "Messy Air").

FlyinHawaiian

While I've suspected for a while that this day was coming, a part of me was holding out hope.

Growing up, it seemed that you were either an Aloha family or a Hawaiian family (kind of like Ford vs. Chevy). We were an Aloha family, and I picked up this silly bias for Boeing over Douglas because of it. My first flight on an airplane was HNL-OGG on an Aloha Funbird in the early 70's. I felt guilty on the few times I did fly Hawaiian (and how I hated to admit that they were a better airline in the recent years).

I always loved watching the airstairs deploy out of the front of the 737s (when they had that feature) or sitting behind the wing to watch the flaps and thrust reversers in action. I remember that old dark and dumpy bus-station of the inter-island terminal in HNL where the floor was the same asphalt of the ramp and those tacky plastic seats (and the few that you could pay to watch a tiny black and white TV). I remember cleaning out the closets or glove boxes of cars and finding unused flight coupons and knowing they were still good. The memories go on...

It's probably impossible for any local not to know someone directly impacted by Aloha's shutdown. Relatives of mine worked there (an old picture from the 60's in today's Advertiser shows a relative greeting passengers), my neighbor was a pilot, his son is a pilot, classmates are pilots and other staff.

Good luck to all those impacted and thanks for all of the aloha.

srfrgirl4

Too bad, I really liked them. In fact, I just flew Maui-Kona mid-March.

slippahs

Gosh, I remember that terminal so vividly. We were an Aloha family too and I used to fly them far too much where the FAs on the flight I flew knew my name and took care of me when I was a kid. Aloha really was the "people's airline." I feel for the employees.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vN9CdkBmuwY is a great commercial that was aired on local networks late last year. It really captures the spirit of the employees that were so dedicated to the airline. So sad for them.

jwhite4

I flew them last October. One advantage I thought they had over Hawaiian was that if space was available, you could get on an earlier flight for no extra charge (certainly open seating helped that). That was great when you officially had too tight a connection from say a mainland flight, but you got in early enough to make a particular interisland flight.

Aloha holds special allure for my parents (both in their 80's) - it was the only airline that they ever flew first class on. [About a decade ago, I think they had 2 rows of 2x2 FC seating]. Don't remember why they got it (they didn't pay for it).

Jeff

gs-flyer

Hawaiian is proactively securing the loyalty of AlohaPass Elite members.

"AlohaPass Elite Members


We would like to extend your Aloha Airlines Elite status on Hawaiian Airlines until the end of this year.

Ali'i Silver & Gold members will be enrolled as Pualani Gold members.
Ali'i Diamond members will be enrolled as Pualani Platinum members.
To roll your AlohaPass Elite status* to Hawaiian Airlines, please follow the steps below.



Fax a photocopy of your current AlohaPass Elite card to 808-838-5304.
Be sure to include your current HawaiianMiles number on the fax. If you are currently not a member, join now and provide your HawaiianMiles number at time of fax.
Also, please include your name and contact number on the fax.
*Please allow 7-10 business days to process your Elite membership status. You will receive your Elite member card within 3 weeks after processing."

DanTravels

Wow. Wow.

On the one hand, slick move on the part of Hawaiian, though it's kind of a no-brainer... somehow I don't see go! giving AQ FFs elite status (if only because "elite" and go! are antithetical).

On the other hand, gotta admit it's pretty nice of 'em. Now the HA elites will be wondering why the line for pre-boarding got so big all of a sudden!

KeaauFlyer

This is very nice of HA, and they are doing some other helpful things, too, such as offering free standby travel. Too bad they're not honoring AQ FF miles. (That would be expecting way too much, I'm sure.) I know a guy who has over 200,000 AQ miles, mainly thanks to credit card charges. He is quite upset, but unless somebody very generous buys the name and/or remnants of the PAX business and resurrects it, the FF holders appear out of luck. Has anyone been successful in getting anything today for miles?