United cuts Hawaii United Airlines today announced new mainland-Hawaii discount fares that are well below what was previously posted and at least one other carrier, American Airlines, offered the same discounts on some matching routes.
fares up to 45%
The prices are good for
travel through June 12By Russ Lynch
rlynch@starbulletin.com
Calling its promotion "Paradise Fares," United said the fares, good for travel through June 12, make it easy to have "a winter getaway to warm Hawaii." United said the fares, on average, are 45 percent below the normal full fares. Few people, though, travel at that high base rate, preferring to take advantage of advance-purchase deals and other discounts. But the fares offer some real discounts.
"It should stimulate some travel," said Joe Hopkins, a spokesman at United headquarters in Chicago.
United, along with all major U.S. carriers, has been struggling to fill its planes since Sept. 11. The company posted a record $2.1 billion loss last year.
Round-trip examples the airline gave were New York-Honolulu for $768, Los Angeles-Honolulu for $350, Chicago-Honolulu for $678, San Francisco-Honolulu for $410, Chicago-Maui for $758 and Seattle-Kona for $510. Those figures do not include the new federal security tax of up to $10, the $3 per segment federal tax, $6.60 each way excise taxes or airport use charges which can be as high as $18 depending on the route.
But they are still bargains, said Geoff Ross, supervisor at International Travel Service in Honolulu. Direct comparisons with previous fares were not immediately available, but Ross remembers selling Honolulu-New York round trips for as much as $1,400 recently.
The fares apply to travel starting in Hawaii as well as on the mainland and Ross said it is a benefit that, unlike some previous sales, United is also applying the discounts to West Coast fares, which have been notably high lately.
Since the beginning of this year, there was a short time when there were some low fares but then they skyrocketed and stayed high until now, Ross said. "People couldn't even believe the fares we were quoting," he said.
Ross said United is giving travel agents a couple of weeks to sell the fares. Some previous promotions were limited to only a few days of sales.
The Paradise Fares tickets are for sale through March 13. Tickets must be purchased at least seven days before travel, must be for round trips and the traveler must stay at least three days at the destination. The best fares are for travel from Hawaii Tuesday through Friday and from the mainland Sunday through Wednesday.
To find the fares, travelers can talk to their travel agents, go to United's Web site, www.united. com, for details of all taxes and fees for specific itineraries, or get the same information from United by telephone or from other travel Web sites.