STAR-BULLETIN / 2001
Hawaiian Airlines announced a new fare structure yesterday, as its unions vote on contract givebacks.
Hawaiian Hawaiian Airlines yesterday raised its interisland "fly anytime" fare by 9 percent to $85 per segment from $78, but at the same time announced a new booking system that it said will make life easier for travelers and let more riders get the fares they want.
tries fare fix
The airline drops rules
Hawaiian flight attendants
on advance buys, hikes
some fares but cuts some
voting on contract concessionsBy Russ Lynch
rlynch@starbulletin.comThat includes more seats at the lower prices for those willing to be flexible in their travel, the airline said. It also means higher prices for those who don't have flexibility and must travel at a certain time of the day.
While raising its highest fare, Hawaii cut its lowest fare to $67 from $69 and raised its middle fare to $75, from $73. First class seats cost $130 one-way.
The key to making all this work is dropping all advance-purchase requirements and instead shifting to computer-controlled "yield management" fares, said Hawaiian spokesman Keoni Wagner.
What that means is the airline's computer system will quickly find a range of prices for any traveler, letting the person who is making the booking decide whether to pay more to go on a particular flight or take another flight at a different time to get a lower fare, he said.
Aloha Airlines, which has had a three-tier interisland structure like Hawaiian's since the beginning of this year, said it will match Hawaiian's no-advance-booking structure. Its fares in some cases will be different, however, said Aloha spokesman Stu Glauberman.
Hawaiian's new system makes more seats available for last-minute bookings, Wagner said, something business travelers in particular have sought since the airlines started reducing interisland capacity late last year.
Hawaiian is "encouraging those with more flexibility to seek out lower fares that are going to be available on flights that are less popular," Wagner said. "They may be very close in schedule but with just fewer seats booked."
Hawaiian said it has applied the same system to Hawaii-mainland flights, but there will be more choices on the Pacific flights because there may be more than one fare on any one flight at each tier level, depending on how many seats were sold and when they were sold.
Wagner said that while Hawaiian has redesigned its Web site, www.hawaiianair .com, to make it easier for people to see how the system works, the same fares and flexibility are available to those booking through its reservations offices or at travel agents.
The Star-Bulletin chose Hawaiian's most-traveled interisland route -- Honolulu to Kahului, Maui -- to run some comparisons.
As of late yesterday, a search for flights Monday, March 10, to Kahului, returning on Monday, March 17, showed the best round trip fare at $142, including taxes and fees. That called for flights leaving each point early in the morning. Later in the day, availability at the lowest fares slipped.
Looking at what a business traveler might need, the Star-Bulletin chose a one-day trip to Kahului this Friday, seeking an 8 a.m. flight from Honolulu and a 6 p.m. flight back from Kahului.
A first class seat, at $130 one-way, was all that was available for an 8 a.m. departure from Honolulu. The closest flight with a $67 seat available had a 9:30 a.m. departure. Coming back, there was a seat at the $85 rate on the 6:17 p.m. flight. Seats at the next lowest rate, $75, were available on the 6:57 p.m. from Kahului. The $67 seats back to Honolulu were booked up for the entire evening.
Hawaiian Airlines
BACK TO TOP |
Hawaiian Airlines' flight attendants union, which quietly reached a tentative agreement on concessions with the company Feb. 21, has begun seeking ratification on the new contract. Hawaiian flight attendants
voting on contract concessionsBy Dave Segal
dsegal@starbulletin.comMembers of the Association of Flight Attendants started voting Saturday and will continue to do so through Monday. Voting is being conducted by telephone and the Internet.
Local AFA representatives have not been returning phone calls, but a national AFA spokeswoman, Dawn Deeks, confirmed the tentative agreement and the ratification vote.
Hawaiian has been asking its employees to reduce labor costs by $15 million in order to help return the airline to profitability. The airline also is seeking $15 million in airplane leasing concessions from Boeing Co.
Deeks declined to unveil details of the concessions until after the vote is concluded.
She did say, however, that the airline was agreeable to the vote concluding three days after the board of directors' Friday deadline. Earlier, Hawaiian had set a Feb. 20 deadline that was extended.
Meanwhile, members of the Air Line Pilots Association began voting Sunday on $8 million worth of concessions and will continue to do so until Thursday.
"I think the pilots' vote is going to come out positive," said a pilot who requested anonymity. "I really don't think we should be giving anything until the company improves their management and gives us a solid five-year plan telling us what they're going to be doing and tells us what Boeing is doing. (The company also is) talking about flights to Asia, and that will improve our manning, and flights to the East Coast. But all we hear now is a plan that's verbalized. We don't have anything in writing."
Hawaiian's other major union, the International Association of Machinists, ratified $3.8 million worth of concessions two weeks ago.
Hawaiian Airlines stock closed down 10 cents yesterday at $1.30 on the American Stock Exchange.
