Hawaiian shells out
millions on technologyThe bankrupt airline is working
to boost customer service
As Hawaiian Airlines makes its way through a bankruptcy reorganization, it has spent millions of dollars on new technology in the last few months that it says has changed the customer experience for the better.
Interisland and Hawaii-mainland customers can now:
>> Book a seat and print a boarding pass on a home or office computer.The way the airline is now, "it's hard to recognize the old way of doing things," said Mark Dunkerley, who came to the airline as its new president and chief operating officer in December.>> Use the computer to book, or change, specific seat assignments.
>> Use self-service terminals at the airports for instant check-in or, if they have no bags, walk straight onto the aircraft once they get through security.
>> If they're frequent-flyer customers, use a personalized Web booking system, with special discounts.
"We have made some enormous strides over the last few months to make the customer experience very much better than it has been, and much better than our competitor," Dunkerley said.
Aloha Airlines, which competes with Hawaiian in the interisland and Hawaii-mainland markets, declined to comment.
Dunkerley said Hawaiian's expenditure on the changes is hard to break out separately from an ongoing overall improvement in its information technology, but the cost has been "certainly in the millions."
The biggest example is what it calls the "Hele-On" check-in system. Travelers can buy a ticket online, book a specific seat, print a boarding pass and bypass the ticket desk on the way to the aircraft.
Sharon Lester, president of International Travel Service, said travel agents are not worried by the electronic check-in because it doesn't affect what they do, but she tried Hawaiian's a few days ago and found it too slow on her home computer. Her conclusion was that maybe she needs a better computer.
"I understand it is supposed to help with the lines and the lines out there are pretty grim sometimes," she said. Being able to pick up a boarding pass ahead of time should help, she said, and customers can still buy their tickets at a travel agency and do their own electronic check-in.
The redesigned Web site, www.hawaiianair.com, makes it easy to see how fares change depending on how far ahead they are booked and what time of day the trip is to take place, Dunkerley said.
When Hawaiian and Aloha both introduced tiered fare structures at the beginning of this year, with fares pegged to the capacity available at the time, there were complaints from interisland travelers who had come to view air travel like riding a bus.
"We believe that people were offended by the lack of clarity on what they're getting and what they're paying for," Dunkerley said. But the new systems are encouraging them to try different dates and different times and teaching them how to save, he said.
"We've made a very conscious decision to move away from providing a bus service (interisland)," Dunkerley said. "We've given customers more choices."
Dunkerley acknowledged Hawaiian and other airlines still have a ways to go to speed up the boarding experience and get passengers on to planes with less delays.
"The time it takes today is not acceptable," he said.
