# Need to use Southwest Airlines to fly to Kona from West Coast



## Carolyn (Apr 6, 2014)

Can anyone on the West Coast tell me which city that Southwest flies to would be the easiest city to continue on to Kona, HI?  We have Southwest airfare we have to use. We would be flying from Indianapolis (IND) Thanks!


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## Passepartout (Apr 6, 2014)

To the best of my knowledge, Southwest doesn't serve Hawaii. Yet. Of course you could continue to Hawaii from any major Western city. Sfo, Sea, Oak, San, Lax come to mind. Oakland might have better SW connections.


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## Icc5 (Apr 6, 2014)

*Near future*

I also thought I saw something about them flying there in the near future.  Call them and ask if they have a timeline for when.  Good luck.
Bart


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## DaveNV (Apr 6, 2014)

According to this website, expanding their routes to serve Hawaii has been put on hold:  http://beatofhawaii.com/southwest-hawaii-airline-update/

Dave


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## DeniseM (Apr 6, 2014)

I would look at Hawaiian Airlines - they fly from multiple airports on the West Coast.


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## sjsharkie (Apr 6, 2014)

Carolyn said:


> Can anyone on the West Coast tell me which city that Southwest flies to would be the easiest city to continue on to Kona, HI?  We have Southwest airfare we have to use. We would be flying from Indianapolis (IND) Thanks!



My assumption is that you are trying to book SWA to the West Coast and then continue on with another airline.  FYI, this may not always offer the cheapest route or best use of credits, but I certainly understand if the SWA credits are expiring.  Just know that they can be extended one time for a fee which is not ideal but may be an economical option versus flying two different carriers.

OAK or LAX would be a likely choice of the California cities since they have larger volume of flights for SWA going in and out.

With OAK, I believe your only direct choice would be Alaska (although I love Alaska airlines).

With LAX, you can choose AA, UA or DL for direct flights to KOA.

Of course there are other choices -- off the top of my head you can fly out of PDX, SEA, SFO, SJC west coast direct to KOA as well -- you may just not have as many SWA choices going in.

Good luck.

-ryan


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## BocaBoy (Apr 7, 2014)

sjsharkie said:


> My assumption is that you are trying to book SWA to the West Coast and then continue on with another airline.  FYI, this may not always offer the cheapest route or best use of credits, but I certainly understand if the SWA credits are expiring.  Just know that they can be extended one time for a fee which is not ideal but may be an economical option versus flying two different carriers.
> 
> OAK or LAX would be a likely choice of the California cities since they have larger volume of flights for SWA going in and out.
> 
> ...



U.S. Airways has excellent non-stop flight schedules from Phoenix to all 4 of the major Hawaiian airports, including Kona.  Phoenix would work well with Southwest.


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## daventrina (Apr 7, 2014)

You could add San Diego with flights to HI on Alaska
Oooops - see note below


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## klpca (Apr 7, 2014)

daventrina said:


> You could add San Diego with flights to HI on Alaska



You'd think...but that flight goes to Seattle first - flight time from San Diego to Kona is 10+ hours (vs about 6 hrs on the direct flight from San Diego to Maui), and the return flight is 18+hours because of an overnight layover in Seattle. It's the one issue that we have with flying on Alaska  to Hawaii.


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## Rsauer3473 (Apr 7, 2014)

Hawaiian flies out of Chicago to LA via a code share with Virgin America. Then on to Honolulu and Kona.


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## daventrina (Apr 7, 2014)

klpca said:


> You'd think...but that flight goes to Seattle first -  It's the one issue that we have with flying on Alaska  to Hawaii.



There are direct flights SAN-OGG-SAN   ooops
Cousin booked them last week.

There are direct flights OAK-KOA-OAK 


Hawaiian has flights SAN-HNL_KOA-SAN

How about this one
SNA-DFW-SEA-KOA :hysterical:
(what were they thinking when they came up with that one?)

or this one
SNA-PDX-LAX-OGG
Think we'd just drive the extra 30 miles and leave from LAX



sjsharkie said:


> OAK or LAX would be a likely choice of the California cities since they have larger volume of flights for SWA going in and out.
> -ryan


Agree with that assessment... and the best connection options to Hawaii.


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## Blues (Apr 7, 2014)

Yep, if you're looking to fly SWA from IND to the west coast, then looking for another carrier to KOA, I'd look at SWA IND-OAK, and then Alaska OAK-KOA.  If there's more than one of you, make sure you look into Alaska's credit card deal.  Get their CC, and you get a round trip companion fare for just $99 plus tax.  It's a killer deal.  And you can get that companion fare once every year.

-Bob


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## sjsharkie (Apr 7, 2014)

BocaBoy said:


> U.S. Airways has excellent non-stop flight schedules from Phoenix to all 4 of the major Hawaiian airports, including Kona.  Phoenix would work well with Southwest.



Agreed, but the OP said "West Coast" and I don't consider PHX west coast.  I was responding directly to her question.

I'm actually surprised that AA still has that PHX-KOA flight.  With the merger, I'd expect that one to cease sooner or later.  IMHO, there's so little margin flying the Hawaii routes because there is a smaller % of business pax -- especially to neighbor islands.

-ryan


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## Carolyn (Apr 7, 2014)

Thanks everyone for all the great advice....I love TUGgers!!:whoopie:


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## Ron98GT (Apr 7, 2014)

sjsharkie said:


> Agreed, but the OP said "West Coast" and I don't consider PHX west coast.  I was responding directly to her question.
> 
> I'm actually surprised that AA still has that PHX-KOA flight.  With the merger, I'd expect that one to cease sooner or later.  IMHO, there's so little margin flying the Hawaii routes because there is a smaller % of business pax -- especially to neighbor islands.
> 
> -ryan



Does that mean Las Vegas, NV, (LAS) isn't West Coast either?


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## daventrina (Apr 7, 2014)

Ron98GT said:


> Does that mean Las Vegas, NV, (LAS) isn't West Coast either?


The advantage of LAS is that ... it is by some considered the 7th major Hawaiian island... so that would make it Hawaii and not the west coast 
If on over nights there ... they could

Have a Kalua Pork sandwich and Mai Tai a Burgers in Paradise and then shop at the ABC store 

Stay at the California Hotel where Aloha is spoken and grab some grinds:
ALOHA SPECIALTIES
Aloha Specialties, located on the California Hotel & Casino's mezzanine, will satisfy your taste buds with its Island fare. With the umbrellas and wicker chairs lining the mezzanine outside the restaurant, Aloha Specialties transports its diners, at least for a short moment, to the islands. Step inside and its walls are lined with native art and the tables and chairs are covered with the "aloha" prints that you'd see in Hawaii. Aloha Specialties features teriyaki plates, stews and curry specialties, combination plates and noodle dishes such as Chicken Tou Saimin and of course, the popular "rice bowls". Eating in or taking out, give yourself a treat and try Aloha Specialties.
HOURS OF OPERATION
Monday - Sunday	     9:00am - 9:00pm

Oh and there is  a LAPPERT'S ICE CREAM SHOP there....

or see a hula show at the Hawaiian Market Place


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## Tamaradarann (Apr 7, 2014)

*Southwest to Hawaii on hold*



BMWguynw said:


> According to this website, expanding their routes to serve Hawaii has been put on hold:  http://beatofhawaii.com/southwest-hawaii-airline-update/
> 
> Dave



I didn't hear it was on hold.  Everytime I would call, including when I told them that I was putting my Southwest Credit Card on hold, I was told that they have no news.  Actually my husband and I still have Southwest credit cards which we pay $99/year for but get 6000 miles each anniversary date plus 4 free drink tickets.  The value of the miles and drink tickets is over $100.  We both have Southwest miles accounts which the 6000 miles continues to replenish so we don't use the cards anymore, just get the miles and use our existing miles to fly to Florida each year free.

For Hawaii we have Hawaiian Airlines miles accounts, and you can't beat the direct flight from JFK to HNL.


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## Ron98GT (Apr 8, 2014)

daventrina said:


> The advantage of LAS is that ... it is by some considered the 7th major Hawaiian island...



Actually, were the 9th Island, not the 7th.

http://www.alohaninthisland.com/ninth-island.html

http://www.vegassolo.com/ninth-island/

http://geography.about.com/od/unitedstatesofamerica/tp/hawaii-islands.htm

Although we're the 9th Hawaiian Island, we have a large Hawaiian population, and Hawaiian's love to come here, it's a lot cheaper to fly in/out of Cali.  

The OP should use Southwest to fly from Indiana (or Chicago Midway) to San Diego or Oakland. Then the OP can fly to Kona, via Oahu, using Hawaiian Air from San Diego or Oakland, which are the cities that SW and Hawaiian Air jointly use.

If the OP goes in/out of San Diego, they can spent a day or 2 there.  Nothing to see in Oakland, unless they go over to SF or up to Napa for wine.

Aloha


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## presley (Apr 8, 2014)

San Francisco has direct to Kona flights (no Oahu transfer) on United and I think San Jose has direct to Kona with AlaskaAir. Both of those are Southwest serviced airports.


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## gnipgnop (Apr 8, 2014)

We are flying United (nonstop) from PIT to SFO.  Staying overnight in SFO to visit son then flying Hawaiian Air to HNL - HNL to LIH (Kauai).  I love flying Hawaiian Air to the Islands.  Comfortable seats, meals and Hawaiian girls and guys flight attendants.  Also they offer a free drink (wine or Mai-Tai).  Gotta love that airline!!!


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## Ken555 (Apr 8, 2014)

Ron98GT said:


> Does that mean Las Vegas, NV, (LAS) isn't West Coast either?




Of course it's not. Details here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_Coast_of_the_United_States

"West coast" often seems to mean something different to those who don't live here. But, it's really defined by geography and not anyone's opinion...




Sent from my iPad


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## Ron98GT (Apr 8, 2014)

Ken555 said:


> Of course it's not. Details here:
> 
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_Coast_of_the_United_States
> 
> ...


OK, there is East Coast, Midwest, Mountain, & West Coast.  What is Vegas?

Have you checked RCI lately?  On RCI, Vegas is Pacific Coast.

wikipedia


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## Ken555 (Apr 8, 2014)

Ron98GT said:


> OK, there is East Coast, Midwest, Mountain, & West Coast.  What is Vegas?



Um...Las Vegas is in the friggin desert!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mojave_Desert



> Have you checked RCI lately?  On RCI, Vegas is Pacific Coast.



You think RCI really knows? 



> wikipedia



Wikipedia = more accurate than any timeshare site I've ever seen.


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## T_R_Oglodyte (Apr 8, 2014)

Ken555 said:


> Um...Las Vegas is in the friggin desert!



Anybody who has even the slightest touch of March Madness knows that Las Vegas is in the Mountain West; one of the founding members, no less.


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## Ken555 (Apr 8, 2014)

T_R_Oglodyte said:


> Anybody who has even the slightest touch of March Madness knows that Las Vegas is in the Mountain West; one of the founding members, no less.




ROFL 


Sent from my iPad


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## talkamotta (Apr 8, 2014)

Be careful when using different airlines, give yourself extra time.  With airlines changing their times multiple times you could find yourself in a bind.  Southwest is by far the best at not doing this but the airline going from the west coat to Kona might not be so good.


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## BocaBoy (Apr 9, 2014)

sjsharkie said:


> Agreed, but the OP said "West Coast" and I don't consider PHX west coast.  I was responding directly to her question.
> 
> I'm actually surprised that AA still has that PHX-KOA flight.  With the merger, I'd expect that one to cease sooner or later.  IMHO, there's so little margin flying the Hawaii routes because there is a smaller % of business pax -- especially to neighbor islands.
> 
> -ryan



I suggested PHX because you can fly there nonstop on Southwest from either Chicago or Indianapolis and then nonstop on US Air from PHX to all Hawaiian islands.  You can't fly nonstop on Southwest from Chicago/Indianapolis to most of the California cities.

On your last point, I actually expect the new American to continue all of their nonstop flights (formerly US Air) from PHX to Hawaii.  PHX is a U.S. Air hub and that will continue after the merger.  They have one nonstop flight from PHX to each of the four major islands in Hawaii every day.


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## Rumpled (Apr 11, 2014)

T_R_Oglodyte said:


> Anybody who has even the slightest touch of March Madness knows that Las Vegas is in the Mountain West; one of the founding members, no less.



When I competed against UNLV they were in the PCAA and Big West. (Maybe also MPSF?)
Not sure about PCAA, but that would also have made them a founding member of the Big West


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## sjsharkie (Apr 11, 2014)

BocaBoy said:


> On your last point, I actually expect the new American to continue all of their nonstop flights (formerly US Air) from PHX to Hawaii.  PHX is a U.S. Air hub and that will continue after the merger.  They have one nonstop flight from PHX to each of the four major islands in Hawaii every day.


Promises, promises.  Remember, AA promised to keep the STL hub after purchasing TWA assets.  Now dehubbed, that airport felt like a ghost town when I flew through it several years back.  I'm not saying this will happen to PHX -- but AA has no control over external market factors and promises can turn empty over time.

Management has to produce cost savings to satisfy shareholders.  This usually means that less profitable routes get cut - HI is generally not a large margin route.  I'd bet the PHX-KOA route is gone within 3 years.

-ryan


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## BocaBoy (Apr 11, 2014)

sjsharkie said:


> Promises, promises.  Remember, AA promised to keep the STL hub after purchasing TWA assets.  Now dehubbed, that airport felt like a ghost town when I flew through it several years back.  I'm not saying this will happen to PHX -- but AA has no control over external market factors and promises can turn empty over time.
> 
> Management has to produce cost savings to satisfy shareholders.  This usually means that less profitable routes get cut - HI is generally not a large margin route.  I'd bet the PHX-KOA route is gone within 3 years.
> 
> -ryan



I am not talking about promises.  I am talking business.  Phoenix is a much more important hub than St. Louis was.  It is the heart of the U.S. Air network.  Their Hawaii customers are fed through Phoenix from all over the country and it makes for a great connection schedule.


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## T_R_Oglodyte (Apr 11, 2014)

BocaBoy said:


> I am not talking about promises.  I am talking business.  Phoenix is a much more important hub than St. Louis was.  It is the heart of the U.S. Air network.  Their Hawaii customers are fed through Phoenix from all over the country and it makes for a great connection schedule.



Yeah - if they're going to be a major carrier they need a western US hub, and Phoenix is a good location.  Weather is a big advantage, since Phoenix rarely gets shut down due to weather.  The only disadvantage with Phoenix is it's southerly location in the west.  But that is likely make up for by the weather.  

It's a totally different situation as with Lambert Field, because there are lots of alternate hub locations in the Midwest, and a large carrier operating a hub-and-spoke system really only needs one, at most two, Midwest hubs.


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## sjsharkie (Apr 12, 2014)

BocaBoy said:


> I am not talking about promises.  I am talking business.  Phoenix is a much more important hub than St. Louis was.  It is the heart of the U.S. Air network.  Their Hawaii customers are fed through Phoenix from all over the country and it makes for a great connection schedule.


I'm not arguing with you that it makes sense to keep PHX as a hub in today's market.  I'm just pointing out that it was a clear part of AA's strategy to keep STL as a hub as well -- and STL was the heart of TWA's network.  ORD and DFW were overtaxed and they thought STL would help ease the strain.  And then 9/11 came and there went the strategy and promises out the window.

Anyway, no one knows which routes are going to get cut as part of the merger.  Since legacy AA already flies LAX to KOA, I just don't think it makes sense to keep both PHX to KOA and LAX to KOA.  IMHO, one of those routes gets cut.  Then again, maybe the LAX-KOA route goes.

-ryan


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## BocaBoy (Apr 12, 2014)

sjsharkie said:


> I'm not arguing with you that it makes sense to keep PHX as a hub in today's market.  I'm just pointing out that it was a clear part of AA's strategy to keep STL as a hub as well -- and STL was the heart of TWA's network.  ORD and DFW were overtaxed and they thought STL would help ease the strain.  And then 9/11 came and there went the strategy and promises out the window.
> 
> Anyway, no one knows which routes are going to get cut as part of the merger.  Since legacy AA already flies LAX to KOA, I just don't think it makes sense to keep both PHX to KOA and LAX to KOA.  IMHO, one of those routes gets cut.  Then again, maybe the LAX-KOA route goes.
> 
> -ryan



Too bad we can't make a friendly wager on this.  If they don't keep Phoenix as a major hub they would have to build a huge new mega hub to replace it.  They can't just add some flights to their smaller LAX hub.  U.S. Air is the overwhelming dominant carrier at Phoenix and the operation there is huge.  I would not be surprised if U.S. Air's operation in Phoenix is as big or even bigger than American's at O'Hare.  And if they keep Phoenix as a hub they will certainly keep the Hawaii flights from Phoenix.  

You seem to think that AA is calling the shots.  The CEO is from U.S. Air.  In some ways it is U.S. Air taking over American and adopting the American name.  This merger is nothing like the American acquisition of TWA's assets, which was much smaller than U.S. Airways.


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## sjsharkie (Apr 12, 2014)

We are not wagering on the hub.   I only used the hub example as how strategies can change. 

My specific point was that it does not make sense to have two routes (phx and lax) to koa in the network for what I presume to be a low margin route. One of them is likely to go - to your point maybe it is lax. But I believe in 3 years one of those routes will be gone. PHX will still be there as a hub - I never said it was going anywhere. 

Sent from my SCH-I545 using Tapatalk


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## BocaBoy (Apr 12, 2014)

sjsharkie said:


> We are not wagering on the hub.   I only used the hub example as how strategies can change.
> 
> My specific point was that it does not make sense to have two routes (phx and lax) to koa in the network for what I presume to be a low margin route. One of them is likely to go - to your point maybe it is lax. But I believe in 3 years one of those routes will be gone. PHX will still be there as a hub - I never said it was going anywhere.
> 
> Sent from my SCH-I545 using Tapatalk



i understand we are talking about the Hawaii routes more than the hub itself.  Most AA flights to Hawaii go through LAX and most US Air flights from the rest of the country go through Phoenix.  I don't see this changing.  Phoenix is a large market.  I don't expect either the PHX or the LAX flights to Hawaii to be cut.  If the LAX flights were cut the flights from the West Coast would have to go out of the way through PHX and no longer be nonstop.  Because of hubs at DFW and ORD I would expect them to be better able to cut the PHX flights to Hawaii than the LAX flights, but why would they want to not also fly the route from one of their 3 huge hubs?  They are not flying empty planes now and the demand would still be there.  If they cut the PHX flights to Hawaii they would have to add more flights from Dallas.  Also, I am not sure why the Hawaii flights would be lower margin than any others to vacation destinations, and having the connections they do in Phoenix has to be rather cost-effective.


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## sjsharkie (Apr 12, 2014)

BocaBoy said:


> i understand we are talking about the Hawaii routes more than the hub itself.  Most AA flights to Hawaii go through LAX and most US Air flights from the rest of the country go through Phoenix.  I don't see this changing.  Phoenix is a large market.  I don't expect either the PHX or the LAX flights to Hawaii to be cut.  If the LAX flights were cut the flights from the West Coast would have to go out of the way through PHX and no longer be nonstop.  Because of hubs at DFW and ORD I would expect them to be better able to cut the PHX flights to Hawaii than the LAX flights, but why would they want to not also fly the route from one of their 3 huge hubs?  They are not flying empty planes now and the demand would still be there.  If they cut the PHX flights to Hawaii they would have to add more flights from Dallas.  Also, I am not sure why the Hawaii flights would be lower margin than any others to vacation destinations, and having the connections they do in Phoenix has to be rather cost-effective.



1.  Agree, PHX is a large market and it won't go away soon.

2.  Hawaii flights are on average lower margin for the big carriers.  You simply do not have the business traveler volume booking 1st/biz/full fare economy like you do on other routes.  If you compare something like SFO-JFK versus PHX-KOA, there is no comparison.  (On the old AA with the bloated union salaries, I'm not even sure the SFO-JFK route made money.)

3.  I was specifically referring to the PHX-KOA route (although I do wonder about the redundancy of the other routes as well).  KOA is the smallest market of the 4 airports that serve direct traffic from the mainland -- HNL, OGG, LIH and KOA (likely in that order of volume).  I just can't see having redundancy in the system for such a small market airport.  The merger has to show cost reduction in order to satisfy shareholders, and IMHO, the aircraft can be used in areas with higher margin.

4.  We'll revisit this in 3 years.  A friendly wager -- I'll certainly buy you a drink if we bump into each other at a resort -- whether or not the PHX-KOA route is still there.  

-ryan


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## BocaBoy (Apr 12, 2014)

sjsharkie said:


> We'll revisit this in 3 years.  A friendly wager -- I'll certainly buy you a drink if we bump into each other at a resort -- whether or not the PHX-KOA route is still there.



No.  If by some miracle you are right, I will buy you the drink.  I enjoyed this discussion.


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## T_R_Oglodyte (Apr 13, 2014)

sjsharkie said:


> I'm not arguing with you that it makes sense to keep PHX as a hub in today's market.  I'm just pointing out that it was a clear part of AA's strategy to keep STL as a hub as well -- and STL was the heart of TWA's network.  ORD and DFW were overtaxed and they thought STL would help ease the strain.  And then 9/11 came and there went the strategy and promises out the window.
> 
> Anyway, no one knows which routes are going to get cut as part of the merger.  Since legacy AA already flies LAX to KOA, I just don't think it makes sense to keep both PHX to KOA and LAX to KOA.  IMHO, one of those routes gets cut.  Then again, maybe the LAX-KOA route goes.
> 
> -ryan





BocaBoy said:


> Too bad we can't make a friendly wager on this.  If they don't keep Phoenix as a major hub they would have to build a huge new mega hub to replace it.  They can't just add some flights to their smaller LAX hub.  U.S. Air is the overwhelming dominant carrier at Phoenix and the operation there is huge.  I would not be surprised if U.S. Air's operation in Phoenix is as big or even bigger than American's at O'Hare.  And if they keep Phoenix as a hub they will certainly keep the Hawaii flights from Phoenix.
> 
> You seem to think that AA is calling the shots.  The CEO is from U.S. Air.  In some ways it is U.S. Air taking over American and adopting the American name.  This merger is nothing like the American acquisition of TWA's assets, which was much smaller than U.S. Airways.





sjsharkie said:


> We are not wagering on the hub.   I only used the hub example as how strategies can change.
> 
> My specific point was that it does not make sense to have two routes (phx and lax) to koa in the network for what I presume to be a low margin route. One of them is likely to go - to your point maybe it is lax. But I believe in 3 years one of those routes will be gone. PHX will still be there as a hub - I never said it was going anywhere.
> 
> Sent from my SCH-I545 using Tapatalk





BocaBoy said:


> i understand we are talking about the Hawaii routes more than the hub itself.  Most AA flights to Hawaii go through LAX and most US Air flights from the rest of the country go through Phoenix.  I don't see this changing.  Phoenix is a large market.  I don't expect either the PHX or the LAX flights to Hawaii to be cut.  If the LAX flights were cut the flights from the West Coast would have to go out of the way through PHX and no longer be nonstop.  Because of hubs at DFW and ORD I would expect them to be better able to cut the PHX flights to Hawaii than the LAX flights, but why would they want to not also fly the route from one of their 3 huge hubs?  They are not flying empty planes now and the demand would still be there.  If they cut the PHX flights to Hawaii they would have to add more flights from Dallas.  Also, I am not sure why the Hawaii flights would be lower margin than any others to vacation destinations, and having the connections they do in Phoenix has to be rather cost-effective.





sjsharkie said:


> 1.  Agree, PHX is a large market and it won't go away soon.
> 
> 2.  Hawaii flights are on average lower margin for the big carriers.  You simply do not have the business traveler volume booking 1st/biz/full fare economy like you do on other routes.  If you compare something like SFO-JFK versus PHX-KOA, there is no comparison.  (On the old AA with the bloated union salaries, I'm not even sure the SFO-JFK route made money.)
> 
> ...



I think we are all agreed that the decision will come down to what makes the most business sense. And on that front, much will depend on traffic volumes on the route and available equipment.  

If there is enough passenger volume flying LAX to Hawaii to fill a plane, I think they would be ill-advised to drop the route, requiring passengers from southern California to fly to Hawaii via PHX unless they can offer that routing at a significant discount.  It seems to me that logic only works if: 1) they have a underutilized big bird available that can be switched to serve Hawaii from PHX;  and  2) they have a pressing need to redeploy the smaller planes that are currently flying from LAX to Hawaii elsewhere in the network. With that combination of scenarios they can probably justify offering low fares for routing through PHX.  But if they can't offer a significant price advantage for connecting in Phoenix, dropping the direct LAX routes to Hawaii will simply result in passengers leaving to fly with competitors.  And the conditions that I laid out seem to me to be so restrictive and temporal that it would seem to me that it would be risky to vacate an LAX to Hawaii market.  

But what do I know???  US Air is also the airline that acquired PSA to add a west coast presence, and three years after the acquisition was flying fewer west coast routes than it did prior to the acquisition.  So equally strange things have happened in the world of US(eless) Air in the past.


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## dive-in (Apr 15, 2014)

US Airways had a CLT to HNL flight for a short time about 4-5 years ago.  I don't think it lasted long.  As someone noted, it's a business decision and trans-Atlantic flights using the 767 have to be more profitable than the leisure traveler to Hawaii.  I wish they would bring it back.  We need more nonstop service from the East Coast.  We'll probably do Hawaiian out of JFK on our next trip.


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## BocaBoy (Apr 18, 2014)

dive-in said:


> US Airways had a CLT to HNL flight for a short time about 4-5 years ago.  I don't think it lasted long.  As someone noted, it's a business decision and trans-Atlantic flights using the 767 have to be more profitable than the leisure traveler to Hawaii.  I wish they would bring it back.  We need more nonstop service from the East Coast.  We'll probably do Hawaiian out of JFK on our next trip.



CLT does not have the connection attractiveness of PHX, so that route had to make it on its own, which is a big difference.  If we were talking about PHX/KOA on its own it would likely be cut, but most of those flights have a uge number of passengers connecting from all over the country east of PHX.


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## Tamaradarann (Apr 18, 2014)

*I must agree*



dive-in said:


> US Airways had a CLT to HNL flight for a short time about 4-5 years ago.  I don't think it lasted long.  As someone noted, it's a business decision and trans-Atlantic flights using the 767 have to be more profitable than the leisure traveler to Hawaii.  I wish they would bring it back.  We need more nonstop service from the East Coast.  We'll probably do Hawaiian out of JFK on our next trip.



All this talk about Arizona, LAX, St. Louis, Las Vegas, Chicago, finally someone brought up JFK to Hawaii non-stop.  Good Rates, complimentary wine with complimentary dinner, complimentary fruit tray to hold you over, complimentary soft drinks continuously, free entertainment.   The new Mastercard has additional benefits that are worth looking at.  I don't own Hawaiian Airlines but I wish I did.


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## tompalm (Apr 18, 2014)

talkamotta said:


> Be careful when using different airlines, give yourself extra time.  With airlines changing their times multiple times you could find yourself in a bind.  Southwest is by far the best at not doing this but the airline going from the west coat to Kona might not be so good.



I agree with this and you should be worried about the one time SW is late and you miss your connecting flight.  You are out of that flight and money and SW or the other airline will not pay you for a new flight.  You should see if SW will sell you a ticket to Kona on a company they codeshare with.  It might not be the cheapest route, but it is like buying insurance and you will not have to worry if the SW flight is later.  

If that doesn't work out, maybe give your self a three or four hour layover for the connection.  Or, go to LA or SFO and enjoy a day or two in the city before flying to Kona.  I don't think there are any direct flight from Vegas to Kona.  Otherwise, I would vote for Vegas and it being on the west coast.


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## Tamaradarann (Apr 19, 2014)

*A Different Approach*



Carolyn said:


> Can anyone on the West Coast tell me which city that Southwest flies to would be the easiest city to continue on to Kona, HI?  We have Southwest airfare we have to use. We would be flying from Indianapolis (IND) Thanks!



We just flew back to JFK from Honolulu on Hawaiian Airlines with people from Ohio.  They drove to JFK from Ohio to fly Hawaiian Airlines direct to Honolulu.  I know that Hawaiian doesn't fly direct from JFK to Kona, but since Indiana is close to Ohio I thought this may give a different approach to the subject.


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## sjsharkie (Apr 20, 2014)

tompalm said:


> You should see if SW will sell you a ticket to Kona on a company they codeshare with.



Southwest does not codeshare with anyone except Airtran -- and neither flies to Hawaii (as of today).  You might be thinking of the old ATA codeshare which enabled Southwest connections to Hawaii, but ATA went bankrupt over 5 years ago.

Your other advice regarding delays impacting separately purchased tickets from another carrier is sound.


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## Carolyn (Apr 21, 2014)

Tamaradarann said:


> We just flew back to JFK from Honolulu on Hawaiian Airlines with people from Ohio.  They drove to JFK from Ohio to fly Hawaiian Airlines direct to Honolulu.  I know that Hawaiian doesn't fly direct from JFK to Kona, but since Indiana is close to Ohio I thought this may give a different approach to the subject.



Thanks, but driving to JFK from the Indianapolis would not be an option. Possibly they lived in northeastern Ohio?


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## gregb (Apr 24, 2014)

We live near San Jose, CA and enjoy using that airport.  There are lots of flights on Alaska and Hawaiian to the four main islands.  And you can get a direct flight on Southwest from Midway to San Jose.  We take it all the time when we fly to Michigan.

One nice thing about SJC is that it is smaller than SFO/PHX, so security lines are shorter and the airport is much less crowded.  Since it only has one runway, it is not usually affected by weather.

Both PHX and SFO have to shut down one of the two parallel runways if viability drops below the visual landing threshold.  I have seen that happen more than once in PHX, and it frequently happens at SFO in the morning fog.  Since they schedule for using both runways, closing one for the weather destroys the schedules for the day.  

Just my 2 cents worth.

Greg


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## daventrina (Apr 25, 2014)

gregb said:


> One nice thing about SJC is that it is smaller than SFO/PHX, so security lines are shorter and the airport is much less crowded.  Since it only has one runway, it is not usually affected by weather.
> Greg


SJC has 3 runways 11/29	12L/30R	12R/30L.

The other thing that affects flights into SFO is that when some overseas flights arrive, now, parallel operations may be curtailed.



gregb said:


> Both PHX and SFO have to shut down one of the two parallel runways if viability drops below the visual landing threshold.
> Greg


They don't shut down one of the runways, but parallel operation may be curtailed thereby significantly increasing the spacing between arriving aircraft.


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## gregb (Apr 25, 2014)

While SJC may have another runway, it is only used for small, usually private, planes (unless they take the main runway out of service for repairs.)   For normal operations, they only use the main runway for commercial jets.  So my original comment is accurate.  They don't get backed up because like SFO when the weather gets bad.

In the local papers, SJC and Oakland airports are both advertising their much better on-time departures and arrivals, compared to SFO.



daventrina said:


> SJC has 3 runways 11/29	12L/30R	12R/30L.



Greg


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