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Hawaii Travel Not Slowing Like Years Past

csodjd

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That's Main, so you can select a seat, etc. That's not a bad price, but as I posted earlier I bought RT SWA for ~$230.
Not any more. I just check SWA for same date and they have one non-stop flight, early morning (7:15am departure), $159 one-way.
 

csodjd

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That's about what I paid for first class on United for about the same dates. I bought a few months ago. I checked today because of your post, and United now wants double that for first class. It could of course go down again but I'm glad I bought when I did.
It is $100 more than their FC seats a few months back. Seems they increased their FC by $100 across the board.
 

Ken555

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Not any more. I just check SWA for same date and they have one non-stop flight, early morning (7:15am departure), $159 one-way.

Yes, they run sales now and then. If you want to buy today go for the $159 fare, but if you have time to wait it wouldn't surprise me if you find lower fares. With SWA it's super easy to reprice online when they do that (and get a future credit for the balance). I'd also pay $159 without issue if that's the best available.
 

Luanne

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Yes, they run sales now and then. If you want to buy today go for the $159 fare, but if you have time to wait it wouldn't surprise me if you find lower fares. With SWA it's super easy to reprice online when they do that (and get a future credit for the balance). I'd also pay $159 without issue if that's the best available.
That's why I love Southwest. However I'm not too thrilled with them right now with some of their itineraries.
 

csodjd

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Yes, they run sales now and then. If you want to buy today go for the $159 fare, but if you have time to wait it wouldn't surprise me if you find lower fares. With SWA it's super easy to reprice online when they do that (and get a future credit for the balance). I'd also pay $159 without issue if that's the best available.
I'm Exec Platinum with American, so I fly them most of the time. Free upgrade to First! And if not available, at least "best" seats (exit row usually). Love SWA for short flights, but not too keen on 5+ hours.
 

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I'm Exec Platinum with American, so I fly them most of the time. Free upgrade to First! And if not available, at least "best" seats (exit row usually). Love SWA for short flights, but not too keen on 5+ hours.
Understandable, but for those of us lowly peons who don't have status and don't want to pay through the nose for a first class ticket, Southwest is one of the best for flying in coach, as they have the most legroom of any major airlines -- more than American, Delta and United. For a tall person (or any person, for that matter), it can be a big deal and makes a longer flight much more bearable.

Kurt
 

Ken555

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I'm Exec Platinum with American, so I fly them most of the time. Free upgrade to First! And if not available, at least "best" seats (exit row usually). Love SWA for short flights, but not too keen on 5+ hours.

Sure. I have status now with United, but I don't let that influence my decisions since I don't count on upgrades. If I was Exec Plat I likely would decide otherwise. :)
 

Ken555

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Understandable, but for those of us lowly peons who don't have status and don't want to pay through the nose for a first class ticket, Southwest is one of the best for flying in coach, as they have the most legroom of any major airlines -- more than American, Delta and United. For a tall person (or any person, for that matter), it can be a big deal and makes a longer flight much more bearable.

Kurt

Yes! I haven't flown SWA in a while, and was very pleasantly surprised at how roomy the seat felt. However, I absolutely disliked the partial closet lav - I'm not a big guy and I barely fit in there.
 

PigsDad

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Yes! I haven't flown SWA in a while, and was very pleasantly surprised at how roomy the seat felt. However, I absolutely disliked the partial closet lav - I'm not a big guy and I barely fit in there.
It isn't just Southwest that have the small lavs. I just flew a Delta A321 last weekend and that lav was just as small, if not smaller than ones on Southwest's 737s. It is getting ridiculous how small they are these days! :mad:

Kurt
 

csodjd

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The car rental situation could be twofold. more travel and a lack of available inventory (fewer cars).
I just rented a car for Maui for a weekend in October from Hertz. No problem. Low prices too.
 

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I find the Main Cabin Extra (MCE) seats on AA acceptable. It helps that I am platinum for life so even though I no longer fly as much as I used to, I get to select MCE seats for free. I absolutely hate not having a seat assignment before getting to the airport. Even paying for early bird on the few times I've flown SWA, I have sometimes ended up in the B boarding group.
 

Luanne

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I just rented a car for Maui for a weekend in October from Hertz. No problem. Low prices too.
Even though you think the prices are low I would still suggest registering it with AutoSlash. AutoSlash beat a price I got with Avis using a corporate discount.
 

Tamaradarann

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So even with a very long line, they didn’t have enough staff on duty to process people quickly. Car availability is another matter altogether.


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Yes, they had empty booths and computers for agents if they had more staff. On a Saturday, which is always a main check in day for Time Share Resorts as well as hotels for people on vacation who work M-F, they should have more staff. However, they had so many people working out in the parking lot since they didn't have the cars parked in the lot. When I have rented cars in the past you sign up for the car in the office, they give you a paper and keys and tell you what lot and row the car is in, and you go to the lot and find your car and drive away. Not here in Maui. As I said the cars were NOT in the lot. So they had people taking your paper and then telling you to wait for them to let you know when your car was there. They had people going to a remote locatiion to get cars. They never did get MY CAR, the compact that I reserved, so they gave me an upgrade to a full size which was fine. But waiting 2 hours to get a car rental is rediculous.
 

Born2Travel

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Yes, they had empty booths and computers for agents if they had more staff. On a Saturday, which is always a main check in day for Time Share Resorts as well as hotels for people on vacation who work M-F, they should have more staff. However, they had so many people working out in the parking lot since they didn't have the cars parked in the lot. When I have rented cars in the past you sign up for the car in the office, they give you a paper and keys and tell you what lot and row the car is in, and you go to the lot and find your car and drive away. Not here in Maui. As I said the cars were NOT in the lot. So they had people taking your paper and then telling you to wait for them to let you know when your car was there. They had people going to a remote locatiion to get cars. They never did get MY CAR, the compact that I reserved, so they gave me an upgrade to a full size which was fine. But waiting 2 hours to get a car rental is rediculous.

This is not new. Budget at least has been about a 2hr wait the last few years (even pre covid) and scrambling to find cars and "upgrading" when they don't have what was reserved.
 

Ken555

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This is not new. Budget at least has been about a 2hr wait the last few years (even pre covid) and scrambling to find cars and "upgrading" when they don't have what was reserved.

I’ve had this happen before on Maui, as well. It also happened at the Kona airport pre-Covid.

My particular issue is not with the car availability, though that is definitely legitimate and always pisses me off when it happens to me, but rather that they build this new building, have eight (or it may have been 10) desks for checkin and yet even when they have long lines requiring hours to wait they refuse to staff up to accommodate. Sure, at the time of this particular event they would have then had too many people with paperwork unable to get cars, but still… this is the very example of corporate decision making at the expense of the customer. Personally, I’d rather get my paperwork and wait outside until they have a car for me, etc. or… are they required to provide a car within a certain time in Hawaii? If so, perhaps that clock doesn’t start until you have your paperwork? In any case, yet another example of why I prefer to skip the checkin whenever possible and go direct to the car, or use an automated checkin option like at Alamo.


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Tamaradarann

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This is not new. Budget at least has been about a 2hr wait the last few years (even pre covid) and scrambling to find cars and "upgrading" when they don't have what was reserved.

Haven't been to Maui since 2019 so I wouldn't know the of the long wait. I think next time to Maui we will just get a uber to the resort and Bus it or uber it to places in the area. We have now done the loops around both Maui parts so we can stay more local to the resort. Also the Bus for $1 for seniors has served us well during this trip. Have used it 2 times and is quite a bargain. It also eliminates the parking charge problems in Lahaina that has been talked about on TUG. No car no parking charges. No car no wait at the rental desk. You can take alot of trips for $1 before you reach the rental car cost.
 

Born2Travel

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Haven't been to Maui since 2019 so I wouldn't know the of the long wait. I think next time to Maui we will just get a uber to the resort and Bus it or uber it to places in the area. We have now done the loops around both Maui parts so we can stay more local to the resort. Also the Bus for $1 for seniors has served us well during this trip. Have used it 2 times and is quite a bargain. It also eliminates the parking charge problems in Lahaina that has been talked about on TUG. No car no parking charges. No car no wait at the rental desk. You can take alot of trips for $1 before you reach the rental car cost.

We stay in West Maui so it's a bit of a drive and we like the freedom of having a car to go where we want even though we don't drive a lot. It's very maddening to have this happen so often after a long flight. At first we thought it was the result of several flights arriving around the same time but they should be able to plan better. For those who don't leave the resort I'd skip the rental too.
 

Tamaradarann

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We stay in West Maui so it's a bit of a drive and we like the freedom of having a car to go where we want even though we don't drive a lot. It's very maddening to have this happen so often after a long flight. At first we thought it was the result of several flights arriving around the same time but they should be able to plan better. For those who don't leave the resort I'd skip the rental too.

We also love having a car also to be able to go where we want, however, we are in our 70's so we are starting to look at reduced driving for safety reasons as well as cost. We also don't drink and drive, so it is nice to not have to worry about transportation after having a drink or two before going out to dinner or at dinner when we are out. We have been to Maui a number of times and have seen the stuff we want to see there and we now live in Honolulu without a car so living carless has become a lifestyle that we are accustomed to and enjoy.
 
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