Aloha airlines is shutting down after today, so any Swaylockers who have reservations to fly on them to Hawaii or for inter island travel you need to talk with your travel agent about a refund and a travel change. This is not a good thing especially for us islanders. We will lose all our airmiles and a great airlines to boot. I just lost all my mileage and a free trip to the mainland this summer.Aloha,Kokua
I lost a whole lot of Aloha miles. Enough to take the family to Calif. I’m lucky that my relatives all work for Hawaiian Airlines, but many of my friends work for Aloha.
I wish people would boycott GO airlines for a few months. I guess the superferry will get more riders now.
sad… I heard that if you’ve got tickets. you’re SOL. Credit card purchasers may be able to get partial refunds from the credit card companies.
I think United is trying to accomodate Aloha flyers with outstanding tickets. As for FF miles, I think your out of luck.
-Jay
Molokai Ranch last week wiping out molokai’s largest employer and now this affecting one of the largest private sector employers in the state.
If this doesn’t eventually get resolved the down stream impacts will affect everyone here except the big five rich and rich transplants…
car loans, mortgages, rent, gas, food etc etc all will be impacted as this industry is a specialized one that doesn’t have alot of opportunities here. Attendants, machinists, reservationists all will have difficulty finding similar occupations without putting a burden on competitors. Expect prices to go off the roof to help pay for some of this… Worse all it’s our aunties, uncles, cousins and friends who will be suffering as well as all the tourist subsidized businesses. And the impact to the exisitng descretionary income for petroleum based water toys hmmm we’ll just have to see…
From what we heard from a really conservative midwest peer today who didn’t have any subprime exposure I guess this is our version of the downstream impacts of the housing crisis. All the subsidiary businesses who supported the housing industry are starting to collapse in certain market. California is one of the worse with the freezing of the credit markets too…
Kind of funny that the first thing I heard today from everyone who didn’t lose their job or have a nuclear family member who lost a job was what about my travel miles?
Maybe they all should be redeemed to help fund the coming unemployment checks of these 2000 aloha employees instead of taking it out of our taxes or having the state float a bond to try and save those jobs…
There’s a lesson here when it becomes all about price…
when in doubt eat alot of chocolate…
big island chocolate that is…
Howzit kendall, The bottom line is if you bought a ticket on Aloha with cash or a check you have to file for a refund with the bankruptsy people, good luck on that one. The Hawaii government is still going to try to help but it seems like it’s a done deal and not to much hope for their return. I will never fly GO air.Aloha,Kokua
Howzit oneula, Such a shame for all those employees and a lot of whole families worked for them. What I don’t understand is Aloha filed their complaint against Mesa long before Hawaiian did yet Hawaiian has already had their day in court and won like 86 mil but Aloha’s court date isn’t till October. I think Aloha could have used 86 mil more than Hawaiian. Just got back from a Lihue run and Aloha is the talk of the town and so many people lost mileage. What would be a great thing is if United who was the co-partner would honor our Aloha miles like they did before this happened. It’s a sad sad day. Also hopefully Hawaiian and Go will hire a bunch of Aloha’s people now that they are going to ramp up their schedules to take up the missing 80,000 seats that Aloha filled a week.Aloha,Kokua
kokua, if you don’t mind me asking – what’s up with Go airlines that makes you say you’ll never fly with them?
Howzit etmo, Go air is part of Mesa airlines out of Phoenix with deep pockets. When they came into the Hawaii market they sold tickets so cheap that in order to be competitive Aloha and Hawaiian had to match the insanely low fares and I mean low and have kept doing it. It was a preditory move to try and break one or both of our long time airlines. Both Hawaiian and Aloha filed complaints but only Hawaiian has had their day in court and they won an 86 million $ from Mesa. What will happen now is Go will raise their prices due to the shortage of seats and Hawaiian will also since they survived but they took big loses also while this was happening. I loved flying with Aloha since they had plenty of aloha and their employees were great and they flew smaller planes which was nice so you didn’t have over 300 people on your flight. So for me it’s no go on Go air.Aloha,Kokua
From what I understand airlines in general are going to get less friendly this coming North American summer. Supposedly many will start canceling flights that aren’t full or nearly full, meaning catastrophic disruption for connecting flights etc. Rising cost of avaition fuel and cost of keeping aged planes airworthy while like Kokua says getting undercut by aggresive business models…same old story of what happens when you try to go every direction at once. But what the hell…it keeps us boys down on the farm, less disruptions for the elite leisure classes.
I have to disagree with your logic since aloha filed chapter !! prior to go airlines ever being here in 2004. Remember the Hawaiian airline versus aloha airline fare wares with $35 dollar one way seats in the 90’s. Most people I knew thought they were being raped with $90 dollar one way seats prior to Go airlines arriving. The same money could get you one way to los angles with certain carriers. ATA airlines was thought badly of with the one time fee unlimited flights to the west coast for 1 year deal.
Aloha should have closed in 2004 but the inevitable was just prolonged with over optimistic mainlaind financing. Smart competitors took advantage of this mismanaged company to include Hawaiian airlines. I have flown GO airlines and it was way more convienent and the service way more friendly personal service because of the smaller aircraft. Except for the Go pilots who forgot to wake up at Hilo and overshot the airport by 80 miles, things have been pretty good. For so few planes, and so few seats of GO to put aloha out of business just confirms that aloha was on the brink of disaster for many years prior to GO. I have not recalled in recent history how much legal harrassment GO has taken since trying to break into the airline passanger in Hawaii and how none of the two other local carriers won’t tranfer GO luggage. Lucky thing the law suits against GO had a home court advantage because the same attitude in the managment of the local airlines is present in the judicary also. It’s embarrassing to see it happen. So much for Aloha’s aloha. It reminds me of the smack against surftechs. Lots of bad talk but they sure are selling alot. Just like GO, the seats are being sold.
Fortunately for the majority of the aloha employees, jobs will be easily found on Oahu in the same industry or equivilent paying jobs in other related fields. Unfortuately for the middle managemant and higher jobs will be tougher to find. Oahu still has the lowest in unemployment rate nation wide. Also good news for shippers of surfboards/blanks, the aloha air cargo service will be hopefully purchased by matson and continue to operate.(those aloha cargo employees where some of the most unfriendly I have encounterd also, and the forklift routinely tested your packing techinques.)
The sentimental loss I agree with you. But 10 years from now the bigger and better air service will be dominant and aloha will be a faded memory like Primo beer. Bad example, Primo beer is com1ng back.
unfortunately if you take a step back you’ll see that this place is quickly becoming a place of the rich and mostly transplant haves and the growing multi generational local have nots who’s only choices are to become more of a servicer or move away for a true opportunity.
My gage on this is from the freeway everyday…
For I am now either blinded by the sun reflecting off arms hanging outside the driverside due to the skin or flouresant green, yellow or orange shirts as well as frustrated by all those who seem to think that cutting in at the last moment while blocking traffic or tailgating at 65 mph is an appropriate way to drive on todays roads.
I find it strange about your advocation for progressive change but at the same sense you reside in an area that is slowly becoming the private play ground and shelter of the haves i,e, the northshore…
Look at the ewa plain and the west side up through Maile and you’ll see where the burden of this island’s working class survival/prison has been placed. Maybe the northshore and the rest of the island should suffer as much as the majority of the working class that keeps this place going.
It’s a mini Vegas with less space to accomodate the workers.
Aloha was a different design from it’s genesis because it was designed to serve the locals who couldn’t get a seat on the other airlines back in those days.Unfortunately those things never go away they just find a way to blend in a little better in the backgound.
Mesa’s loyalty is not to Hawaii but to their bottomline at any cost just like any other fortune 100 that’s come here in the past 30 years. When they finally figure out the till is full and they’ve emptied out the cash machine they move on. Locals go to some of these places out of necessity and sometimes stupidity where as the transplants go due to familiarity and a longing for past memories. They to seem to leave when they find that they can’t turn it into the home from where they came from or they can’t milk it any more with their grandoise ideas. BTW Mesa used insider information to rip the market apart they owe millions because of it.
Unsustainable low prices so people can have more low priced stuff like what they see in the media is of no benefit in the long run… Eventually(hopefully) we’ll see the light…
If locals want an interisland bus so much then have the state buy some planes and shuttle everyone back and forth standing room only just like daBus… They just gotta put them crome bars up top instead of luggage racks so folks can hang on during take offs and landings… I can fly to Maui in less time than I can drive to Honolulu from the westside in traffic.
No more Aloha in Hawaii
I wonder if Slim really cares
cause its just a go go Go! world…
Otay, the perspective you have shows why Hawaii is no longer Hawaii. The large mainland or multi-national companies come here and sell there products and services at prices the locals can not compete against. The big box retailers have pretty much gotten rid of the Mom and Pop corner stores that we all used to love. Airfare prices are going to skyrocket as soon as the fallout is over. Go may win, but we all lose.
People only care about themselves now. They don’t think about the long term impacts and what our great grandchildren are going to have to live with. It’s all about making or keeping as much money as you can right now. There’s no loyalty to anything but the dollar. In the end we’re going to learn that money is not the important thing. Learning how to live in a sustainable environment is the key. That requires a lot of cooperation between many people, and a willingness to take care of each other. It means doing the right thing, always, and without question. That’s what my Hawaiian ancestors did for over a thousand years.
As things turn worse for the true locals, the ability to maintain friendly relations between the haves and no haves is going to get strained.
Howzit OTAY, Read the Honolulu Advertiser’s articles about Aloha, Aloha and Hawaiian both filed bankrupsy which was due to the effects from the 911 incident. One thing I forgot to mention before is GO illegally used info they got when both Aloha and Hawaiian were in bankrupsy and that’s why they both sued Mesa. Watch the fares go back up again after April 9th that’s when Go ends their $39 fares, could go higher than we’ve ever seen before. Fly any airlines you like, it’s a free country but I won’t spend a dollar with them. Like oneula said Go is Phoenix based and that’s where their loyalty is. A lot of us lost many air miles and I wish United would step up and honor our air miles since they did before the shut down. There are people stranded all over the US because of this and that itself is a bummer. Live Hawaii fly Hawaiian.Aloha,Kokua
P.S. The sleeping pilot thing was strange and from what I read GO does expect more out of their pilots.
News alert guys. The people that work at GO are 99% local residents. They make money from tourist and locals who use the airline services. They get their paychecks and spend probably all that money in Hawaii, Aloha airlines was funded and essentially held by the short hairs by a out of state financier. No difference from where I stand.
I heard this same bs in 1988 with the rumors of k-mart coming and Japanese buying up all our property. Slims power tools was one of a few places to get sanders at above the normal price. Can you imagine not having home-depot or lowes here?? Don’t you guys buy your foam there? All those stores benefit a growing community more than any mom or pop hardware store could ever do by providing good jobs, opportunities and good products. why would you every want to go back and if you did how far back is far enough?
I am curious if the wailua sugar mill makes more money now renting out to illegal surfboard manufacturers than it did processing sugar cane?
If you think losing a few air miles is a bummer, just think of all the stock holders who lost more than miles on a failed business. Just wait. What will fill the void will not only benefit all those terrible tourists who are ruining this place by spending money here, but the local hawaii residents who actually will be filling the void will the the ultimate beneficiaries. Nothing selfish about it. Its how communities work.
My last visit to kauai I saw all the nice new shopping centers and buildings pretty much financed by out of state monies. Are you also avoiding those places too?
The fares will only go up for fuel considerations with GO asa stated by it’s CEO. The total seats Go has available are nothing compared to Hawaiian. Yes the fares will go up but by your favorite airline. They are the biggest winners in this whole deal. Enjoy your future $90+ dollar one way fares on Hawaiian. Your only hope will be an expanding GO fleet.
If it makes you feel any better, or gives any comfort, what both you and oneula described is happening everywhere remotely “nice” or desireable…all over the coastlines, the intermountain west of the U.S., you pick a spot on the map. The small California city where I live has a long-standing city council that is suddenly very concerned with approving housing projects that will provide affordable livng for “farmworkers”…of course they have to build the places on working farmland, but that’s another issue, right? As people get run out of wherever they started and go looking for refuge they are often met with resistance, anger, or resentment from just the same kind of people they are- people who share the same values and interests and philosophies. In the meantime the real villians are the true greedhead types who come only to consume and exploit whatever they can get their hands on. Sometimes it’s tough to tell everybody apart, but it’s worth the effort.
I’m not much of a traveller. I would rather spend my vacation time here on Oahu at a nearby beach. I’ve only surfed on the other islands 3 times. Everytime I was with someone from that island who showed me around.
I could probably go to any beach on Oahu and know the people there, but I have my favorite spots that I go to almost all the time. They are close to my home and I can see the waves from my house.
I shop at the big box outlets, but I spend as much or more at my neighborhood City Mill. I prefer buying from the local markets because you don’t have to buy in bulk like at Costco or Sam’s club. I have bought EPS foam from HomeDepot because they were the only ones selling it. I recently bought large blocks that were surplus, and use locally grown wood now for compsand boards.
Companies like Sam’s, Costco, Go come here and play the BS game of “we’re providing jobs for locals”. Yes they do that, but they do that at the expense of screwing out all the small companies that have been around for a long time, just making ends meet. So instead of working for the company you’ve been with for a long time, and that your parents may have been with, you get to go work for the companies that came here and put them put of business.
If you’ve ever wondered why people will say things like “go back to where you came from”, it’s because of things like this that destroy the local communities.
I don’t know who you are, and you may be a really good person, but what has happened is not a good thing for Hawaii.
Well while many still laugh
there is a possibility that perhaps one day in the future
hawaiian sovereignty and the akaka bill may come to fruition to change how things are done
but things will have to get really bad to bring all the factions togethor.
Look at what hawaiians did on Molokai to Molokai Ranch even if that doesn’t make any economic sense.
But that also shows you what happens when it’s all owned by outsiders…
They just pull out when it’s to minimize the losses.
Look at the whole Turtle Bay fiasco…
Why not build a mega resort out on the Northshore and spread some of the load to the other side of the island…
Then maybe Waikiki won’t sink into the ocean or have to have it’s sand artificailly replaced so often.
Infrastructure ?
who needs infrastructure when they proved they could build out the entire Ewa plain without worrying about it…
Bank of America did it back in the 90’s and so did all the out of state sub-prime lenders who set up shop in town the last 5 years. Pineapple and Sugar split when the going got rough as did all the large developers who sold out to larger mainland firms. Remember Hemmeter and those that followed in his footsteps where are they now? What happen to his Westin Disney World of lagoons he built on Kauai? How many times do the hotel chains change hands here and then dump their union employees for cheaper contract workers and how many times has KHON been sold. The reason Bears Stearns collasped was because of all the foreign investments and other large investments that pulled out in a run on the bank leaving them holding the bag. If those folks stayed the course Bear had a chance to pull itself through… But it’s all about profits and exposure to losses when you’re polaying with some elses money…
Hawaii is the golden goose for big boxes because of the success of Costco and Walmart that’s why they are all fighting over themselves to get here. It’s also because we are inherently cheap-brained here cause just about everything else like housing, food and gas cost so much more… Why else would those $399 weekend junkets to vegas be a monthly event for most locals… Our priorities are messed up by the media we are addicted to as the lady driving the $150 a fillup yellow H1 Hummer or the mercedes shops at costco and walmart. Not something you’d see in Beverly Hills or Manhattan. But here we live in a corregated tin hut with a dirt yard and drive a S-class mercedes to church. When I lived on the mainland, you wouldn’t be caught dead at the bluelight special, Walmart, Sears or Pennys unless you lived in a trailer. Go to the Kunia Walmart or Waipahu Don Quxiote and then compare the crowd to Waikele Lowes or Costco. I bet they close the Kunia Walmart soon and make those folks drive to Pearl City… The only reason those stores ended up here is because transplants usually bring there friends over wherever they go just like Nels said it happens everywhere.
I’d venture to say that maybe 50-70% of the local take is wired out daily to some central bank on the east coast and invested immediately. Only what’s needed to pay off the workers and the politicians stays and most of that probably goes right back into the big box sales.
Worse case scenerio is that Home Depot(HD was in trouble a while back and dumped its expensive CEO) and Lowes starts feeling the crunch because of the housing crisis and start pulling back on unprofitable operations. It’s happening to the smaller players and as the market softens even more the demand for their services demises as well. From what we’e hearing from the mainland it’s all the smaller players that are getting pinched the worse. And like the all the mom and pop places that shop at Costco for their goods those are the contracting businesses that support Home Depot and Costco sales. Also fixing up to flip doesnt cut it in todays credit markets.
We’ll just have to see were all this plays out…
Liberty House gave up on the locals in favor of the Japanese tourists and when the Japanese discovered Kmart instead they went belly up and became Macy’s which is no different than a Walgreens or Whole Foods here… Remember that fancy furniture store in Waikele next to Office Max that took local folks for a ride before running for the hills? And are we any better with Office Max replacing Hopaco? All I see now a days is generic stuff I can buy off the web cheaper.
I guess we can thank god we still have a place like Jelly’s and Chun’s
As for Wailua…
One day I foresee million dollar subdivisions(becase of the views) stretching from Schofield down to the circle and Kam Highway becoming a 4-6 lane freeway to H2. Also from the Waianae mountains to the river(cn’t beat those views). It’s going to happen you can’t stop it.
The question will be
will you stay because you love this place and this is your home or will you run away like everyone else when it does…
Howzit SharkCountry, I just got a letter from FHB, they are giving all of us people who had the Aloha card new cards that are good for any airlines and a 5000 point bonus to boot. There is also a phone number to get in touch with Aloha’s mileage program ( not the same as on the web site) maybe we can use the points on United, hopefully. Also there’s no annual fee for the new card, we don’t have to apply they will just send it to us. Nice to get a little aloha from them. As for the big stores, I do 99% of my shopping at the Foodland around the corner and the only time I go to HD is if I’m already in lihue. Who spends $15 in gas to save $10. I actually did buy at HD yesterday since I have a big plumbing job to do and some electrical work also. For what it would have cost me for just 1/2" PVC pipe in Pville Ace I was able to get all the pipe, 80 fittings and my electrical supplies, saved over $150 and I was in Lihue anyways. There isn’t that many Mom and Pop stores left here.Aloha,Kokua
so ,
why are they closing ?
[ it seems somewhat ironic to me … aloha has gone ?]
i hope they are replaced and that you can redeem your frequent flyer things , mike !
cheers
ben