United Airlines and Southwest could not differ more when it comes to how each approaches service to Hawaii.
Southwest’s entry into the Hawaiian market has caused ripples. This has concerned some legacy airline employees who fear cutbacks. But for United, which offers more service to Hawaii than any other mainland carrier, the key is offering a different product than Southwest.
In a note meant to reassure employees that United will stay strong in Hawaii, HNL General Manager Ernie Young painted a stark contrast between Southwest and United:
Our strategy is focused on remaining competitive by serving as many markets as possible to offer our customers the ability to get to Hawaii in one stop from anywhere in the world. We’re also adding seats from our DEN, IAH, ORD, EWR and IAD hubs, and we’re offering flights during different times to provide maximum connectivity to customers with domestic and international connections.
It’s all about connections. It’s about getting people from anywhere in the USA or in major cities around the world to Hawaii with only one stop.
United currently operates up to 45 daily flights from the mainland to Hawaii. In the other direction, it also serves Tokyo, Guam, and a five-stop Island Hopper Route. Combined, that will total 12,859 flights in 2019.
Meanwhile, Southwest has taken a totally different approach. Southwest’s initial foray into the Hawaiian market from the West Coast is focused on West Coast point-to-point traffic. Southwest does not operate redeye flights, eliminating the possibility to easily fly between Hawaii and the Midwest or East Coast on Southwest.
> Read More: Southwest’s Hawaii Experiment Is Missing One Essential Ingredient
And that seems to be the plan going forward – some do not even see it as a liability. In an interview with Chris McGinnis at SFGate.com, United President Scott Kirby made exactly that point.
CONCLUSION
United continues to view its primary competition to the islands as legacy carriers, not Southwest. While the Hawaii ramp up in Denver was certainly geared toward discouraging Southwest from starting service, United…at least publically…sees a very different business model.
> Read More: United’s Upgraded Hawaii Service a Ruse to Scare Away Southwest?
I know a lot of people have criticized WN for their poor onward connection timing on Hawaii flights. I think WN’s plan was sound, though, and Scott Kirby is correct in his assertion. If you look at it, Hawaii (and Mexico, to a certain extent) is very much a West Coast liesure destination. East Coasters have the US/British Virgin Islands, the Carribbean, and a whole slew of other places. My anecdotal-parading-as-empirical data suggests few Left Coasters venture out that way regularly, and likewise for East Coasters and Hawaii. It just doesn’t make sense that WN would try to open up Hawaii to the entirety of the lower 48 – or at least east of the Mississippi – by making strategic connection timings. I don’t feel their existing network and fleet make it financially viable. I doubt UA and WN will have a hard time coexisting in the Hawaiian market.
My personal experience attests to this. I grew up in the West and we’d visit Hawaii for our vacations frequently but never the caribbean. Now that I live in NY, I’d love to visit Hawaii but I just can’t justify the duration when the caribbean is so much closer and easier to get to.
When I log on to United.com they consistently tout 145 one-stop connections to Hawaii, that’s helpful for me. Granted, I may spend Singapore KrisFlyer miles instead of UA but I like the idea of a direct flight from Newark which is easily accessed with one stop from my home airport and had great times the last time I looked.
Honestly- Hawaii from the middle of the country and the Eastern seaboard is a long trip but if you want a beach vacation with virtually guaranteed good weather and a lack of threat of hurricanes for a summer vacation, it is your best bet. Most families see this and like the idea of the excellent weather and a lack of passports and weigh that against the higher flight time/cost. I’d pick Hawaii every time in the summer if I could! We usually trade off the cheaper/closer Mexico beach trip every other year with splurging on first class seats (using miles!) to Hawaii. With a trip in either June or July it is a risk to go to Mexico but the direct flight from Austin on United makes it easy and cheap. With just three of us it is manageable.