So what’s new flying to Maui? I’ve come across a couple newsworthy items in the past while:
- For our Canadian friends, Westjet RBC World Elite Mastercard announced you can now get an annual companion voucher to Hawaii for $299. While not as great a deal as Alaska’s companion fare, it’s still something!
- Also in Westjet news – Westjet started flying new 767s on its seasonal direct routes from Edmonton and Calgary to Kahului this January. The beauty of this is their 2-3-2 configuration. Am I the only one who gets claustrophobic in the 3-3 configuration?
- I finally saw my first Virgin Airlines plane at Kahului Airport. I know, this is not really news anymore, but if you don’t live in California, you may have missed this news. Virgin started flying their Airbus A320s to Kahului Maui in December. More competition is always a great thing, right?
- Allegiant Airlines announces they are cutting their service to Hawaii as of August 2016 due to increased competition. To be fair – did you really want to fly a discount carrier with no reclining seats on a 5+ hour flight to Hawaii?
- Air Canada (Rouge) appears to be offering direct flights from Vancouver to Maui in the summer! This is new and might explain why I was able to score flights on Westjet at a much more reasonable rate this year than in the past (gotta love competition)!
- You can opt for smaller seats and less service (sigh)! Several US carriers are adding ‘economy minus’ or ‘basic economy’ sections to their planes – supposedly to compete better with the discount carriers? The good news is that a regular economy seat is now considered an upgrade! You are no longer sitting in ‘cattle class’. Or maybe you are. (While Delta already has this option, I don’t think they fly their planes to Kahului – yet).
- A proposed federal law to set minimum airline seats was defeated.
I have to admit, I will not be taking airlines up on their smaller seat/less service option. At least not on flights to and from Hawaii!
What is your favorite airline to fly to Maui? My personal favorite is Hawaiian Airlines. Last year we had a great experienec with Alaska Airlines. The happy folks at Westjet make me smile, too. How about you?