Hawaiian Airlines vs. Southwest Airlines

With the holiday season just a few months away…let’s talk about the Inter-island price wars in Hawaii!  Hawaiian Airlines vs. Southwest Airlines…Round 1!

Let’s take a look back on when things started!  For those of us who have lived in Hawaii for the past 20 years…you know that there was an airline company called Aloha Airlines.  They unfortunately could not compete with Hawaiian Airlines and left the market. That allowed Hawaiian Airlines to dominate the inter-island scene for so many years, causing prices to go sky high!  Nobody could afford to travel inter-island!  That was until Southwest came to town!  Now there’s options for the consumer!!  Wow…what a concept!

Before Southwest, inter-island travel was more a luxury item rather than an everyday occurrence. Island hopping was so expensive that people just didn’t do it and when they did they tried to get the absolute best prices!  True story…I know someone born on Maui who has never left the island!  I love the idea of that but as a true adventure seeker…there’s a big world out there to see and staying in one place would never work for me!  Not to mention…amazing places are just a short 20 minute plane ride away from Maui!

So…for a lot of years, Hawaiian Airlines was the only game in town!!  That is until March 2019 when Southwest Airlines finally decided to throw themselves into the Hawaiian mix!!  What a great day for the local community!  It didn’t necessarily mean you were going to fly Southwest, but we were counting on a good fare war and that’s what we got!  Southwest came in HOT and at one point had one-way inter-island fares for $19!!  YES…I said $19!  Those fares weren’t available for too long…which was NO surprise!  Poor Hawaiian, they didn’t know what hit them…so they had to match the fares and that’s when traveling inter-island became FUN again!  You didn’t have to pay so much for such a short flight!  Having Southwest enter the Hawaiian market made it interesting for everyone!  What you were guaranteed is that when either airline had a markdown on fares…the other was bound to follow.  These days the $19 fares are gone but you are able to get fares as low as $44 one way…and for us…that’s not too shabby!  We’ll take it!   

I have a personal story about being saved by Southwest!  I was flying from Maui to Oahu for a few hours to meet clients that were flying into Honolulu and 5 minutes before my flight was going to be boarding, Hawaiian cancelled my flight.  I was unable to be accommodated within the timeframe I needed and thought that all hope was lost for me getting to Oahu!  That’s when I realized that I had an option…SOUTHWEST!!  So I called the reservation line while I was at the airport and received a $44 one way flight that gave me plenty of time to get there before my clients arrived!  Thankfully everything worked out and my clients got a Hawaiian Lei greeting when they arrived in Hawaii! ALOHA!!  It’s always nice when there’s a happy ending to the story!  The moral of this story is YES…we have OPTIONS when it comes to flying inter-island in Hawaii!!  Mahalo Southwest…the people of Hawaii appreciate you giving Hawaiian a run for their money.  In the end…doesn’t matter who you choose, but we’re thankful for the choice!

If you’re interested in visiting Hawaii, Always Aloha Travel would love to plan your amazing Hawaiian adventure, everything from A to Z for all your travel needs!  Visit our website at www.AlwaysAlohaTravel.com and check out our Facebook and Instagram pages at Always Aloha Travel!  Traveling inter-island in Hawaii is so easy and the flights are so quick that you’ll barely realize your flying! Aloha from Hawaii and Mele Kalikimaka!  We’re a little early…but we couldn’t resist!