Our airline of choice is Hawaiian Airlines primarily because of their extensive Hawaiian Miles Program, and of course our overall experience has been satisfactory. This past vacation though, we chose to travel with ATA airlines, not because of their price (it was cheaper to fly on Hawaiian), but the flight schedule. Hawaiian airlines only offered their midnight madness flight from McCarran International airport in Las Vegas which departs at 2:30 a.m. Pacific Standard Time. If it were just Lilinoe and I, it wouldn’t be a problem, however we were traveling with Chelsea and Jayden – the time was not suitable for children. ATA also conveniently offered the multi-city destinations we needed. Before booking on ATA we checked the availability and prices of Aloha Airlines since we knew they too flew the same routes, however their prices were almost double the of ATA.
Late last year ATA was in the local news after passengers were delayed due to mechanical problems. Passengers’ patience were worn thin when the airlines failed to properly communicate any statuses of a possible departure. We heard this news story the day after we used our mouse to point, click and pay; but I assured Lilinoe that if that would happen to us we’d be OK.
Then, in early March ATA announced that they would cease flights to mainland cities by mid-April and possibly to Hawaii airports by summer.
It was the latter story that prompted the phone call from my Mom, concerned about our travel plans and if we would be stranded in beautiful Las Vegas.
I felt confident that we would be fine, but as with nearly every decision we made we had to consider the well-being of our children. Sure, they might find it adventurous to unexpectedly extend our vacation, but they had to get back to school. So, we modified the budget and had a plan in place.
Gratefully, we landed on Oahu this past Sunday nearly avoiding being forced into our uncomfortable Plan B. ATA filed for bankruptcy and canceled all flights today. To review or discuss our experience with ATA is moot, but I’ll say this. The low level of morale amongst all of the ATA employees were a clear indication that survival of ATA was limited.
Whew, we just made it!
[...] Ho’olaulea at the end of her Ho’olauna Maui Program. Unexpected events, including the loss of two airlines in Hawai’i found us alarmed at the airfare prices. Having been long-time customers of Hawaiian Airlines, we [...]