New Airline in Town
I was happy to see a write-up in today’s news paper that there is a new US-flag airline serving Manila. Hawaiian Airlines, based in Honolulu is now making four flights a week between Honolulu and Manila. Continental and Northwest are the only two other US carriers who actually come to Manila and with the pending merger between Northwest and Delta I wonder if some of Northwest’s flights aren’t in danger.
Anyway, Hawaiian is a welcome change. They "hub" from Honolulu and serve many other US locations (mainly west coast) as well as Sydney, Australia. As soon as someone reads this who has been a Hawaiian customer, please leave me a note, either in the "Comments" section below or via my secure, spam-free content page.
One big advantage is they are the only choice to reach actual US soil without a stop … Continental does serve Manila via Guam, which is a US protectorate, but I’m known for being a nitpicker ;-) Northwest’s flights all stop in Japan and all the other airlines serving Manila from the US have stops or plane change sin Taiwan or Tokyo or Hong Kong or Guam. Nothing wrong with any of those places but sometimes it’s nice just to take your seat and then step off where you want to be, rather than going through yet another get off, go through security, get back on cattle herding drill.
We wish the new guys well.
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May 19th, 2008 at 7:20 pm
Hawaiian goes to Manila? That’s great news. I’ve flown Hawaiian and i like them. I also like the idea of having a stopover in Honolulu on the way to or from Manila. Another benefit is shorter flight time. From SFO to anywhere in Asia is at least a 12-hour flight. From Honolulu to Manila is only 10 hours and 45 minutes (that’s after a five-hour flight from the mainland, of course).
May 20th, 2008 at 1:17 am
Absolutely agree. Thanks for commenting. You are correct that Honolulu to Manila is the shortest continuous leg anyone ahs to endure. Philippine Airlines flies from Las vegas and from Los Angeles “direct” to Manil, but thye normally make a ‘technical” stop … airline talk for landing to refuel” in Guam. To me these “technocal stops” are worse than stopping to chnage panes, because you can’t even leave the plane … just makes an already long trip longer. Hooray for Hawaiian.
May 21st, 2008 at 2:15 am
PAL does fly direct, non-stop, from Manila to Los Angeles so Hawaiian joins them as a choice to reach US soil without a stop. Too bad the west-bound trip includes the “technical stop” in Guam or Honolulu (depending on time of year and prevailing jet stream) for refueling.
May 21st, 2008 at 4:06 am
Correct indeed, Paul, but I was trying to convey that there is only the one _US_Flag_ carrier that reaches the US without intervening stops … scheduled or technical … and that is Hawaiian. I used PAL on my last US to Philippines trip and I shall never use them again,I consider them substandard, rude, and unable to follow their own country’s laws (forcing non-Filipinos who are entering to buy an onward ticket, contrary to the rules of Philippine Immigration … but handy for Mr. Tan’s pocketbook). I won’t say never, because never is a long, long time, but I do not currently use nor recommend PAL. IMO a prime example of how _not_ to run an airline.
Thanks for your useful comment.