Hawaii Vacationers Win Some, Lose Some

It’s almost becoming a game – checking to see what extra charges the airlines are laying on to compensate for fuels prices … and what free services hotels are offering to attract guests.

In Hawaii, some hotels have begun to provide free overnight parking for guests.  Overnight parking has been costing an average of $20 a night, and has gone as high as $29.  Other hotels are including free parking as an incentive within the packages they offer.  Aqua Hotels & Resorts, for example, is offering a "snooze-n-crooze" special at 11 of its properties that includes a room, rental car and complimentary daily parking. Some Outrigger and Ohana hotels also have packages that include free parking.

Turtle Bay Resort, on Oahu’s North Shore, has gone for a daily, $20 "resort fee" of $20.  It includes parking, Wi-Fi Internet access, a daily newspaper, coffee, an hour of tennis court time, and free snorkel gear for an hour.  Guests seem to consider that a bargain.

Posted by Jim Winpenny

1 comment August 26th, 2008

Airports Caught in Snarl; Delays Everywhere!

As you read this, airline flights are in a mess, all across the country. 

Every airport in the United States has been affected by an unexpected glitch in an Atlanta scheduling computer.  The FAA has indicated the problem has been corrected, but has not said when things will return to "normal." The glitch led to ground stops on hundreds of departing flights and is forced some flights in the air to circle their arrival airport rather than land.  The problem began at about 2:30 p.m. Eastern Time and worsened, with thousands of flights in the air and thousands more due to depart.  Gate-hold times exceeded one hour as air traffic controllers worked to get flights already in the air on the ground.  So far, we have no word of problems with Hawaii-bound flights.

If you are scheduled to fly later today, don’t assume the airlines are disseminating up-to-date information.  This is an FAA issue, not an airline issue.

Keep watching this space.  We’ll keep it as current as we can.

Posted by Jim Winpenny

Add comment August 26th, 2008