The nonstop airline service between John Wayne Airport and Hawaii is one of those Zen-like, glass half-empty/half-full situations.
We’re happy to have the flights at all, but they are continually frustrating on many levels. Continental has never fully committed to the service the way Aloha Airlines did before its bankruptcy. Maybe that last part is why Continental lets its level of service rise and fall with demand.
Beginning Sept. 6, it all but disappears until the winter holiday season.
For the summer, Continental has operated one flight daily in each direction between John Wayne Airport and Honolulu International Airport. Same with Maui’s Kahului Airport.
But with the end of summer comes the end of most of the flights. Continental has announced that after Sept. 6, it will fly each route once a week in each direction. Unless you are ready to fly on a Saturday, you’d better make your taxi or shuttle arrangements to LAX to catch a nonstop to the islands.
Then things get confusing. The airline will boost flights for the Thanksgiving season. Flights between Honolulu and Orange County will operate daily Nov. 18 to 27. There will be no flights on Thanksgiving Day, Nov. 24. Orange County-Maui service will fly Friday, Saturdays and Sundays during the same period.
After Thanksgiving, the airline will return to Saturday-only service until Christmas travel season, when daily nonstop O.C.-Honolulu service will return Dec. 15 and operate through the end of the year. Service to Maui was unclear at press time.
The service can be frustrating, with fares often $200 more roundtrip than other airlines out of Los Angeles. Then you realize how much it can cost to drive and or/park at LAX, with the hassles of check-in and security at that beautiful but antiquated midcentury modern airport, and suddenly the fare doesn’t seem quite so bad.
This would all be even more angering/frustrating were it not for a looming truth: Continental is in the last stages of a merger with United Airlines. Anyone flying Continental has probably been perplexed to see a jet with United’s name but Continental’s distinctive globe on the tail.
The airline industry is folding in on itself while battling a lousy economy. It got a break by being able to pocket the lapsed FAA ticket taxes, but that’s now over. Aviation fuel prices are high, but not as bad as forecast earlier this year. Several airlines have reported record profits – but that’s a rare story over the past 10 years.
Many Hawaii fans, like me, wish for a return to the days when Aloha flew to Oahu, Kauai, Maui and the Big Island. Continental’s service changes seem aggravating and paltry in comparison. But then, remember that John Wayne Airport had more than a year of no nonstop service to Hawaii. Add in that United and Continental already operate several flights out of nearby Los Angeles International Airport. Continental/United says it has no plans to dump the Orange County service as the merger wraps up at the end of the year.
Let’s hope it holds to that plan. Because a few flights are better than no flights at all.
For more information, go to continental.com or John Wayne Airport’s website, ocair.com
Contact the writer: travel@ocregister.com
Article source: http://www.ocregister.com/travel/service-311778-continental-flights.html
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