New federal
regs prompt Hawaiian to strictly enforce check in times
by Fili Sagapolutele
Samoa News Correspondent
Hawaiian Airlines
is strictly enforcing a policy requiring all passengers on its
international flights to check-in no later than one hour prior
to departure; while the carrier will implement in May a fare
increase for flights between Hawai'i and the U.S. mainland.
The enforcement
of required check-in time, which went into effect on Feb. 20
was in response to new federal government airline security guidelines
requiring requiring all airlines to provide before departure
information about international flights leaving or entering the
United States.
Hawaiian "strongly
encourages" passengers for international flights, including
flights to and from American Samoa, to arrive at the airport
"a minimum of three hours" before their flight is scheduled
to depart in order to avoid disruption.
Hawaiian passengers
checking in less than an hour before departure of an international
flight will have to be rebooked on later flights and standard
change fees and charges will apply.
"To ensure
security compliance with these new government regulations and
avoid having to miss their flight, we recommend customers of
international flights arrive at the airport three hours before
departure to give them plenty of time to check in," said
Eric Kaler, who is Hawaiian's director of security.
Samoa News learned
early this week about this policy from two passengers who arrived
Sunday night from Honolulu. The pair said in separate telephone
interviews that they were not aware of this policy and almost
missed the flight because they arrived at the Hawaiian check
in counter in Honolulu about an hour before flight time.
For the Pago
Pago International Airport, the local Transportation Security
Administration (TSA) Office says their security check counter
opens at 6 p.m. and closes at 10 p.m.
Hawaiian announced
yesterday plans to increase by $30 round-trip fares between Hawai'i
and the U.S. mainland effective May 1.
Rising costs
of operations, mostly fuel, is cited as the reason for what the
carrier described as a "modest" fare hike and international
fares (including American Samoa) are not affected.
"The costs
of providing our product continue to rise and this modest increase
will help preserve the high quality of our service," said,
Glenn Taniguchi, the airline's senior vice president for marketing
and sales.
On February 28
Hawaiian's parent company Hawaiian Holdings Inc., reported a
net income of $7 million in 2007 on operating revenue. Hawaiian's
chief executive officer, Mark Dunkerley says the carrier did
well in keeping costs down in 2007, only to see the improvements
largely offset by the rising price of fuel.
Reach the
reporter at fili@samoanews.com.
© Osini Faleatasi Inc. dba Samoa News reserves
all rights.
|