Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — Congresswoman Uifa’atali Amata is asking Alaska Air for consideration concerning the high cost of an airline ticket between American Samoa and Honolulu, Hawaii, in a letter addressed to Mr. Joseph Sprague, CEO of Hawaiian Airlines, Alaska Air Group, Inc.

Dated Nov. 4, 2024, Amata notes her concern regarding the Pago Pago- Honolulu route, due to American Samoa being a “geographically isolated territory,” and that “reliable transportation to the United States is critical not only to connect with our families but to access critical medical care and other services.”

She writes that “the present costs of an economy round-trip between Honolulu and Pago Pago is roughly $1000.

“The present cost of an economy round-trip between Honolulu and Los Angeles varies but almost never approaches higher than $500.”

Amata states that “no reasonable claim can be made that servicing the PPG/HNL route incurs a higher net operations cost than the LAX/HNL route.”

She explains,“The distance served between Honolulu and Pago Pago, American Samoa is within 15 miles the same distance as between Honolulu and Los Angeles.

“The overall fuel cost is not substantially different.”

She points out that “a detailed analysis is not likely to demonstrate higher crew costs incurred on the HNL- PPG route than for HNL-LAX,” with crew costs “arguably the same or less because no hotels and associated costs are utilized with turnaround crews.”

(Samoa News notes that Hawaiian Air flights to Pago Pago are ’turn-around’ flights, meaning the crew flight time is kept within the boundaries of when they must rest — returning to Honolulu to do so.)

The congresswoman goes on to highlight what she believes must be much lower marketing costs to the airline for the HNL/PPG route, as compared to the Los Angeles route from Honolulu “as there is no competition that must be accounted for.”

Amata states that “instead of using the lack of competition, as an item inducing a lesser cost, the present airline has instead used the opportunity to impose higher cost on the individual passenger. “

She adds that “based on comparative observations, the price should be under $500 for a round-trip economy airline ticket between Pago Pago and Honolulu, yet the prices have been set with the knowledge that there is no competition on this route.

“The fact that Pago Pago is a community of modest means is well known, and it is only reasonable to assume that this price gouging is conscious abuse of an underserved population.”

Congresswoman Amata said that there will be a need for intervention if “new management will not undertake reasonable setting of ticket cost for this community.

Then she states, “this community must ask the Federal Government and the Congress to enforce reasonableness in the exercise of its Federal License.”

However, “if this is not the case and the prices are indeed reasonable, we need a detailed and independent analysis explaining why.

“We also believe this must be dealt with before approval is granted by the Federal Government to provide any further financial benefits to the prospective operating carrier.”

Amata concludes, “As it stands, I invite further discussion on this matter which is of utmost importance to the people of American Samoa.”

(The high cost of an airline ticket between PPG/HNL was also a bone of contention between Hawaiian Airlines. One of the reasons Hawaiian Air gave for the high cost of the air service was the passenger count overall — with full flights both to & from HNL being seasonal, not constant.)