Las Vegas Sun NewsTRANSPORTATION:
Allegiant Air opens route between Las Vegas and Honolulu
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An Allegiant Airlines jet takes off from McCarran International Airport on Friday, Aug. 26, 2011.
Tuesday
10 April 2012
2 a.m.
VEGAS INC archives
For more than a year, Allegiant Air has been talking about flying to Hawaii, but no one has known which cities would be on the airline’s flight plan.
Now, the Las Vegas-based air carrier is providing the answer: Las Vegas and Honolulu.
Beginning today, Allegiant will sell tickets for nonstop service between McCarran and Honolulu international airports. Flights begin June 29.
Allegiant is introducing the new service with $174 one-way tickets. That includes taxes and government fees but not several of the other fees the airline charges. Those tickets must be purchased by April 30 for travel by Nov. 13. That rate isn’t available on all flights.
Allegiant last week announced $35 fees for carry-on bags stowed in overhead storage bins. The airline also charges baggage fees, convenience fees for booking online or through its telephone call centers and fees for passengers selecting their choice of seats.
The airline will use its recently acquired fleet of twin-engine Boeing 757 jets for the Hawaii flights, which will be offered to Honolulu on Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays with return flights on Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays. Flight times will be listed on Allegiant’s website later today.
The airline also will offer one nonstop round trip a week between Fresno, Calif. — one of the airline’s first destinations — and Honolulu. On Saturdays, Allegiant will fly from Honolulu to Fresno, and on Sundays, it will fly from Fresno to Honolulu.
Brian Davis, a spokesman for Allegiant, said the launch of the Honolulu service from Las Vegas would be the first phase in Allegiant’s Hawaii plans. Eventually, he said, the airline would consider service from other cities in the West and other destinations on the Hawaiian islands.
Allegiant acquired six Boeing 757s in the last year, flying one on domestic routes to Las Vegas and getting the others certified for flights over water. Two of the planes are being leased to other carriers while the Federal Aviation Administration completes the certification process.
Allegiant, which bills itself as a travel company that sells packages with hotel rooms and rental cars, already has partnerships with about 50 hotel properties on Oahu and with Alamo car rentals.
Allegiant will be competing head to head with Hawaiian Airlines, which offers 19 weekly round-trip flights between Honolulu International and McCarran. A midsummer trip on Hawaiian between Las Vegas and Honolulu was priced at $220 one way on its website Monday, plus a $25 baggage fee for the first bag, $35 for a second. There’s no carry-on bag fee.
Las Vegas is a popular destination for many Hawaiians. For years, Boyd Gaming has been particularly strong in marketing efforts to attract residents of the islands to downtown Las Vegas.
“Allegiant’s new service to Hawaii represents another option for island residents to experience all Las Vegas has to offer,” Clark County Aviation Director Randall Walker said in a release issued by Allegiant. “This added service will be a benefit to our local economy, and I believe Las Vegas residents will be thrilled to have additional choices when booking an island getaway.”
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Fresno.............The Raisin capital. Betcha there's no market for that route.
4 tickets on Allegiant $1200, same 4 tickets on Hawaiian $4000 plus. Hoe you're paying attention Hawaiian. Southwest coming to this route soon as well.
Let's see...$35 carry-on bag fee, $25 to get on the plane, $25 to get off the plane, $25 for putting your carry-on bag into the overhead compartment, $25 for taking it out, $25 safety fee for demonstrating how to use the seat belts and pointing out the exits, $25 hospitality fee when the flight attendant says "buh-bye" as you leave, $25 directions fee for showing you the way to baggage claim...might be cheaper to charter a private jet to take you.
and even with all those fees. thousands cheaper than Hawaiian. Don't get me wrong. Love Hawaiian Airlines but they have gotten out of control on prices the last 2 years.
Can Allegiant now fly to JFK or Reagan next? Great that they have the airplanes now to go to Hawaii. The city now needs long haul flights to the East Coast. Skip Lexington Kentucky and fly a night flight into Reagan and watch that plane go out full each night