Baggage fees keep Hawaiian Air aloft
By Dave Segal, The Honolulu Star-Advertiser | |
McClatchy-Tribune Information Services |
The airline took in
"The base fare alone doesn't pay the freight, so those of us who need to check a bag or want a seat selection, that's where the revenue is," he said. "It's not customer adverse. It's very positive. It's a whole new model. Those of us who don't want to check a bag don't have to pay for it. Those of us who want any kind of ancillary service, we will pay for it."
While Hawaiian would have been profitable in the second quarter without the baggage fees, that's not always the case. In the April-to-June period, Hawaiian earned
However, through the first six months of this year, Hawaiian's profit was only
More striking is the
Nationwide the 15 reporting U.S. airlines made
Hawaiian spokeswoman
"These models offer an a la carte menu of services, similar to the cable, insurance and mobile phone industries," she said. "By charging individually for services included in other carriers' base price, the low-cost carriers and ultralow-cost carriers are able to offer base fare prices below the actual cost of providing the seat. Other carriers must offer competitive base ticket prices. Thus, ancillary prices have become increasingly important to maintain even marginal profitability."
There are frequent-flier and credit card programs that Hawaiian offers its HawaiianMiles members that allow for either free checked bags or discounts, Botticelli said.
Last quarter, Hawaiian's baggage fee revenue was its most ever during an April-to-June period and was up 6.8 percent from
"In 2008 when
"For Hawaiian the
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