Escort is airline's latest cut
By Kelly Yamanouchi
Advertiser Staff Writer
As Hawaiian Airlines struggles to cut costs and continue operating, its employees have accepted labor concessions, interisland flights have been slashed — and now its youngest customers are finding it harder to fly alone.
As of April 1, Hawaiian no longer allows unaccompanied children under the age of 12 to connect to or from other airlines. Previously, for a fee, the airline provided a child escort to help minors make flight connections.
"It's just part of our overall effort to streamline processes and hopefully save some costs," said Hawaiian spokesman Keoni Wagner.
Hawaiian is one of several carriers that have filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection as the economic problems of the aviation industry mount.
The change in Hawaiian's child escort service is another sign of the tighter-fisted era of airline travel as carriers look for ways to stem losses, often by cutting services that travelers took for granted.
Some airlines have stopped providing meals and impose stricter limits on free baggage checking. Others, including Hawaiian and Aloha airlines, have started charging for paper tickets. Numerous airlines are cutting flights.
Wagner said that while the airline charged for the child escort, it had to pay extra in some situations to supervise and accommodate children overnight if a flight was canceled.
Hawaiian also eliminated a child discount on fares last month.
Some carriers, including Hawaiian's code-share partner America West, do not allow unaccompanied minors to transfer to connecting flights. "So that makes it difficult for us, for example, if we were trying to connect someone," Wagner said.
Hawaiian continues to escort unaccompanied children 5 to 11 years old who are traveling only on Hawaiian, for a charge of $20 to $35 each way.
Aloha Airlines still accepts, and charges for, unaccompanied minors transferring to or from another carrier, with certain restrictions. Spokesman Stu Glauberman said there were no plans to change the policy.
Hawaiian's change has inconvenienced at least one family who used the service to shuttle children to Hawai'i.
Colleen Houg of Kenmore, Wash., lives in Wailea, Maui, during winters, and said she didn't know about the new policy until her granddaughters arrived in Honolulu on a Northwest Airlines flight this month with Hawaiian tickets to transfer to Maui.
Hawaiian prevented the two girls from getting on their scheduled flight to Maui, and Houg said they had to find an airline manager before they were allowed to fly.
She plans to travel to Honolulu to escort them through the airport so they can return home.
The decision to cut the escort service "doesn't quite make sense to me," Houg said.
"I know of other grandparents who are waiting for their children to come over on their spring breaks," Houg said. "It certainly isn't helping to accommodate the tourists."
