Capsun's Corner – by Capsun M. Poe

Executive Summary:  Very long rant on having to fly go! Airlines.  Benedict Arnold; Appeasing my guilt; Problems with go! Airlines:  checking in, in the terminal, before take-off, on the aircraft, during flight, and after landing.

Don’t Fly go!  There’s no ALOHA in the HAWAIIAN skies – GO! figure.  Please use Hawaiian, Island Air, Mokulele, Pacific Wings, or even the Superferry for your inter-island travel needs.

Benedict Arnold

If you didn’t get the Benedict Arnold reference, you can read more about him.  Suffice it to say that he’s a famous traitor (of the American Revolution) and that his name is synonymous with a traitor and treason.  He ranks right up there with Brutus, who helped kill Julius Caesar.

Now, my actions aren’t even in the same stratosphere as Arnold’s, but I sure do feel guilty…about having to fly Mesa Air’s go! Airlines for the first time.  I equate it to having dinner with the person who killed my friend (Aloha Airlines).  The only excuse I have is that I was just following orders – I had to go for a work trip and they insisted on go! to save money.

What follows will be a completely and utterly biased post against go!, but this is my blog and you come here for my commentary, not my balanced news coverage, right?  It should come as no surprise that today’s topic would result in my longest post to date (over 1650 words).  After all, it was my negative reaction to something go! did recently that got me to start this blog in the first place.

Appeasement

To help cope with this betrayal, I did a few things:

• Decided to document EVERY. LITTLE. THING. go! Airlines did wrong, or that I just didn’t like about flying with them.
• I packed my 1:130 scale model of an Aloha Airlines Boeing 737-700 and took pictures with all the go! logo stuff to remind them of their role in the demise of my beloved Aloha Airlines.
• Refused to give them any more money than they got from work for the airfare:  no baggage and no beverages.
• I listened to “Aloha” by the Mana`o Company on both flights, to help dull the pain.

So plentiful were their errors that I’ve had to divide them into themes.

Problems with go! and checking-in:

• At the check-in kiosk, after swiping my credit card to identify myself, I have to select an option indicating whether I know my confirmation code, destination, or flight number.  On Hawaiian Airlines, the swipe is sufficient to pull up all reservation information.
• I was asked by a go! staff member if I needed help checking in on the machine, to which I replied, “No.”  Completely ignoring me, she rudely barged her way in to “help” me – after I declined it.  She took over my check-in process from me.  I was taking a while because I was trying to get photos of my Aloha Airlines plane next to all the go! logos, not because I didn’t know how to use the system.
  
• The go! boarding pass doesn’t have the boarding gate number printed on it.  You just have to pay very close attention to the announcements.  Hawaiian and Aloha both printed the gate number, and even Island Air does it.
• They tried to charge us a $10 checked bag fee for our first bag.  We travel on State of Hawaii tickets which are supposed to be coded as corporate, which means we are exempt from the fee.  After a little arguing, my work wife got them to waive the fee on Friday.  On Saturday, it was me checking in the bag and I went through the same ordeal.  So I just sneered, “I guess it’s just one more thing for the complaint list!”  Note that if I flew on Hawaiian, I would be exempt from the fee because of my Pualani status.

Problems with go! in the terminal:

• Our flight was oversold and they were asking for volunteers to give up their seats.  That rarely happens on Hawaiian and Island Air.
• The announcements over the speaker system don’t sound like they have aloha; it’s more like it was such a bother to have to tell us our information as passengers.  The announcements by Hawaiian and Island Air are always friendly; so were those from Aloha.
• They lied!  The flight status monitor showed our flight was boarding for almost ten minutes, but the plane wasn’t ready for us.

Problems with go! on the ground and before take-off:

• When they finally marched us out to the tarmac on the Commuter Terminal side, we had a long walk to the plane.  Even Island Air parks the plane right in front of the gate.
• We had to stand in the *HOT* sun and line-up for five minutes – it seemed like 15 with the heat!
• The flight attendant kept barking at us, “Keep moving, moving, moving” when I tried to take a picture at the front of the plane, that took no more than 5-8 seconds.  Hawaiian, Aloha and Island Air would have let me take it – they like tourists and locals to have a pleasant flying and vacation experience.

Problems with go! and its aircraft:

• Seats on go! are unassigned.  Hawaiian assigns seats so that it eliminates that mad rush when boarding.
• The seats on go! are smaller – and more uncomfortable than on Hawaiian or Aloha.
• There are only four seats across per row.  And they manage to pack us in there like sardines and herd us like cattle.  I’m only used to four seat configuration in First Class on Hawaiian.
• During takeoff, I could really feel every bump in the tarmac.  It must be because Hawaiian and Aloha use real jets, not turbo props like go! does,
• The plane was hot the whole trip!  Hawaiian, Aloha, and Island Air always have cool temperatures on their planes.
• There is a low overhang in the cabin, so even short people bump their heads.  Hawaiian and Aloha provided ample room, and even Island Air isn’t that low.
• Their emergency exit row is the same size as Hawaiian and Aloha’s regular row.

Problems with go! during the flight:

• The flight was late!  We pushed back at 11:41 – or six minutes late.  After pushing back we just sat there and didn’t take off for a few more minutes, sweating as the time passed by.  This probably wouldn’t have happened if I flew America’s most on-time airline.
• Not only were we the only Native Hawaiians on the plane, we were the only two locals on-board.  Thank goodness other locals avoid this horrible airline.
• Our flight attendant kept yelling and barking orders and instructions at us.  If I wanted that, I could just hang out with the fiancee in her classroom.
• The flight attendant tried to be entertaining.  But he failed and came off as quite disingenuous- much like the touristy versions of hula shows around town.
• There were no complimentary drinks (like soda or juice).  Each of those cost $1.50 and there was no water except bottled water, which cost $2.  On Hawaiian, Aloha, and Island Air those would have been free.
  
• Our flight attendant wasn’t from here and has only been in Hawaii for three months.  At least when I fly Hawaiian, Aloha, and Island Air I got to see a local face with some ties to our community.  Maybe that has something to do with how go! behaved in the inter-island fare war.
• The flight attendant kept pushing beer or Pepsi.  I said “no” I didn’t, but he asked three more times and I said no three more times.  I gave him the pissed-off look, but that wasn’t enough.  Finally, the work wife had to shoo him away.
• They wear shorts and a polo as their uniform.  It’s not a real uniform, they look more like a cheap valet.
• They don’t collect trash with a bag.  Instead, they grab all the trash from passengers with their bare hands and take it to the trash bag at the front of the plane.  This is very unhygienic!  Even Island Air can take the time and effort to do this, so go! has no excuse.

Problems with go! during and after landing:

• Their landing gear just “drops” with a sudden thud.  Not like how it does gracefully like Hawaiian and Aloha.  Even Island Air is better, and their planes have propellers!
• They arrive at a gate that is much farther away than Hawaiian or Aloha’s gates are.
• The landing on the return trip was rough.  Actually, it was one of the roughest I’ve ever had and I wanted to assume the crash position.  And I say this with lots of experience flying.
• They didn’t keep a gate check item (which you drop-off and pick-up at the gate) at the gate.  Instead, they took it over to baggage claim, so we had to go there to pick it up.  Luckily, we already had one check-in.
• They broke my luggage tag! Hawaiian, Aloha, Island Air, and even United never did this to me.

Conclusion

Yes, go! is a cheaper option, but the bottom line is that they are horrible at listening to their passengers – and you only save a few dollars.  I think I will go through great lengths to avoid travelling for work.  As long as we have to fly on go!, I don’t need to go anywhere.  I am still having difficulty dealing with the fact that my principles were thrown away for $55 one-way tickets!  I can usually get a Hawaiian flight for $64.

Now that Mokulele is starting a new battle in the inter-island air fare war, I sure hope go! is the next casualty of that war.  I know its demise will not be greeted with nearly as many sad faces and the huge outpouring of fond memories as was the case with Aloha.

I, for one, will gladly and gleefully celebrate the end of go!.  In fact, if go! or Mesa Air go bankrupt, I will throw a party!

Mahalo!

Update:  If you are my friend on Facebook, pictures that correspond to this post are available in my “Don’t Fly go!” album.

Tags: Aloha Airlines, go! airlines, Hawaiian Airlines