Hawaiian Air - Saving Money the Right Way
Many businesses are looking to save money by cutting in areas that will negativly impact their service level. We have all seen enough adding fees for food, checking bags, and anything else thay can think of to add revenue without appearing to raise ticket prices. These forms of not so subtle gouging have led to major dissatisfaction with the airline industry.

Clean Mo Bettah
Hawaiian Air has announced some creative, if not revolutionary changes that we as passengers will barely (if at all) notice.
For example, they will be power washing their jet engines more frequently, reducing the cruising speed on its long-haul flights, and towing planes to the airport runways instead of using the jet engines. Hawaiian said these fuel conservation efforts are expected to save about $4 million this year. While that’s a small portion of their revenue, it is still a lot of money.
Hawaiian reportedly spent $291.6 million on fuel last year, so some may call this just a “drop in the bucket.”

Cool Looking Too!
The airline announced two weeks ago that it plans to invest $10 million to purchase eight winglets for its long-haul aircraft, in a move that will save more than 2 million gallons of jet fuel each year. The 11-foot-tall fin-like attachments, which could be installed by September 2009, will pay for themselves in four years, the airline said.
They are ordering lighter seats at a cost of about $1.5 million, which they say will pay for themselves in less than two years.
The have also purchased portable air-conditioning units for the interisland gates to cool planes in between flights. These will be used instead of the plane’s internal AC system, which is powered by the aircraft’s engines.

“Those who know how to think need no teachers.”
-Mahatma Gandhi

The Playoffs Begin
Watching this year’s political antics has been a side show perhaps like no other. Tonight’s debate will go down in history as one of the most watched TV events of all time.

Ali vs. Liston
This event conjurs up images of Muhamad Ali and Sonny Liston. I’m not saying who’s who here.

Celebrities and Politics
It has all of the ingredients we saw in the OJ Simpson murder trial and the Richard Nixon Watergate expose. I’m not saying who’s who here.
People root for their favorite football, baseball and basketball teams. We have the World Series, The Super Bowl and the NBA Playoffs.

Tyson vs. Spinks
We saw ”Iron Mike” Tyson and Michael Spinks. There are “TV Debate Parties” being held all across the country this evening, and the sports bars will be packed with “fans” just waiting to see their favorite candidate throw the knock out punch.

I have stated in previous posts that I am not a fan of the two party system. My problem with it, is that it insures division. Regardless of the outcome, roughly half of the people in the United States will be unhappy with the result and begin finding faults with our new leader. Having half of the country disagree with anything you do must make for the toughest job in the world, and unfortunately it may just keep the best, most qualified people out of the race entirely.

Cute?
I have refused to publicly offer a political opinion in this race for president, but must admit that recent stories of Sarah Palin rising up from nowhere to national stardom has been exciting enough to get me thinking that she might be better suited for president than her running mate or opponent. Sadly that’s all we have to pick from.
I made that statement to a colleague today, who then sent me this link (CLICK HERE) showing just who she is. I’m quiet no more. Take a good look through here, all the way through, if you can stomach it, be sure to watch the video, and then tell me how cool you think she is. This needs to be shown in all of the papers and on national television. It’s a story not likely to be told or shown during the campaign.

Feeling Sandwiched In?

Reuters has compiled a long list of “winners and losers” as a result of the goverment bailout of Fannie and Freddie. I guess that there are always winners and losers at most anything. The old “win-win” concept is a tough one to bring about. As noted, the list on both sides is a long one; in case you missed it you can see the entire list by clicking here. Topping the two lists were:

LIKELY WINNERS
- Major Banks, which would benefit from any increased stability in the credit markets.

PROBABLE LOSERS
- Taxpayers; who have to foot the bill for bailing out the companies.

Any Opinions?

Pick a Good One
I have chosen NOT to publicly express my personal political preferences since the shooting of John F. Kennedy.
My reasons are many, the biggest being the limited choices we have had and the poor choices we have made.
I have enjoyed watching the “show” however and for sanity reasons have looked at it more as entertaintment than serious business.
I have strong, yet unspoken views about our current choices for President and Vice President. That extends to all of the tactics I have seen from both sides. If forced to take a stand I would opt to do away with the two party system where people feel obliged to go along with one of the two people their delegates put up there. I would prefer to see a literal “free for all” system, with no primary, where we didn’t have to take sides, and instead pick the best person for the job. Doing this would eliminate the candidates talking more about their opponent’s faults and their history than their own plans if elected.
I hope to see some comments in here.
What do YOU think about these choices put before us in 2008?

Maui Bans Plastic Bags
Read the complete story in today’s Honolulu Advertiser. The only bothersome part of this is that the ban won’t take effect until January 11, 2011. The reason given was to give businesses time to use up their plastic bag supplies. Considering the deadly impact that these bags have on our ocean wildlife, perhaps the $200,000 spent annually for a contractor to pick up stray bags blowing around the Central Maui Landfill could be used to buy them up. Or, possibly those merchants still using plastic bags could be enlightened about their danger and they would voluntarily stop handing them out.

They Are Deadly
Ignorant behavior is tolerable until enlightenment occurs; after that it becomes stupidity or selfishness. I can remember a time when cigarette smoking was fashionable and even allowed in hospitals. Everyone had ash trays in their homes, even the rare non-smokers. But once it became known that cigarette smoking and second hand smoke kills, things changed. Imagine a doctor telling a patient, “You have lung cancer and should stop smoking, but go ahead and finish up the carton you have on hand first.”  
The yet to be enenlightened will no doubt fight this law as they did the smoking ban. For example, the president of Retail Merchants of Hawaii was quoted as saying, “There is good reason to resist the call for a ban on plastic bags.” She said, “It will have unintended consequences for consumers, including higher costs at the checkout stand as businesses pass along higher shipping costs for bulkier paper bags.” She claimed that it takes seven truckloads of paper bags to carry the same number of plastic bags in a single truckload. I ask, “How much are the lives of our turtles and whales worth?” “Consumer acceptance is another issue,” she said. “It’s going to take quite some time to get everyone to use (reusable bags), and to expect people to leave the house and remember to bring five to six of those bags is just not practical.”

It’s Easy!
I stopped by Foodland on the way home from my walk this morning to buy some fruit juice. I simply purchased a cloth bag. As I did, I shuddered as I watched the checkers stuffing things into plastic bags for the uninformed.

No Need!
Some other justifications offered for continuing the use of plastic were “the ease of carrying leaky plate lunches, dry cleaning, potting soil, hardware items and other goods.” She even said, “People use it to pick up dog poop — what’s your alternative, newspaper? That’s just gross. Plastic bags are very practical in our busy lives.”
I am sensing a big opportunity here for someone to come along with a solution to that problem. Some actually have already. Here’s one bag that feels kind of like plastic, but it is actually made from corn!
Assuming that dog lovers may feel some empathy for other animals, if not the environment itself, I think they will buy in to better solutions once they are made aware of the consequences of the convienece of plastic. There are not very many people fighting for asbestos anymore.
The story said that violators of the bag ban will face administrative fines of up to $1,000. That’s a great deterrant, but let’s hope that the enfocement of the law is done better that the smoking law has been.

Headlines Get Attention
Unfortunately all that some people read are the headlines, and if you get into the meat of the story the facts are rarely as sensational as the headlines. For example, this headline appeared in Pacific Business News today:
Hawaii Hotel Occupancy Down, Room Rates Up
The article goes on to say that statewide occupancy is down 4.6 percentage points from 2007 to 78.4 percent, and room rates, climbed 1.2 percent to $231 a night.
Digging a little deeper we see that the Oahu occupancy fell a mere 1.9 percentage points to 83.1 percent. The big drops were on Kauai (10.5%) and the Big Island (8.1%), where the visitor numbers are the smallest anyway.
When talking percentages we need to remember that the huge majority of visitors are on Oahu, where occupancy was off a tiny 1.9%, and 81.1% of the rooms are full. In my book that is nothing to get so hysterical about, especially when you take into account that these people are spending more money than the missing 1.9% would have spent if they were here. 
I read that people are concerned about the economy. I think that much of that is a state of mind, and the press could do us all a big favor by spinning the facts in a positive manner. Think about a headline saying:
Oahu Barely Feels the Impact of a Supposed Recession - Lucky We Live Hawaii
Then go on and print the factual details.

Best Buy Jumps in on iPhone Business
AT&T has had a sweet deal since the inception of the iPhone, being the only retailer authorized to sell it outside of Apple itself. 
The free ride has ended, and as CBS News reported, Best Buy now has the availability to sell the iPhone from its 970 full-size stores and 16 smaller stores. They claim to have upgraded their computer systems to handle cell-phone activation and spent 250,000 hours training its employees, but from personal experience I would be slow to buy it there.
It is suspected that Radio Shack will be the next retailer to get in on the iPhone frenzy. They already sell AT&T phones, but not the iPhone. AT&T continues to be the authorized provider, but time will tell on that as well. What looks like a big windfall, could become a disaster if they don’t stay on top of the service side. 

No More Phone Books
Not only do I agree with hotels eliminating Phone Books from the room, but I’d like to see them stop stackng them at my front door as well.
I stopped using the Phone Book when 411 came about, and I stopped using that when I discovered Google.
Hyatt Hotels, Hyatt Place, Kimpton Hotels, and several chains operated by Starwood Hotels — Westin, Sheraton, Aloft and Element — no longer put phone books in the rooms. Hilton and InterContinental Hotels leave it up to individual hotel owners to decide if to use them. I would like that same option. I cannot help but wonder how many trees are wasted annually to print these monsters.

Added Baggage Charge Isn’t Cool
Finally go! Airlines gave Hawaiian the opportunity to fly the “higher route”, but they opted to get into a pennies match instead by charging $17 for the added bag after go! announced that they would be charging $25. Rest assured that go! will now drop it to $15. What will Hawaiian do then? After all, the space where the bags go is there regardless, and blaming the price of fuel for this attempt to grab a few added bucks is a “low shot” for sure. Incidentally, I am a big Hawaiian Air fan. 
All I can say is that I am glad that I fly 1st Class; not because of the “baggage savings”, but because I will get to board early enough to get an overhead space for my carry on bag. I am sure that those carry on bags will be stuffed to da max to save baggage charges, and put in the 1st overhead area they pass on the way back to their seat. It’s bad enough that the flight attendants are keeping the first few overheads to themselves. 1st Class passengers who arrive a little late have to hike half way through the plane to get an overhead, and upon landing have to do the “salmon swimming upstream” number to go find it.

What a Hassle!
I stopped checking bags many years ago due to the delays and incidents of lost luggage, so the added cost is meaningless to me. People traveling to and around Hawaii carry too much luggage anyway. Visitors arrive here and then discover that they don’t need the three piece suit and heels to go to dinner. At that point they stay in the luggage the whole way.