Passenger Add-on Fees

Is it just me, or has anyone else noticed how these passenger add on fees continue to make the cost of traveling hard to calculate.  I understand when fuel prices go up, ticket prices must go up as well.  I get that.

But, when fuel prices come down and airlines continue to charge a fuel surcharge, well, that gets to be questionable.  The airlines are not the first or only ones to implement this charge.  UPS has been doing this for years…and they continue to be an annoyance as they too, are reluctant to remove the fee even if gas prices tumble.  Actually, I think even the airlines have given up trying to get away with calling it a “surchage”.  I think its just a plain old “fuel charge” these days.

Do you remember when the price you saw advertised was the price you paid?  It included a snack, meal, headset, blankets, and even luggage!   While “security measures” have added some of these annoying fees we are faced with today, not all charges can be blamed on stopping terrorism…at least not of the “blowing-up-the-plane” variety.  (It isn’t bad enough we have the inconvenience of the security check in the first place, but to add insult to injury, we have to pay for it.)

I guess we’d have to go back to the days when they first came up with the idea to eliminate meal service from flights and then start charging a captive audience if they happen to get hungry during the flight.  That was soon followed by a baggage fee, which of course only affected those who happen to take luggage with them.  Spirit Airlines has since started charging a fee for using the overhead storage areas and thus plugging that loop-hole.

From there we enter the realm of what I call, “do-you-think-we-can-get-away-with-it?” fees.   Fees, like charging you for headsets so you can listen to the “free” in-flight movie.  Then, they started to charge for blankets…thank you American Airlines.  Back in 2010, the airline “will sell a blue fleece blanket with an inflatable neck pillow in a clear zippered pouch, and will throw in coupon for $10 off a $30 purchase at Bed, Bath and Beyond,” spokeswoman Andrea Huguely said.  JetBlue and US Airways charge $7 for a blanket-and-pillow set;  US Airways added eye shades and earplugs.

For the last several years, these add-on fees have become significant sources of income as airlines collect millions of dollars.  The latest fee by discount carrier Spirit Airlines is a Passenger Usage Fee.  There has been a class-action suit filed against Spirit Airlines over this latest “optional fee”.   Spirit lists the fee, which varies from $9 to $17 per flight on its website, under the headline “Booking related fees”, as optional, however, there doesn’t appear to be any way to “opt-out” of paying it.

Their justification for this fee?  To provide a website and phone service for passengers to purchase tickets.  Do you remember when the airlines tried to charge more for NOT booking your ticket online?  Now, they want to charge you FOR booking your ticket online.

All this comes about as the DOT attempt to clarify the pricing process by requiring airlines to quote prices on tickets which include all these ancillary fees, so you can compare apples to apples.  I am reminded of all those items up for auction on eBay that you can purchase for 99 cents, but shipping will cost you $9.95 for that regularly $10.00 item you thought you were getting such a deal on.

Do you remember Ryanair, the Ireland based, discount carrier that attempted to charge a “bathroom fee”?  You’ve just gotta love it when an airlines inspires so much anger that it has spawned its very own website for the disgruntled.  Check out I Hate Ryanair – The World’s Most Hated Airline.  If you’d like a good chuckle and see just how far some of these ancillary fees can go…or at least how far they have attempted to go, go take a peek.

Guess you can understand now why I was so excited about Tweeting Hawaiian Airlines plans to add some favorite Hawaiian foods to their in-flight meal options.   May not seem like much, but I’ll take any good news when it comes to airlines!  Happy Flying to you all!

UPDATE  9/26/2012:  Airlines report that in just the first half of this year, they have taken in a record $1.7 Billion in baggage fees!

Hawaii Camping – Is it For You?

By Cindy Blankenship

A while ago, I had a post with the information about the available Farmers’ Markets and Swap Meets on Oahu…and there were many.  Well, there are quite a few available throughout much of Maui, as well.  The following is the latest information I could find, and while I cannot guarantee that all of these are still operating with the posted schedules, I hope it will be helpful.  Where available, I have posted contact information so that you can call ahead to see if this information is still current on the Swap Meets or Farmers’ Markets you may be interested in.

A Maui Swap Meet

Maui’s answer to Honolulu’s Aloha Stadium Swap Meet, the Maui Swap Meet is open every Saturday from 7:00 am to 1:00 pm and will cost you 50 cents to gain entry if you are 13 or older.  Held at the University of Hawaii Maui College (formerly known as the Maui Community College) just off of Ka’ahumanu Ave in Kahului.  (808)244-3100

Lahaina Civic Center Craft Fair

It’s actually a bit north of Lahaina Town before the Kaanapali Resort area near the U.S. Post Office.  For 2012, here are the dates that the Craft Fair are held:  

• June 10
• June 24
• July 15
• July 29
• August 12

For more info, call (808)244-3100

The Aloha Friday Farmers’ Market

The Aloha Friday Farmers’ Market is held every Friday from 12 noon to 3:00 p.m. on the campus lawn and inside the Paina Building of the Maui Community College across from the Maui Arts & Cultural Center on West Kaahumanu Avenue in Kahului.   As the name implies, the purpose of the Aloha Friday Farmers Market is to bring local produce to local people and visitors and allow farmers to better compete with cheaper imported produce.  You may find cheaper produce on Maui, but you won’t find fresher!

Makawao Farmers’ Market

3654 Baldwin Ave., Makawao, Maui, Hawaii  (808)280-5516

• Wednesdays 10:00am to 4:00pm, subject to the weather
• Saturday 10:00am to 2:00pm, subject to the weather

Farmers’ Market of Maui – Honokowai

Hawaiian Motors parking lot across from the Honokowai Park.  7:00 am till 11:00 am, Mon-Wed-Fri

(808)669-7004

Farmers’ Market of Maui-Kihei

Suda Store parking lot on South Kihei Road; 8:00 am till 4:00 pm., Mon thru Fri

(808)875-0949

Hali’imaile Farmers Market

Hali’imaile Town Center next to the Hali’imaile General Store; 1:00-6:00 pm, Fridays only

Lipoa Street Farmers’ Market, Kihei

8:00 am till noon, Saturdays

The Maui Fresh Produce Farmers’ Market, Kahului

Center Stage area of the Queen Kaahumanu Shopping Center; 7:00 to 4:00 pm, Tue-Wed-Fri

Pepito Valdez(808)298-4289

Maui Mall Farmers’ Market and Craft Fair, Kahului

7:00am -4:00 pm, Tue-Wed-Fri

Ms Cindy Hearn, (808)871-1307

Ono Organic Farms Farmers’ Market

Hasegawa General Store, Hana Highway, All-day Mon-Thurs

Upcountry Farmers’ Market

Pukulani Long’s Drug at Kulamalu, 7:00am – noon, Saturdays

So, there you have it.  The times and locations of a dozen Farmers’ Markets and Swap Meets on Maui.  Hope you’ll take the time to visit one or more of them soon.

Hawaii Golf

By Karen Tabieros

Mangoes in Hawaii

While there are over 90 varieties of Mango that have been grown at one time or another in Hawaii, most people are familiar with Haden or Pirie due to the popularity they received back in the second half of the 20th Century.  (Does anyone else remember Chinese and Cigar mangoes?  Many of those “wild” trees growing in the middle of some cow pasture were of these varieties.)

Many of these other varieties had neither the taste or texture of the popular Haden and Pirie and each has their supporters.  I still remember when people I knew were switching their preferences from Haden to Pirie as being “da best”!  At any rate, I feel safe in saying that if you were to ask those who have a mango tree in their yards, odds are good that they are one of these two popular varieties.

Better Mangoes?

According to a report written by R.A. Hamilton, Dept. of Horticulture at the University of Hawaii, Manoa, there are more recent and better quality mangoes that would do well in Hawaii.  The problem is that Haden and Pirie mangoes are so well established that it will take a while before people will discover them.

The better of these new varieties of mangoes are:

• Gouveia:  July-Aug bearing, 12-16 oz fruit with reported Excellent eating quality and a medium bearing tree
• Rapoza:  Aug-Oct bearing, larger 20-25 oz fruit with Excellent eating quality and a heavy yielding tree
• Ah Ping:  June-July bearing, 16-32 oz fruit with Good eating quality and a medium yielding tree
• Harders:  June-August bearing, smaller 10-12 oz fruit with Good eating quality and a regular bearing tree
• Momi K:  June-July bearing, 10-12 oz fruit with Good eating quality and a moderate bearing tree
• Pope:  July-Sept bearing, 10-16 oz fruit with Good eating quality and a high yielding tree

If I had to pick my choice for replacing a Haden or Pirie mango, I would go as most would do with the Gouveia and Rapoza.  Planting a pair of these mangoes should provide some great eating fruit from July to October!  And, if I had to pick just one, it would have to be the Rapoza with its larger fruit and heavier yields, of course.  These trees were selected with Hawaii growing conditions in mind, so they should do quite well in a typical backyard environment.

It was noted in Mr. Hamilton’s report that most nurseries carried the more popular Haden and Pirie mangoes, but that availability of these other varieties should improve as people catch on that there are better alternatives.  Maybe you’d like to be ahead of the curve and have the room to plant a mango tree in your yard!

Why No All-Inclusive Resort Packages

A common inquiry made on Yahoo Answers and other Hawaii blogs is a request for recommendations for the best all-inclusive resort to stay at.  Well, in Hawaii, they are often disappointed to find out that there is no such thing.  Why?  Two major reasons stand out.

Costs

One of the disadvantages of living in the most remote islands in the world is that everything has to be shipped in.  While the general view of living in a tropical paradise includes having fresh fruits at your beckoning whenever you choose, the reality is that there simply isn’t any way to raise enough produce to supply the almost 1 million residents, let alone the millions of visitors to the islands.

The majority of foods, and other goods, are imported.  People on the mainland often pay $50-60 cents/lb for bananas, people in Hawaii pay in excess of $1.00/lb for island grown bananas.  How about pineapples?  After all, at one time, Hawaii supplied 2/3rds of the world’s supply of this exotic fruit.  Frequently found at $3-4 each throughout mainland grocery stores, it will cost you $5 or more in Hawaii.  Likewise, there are few egg producing farms and dairy farms are equally rare, so milk and eggs are also flown in from California.

Add labor for the activities people expect in an all-inclusive resort and you’re pricing yourself out of what most people would consider acceptable for an all-inclusive resort, even in Hawaii.  Fuel for wave-runners, jet ski’s and the like costs about 20% more than elsewhere in the country.  I could go on, but you get the idea.

Its Hawaii!

Probably the #1 reason why you won’t find an all-inclusive resort in Hawaii is the simple fact that it is Hawaii!

There are very few people who come to Hawaii who will stay within their resort, no matter how nice.  Disney’s new Aulani Resort is an example that comes to mind.  There are enough amenities and activities to keep your family happy and content within the resort, but I seriously doubt you will find anyone who has spent the majority of their time on-site, even there!

There is so much to see and do, even if that’s just taking leisurely drives around the island exploring.  Oahu has over 100 beaches beckoning visitors and residents alike.  Waikiki is bustling with shopping and beach activities for every activity level.  Honolulu offers some of the best and varied restaurant fare to be found anywhere!

As for the other islands, they offer even more tropical scenery than Oahu and therefore more reason to leave your hotel/resort.  Kauai is renown for its lush rainforests and waterfalls, Waimea Canyon and the Napali sea-cliffs, begs to be seen.

Maui offers Haleakala National Park, the winding road to Hana, snorkeling at Molokini, and whale-watching during the winter months – not conducive to staying within a resort.

The Big Island invites visitors to explore its variety of terrain (from desert to rainforests to sub-alpine), waterfalls, star-gazing at Mauna Kea, snorkeling with Manta rays, and the Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, all scattered throughout the island.  All of which works against the very concept of an all-inclusive resort.

An All-inclusive Resort Package on Lanai?

Once known as the Pineapple Isle since 98% of it was owned by James Dole, of Dole Pineapple and later Castle & Cooke, it had little else to offer visitors.  Since the demise of the pineapple industry in Hawaii, Lanai re-invented itself as a resort destination and features two 5-star resorts that are “the draw” to Lanai these days…an escape for Honolulu residents as well as stressed tourists looking to unwind.  So, if there was ever a place to offer an all-inclusive resort, this would be the place.

Since Castle & Cooke, the company that owned almost all of the 141-square-mile island, recently sold the land to Lawrence J. Ellison, chief executive of Oracle, the software giant, inclusive of these two resorts, perhaps such a package may be in his future plans.  Time will tell.

Better Off Without an All-inclusive Resort

I think you can see that it would be impossible for any one resort to package all that Hawaii offers within its boundaries making an all-inclusive resort package impractical for visitors to the Aloha state!  Don’t see this as a negative, but rather a positive prospect to getting the most of your time and money while exploring this tropical paradise.

*Footnote:  Interesting timing.  I just read an article entitled “All-inclusive Rates at Non-All-Inclusive Resorts“, which is kind of an  Ala-carte pricing of activities and meal plans that you can selectively put your own package together.  Perhaps this trend may find its way here to Hawaii.

70% Clean Energy by 2030

As a state, Hawaii has committed to a very aggressive and admirable goal of 70 percent clean energy for ground transportation and the generation of electricity by 2030.  So, I thought I would pull info from various websites to help give my readers an idea of how things are progressing towards this monumental task.

It will involve everyone from private investment, farmers and ranchers, research projects in cooperation with the University of Hawaii, government resources and support, and last, but not least, the public sector.  Probably the most fickle-minded is the latter with its short-term memory and easily distracted interests.  The goal of being energy independent, of not being hostage to whatever political or social event happens to be impacting the current price of oil needs to be kept firmly in place…not only in times of high oil and gas prices, but through those periods when oil and gas prices are down, such as now.

It would be one thing if oil prices would stay down, but we all know that’s not going to happen.  So, when comparing these alternative fuel sources and their cost effectiveness, they don’t always compare favorably.  Add to this problem the fact that there is a long gearing up process to go from “concept” to “implementation”, which often overlaps these up and down oil prices and you can see why so many concept projects fold before they reach viable implementation.

Its important that throughout these up and down cycles, that the ultimate goal is to achieve energy independence and do so via clean energy.  While this includes solar, wind, and wave conversion technologies, today’s blog post is focused on the bio-energy aspect.

Hawaiian Electric Company

Hawaiian Electric Co., which owns the utilities on Oahu, the Big Island, and in Maui County, has pledged to derive 40 percent of electricity from clean energy sources by 2030.  If it doesn’t meet certain benchmarks along the way, then the company can be financially penalized.

Bio-fuels from local or imported sources both count toward meeting renewable energy requirements, though local sources are given preference.

And, while Hawaiian Electric Co. has made efforts and requested bio-fuel proposals from private entities, most have not been economically feasible.  So, while their commitment to attaining their goal of 40% may be achieved, its a shame that once again, it may have to rely on outside suppliers for this fuel.  Just to test its generators, it had to import bio-fuels from Malaysia and Iowa.

From HECO’s website: [http://bit.ly/PkweC9]

Big Island

On the Big Island, SunFuels Hawaii recently put its woody biomass project on indefinite hold. The company was working on a biomass-to-liquid technology that would produce 13 million gallons of fuel annually, but the company said it just couldn’t make the numbers work.

Honolulu-based Aina Koa Pono has been hoping to build a bio-fuel plant in the Kau region of the Big Island, near Pahala.  But last year it’s contract with Hawaiian Electric was rejected by state regulators who said that the cost of the fuel was exorbitant and not in the best interest of ratepayers. The project also encountered protests from local residents who worried about health and environmental risks, traffic and noise from the facility.

On a positive note, Pacific Biodiesel unveiled its Big Island Biodiesel plant in Keaau, capable of meeting 8 percent of the state’s biodiesel needs for ground transportation.  It’s the first plant to be built in Hawaii capable of processing a range of plant products.  Among the dignitaries in attendance at this week’s blessing ceremony were Governor Neil Abercrombie and U.S. Senator Daniel Inouye.

Maui

Latest news from Maui is the “switching on” of  the 14 turbines of the 21-megawatt Kaheawa Wind II earlier this week.  Added to the turbines of Kaheawa Wind I, the new turbines raise the total number of wind power units to 34 on the ridge overlooking Maalaea Bay and the total power-generating capacity to 51 megawatts.

“The battery storage component included in this project plays a critical role in helping Maui Electric Co. accept additional renewable energy from the Kaheawa II facility into our electrical grid,”  says president Sharon Suzuki.  The battery will allow for “voltage regulation,” storing wind power during peak periods and drawing on that power during low periods, said Kekoa Kaluhiwa, spokesman for First Wind Energy.

For more information on this, go to www.mauinews.com/page/content.detail/id/562692.html?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter.

For more information on Hawaii’s clean energy efforts, check out:

• http://www.civilbeat.com/articles/2012/07/06/16258-new-hawaii-biodiesel-plant-could-be-game-changer/
• http://www.hawaiisenergyfuture.com/Articles/FAQ.html#faq_sponsoringwebsite
• http://www.energyfuturehawaii.org/
• http://energy.hawaii.gov/

If you’re going to be on the Big Island in the middle of August, you’ll want to mark your calendars for the 2011, 39th Annual Hookuikahi Establishment Day Hawaiian Cultural Festival at Puukohola Heiau National Historic Site on the Big Island of Hawaii!  Located along the coast on the northern end of Kona, Puukohola Heiau is the largest preserved heiau in the state.  Built by King Kamehameha the Great, it is well worth a stop, even if you can’t make the festival activities.

But, if you are able to fit it into your schedule, the public is invited to experience Royal Court ceremonies, traditional warrior exhibitions,  a mock battle, cultural demonstrations, traditional crafts, music, games, double-hulled canoe rides, traditional food tasting and many more activities.  Yes, you read that right, there will be free double-hulled canoe rides offered!

The Royal Court, Hookupu (Gift-Giving Ritual) and battle reenactment will take place on Saturday, August 13, from 6:30am-10:00am.

NĀ KE‘ENA HANA (Cultural Workshops and Activities 10:30am-3:00pm, Saturday & Sunday.) 

Hula Kāhiko (Ancient Hula), Lei Haku Ame Lei Wili (Ancient Lei Making), Hana Kapa Kuiki (Quilting), Ulana, Lauhala (Lauhala Weaving), ‘Ohe Hanu Ihu (Nose Flute), Kūkūweke La‘ī  (Rain Cape), Hana ‘Upena Kiloi (Net Making), Ku‘i ‘Ai (Poi Pounding), Holo Wa‘a  (Canoe Rides), Hana Hū (Spinning Tops)l, ‘Ohe Kāpala Ki‘i (Bamboo Stamp, Designs), Pahu  (Drums), Ulana Lau Niu (Frond Plaiting), Kahili (Fly Brush), Nī‘au Pūlumi (Hawaiian Broom), Ipu (Gourd, making), Hana Pala‘ie (Loop and Ball Making), Makau  (Fishhook), Kumu La‘au (Woodwork), Ku‘i, Wauke (Tapa Pounding), Awa (Traditional Drink)

As you can see, its a jammed pack schedule of activities that should enlighten and entertain everyone in the family.  The 39th Annual Hookuikahi Establishment Day Hawaiian Cultural Festival at Puukohola Heiau National Historic Site, August 13th and 14th, 2011…don’t forget the sunscreen, there’s not much shade out there.