American Airlines appears to be telling flight attendants that it has plans to re-start Chicago to Honolulu flying, listing the route on the bid sheet that cabin crew use to express preferences for the flights that they will work.
This is a route that United already operates, and American dropped nearly three years ago. Despite promises American has shown little inclination to grow and compete out of O’Hare. And it seems to me they’d be more likely to operate flights that don’t yet have an incumbent carrier. Nonetheless, this seemed interesting.
@xJonNYC So in your opinion (see red underline), does this mean the route was never canceled as so many have speculated the past few years, and that it will make a return in the near-ish future? pic.twitter.com/0ZFbaNCtVO
— Drew Swift (@TheDrewSwift) January 17, 2024
This isn’t a route that aviation watchdog JonNYC, who often hears these things before they happen, has offered speculation on.
I haven’t heard anything about American flying Chicago – Honolulu either. It’s listed as seasonal on the bid sheet but that that season would be winter – and it definitely isn’t operating this winter. There’s no need to add it to the bid sheet yet for next winter. On the other hand, it doesn’t seem like a holdover, since Charlotte – Honolulu isn’t listed here.
American Airlines Boeing 787-8 in Chicago
A return of this route would surprise me. A year ago, Chief Commercial Officer Vasu Raja explained why they dropped the route.
Chicago – Hawaii flying requires a widebody aircraft and while customers “love flat bed seats” in Raja’s words, the airline needs “business or high end leisure travelers paying a premium” to make that work. There’s “lots of premium redemption up front.” Chicago – Hawaii didn’t make money for American when they tried it. In the future “if fares creep up” it’s something they’d look at again.
A business seat takes four seats of space, so unless they’re paying four times the coach fare they’re not making money.
American has focused away from Chicago, seeing other opportunities as higher value. You’re more likely to see a widebody aircraft in Cancun than Chicago. Under Senior Vice President for Network Planning Brian Znotins, American has taken a very conservative approach to long haul flying, preferring to focus on short haul domestic. The airline also has had limited widebody aircraft because,
- They retired Airbus A330 and Boeing 767s during the pandemic
- Boeing has faced delays in delivering 787s that American has on order
- And American has delayed delivery of several 787-9s out at least four years
Waikiki
While American hasn’t demonstrated interest in growing at Chicago in recent years, as United’s position has solidified there, O’Hare remains one of my favorite American Airlines hubs because the terminal has a Tortas Frontera and a Flagship lounge. I’ll choose to connect there over Philadelphia or Charlotte when possible.
Flying home from Hawaii to the east cost sucks. It usually involves flying out of Hawaii at night, layover on the west coast extremely-early in the morning, and then landing on the east coast in the afternoon.
A layover in Chicago would provide a few extra hours to attempt sleep on the overnight leg, and a layover at a more lively time of day that is closer to your home time zone.
I try to avoid flying through Chicago at all costs because of delays. AA EXP support once gave me an extra system wide upgrade because I missed out on going to a flagship lounge because I got delayed at ORD. I told them I was running out of AA hubs to avoid due to delays (DFW, CLT, JFK) lol
A ORDHNL flight is somewhat limited in the customer base it can tap. Of course, it can reach local Chicago originators, and connections through ORD, but someone flying INDHNL, for example, can just as well connect in DFW as ORD. So restarting a ORDHNL flight is going to have less opportunity for incremental business as it would if that very valuable plane and crew were used for origins and destinations that AA doesn’t currently serve at all.
I live in Chicago so such a flight would be welcome. My last trip required a stop on the west coast going out, but the stopover coming back was a drag.
The four to one ratio of business to coach seat spacing is very perceptive. Maybe a “comfort coach” with more leg room would attract passengers with real money if priced right.
@Pat and Alexander, UA options are there from ORD, including service to other islands.
Great. Now do CLT HNL. K thanks
AA has tried this route at least a dozen times, it has failed every time. Dont they ever learn?
Alexander–What I would like to see on 787 wide body flights, in addition to more legroom, is one section of the economy cabin arranged in a 2-4-2 instead of the 3-3-3 that is nearly standard for all airlines. This would truly make AA preferable for many. This is mush more enjoyable for couples. Alas, this will never happen–I would bet that the brain trust at AA is looking at 3-4-3 in economy for the 787’s and trying to determine if they could get away with that. For me it is all about the seat and space–I don’t need to be pampered at all.
Have flown the old ORD-HNL route on AA many times over the years, as well as the DFW-HNL route, as we live on the east coast. Given the potential issues with ORD in the winter, would rather just fly out of DFW to get to HNL. If we’re paying cash for business/first class seating, HA is a much better option.
I just dropped $3.5k for one round trip on UA IAD-HNL in Feb. trust me, the premium market to/from Hawaii is there. But with $3-4k etc fares to the East Coast on UA, the minimum that they should do is offer lounge access, including Polaris.
I view this as a win – we need more nonstops to HI from the mid/east coast.
Perhaps ahead of Alaska / Hawaiian potential acquisition to direct more OW traffic?
The Tortas Fronteras is why you prefer ORD to connect? Jesus you need some better taste buds.
As an AA pilot, I don’t think AA will plan on using 787’s on this route, unless they see exceptional demand that allows them to be profitable despite heavy competition from United. Perhaps serving Chicago as a OW connection with Hawaiian is in the works. Imo, the rte will be served in a future xlr aircraft. The Chicago AA airbus base is already in the works for 2024.
There is so much demand for premium service on the DFW to Hawaii routes…on the 777…I honestly don’t understand why they don’t add this to CLT…they run 777’s out of CLT and this would provide synergy with international service. If one has to book almost a year out to ensure getting seats in 1st this seems to be a great competitive route against United from EWR and Delta from ATL….AA Doesn’t compete from the east coast