Delta Air Lines is dropping major hub service from Atlanta and Minneapolis to Maui from its winter schedule. The Minneapolis flight was only just added to the schedule three months ago.
MSP and ATL to OGG will apparently be removed from the Delta's upcoming winter schedule.
— AdrianWaltz (@AdrianWaltz) September 9, 2023
Devastated by fires, the island’s economy is 80% dependent on tourism. They’ve been asking tourists to come back but too many people are shaming people not to do so, calling tourists ‘exploitive’ when the locals are now facing unemployment as a result.
- Delta isn’t going to operate these flights, because people aren’t buying tickets
- It’s your fault that Delta is abandoning these major hub flights to Maui. Delta will still operate to the island from Los Angeles and Seattle.
The locals are now being punished a second time by people like the commenter who wrote on this blog,
Just because someone is working in Wailea doesn’t mean they do not have family and friends who may have been severely impacted in Lahaina. Forcing those individuals to wait on you because you feel you deserve your vacation and are “helping the economy” is insensitive at best.
Wildfires, pushed by winds from Hurricane Dora, raced through parts of Hawaii, burning down businesses in Lahaina, Maui, injuring several people, forcing evacuations and leading some to flee to the relative safety of the ocean, where they were rescued by the Coast Guard. pic.twitter.com/SKZibg1J09
— The Associated Press (@AP) August 9, 2023
Mainlanders have virtue signaled Maui residents into a spiral where fewer visitors means less air service, and reduced air service will further reduce visitors, each time reducing available jobs on the island and business for shops, guides, and other services.
How do you feel about staying away from Maui? What would Tom Brady do?
(HT: @xJonNYC)
seriously, Gary.
Do you realize that United has also cut a number of flights from its interior US gateways including DEN, ORD and EWR to Maui?
And all carriers have reduced the number of flights from the west coast.
If you would actually read real sources of data such as aeroroutes dot com instead of relying on the tweets of twits you might know the true and actual story. Aeroroutes has a full posting in the last week of ALL the US and Canadian carrier OGG schedule changes. The list is a whole lot longer for other carriers including UA and WN than it is for DL.
And it has nothing to do with defending Delta. It has everything to do with getting the full and accurate story right.
@Gary: Whilst I am well known to have developed an absolute loathing of DL since Ed Bastion became CEO (before which I was a happy Diamond) I have to say, I find it hard to fault them here. If folk aren’t buying the tickets, should they fly an empty aircraft?
That said, and understanding the argument that Maui needs the tourist dollars, I would not go there just now. It just wouldn’t feel right in a very undefined sort of way. I suspect a lot of other folk feel similarly.
@Woofie – I literally say the reason Delta is doing this is… you. 😉
@Tim – once again you rush to criticize calling out Delta, when if you read the actual post I attribute to decline in demand, because of passengers staying away. You were just triggered 🙂 I never suggested *only* Delta will reduce Maui flying, this is just the latest news/change.
@Gary your headline is definitely flame bait. The actual article not as much.
Delta throws most folks under the bus it’s what they do best
Profits over lives with or without a tragedy like the Maui fires
Gary,
no one said whether reduced demand is the problem or not.
when EVERY airline that flies from the mainland to OGG has reduced capacity, it is irresponsible at best and pure posting inaccuracies to single out any carrier for their cuts ANYWHERE.
It is clear that you see your role in the aviation blog world as being the most bottom-finding, trash-pushing, bait clicking site on the web.
do better, Gary
You have to love Gary doing a clickbait title that Tim immediately jumps on because… he’s tim and well… it’s delta under “attack”
Seriously, Tim
You spend a ton of time on this site
max
I spend alot of time on the web. Period.
You can’t stand that I actually can say something about the topic because I know the industry and ensure I stay that way
the demand to OGG isn’t there, the media has saturated the world w/ pictures of burned out Maui and people don’t simply don’t want to go to OGG enough to justify widebody flights from the central and eastern US.
It isn’t any airline’s fault that Hawaii failed to heed the warnings from places like Greece that have regularly faced wildfires – and yet lost far fewer people this year because of preparations.
For a state whose officials immediately jumped to the internet to claim “climate change” did this, it makes no sense to expect airlines to fly planes 10-20% full from 4000 and 5000 miles away.
What I gleaned from this is it highlighted the fact that the “tweets from twits” (good one Tim Dunn) has had an effect. Here’s reality….The stay away mentality is a very small, self centered faction that represents their view of the world and not the vast majority of genuinely good people working to recover from this unprecedented tragedy. Social media ran with it and it’s made recovery even more difficult. Simple reality is Maui is a large and beautiful island with a lot of people in need. Tourists that come to support them will be greeted with a lot of Aloha, a lot….and will find a relatively un crowded paradise just like those that beat the crowd to the post Covid reopening did.
What I don’t understand is that these Delta Maui flights weren’t even scheduled to begin until the winter. Maui demand may be weak now but it could improve meaningfully by December. You can’t gauge demand unless you actually sell the flights.
It hasn’t been been mentioned here, but the official reopening of West Maui was announced yesterday as Oct 8th.
@Anthony, The airline that has the best read on Hawaii is Hawaiian. Routes to Hawaii for a mainland airline are just a small piece of a much larger puzzle for them.
anthony,
you do realize that most airlines start selling flights 11 months in advance? Airlines have clearly seen a downturn in bookings to OGG even for the winter or they wouldn’t be pulling the flights.
and john w,
HA is also pulling down a number of OGG flights. And, no, they don’t have any better read on demand than anyone else that flies there.
and given that HA is already one of the weakest US carriers, this reduced demand at OGG adds a proverbial log on the fire that has been burning at HA for years, in part due to WN’s aggressive expansion in Hawaii and UA’s willingness to throw capacity – including 365 seat 777s, the largest US carrier scheduled aircraft – into the market.
https://www.sfgate.com/hawaii/article/should-hawaii-visitors-stop-traveling-to-maui-18140407.php
Remember when the local government in Maui snubbed their nose at tourists?
Tim – Obviously bookings have declined to OGG. That doesn’t mean they can’t pick back up for the winter, especially if the Mayor/Governor/President/Senator/whoever gets out there and promotes the destination.
If Maui pols were smart they would be handing out $100 bills to every passenger that lands at OGG through 2023……..would go viral and might buy 1 lunch at a West Maui resort…….bottom line is that island needs tourists to come back now and there will be less suffering if they do……..no need to bankrupt small businesses and extend the unemployment rolls over a “virtue” signal…………right Jason Mamoa??
Part of the problem is costs to stay – we vacationed in Maui in the 2010s, it was fairly reasonable then. Now, with proliferation of AirBnb/VRBO etc you’re looking at $500+/night. American families can’t afford that – or won’t – they’ll just go somewhere else.
I would be thoroughly confused. Do you want us to come to Maui or not?
@ Gary — Does Hyatt in Maui need business bad enough to finally give Globalists complimentary upgrades to real suites and full complimentary breakfast at the Andaz Maui? Somehow I imagine not…
I found about this directly earlier today, when I got two emails from Delta saying our trips were “All Set!”, flying through SLC to OGG, out of the blue.
My immediate thought was “my credit card has been stolen”, but then on seeing the date, I realized this was Delta canceling our nonstop ATL-OGG tickets I had purchased in July. The purchase was before the fire, to reward my college-age daughter with a once-in-a-lifetime first trip to Hawaii with Dad during her holiday break from Georgia Tech. After initially booking in Main Cabin and two weeks later upgrading to Delta One at what at the time seemed a quite reasonable $965 each for a 10-hour flight, we’ve now been downgraded and it appears Delta plans to compensate us with traveler-specific “eCredit” that would expire next July, 12 months after initial booking. Given the expiration and lack of transferability, this credit will be absolutely worthless, given my daughter’s school schedule. Hours later I’ve yet to see anything further from Delta explaining the change and where my money has gone, other than an “Open” eCredit, so to say that this could have been better handled is an understatement.
Carol Lewis…The Governor just gave a press conference stating West Maui will be opened and welcoming tourists on Oct 8th…the rest of the island is open now. The tourists that come will be in for an extra dose of Aloha. The vast majority of the folks on Maui want to recover and rebuild. Tourism will be key. In other words any message that says you are not welcome is from an individual with an attitude and in no way reflects the general population of Maui nor the position of the State.
Does anyone remember how Hawaii treated visitors during the pandemic?
You reap what you sow.
The headline of this article is shrill clickbait. As other readers mentioned, all airlines have pulled down Maui capacity. I do get the feeling that the author uses any opportunity to target Delta because of his personal dissatisfaction with Skymiles.
As a first-time visitor who was served this website in my Google feed, I have to say I’m unimpressed with my comment of personal impact from this cancellation gets moderated away with no explanation, while apparent long-time visitors can simply bicker back and forth endlessly.
We were told the fires were a result of global warming. Wouldn’t it make sense then to reduce some of the CO2 emitting flights.
Oh tim
It’s been so fun watching everyone else roast you.
I hope you’ve missed me 😉
But yes
Everyone knows you spend too much time on the internet. It seems to be your entire life aside from some Cheetos and Mountain Dew to keep you alive and functioning.
Keep Climbing, Timmy 😉
Tim Dunn rocks. “Tweets of Twits” is legendary. More of a leader in thought travel than the rest of us combined. Please pay it forward.
And if global warming is to blame, jets should not be allowed to take off to HI with nary an empty seat. Consolidate every flight regardless of the carrier at PHX let the airlines work out the $$ math themselves…
Visitors are welcomed, however out of respect for those who lost family andtheir homes stay altogether away from West Maui. Don’t come just to gawk at the devastation. Come and show respect in all that you do and say while visiting.
We feel bad for rhe Lahaina fire victims. That said, this is capitalism. The airlines are responsible to stockholders; they’re not charities running flights to Maui for charity purposes. And Maui/Lahanaina resorts and VRBO properties for years have charged the highest rates they can, as the marketplace has allowed. So don’t expect any sympathy now that the tourist lodging demand has temporarily turned down.
And if the workers are hurting on Maui as they say they are, do something about it. Maybe unionize?
But do something, and stop just whining about your misfortune.
Delta and all the other airlines are just trying to help out, by polluting Maui less. After all, climate change is what caused the Maui wildfires, right?
the only one that is roasting is MAX that he can’t dominate the conversation.
There are far more seats to Hawaii being pulled out of service by at least 3 other airlines besides Delta.
The reason why Gary focuses on Delta is because I respond to them and generate the page views he desperately needs to claim that he beats out OMAAT.
See, I get the right to trash, I mean roast, him and he is happy to let me do it as long as it generates page clicks.
Not a chance. To hell with Hawaii. They HATE America….but they LOVE our welfare.
@Tim Dunn – your page views are literally immaterial. I’m doing like 8, 9 million page views per month. Do you think your page views make me $2 per month?
no one said that MY page views make a difference.
The point is that YOU want the page views and are happy to take any comment you can about anything trashy you can write about in order for people to read comments, including mine.
Which is why people like MAX get so twisted because he wants to dominate the conversation unless it involves someone else saying anything negative.
The reality, Gary, as hard as it is for you to accept – and you really aren’t THAT stupid – is that there are multiple airlines that have cancelled and reduced flights as a result of the fires, the impact of which could have been mitigated by better management as has been done in other parts of the world. Hawaii had nonstop media coverage about the fires for weeks and the pictures of devastation – as real as they are – did more to negatively impact tourism than all of the ads that Hawaii has run in 10 years.
You do realize that traffic is nowhere recovered in SW Florida- the Ft. Myers/Sarasota area – after last year’s hurricane?
And the point still remains that you would not have a story or it would be written very differently if you actually read or quoted actual data sources instead of cherrypicked tweets.
But one thing I have learned is that you don’t apologize for making a mistake – which we are all capable of doing.
and, most importantly, you are willing to distort any story if it gets page views; trashy is better if it accomplishes that purpose and the whole truth be damned.
As during COVID, the federal government needs to fund these flights 100%. Even if the plants fly empty or don’t make “economic sense”, we need to do what is best for the survivors.
Personally, I feel the government should also be paying every hospitality worker on Maui a FULL livable wage until the tourists fully return.
We paid airline captains’ their massive salaries just to sit on their hands. Similarly, there’s no reason why those in Maui should lose one cent of income just because of a natural disaster.
The whole point of government is to provide “life, liberty, and happiness” insurance for the populace. It’s time for us to do right by these folks.
Demand is down? Not surprising.
Have you checked the hotel prices on Maui?
That’s all it takes for me to say NO.
no, Tom, flights to Maui should not be subsidized just to keep planes in the air.
The US subsidized airlines so that hundreds of thousands of employees would not be laid off.
There are ample of other places for airlines to fly including for Europe if UA has a need to redeploy its 777s which it is cancelling.
If Maui needs help, then Hawaii should get in line at the federal trough and then argue the case behind Ohio for the train derailment, Florida for the hurricane last year, and Texas for the migrants which the federal government keeps allowing in without a mechanism for caring for them.
The fact is that virtually ALL airlines that fly to Maui have cut service and any objective search – not making an article out of a cherrypicked tweet to highlight one airline – would show that the airlines are doing the right thing.
I am visiting now and the locals appreciate and eant tourists to return. Car rental prices have declined dramatically. It is actually a great time for tourists to return. Uncrowded and welcome.
Maui doesn’t welcome tourists. Hawaii acted like it wasn’t part of the US during COVID.
Maui can GFIS. Hawaiians are some of the rudest POS in the country.
Goodness, Timmy
You really had rough day yesterday defending delta
I don’t have any need or desire to dominate a conversation, unlike you.
“ But one thing I have learned is that you don’t apologize for making a mistake – which we are all capable of doing.”
This sure was funny though, Tim. Are you capable of apologizing when you’re wrong? I don’t think you are.
There are a few other reasons to not fly on Delta this isnt one of them, or maybe it is.
Fires in Maui because of global warming, hahaha I’m not so sure.
Why do you headline your story like a British tabloid?
People are not the only thing that these flights bring to OGG! Approximately 80% of everything used in the islands is brought in from someplace else. Right now the island of Maui has many needs and many of them come in on everybody’s airline. Just another point of view…
Much respect and sympathy for victims and impacted families. Pathetic response by the government, who blame everyone and everything BUT themselves for epic failure.
Virtue-signaling (obnoxious) Hollywood celebrities shaming people for even thinking of going to Maui, even areas that were not impacted by fire.
With that being said, the hostile attitude toward tourists for many years is real and not easily forgotten. You can’t spend that kind of money (bucket list trip for many) and then have locals treat you with contempt. Hawaii would be a very, very poor island without tourism and federal welfare checks.
This is stupid because rthere were not any nonstops flights MSP to OGG. They were sold out.