The way things are going for the airline industry, toting your luggage on board for free will be as much a thing of the past as milk bottles and cellphones the size of a brick.

Honolulu-based Hawaiian Airlines announced it will be charging an additional $15 for the first checked bag on flights between the Mainland and Hawaii.

The $15 fee will be automatically added on tickets purchased after Aug. 1 for flights scheduled for Oct. 1 and beyond. Hawaiian Airlines already charges $25 for a second bag on Mainland flights.

Passengers traveling interisland should be relieved to know a first checked-in bag is still free for interisland flights. For now, anyway. It already costs $17 for a second checked-in bag.

The new baggage fee tops a number of changes the carrier is making to stay financially afloat in turbulent economic times for the airline industry.

Starting Sept. 1, Hawaiian Airlines will charge a ticketing fee for bookings made over the telephone—$10 for interisland travel and $20 for all other routes. Ticketing at airport locations will set you back $25. There are no immediate plans to implement ticketing fees for transactions made on HawaiianAirlines.com.

Hawaiian is also adjusting mileage requirements for its popular frequent flyer program, meaning it will take more miles for award travel starting Sept. 1.

What do you think about the airline industry’s recent movement toward instituting fees for previously gratis services such as checked-in luggage and reservations?

  

We know how it is.

You go out of town on a vacation or a business trip. You have family or friends from out of town staying at the house for a week. You get slammed at the office. There’s a weeklong marathon of Magnum P.I. episodes on cable.

When daily life intrudes, you can’t find a few minutes to check out our daily updates.

Whatever the reason … we understand: Sometimes you miss one of our fine Hawaii Today posts while it’s on the homepage.

Our Hawaii Today posts never disappear. You can always find them—going all the way back January—by clicking “next entries” at the bottom of  the home page. There are now more than 300 posts on all things Hawaii. (Trust us, we counted ‘em.)

Still, we thought it’d be a good idea to bring some of our best stuff back up to the top of the homepage again—as links—in case you missed them. If you like it, we’ll do it every few weeks.

Here’s the first bunch:

• Vintage photos show bygone Hawaii from soldiers' view

• Pssst! Want to see an amazing new Kilauea volcano photo?

• New Kilauea volcano land collapses explosively into ocean

• Kilauea volcano magma meets ocean with 100-foot lava burst

• "Explosion-like" earthquakes, lava fountains stir Kilauea volcano

• Hawi was great! What about Lanai?

• Hidden Hawaii: Hawi and Beyond

• Free Hawaii trip up for grabs

• The Koko Crater Trail. I climb it.

• It's O-bon season in Hawaii

• Scenes from Lantern Floating Hawaii ceremony

• Indiana Jones and the Eight Best Movies Filmed in Hawaii

• Char's Chopsticks: Dim sum at Mei Sum in Honolulu’s Chinatown district

• Jack Johnson and Kokua Festival: A fifth-row dispatch

• My Favorite Places: Thurston Lava Tube

• Remembering Mauna Loa's last eruption

• Maui’s humpback whales

• Hawaii's state parks: Worth a visit?

  

All of us who love trekking Maui’s most amazing crater are suddenly happy campers.

Haleakala National Park has done away with the lottery system for cabin rentals within the mountain’s crater.

Why is this such good news?

Hiking and camping Mount Haleakala’s mountaintop “crater”—actually a massive “erosional depression”—is one of the top three or four backpacking experiences in Hawai‘i. It’s certainly a wonderland for trekkers who want to experience Hawai‘i’s stunning, raw volcanic landscape.

Haleakala’s bowl is 7 miles across and 2,600 feet deep, with more than 36 miles of curving trails between vivid red, amber and black cinder cones. Spread out among it all are rare endemic silversword plants (below), a hidden lava tube and rustic but comfy cabins to protect against the nighttime icy cold.

But until now, if you didn’t want to do a day hike into Haleakala or set up a tent in one of two small primitive campgrounds, trying to reserve one of the three cabins was a roll of the dice. You’d submit on paper your name, the cabin or cabins you wanted to stay in, and your requested dates. Applications would arrive from around the world. A lottery decided who got cabins.

Waiting to see if you’d won was exciting—a bit like Vegas for nature nuts. But it was hard for those of us on tight schedules trying to plan from Honolulu or Helsinki.

The new system is more practical. All reservations are taken over the phone on a first-come-first-served basis.

Call (808) 572-4400, between 1 p.m. and 3 p.m., seven days a week to make a reservation. You can make reservation three months in advance, to the day. So plan ahead. The cost is only $75 per cabin per night for up to 12 people.

There’s a three-consecutive-night maximum stay in the crater, but a two night maximum stay at any one cabin.

An online reservation option will also be available soon.

 

Come for the lodging. Stay for the free cottage cheese.

That’s what the folks at Outrigger Hotel and Resorts are banking on. In the storied history of gimmicky travel-related offers, the popular Hawaii-based lodging chain is offering arguably the most practical premium to date: up to $150 in grocery certificates from local supermarket chain Foodland.

What happened guys? All out of logo luggage tags?  Free toiletries a thing of the past?

Kidding aside, the deal has gotten our attention for obvious reasons. Stay five nights or longer at one of the cozy Outrigger Maui Condominiums (Outrigger Aina Nalu, Outrigger Maui Eldorado, Outrigger Napili Shores, Outrigger Palms at Wailea, and Outrigger Royal Kahana) and qualify for a free certificate based on your accommodations. Studios receive a $50 grocery certificate, one-bedrooms get a $100 certificate and two-bedroom stays receive a $150 certificate.

The offer is perfect whether you want to chow down by the beach or cook up a storm in the condos’ fully-furnished kitchens.

In addition to the free groceries you get an extra night on them. No strings attached. (However, you must stay seven nights to qualify for a free night at the Outrigger Palms at Wailea. Don’t ask us why.) Free food, a free extra night, and Maui, what more could you ask for? 

Rates start at $179 a night, quite reasonable considering the luxury of the condos. The program runs for bookings from 7/01 to 12/21, so don’t delay.

Call 1-800-OUTRIGGER or click here for more information.

 

I took a trip on the Hawaii Superferry recently to do some work on Maui.

I could, of course, have hopped an increasingly-expensive 20-minute interisland flight. But I had been curious about the much-talked-about Superferry.

Though I was born and raised in Hawaii, the thought of cruising from island to island seemed weird and unnatural. As I boarded the ferry before sunrise, many questions ran through my mind: Would there be rough waters ahead? Would I be seasick? What the heck would I do for the three hours it took to get from Honolulu to Kahului?

As it turns out, I did little beyond sitting back and taking in the view of Oahu, Molokai, Lanai and Maui from the ocean. Not a bad thing at all.

The sun began to peek through the clouds as the Alakai left Honolulu Harbor. In the distance I could see morning break across Diamond Head and Waikiki.

From the first-class lounge at front of the boat, I could feel the motion of the water—a complaint registered by more than a few Superferry travelers. My stomach and the ocean churned with equal dismay.

So I got up and walked around—something you could never do at leisure on an airplane. That helped. A bit. I took to the outer decks, soaking in the ocean’s salty spray and snapping pictures whenever I could.

How were the views, you ask? Let’s just say that I saw panoramas you couldn’t see from an interisland flight.

I’ll give you more of the down low on my Hawaii Superferry travels in the upcoming September/October 2008 issue of HAWAII, on newsstands and online next month. Until then, check out a slideshow of my photos below (click on the slideshow to enlarge the photos).

Traveled on the Hawaii Superferry yet? Share your experience with other readers and leave a comment below.

 

When you’re named one of the best in the entire world, you must be something special. And, in this case, we agree.

Travel + Leisure Magazine's 2008 World’s Best Awards were recently announced, and six Hawaii hotels were featured on the annual readers’ survey.

T +L readers gave their views on everything from best rental car service to favorite island. (Hawaii is conspicuously absent from the top of this category. We’ll be sure to take it up with the editors of T + L later).

The highest ranking Hawaii hotel? The Four Seasons Resort Lanai, The Lodge at Koele. Overall, it came in at No. 15 on the 100-spot list, giving some big love for the miniscule island.

Our very own Web Editor Derek Paiva was especially enthused by the news, seeing as how he's proven a big fan of the island and the resort. His Lanai sojourns have been well documented here.

Yes, we're all jealous.

We agree that the lodge is quality. Tucked away in the highlands of Lanai, the Lodge at Koele conveys the laidback spirit of the island that visitors have long loved. The resort grounds are gorgeous and verdant, and the resort has all the amenities of a world-class establishment including two top-notch golf courses.

Congrats to the management and staff of the Lodge at Koele, and their peers at all the other great Hawaii hotels and resorts that made T + L readers' cut. We’ll be at all of your doorsteps soon enough.

Here are the hotels in order of their placement on the list:

No. 15: Four Seasons Resort Lanai, The Lodge at Koele, Lanai
No. 26: Four Seasons Resort Maui at Wailea, Maui
No. 27: Four Seasons Resort Hualalai, Big Island
No. 44: Halekulani, Oahu
No. 68: Hotel Hana-Maui & Honua Spa, Maui
No. 85: Fairmont Kea Lani, Maui

 

This week, 181 youth soccer teams from across the country are on Oahu for the AYSO National Games.

Thousands of kids ages 11 to 19 and their parents gathered at the Waipio Soccer Complex for Wednesday’s Soccerfest. The final games are scheduled for tomorrow and Sunday.

The purpose of the American Youth Soccer Organization’s national games is to bring together different regions, allowing an opportunity for cultural exchange and making new friendships. This year, some of the participants may even become famous after being selected to appear in a Kelloggs cereal commercial that’s filmed in Hawaii.

Soccer has become a popular sport in Hawaii, thanks to professional soccer players Brian Ching, who plays for the Houston Dynamo, and Natasha Kai, who recently made it to the U.S. Olympic women’s soccer team. Even World-famous pro soccer icon David Beckham came to Hawaii to play in the Pan-Pacific Championship this past January.

Who wouldn’t want to play soccer under Hawaii’s sunny skies?

UPDATE, 7/14/2008: Three of the eight champion awards were won by Hawaii soccer teams, including the girls’ under-19 division (Pearl City), the girls’ under-12 division (Mililani) and the boys’ under-16 division (Kona).


  

Europe is in. But if you have to live in the United States, try Honolulu.

An annual survey released by New York consulting firm Mercer ranks the world's best places to live.

The top ten is dominated by European cities, but Hawaii fans will be pleased to know that Honolulu is listed highest of all U.S. cities, beating out the likes of Boston, Chicago and New York.

Overall, Honolulu stands at No. 28, followed closely by San Francisco at No. 29.

Each city was rated on 39 quality-of-living factors, from traffic congestion and air quality to schooling and recreation. The survey was done as a service to companies looking to set up shop in new markets.

Zurich, Switzerland tops the list. Last, you ask? Baghdad, Iraq.

Is Hawaii getting the props it deserves? Check out the list for yourself and tell us your thoughts.

 

Want to save at least $200 on your next trip to Hawaii?

Come here this summer.

The Hawaii Visitors & Convention Bureau promises you can save at least that much per traveler if you book your travel through one of a number of partners: American Airlines Vacations, American Express Vacations, Classic Vacations, Expedia, NWA WorldVacations, Orbitz, Pleasant Holidays, Travelocity or United Vacations.

HVCB aims at boosting summer travel to Hawaii, so the companies are offering a array of packages with free hotel nights, discounted airfare, free meals and free rental cars.

The goal? Convincing travelers that despite tough economic times, cutbacks in airline seats to Hawaii and misguided surveys about the high price of staying here, a trip to Hawaii is still an affordable destination for most travelers.

You’ll find a list of all the HVCB package deals here—for vacations on all the major islands.

Drop a comment below to let other HawaiiMagazine.com readers know if the deals are indeed sweet.

Hope to see you here soon.

  

Hawaiian Airlines has made a major move to fill the gap left when Aloha Airlines shut down last March: More jets.

The Honolulu-based carrier announced today that it is adding four jets to its interisland fleet to fill increased consumer demand. Two of the Boeing 717-200 jets will begin service in September, with another two joining the fleet in November or December.

The additional jets will add even more flights to a Hawaiian Airlines schedule already boosted to more than 150 a day. Hawaiian Airlines flies between Oahu, Maui, Kauai and the Big Island, and operates several domestic and international routes.

Flights aren’t the only things Hawaiian Airlines has increased. Anyone who has flown interisland frequently in the last couple of months—present company included—will confirm that Hawaiian Airlines ticket prices across its schedule have gone up $20 to $30 per flight.

But in an era of soaring fuel costs, that's likely what it takes to keep flying these days.