New Service Picks Up Your
Luggage From Home Or Hotel –
And Delivers Your Boarding Passes
HONOLULU -- Now that Hawaiian Airlines customers can check in for flights at home on the Web, the airline is also eliminating the need to check luggage at airports with an exclusive, new TSA-certified “mobile skycap” service providing complete passenger and baggage check-in from home, office, or hotel.
“Hawaiian is setting a whole new standard for customer service,” said Blaine Miyasato, Hawaiian's vice president of customer services. “Imagine, no more lugging bags to the airport and waiting in line when you get there. Last year, we introduced Web Check-In so our customers don't need to wait in line for boarding passes. Now Hawaiian's customers can go straight to the gate. They won't have to go to the counters at all.”
Hawaiian has teamed up with BaggageDirect.com, Inc., to provide the new convenience for its customers. Under guidelines approved by the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), a trained, uniformed BaggageDirect driver arrives the day before or morning of a scheduled flight to pick up luggage, and present passengers with their boarding passes and baggage claim receipts.
BaggageDirect then delivers the luggage for security screening to Hawaiian, which was ranked in July as the nation's #1 airline for baggage handling by the U.S. Department of Transportation. All customers do is show up at the airport and go directly through security to their departure gate.
BaggageDirect is currently exclusive to Hawaiian and is available from Honolulu (including Waikiki) and Maui's major resorts for direct flights to Los Angeles, San Francisco, San Diego, Portland and Seattle. For travel originating on the U.S. mainland, the door-to-door service is currently offered from Los Angeles, with BaggageDirect making plans to expand its service to other cities served by Hawaiian.
“BaggageDirect is one of the first passenger-friendly services introduced to the traveling public in years,” said Steve Quackenbush, chief executive officer of BaggageDirect.
He added, “We're taking travelers off the curb and out of the ticket lobby and bringing the check-in counter right to their doorstep. It's no lines, no waiting, and no hassles. Passengers arrive at the airport travel ready.”
Reservations must be made at least 12 hours before a scheduled departure and can be done online at www.baggagedirect.com or by calling toll-free at 1-800-959-4424.
The price for the new service is $30 for the first passenger, which includes two pieces of luggage delivered to the destination airport. Each accompanying passenger flying to the same destination costs $15. Further discounts are available for groups of six or more passengers.
Headquartered in Newport Beach, CA, BaggageDirect is the country's first patented mobile remote check-in service and the only one nationwide certified by TSA to check in luggage for airport security screening. Its drivers undergo 10-year background checks, extensive training for luggage, check-in and security procedures, and are approved by TSA.
Providing the passenger processing technology used by BaggageDirect is Kinetics Inc., of Lake Mary, Florida (http://www.Kineticsusa.com), a leading provider of e-commerce and comprehensive self-service technologies for the travel industry and the dominant supplier for the U.S. airline industry.
“As the primary provider of passenger processing technology for this new venture between Hawaiian Airlines and BaggageDirect, Kinetics is moving into a new business realm, adapting its self-service technologies as a platform for a broad array of advanced technologies to the travel industry,” said David Melnik, president and chief executive officer of Kinetics. “As the current provider of Hawaiian Airlines' web and kiosk-based self-service technologies, we look forward to building upon this enhanced relationship with a valued airline customer, as well as our new strategic relationship with BaggageDirect.”
The benefit of Hawaiian's mobile skycap service goes beyond customer convenience to greater efficiency at the airport. BaggageDirect has designed the new service to check-in luggage with TSA during off-peak travel periods of the day, thereby maximizing use of security personnel and lessening the strain on airport resources during busy times of the day.
Commented Quackenbush, “Our service is helping both TSA and Hawaiian to 'de-peak' the peak periods at the airport.”
About Hawaiian Airlines
Hawaiian Airlines, the nation's number one on-time carrier, is recognized as one of the best airlines in America. Business travelers recently surveyed by Condé Nast Traveler rated Hawaiian Airlines as having the best in-flight service and meals of any U.S. carrier. In addition, Hawaiian is ranked as the nation's fifth best airline overall by Travel + Leisure, ahead of every other carrier flying to Hawaii.
Celebrating its 75th year of continuous service, Hawaiian Airlines is Hawaii's biggest and longest-serving airline, and the second largest provider of passenger air service between Hawaii and the mainland U.S. Hawaiian offers nonstop service to Hawaii from more mainland U.S. gateways than any other airline. Hawaiian also provides approximately 117 daily jet flights among the Hawaiian Islands, as well as service to Australia, American Samoa and Tahiti.
Hawaiian Airlines, Inc., is a subsidiary of Hawaiian Holdings, Inc. (AMEX and PCX: HA). Since the appointment of a bankruptcy trustee in May 2003, Hawaiian Holdings has had no involvement in the management of Hawaiian Airlines and has had limited access to information concerning the airline. Additional information is available at www.HawaiianAir.com.