Concern About Seat Availability Due to New Policy

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Passengers heading to the territory say they’re concerned that the airline’s new seat assignment policy which is based on a passenger’s weight could make it harder to catch a flight between Honolulu and Pago Pago.

Makerita Vaa said on Hawaii News Now, “It’s already hard enough to get on a flight because it’s the only flight.

“But then to cut off the seats makes it 10 times worse. Maybe add an additional flight if that is the case.”

The airline’s policy, which now requires all passengers to be assigned seats at check in counters just for the Honolulu to Pago Pago sectors, has been featured in national and international news.

Effective October 1st Hawaiian Airlines stopped letting passengers pick their seats on line for flights between Honolulu and American Samoa, citing safety reasons.

Passenger Tua Heede told Hawaii News Now, “I think it’s very discriminatory against people of a certain race.”

She asked, “Why American Samoa?”

The new policy was implemented following a six-month voluntary survey, in which passengers to and from American Samoa were asked to step on a scale with their carry-on luggage.

Earlier in the year, Hawaiian had discovered its planes were burning more fuel than they should have been on the route between Honolulu and Pago Pago.

The survey found that the average weight of a passenger and a carry-on on American Samoa flights was about 30 pounds more than on other routes.

So now, the airline only allows seven adults per row instead of eight. And everyone is given assigned seating.

But aviation expert Peter Forman believes Hawaiian did the right thing.

He said, “The passengers need to understand they’re not being singled out,” he said. “They’re really being put in a situation where the airlines is willing to take important steps to ensure their safety. If you don’t take the correct weight into account what happens is the plane burns more fuel and there’s issues as far as the structure of the air plane in case of a hard landing.”

Airline officials say since the news about the new policy broke, there’s been a lot of misinformation.

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