Hawaiian Hiring

One of the things they are looking for in this window is passion for Hawaii- you'll notice in the app that there are essay questions. One of which is "what makes you a good pilot" and another "what would make you a good employee for Hawaiian"- those two are not mutually exclusive. They want to know what drives you to apply, to want to come be based in HNL- so think about that when planning your responses.

Also, don't overuse "aloha spirit" in every sentence since it might be a common thing everyone says in their essay!

Hopefully this helps!
 
I assume its cuz inter island flying doesnt take you up to FL250.

There is a sim ride during the interview, but other than that its all about will you fit in. I had only 1 technical question during the entire process. Good luck, but I suggest only going if thats where you want to hang your hat. They hate it when people leave.
 
Could somebody working there give some info on what it is like working for Hawaiian?

There is a ton of info on the other carriers but not much at all for them..

What is life like on the 717? What are the schedules like? Average days off, hours flown etc..

What is life like on the wide bodies? Schedules? How long does it take to move over to the wide bodies?

How is living in HNL on the first few years of lower pay? I have been there but not lived there.. I know it's expensive. Is it possible to ever purchase a decent home there on the FO pay? I've lived in NYC which can't be any better.. I know I could never afford to buy anything there and hated how all of your paycheck just goes to rent every month.
 
blee256 said:
They hate it when people leave.
Click to expand...

I think it's more shock that somebody could think that living in Hawaii and working for Hawaiian wouldn't be the greatest thing in the world. We recently had an FO leave to go to United... because they lived and commuted from Chicago (or maybe DEN... I can't remember). Anyhow, they took almost no paycut and went from commuting across 5 time zones to driving to work and people here STILL couldn't understand why somebody would do that.


RPM said:
Could somebody working there give some info on what it is like working for Hawaiian?

There is a ton of info on the other carriers but not much at all for them..

What is life like on the 717? What are the schedules like? Average days off, hours flown etc..

What is life like on the wide bodies? Schedules? How long does it take to move over to the wide bodies?

How is living in HNL on the first few years of lower pay? I have been there but not lived there.. I know it's expensive. Is it possible to ever purchase a decent home there on the FO pay? I've lived in NYC which can't be any better.. I know I could never afford to buy anything there and hated how all of your paycheck just goes to rent every month.
Click to expand...

Life on the 717 is kind of like having a regular 9 to 5 job. You work either AMs or PMs (unless you get the dreaded "mixed" line). An "early" morning is a 430am start and done by noon and a "late PM" is starting at 4pm and being done around 11. Most days are 6, 7 or 8 landings. Shortest flights are to Maui and Lihue (about 30 minutes gate to gate) and the longest is to Hilo (about 50 minutes). Captains are a mix of super old school (somewhat tamed by FOQA) and newer upgrades. 95% of the guys are great. 4% are strange. 1% are tough to work with. The FAs that end up working inter island are junior for the most part. The passengers are a mix of tourists (excited to be on vacation) and regulars who commute daily/weekly/monthly and know the game and play along. It's not unusual for passengers to give the FAs (and us sometimes) food when they get on the plane. Reserve tends to go senior some of the time and even a junior line holder can get mostly what they want (assuming you don't want weekends and major holidays off) through PBS. There are only 70 pilots in each seat so there isn't a huge trading culture, but you can often get somebody to cover for you if you really need a day off. Depending on the month guys are getting between 12 and 15 days off.

The aircraft is a whole lot of fun to fly. It's pretty much a DC9 with glass. It will do a 1:1 descent at about 210 knots. The automation is pretty basic, but more than enough for island flying. ATC is slightly... weak sometimes, although there are several good controllers working the area. Fortunately the weather is mostly always VFR (except Hilo) so it doesn't matter. Biggest threat is by far traffic. Between the tour helicopters and all the Caravans tooling around kind of VFR(ish) and the weak TCAS system on the airplane, it can get pretty interesting some times.

I can't speak much to the widebody, although @sorrygottarunway can as he was recently there.

The culture overall is pretty good, but you've go to have an understanding of Hawaii and what that means. It's been... interesting at times, but as long as you accept that culture, it's just fine. Our first year pay is terrible and it is VERY difficult living out here on $36 an hour. I have no idea how some of the lower paying places like Empire and Island Air manage to attract guys who don't live here. You WILL need a fair amount in savings to get through the year. Second year pay is livable (but still way behind the rest of the industry). Housing is super expensive, although you can find some ok deals to rent. Food is about 10% more than the west coast and much higher than the middle of the country. Traffic is terrible, although depending on where you drive in from and if you do AMs or PMs you can mostly avoid all of it. I head in normally around 1 or 2, well before the afternoon rush starts, and miss the other end of it, heading home at 8 or 9.
 
Thanks for the info.. so is 717 all day trips? Home every night? Or is there any schedules with overnights on the other islands?

4-11pm sounds good to me! Those are my kind of hours. Well.. 4-7 would be better but.. haha

I have applied in the last 2 windows.. will try again. Going to be pretty tough to get a call with them hiring so few.. What exactly is the B fund? APC doesn't say any numbers..
 
Last edited:
Well it took me a few days to think and rewrite all my answers to the questions. Off for another try with all my appendages crossed!
 
RPM said:
Thanks for the info.. so is 717 all day trips? Home every night? Or is there any schedules with overnights on the other islands?

4-11pm sounds good to me! Those are my kind of hours. Well.. 4-7 would be better but.. haha

I have applied in the last 2 windows.. will try again. Going to be pretty tough to get a call with them hiring so few.. What exactly is the B fund? APC doesn't say any numbers..
Click to expand...

All day trips. They have talked about having a few OGG and LIH overnights (as normally the lat flight goes over full and comes back almost empty) but it hasn't materialized yet. I guess they used to do it sometimes on the DC9.

There are three different retirement plans. They A guys have their pensions. There are only 45 of them left though and all over age 60. The B fund is designed to replicate the pension. It's an absolute disaster and one of the contract goals this time around is to fix it or harmonize it with the C plan. The C plan (which every new hire since 2006 goes on, is 15% flat, no match requirement, fully vested at day 1.
 
Thanks! I didn't know it was a 15% contribution. That is similar to the other big 3.

So I assume, 717 you pretty much HAVE to live on HNL with the day trips.. then if you can get on the other aircraft you could commute fairly easily from the other islands.
 
RPM said:
Thanks! I didn't know it was a 15% contribution. That is similar to the other big 3. So I assume, 717 you pretty much HAVE to live on HNL with the day trips.. then if you can get on the other aircraft you could commute fairly easily from the other islands.
Click to expand...
They close the SEA base?
 
Quick Q, for anyone at HA. I applied and sent in my resume with one letter. I got another letter of recommendation tonight unexpectedly. Do I resend the email with resume and both Letters as a total package, or submit the additional letter by itself?
 
MNFlyboy said:
Quick Q, for anyone at HA. I applied and sent in my resume with one letter. I got another letter of recommendation tonight unexpectedly. Do I resend the email with resume and both Letters as a total package, or submit the additional letter by itself?
Click to expand...
I had the exact same problem last year.
 
I guess it doesn't hurt to send it all back in as one email. I can't go back in and change the recommendation from current/retired employees field in the app because I'd have to redo the essays right?
 
MNFlyboy said:
I guess it doesn't hurt to send it all back in as one email. I can't go back in and change the recommendation from current/retired employees field in the app because I'd have to redo the essays right?
Click to expand...
I learned my lesson from last time and copied what I wrote this time if I had to redo the application.
 
MNFlyboy said:
Quick Q, for anyone at HA. I applied and sent in my resume with one letter. I got another letter of recommendation tonight unexpectedly. Do I resend the email with resume and both Letters as a total package, or submit the additional letter by itself?
Click to expand...

I'd probably just send another email explaining the situation and attach the letter. The rumors I've heard is that they aren't incredibly swamped with applications.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

Ian_J
Captain Positions Offered to New Hires
9 10 11
Replies
200
Views
13K
guywhoflies
guywhoflies
SurferLucas
Oh ‘Mericun XXL
3 4 5
Replies
87
Views
9K
derg
derg
Oxman
Inside the sky-high world of drug-smuggling flight attendants
3 4 5
Replies
81
Views
7K
MikeD
MikeD
Cherokee_Cruiser
Oh RJ N00b (a PSA rant)
3 4 5
Replies
86
Views
16K
Adler
A
killbilly
Pay Attention (aviation lesson learned)
2
Replies
30
Views
4K
killbilly
killbilly
Back
Top