From Beijing with lots of aloha

It looks like the prognosticators were right: Hawaii can expect more business from mainland Chinese tourists.

Air China, an airline of the People’s Republic of China founded in 1988, will begin three nonstop flights a week to Honolulu from Beijing starting Jan. 21, 2014. That’s about three months ahead of Hawaiian Airlines, which begins service in April.

All in all, more flights are good news for the tourism industry, which has been closely tracking the number of Chinese visitors who choose Hawaii as a destination.

Last year, 115,927 visitors reached our shores; this year, that number is expected to reach about 144,910 — hardly barn-burning numbers. Even so, it’s early yet. It was only in 2008 that an easing of travel restrictions from the country gave Chinese travel agents a decent shot at marketing Hawaii as a destination.

So two more airlines bound for Beijing and back are looking good.

That $10 airfare? Get ’em while they last

Speaking of air travel, it was the ultimate reward for those of us who obssessively check travel websites for the best airfares, which, as we all know, change constantly and for no discernable reason. And too often the fares go up instead of down.

But for a few brief glorious moments Thursday, some lucky travel obsessives hit the jackpot. On Sept. 13, United Airlines offered round-trip tickets that ranged from $10 to $0 on its website and through its phone centers. It was all a mistake, and United shut everything down as soon as it found out. But the airline said it will honor the tickets.

That’s incentive enough to get back online. Happy hunting!