HONOLULU (KHON2) — It’s the biggest milestone yet in the Hawaiian Airlines merger with Alaska Airlines.

Starting Wednesday, April 22, Hawaiian Airlines and Alaska will operate as one, powered by a single passenger reservation system, essentially the technology behind your entire travel experience.

“The system that connects all of the programs that our guests use, things like our websites, our app, our Atmos rewards program, our Huaka’i program, all of those systems, including employee tools, will be updated as of tomorrow to a more modern single passenger service system that will allow a more stream streamlined and seamless guest experience for all those that are traveling on either Alaska or Hawaiian that will allow a more stream streamlined and seamless guest experience for all those that are traveling on either Alaska or Hawaiian,” said Alisa Onishi, Hawaiian Airlines Marketing Manager.

By midnight tonight, the Hawaiian app goes dark, replaced by a new combined Alaska-Hawaiian platform, marking a major shift in how you book and manage your flights.

“If you download our new single Alaska-Hawaiian app, you’ll be able to manage your bookings all in one place, make changes, cancellations and a lot more self-service features that our guests have been asking us for for quite some time now that you couldn’t do on the old app,” said Onishi.

Behind the scenes, this moment has been three years in the making. Alaska announced its $1.9 billion acquisition back in 2023, with approvals and integration steps unfolding through 2024 and 2025.

At the airport, much will look the same, but the process is getting an upgrade. Travelers are encouraged to check in ahead of time, using the new app, then use updated bag tag stations to print tags and drop bags faster.

“You scan your boarding pass, prints out the bag tags. You can pay or prepay online or pay at the stations and then drop your bag, so you’ll get through the airport a lot quicker,” said Onishi.

Airline officials said the goal is a more seamless, self-service experience, something customers have been asking for.

Still, not everyone is convinced.

“Even today, when I was trying to get my boarding passes, there was a Hawaiian-Alaskan app that I went to, and then it referred me back to the Hawaiian app. So I didn’t know what application I was supposed to be using, but ultimately, it worked out to a point,” said Ethan Christensen, who was standing in line at customer service to confirm his flight for tomorrow. “But yeah, we’ll see. Hopefully, it gets better. I mean, I know these things take time, especially when you’re kind of merging two big things like this, but the outlook is positive for me because I know it’s a good airline. Hopefully it stays that way.”

The call centers are not going away, and customer service desks will remain at the airports for those who need one-on-one help.

Airline leaders acknowledge the transition so far hasn’t been perfect, but said this milestone is meant to fix many of those issues.

As Arab American Heritage Month is celebrated, one Northern California artist is keeping the centuries-old tradition of Islamic calligraphy alive, one carefully measured stroke at a time.

Sehar Shahzad is a student calligrapher. Before starting any project, Shahzad said “one of the first things that calligraphers learn is how to cut their pens.” 

Her tools must be in pristine condition.

“Your instruments are just as important as anything else in this art,” she said.

Shahzad said that as a young girl growing up in Toronto, she took up Islamic calligraphy while reflecting on her religion.

“It’s not like I’d never seen it before, but it was my first time kind of trying it,” she said. “And there’s no other way to say it except that I just fell in love with it.”

Now married with three children, Islamic calligraphy is very much part of her life.

“I remember thinking that this isn’t something that I just want to learn for fun,” she said. “I really want to be able to master it.”

Shahzad said that every angle and curve follows strict geometric rules and is measured with dots.

“For example, this letter here was just a little bit too long, so we use these nuqtas to help us guide and understand how long that letter should be,” she said.

Like the Arabic language, Islamic calligraphy is read from right to left. Its bold simplicity requires precision and a deep understanding of proportion.

“When you’re creating a composition, it’s not only about the letter itself,” Shahzad said. “It’s about composition as a whole and making sure that everything balances together.”

Even though she’s still mastering her form, Shahzad’s work is featured in the prayer room of a Muslim cemetery in Napa and in the domes of mosques in San Jose, Hayward, and San Francisco.

Still, she considers her work on paper the most special.

“A form of meditation, a form of worship, requires focus, requires discipline, really brings me to a different space,” Shahzad said. “And I think that’s what I love most.”

Proving that in this fast-paced world, this millennia-long tradition is far from disappearing.

Shahzad’s work will be featured at the upcoming Light Upon Light art exhibit at the Tarbiya Institute in Roseville from April 24-26.