It’s been three weeks since Hawaii flight delays last caught our attention. But unfortunately, these seem to be an eternal problem, as reported by the flight-tracking service FlightAware and by OAG’s FlightView. On Tuesday and Wednesday, 210 Hawaii flight delays took place at five Hawaii airports. These were a mix of short and long delays on both mainland and interisland flights.
On Tuesday, FlightView indicated that 50% of flights arriving Maui were either late or very late.
While Maui has its share of the problems, Honolulu took the brunt of the latest delays, with 98 issues listed. Hawaiian Airlines had the most significant number of delays of any airline again, with Southwest coming in second.
There’s still no specific cause we can point to.
We aren’t used to this magnitude of late arrivals and departures here in Hawaii. The range of suspect causes includes “airline mismanagement,” as stated by the pilots’ association. That while the airlines instead have pointed fingers at the country’s air traffic control system. Then too, there’s just the number of people traveling, although based on editor Jeff’s experience Monday, interisland flights weren’t full nor were the airports especially crowded. So scratch that idea, it seems. Shortage of staffing? Likely, but who knows?
What does U.S. DOT have to say?
Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said, “We are still seeing far, far too many delays and cancellations.” Last week he sent a letter to the airlines stating that their performance was unacceptable and that they must meet a higher standard. In response, the airlines say they are bringing flights into better alignment with their available resources and are continuing to bring on new hires.
96 Hawaii flights were delayed at HNL.
3 American Airlines
2 Alaska Airlines
3 Delta Airlines
8 Mokulele Airlines
50 Hawaiian Airlines
19 Southwest Airlines
8 United Airlines
3 WestJet
60 Hawaii flights were delayed at Maui.
2 Air Canada
4 Alaska Airlines
3 American Airlines
3 Delta airlines
7 Mokulele Airlines
24 Hawaiian Airlines 17
16 Southwest Airlines
1 WestJet
30 Hawaii flights were delayed at Kauai.
5 Alaska Airlines
12 Hawaiian Airlines
10 Southwest Airlines
3 United Airlines
19 Hawaii flights were delayed at Kona.
3 Alaska Airlines
8 Hawaiian Airlines
7 Southwest Airlines
1 United Airlines
5 Hawaii flights were delayed at Hilo.
4 Hawaiian Airlines
1 Southwest Airlines
Don’t get caught. Plan ahead for delayed flights.
While always necessary, we cannot think of a time when it has been so important to check on your flight before heading out. Not only should you check on your flight, but also check the incoming flight that will become your outbound flight. That way, you are sure they are both on time.
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This is not acceptable. We pain extra for a non stop flight from Portland to Kona and back. However Alaska Airline canceled and put us on transfer flights without any compensation.
It appears that most of the delayed flights are interisland- once a flight from HNL to another island is delayed in the morning it will impact a lot of flights throughout the day.
It seems like they are short staffed. How do I apply for a position?
We flew into Honolulu on Monday, Aug 22, from Phoenix on our way to Hilo. Our first flight was on time. The plane for our flight to Hilo was late, and our flight took off about 45 min late. We overheard the gate agent say that 37 people had called in sick that day. Staffing shortages certainly can’t help.
“Plan ahead for delayed flights.”? There are no possible “plans” that can realistically be made for a delayed flight from Hawaii to the mainland–or vice versa really. 9 out of 10 times you don’t find out about these delays until you are already checked in, already through TSA, sometimes already at the gate–or on the plane. How do you “plan” for that? (Aside from maybe just making sure you have food and water with you.)
“Plan ahead for delayed flights” means mentally prepare for a delayed flight. That means not getting upset when it happens, chill and go with the flow. You’ll get there when you get there. That’s the Aloha spirit.
Why are all these flights delayed?
Why is there so much delay for check in?
I find it extremely difficult to read your articles with frequent pop up ads right over what I am trying to read. If I X it out, another one pops up. I have been reduced to reading the headline only. If I want more info I look elsewhere. It’s not worth trying to fight constant pop ups over the content. Thank you for listening. I hope somehow you can still take ads and make money without it covering the content.
Hi Sue.
We are always trying to improve how we do things at Beat of Hawaii, including advertising. Thanks for the input and our best to you.
Aloha.
I don’t have the issue you describe. Ads are lined up on the side away from the article – at least on a PC. And I’ve never had an issue with my iPads.
I haven’t had a problem with advertising in the way either.
On a recent reservation, I paid the $4 to change my ticket from HNL-OGG to an earlier flight so that I would make my flight from OGG-DFW. In the old days, I could build in a 45-minute connection without checked bags. Now I’m building in 2 1/2 hours. I use the flight aware app and enter the airline and flight number so I can look back at how delayed a flight is on a daily basis. Checking Hawaiian airlines flights, I noticed there was anywhere from a 15-minute to 2 hour delay between HNL-OGG. So I built in the worst case scenario into my connection time.
Hi Alfred.
Yes, we’re with you on that plan. Jeff said he was afraid he might not make it back home if the return flight delay had been substantial. Luckily, this time it was not.
Aloha.
Thank you! This is helpful advice!
My flight to Maui from DFW landed early yesterday but then had to wait almost an hour for a gate. Got to the gate well after scheduled arrival time.
What happen with the Alaskan flight from Hawaii to San Diego that was losing part and had to land in Seattle?
Aloha Rob and Jeff!
Other than check flights frequently for delays, what else can we do in preparation for a short or lengthy delay?
It’s the connecting flights that are at risk, in any sort of delay.
Mahalo nui loa Always 🌺
Hi Pam.
Thanks for asking. What comes to mind is travel insurance. Jeff once had his luggage lost for 3 days after a delayed flight led to a missed connection. Insurance paid for clothes among other things.
Aloha.
In your article you say “ Not only should you check on your flight, but also check the incoming flight that will become your outbound flight. That way, you are sure they are both on time.” Great advice, but I was wondering how to check on that inbound flight. Where do you get that info? Thanks
Hi Sue.
Thanks. That will be on the Flightaware information for your outbound flight.
Aloha.
Yes, how do you check?
Use the “Where is my plane?” button when viewing the detailed information for your outgoing flight. This will show you a screen where you can see if the incoming flight that supplies the plane for your flight is running late or not.
Flight delays are frustrating.
Can you please try to find out how many actual airplanes were really late? If one Hawaiian airlines inter Island plane is running late, and that can account for 7 to 10 flights all by itself, and each flight includes a departure and an arrival accounting for a total of 14 to 20 “delays”
THANK YOU
Hi Jim.
Thanks. Maybe someone has seen an easy way to track flight delay data by “tail number” and can let us know.
Aloha.
One way to investigate the situation, and probable responsible parties, is to study the data sets for the major mainland airports on the same days that Hawaii is experiencing these problems. Then pull the same randomly for several days, compare, see if there’s a pattern. On the surface it reminds me of a “Ground Stoppage Issue” where limited personnel aren’t able to handle the incoming and outgoing aircraft in a timely manner. Inefficiency due to new hires and not enough ground crew in total is where the problem may originate. That is a Management Issue. Other problems could be exacerbating this by overscheduling at peak times. Many variables but the data will point toward the true initial cause.
Excellent observation and analysis Ernie- same goes for the Ed. and the pilots. It definitely has to do with staffing- the airlines aren’t telling the whole story about how many employees told them to take this jab and shove it. Others quit or retired and in many cases were fired for not letting a corporation decide what’s gonna go in their bodies. Others are waiting on medical or religious exemptions that get slow-walked or ignored altogether. One flight crew short on the first flight of the day- a kick off flight, causes a delay or cancellation and you’ll then be dealing with the resulting snowball effect for the rest of the day, as it keeps gaining in size and velocity wrecking schedules and most everything else it touches.
Traveling used to be fun! Remember when you would “dress up” to fly!?!?!
I still do. If you look good, you’ll feel good. Try it next time.
We have had delays in the past at Kona. Generally due to the inbound plane being late. That suggests that the problem begins at an overcrowded mainland airport where there are just too many planes trying to depart at the peak time. But we had one issue at Kona that was very different Our plane was delayed because of a mechanical problem. Once they finally figured out exactly what it was they ordered the parts from Honolulu. Sent us home (already delayed) on a plane scheduled for elsewhere and put the elsewhere folks (if the fix worked) on the repaired plane once the part arrived and was installed. The satellite terminals don’t have extra planes to throw into the breech.
I see in the article the number of delayedflights per airline with Hawaiian the highest, but I wonder what the percentages of delayed flights. So for Hilo, if HAL had 4 delays out of 100 flights, that would be a lower percentage than if SWA had 1 delay out of, say, only 2 flights. I would be very interested in the percentage of delayed flights if you have the info available. Thank you for keeping us abreast of what’s going on.
Hi Debbie.
Thanks. We’ll include the percentage of flights on the next round. Although we’d prefer there not being next round. Lol.
Regarding today’s flights at Honolulu, 14% of Hawaiian flights are delayed and 4% of Southwest flights.
Aloha.
Better late than canceled!