Hawaiian Airlines 789 Dreamliner

$700 Fare Change On “No-Change-Fee” $100 Hawaii Airfare

It’s never pleasant to have to change travel plans. How three Hawaii-centric airlines handle changes.

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56 thoughts on “$700 Fare Change On “No-Change-Fee” $100 Hawaii Airfare”

  1. Rob, Jeff,

    The amounts were outrageous, but these seemed to be the difference between the fare at the time of purchase and the fare on the new date.
    Other the cost of the different date, I think there no reason to complain. And, Jeff did the right thing – he bought 2 new tics and some money was credited back to your account.

    To me, all it shows is Hawaiian Airlines has no more Aloha than any other airline. They are all in it for the Benjamins and that’s as it should be.

    I know that last comment will get me a ton of downvotes. Just know we almost always fly Hawaiian to the islands.

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    1. Hi Rod.

      Sorry if that wasn’t clear. No the actual online fair difference $85, as we indicated. The huge cost appears based on the fact that online fares are not offered either by the call center or when doing an online change.

      Aloha.

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  2. We just changed our plans and had 2 round trip tickets to Oahu from LAX that I purchased thru Alaska. I had used Alaska miles and then their fee that goes along with the miles that amounted to about $250 for 2 round trip tickets. I called and spoke to a customer service rep, who immediately put the miles back into my account and refunded the $250 back to my credit card without any problem whatsoever… a credit was not even discussed!

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  3. I absolutely LOVE Southwest! We have flow them 3 times to Hawaii in the past year. Has always been an awesome experience. I would not fly any other airlines to Hawaii.

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  4. Aloha Rob & Jeff.
    Interesting reading on flight changes. Hoping to travel to the Islands from Europe (London) in September and there have been Schedule changes from both Virgin out of London and then Hawaiian on the return from Maui to Lax. These two airlines are partners of sorts so you might think they would sync their schedules, but the changes almost made connections impossible. It’s tight, but just about makeable! Given travel arrangements, schedule changes can be very frustrating, and there seems little comeback. Nuisance, eh?

  5. Very pleased with ease of changing flights with Delta’s new website feature that started in 2021. If the flight is available on their website, you can rebook multiple times prior to your departure date, and can even change departing and arriving cities. You pay the fare difference or receive a travel voucher if the new flight is cheaper. Phone support on the other hand takes longer and longer with Delta in 2022.

  6. There is something worse than Hawaiian Customer Service. It is Allegiant’s ‘No Customer Svc.’ We had booked/flown many times to FL to visit relatives. EZ airport to get to/from on both ends. I used points & a bit of cash for tickets. There was illness at the FL end & we had to cancel last minute. App did not work. Could not cancel/change online. There is NO number to call. No email address. I tried for hours, searching online for a way to contact them. Maybe to close to departure? I finally called the Credit Card company (Allegiant card) and disputed the charge due to my total inability to contact Allegiant. I got a few bucks back. Lost all my points. Later found an email addr but rec’d no ans. Put away the CC. Done with Allegiant.

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  7. Southwest and Only Southwest is transparent and completely flexible. I fly them exclusively (when I can) for this reason.
    Let’s face it -traveling is not glamorous! Mahalo and Thank you for all the great info🌸

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  8. Twice in the last several years we’ve had to cancel our tip to Hawaii. Once for a servers health issue (we are healthy people!), but not severe enough for hospitalization. Once because we found Hawaiian’s mask policy for disabled people to be untenable… found Alaska’s was way better. The change fees were so high!

    Luckily, we have a friend who has a friend, who was able to get us a refund with a mouse click or two. Hates to ask our friend, but come on.

    Changing is not hard for the airlines, especially months in advanc. It’s just a huge money maker.

    We never buy trip insurance, maybe we should.

    Thanks for the article, BOH!

    1. Hi Lanell.

      Thanks. And good to hear from you and thanks for the input. As for the two of us, we have both only purchased trip insurance for international travel so far. And then it is needed in part because it provides international medical coverages. And by the way, the cost of trip insurance has just gone way up.

      Aloha.

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  9. Very good information. I booked two one-way first class inter island tickets on Hawaiian in July, for flights in December. Yesterday I checked the price again and it was about $100 cheaper. I usually fly Southwest and can get the difference deposited into my travel funds, if the price goes down. I tried to change it online with Hawaiian (Not knowing their policies) and the price was about $240 more! Hidden change fees. Guess I can get a credit to my Hawaiian account and purchase the cheaper ones.

    1. Yeah, unlike SWA, if a fare drops on HA, they don’t give you the difference. I did just get the Hawaiian Miles credit card with the 70,000 points so there are two free flights. I did just swap some SWA flights to the Big Island and saved $70 per person. I appreciate their non-expiration flight credits now. Comfort wise, Hawaiian (even to Australia). I just wished SWA had USB outlets on their 737 Max planes.

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