Update today on the customer impact of flight changes associated with engine issues and delivery of Hawaiian Airlines‘ new Airbus A321neo fleet. We have received many comments, questions and emails regarding this and how it impacts upcoming Hawaii flights that many of you have scheduled or are planning.
Here is what we have learned since last Friday about aircraft changes:
The Pratt & Whitney engine problems will only impact additional aircraft deliveries. Hawaiian is still scheduled to have 9 of these planes in service this year.
Hopefully the aircraft delivery issue will be resolved within the next 30-60 days.
Importantly, Hawaiian Air’s current fleet of two A321neo aircraft are both flying. One was out of service temporarily as we previously reported. It has since been fitted with new engines that are not subject to the airworthiness directive.
Hawaiian will continue to use existing A330 and soon to be retired B767 planes to complete some flights until A321 deliveries resume.
Read about the airworthiness directive which was the cause of the issue, and the potential for mid-air failure of certain Pratt & Whitney engines fitted on the A321neo.
Flights to Hawaii that are Impacted.
- Additional flights between San Francisco and Honolulu this summer have been cancelled.
- New Oakland/Kona flights have been cancelled. At least until further announcement.
- Oakland/Lihue flights deferred from April 11 to July 17.
- Portland/Honolulu A321 flights will use A330 until November (was to have been A321 starting March)
- Long Beach to Honolulu A321neo flights will start as scheduled on June 1.
Two Things to Do Now.
1. Check reservations online to determine if you will be on a different flight or a different aircraft.
Hawaiian Airlines said “guests already booked on these flights will be re-accommodated….” We’ve been advised by visitors, however, of issues they’ve encountered adjusting their reservations. Since hundreds of flights were impacted, this is undoubtedly causing quite a headache and taking some time to get sorted out to everyone’s satisfaction.
2. If the plane type has changed, so has the seating. Check to be sure that your party is still sitting together. Economy, Extra Comfort and first class configurations by aircraft are as shown below.
Economy seating configurations:
Airbus A321neo. Economy seating is 3 x 3 except for a few select rows.
Airbus A330. Economy seating is 2 x 4 x 2.
Boeing 767. Economy seating is 2 x 3 x 2.
First class seating configurations:
Airbus A321neo. First class seating is 2 x 2.
Airbus A330. First class seating is 2 x 2 x 2.
Boeing 767. First class seating is 2 x 2 x 2.
Extra Comfort seating configurations:
Airbus A321neo. Rows 11, 12, 14, 16, 17, 33, 45, 35.
Airbus A330. Rows and seats vary by aircraft configuration. Check seat map for your flight or contact Hawaiian Airlines.
Boeing 767. Not offered.
Additional Hawaiian Airlines’ Flight Announcements on Hold.
Until this aircraft delivery issue is resolved, we do not expect to see any further A321 flights announced. As you know, the reason for the A321neo fleet is in part to allow Hawaiian to fly new routes that were not previously feasible with their wide-body fleet. We had been expecting imminent announcements of more flights starting in spring and summer.
One of the main reasons this is of concern is that these new routes are important in creating competition, reduced prices and airfare wars.
Prior Announcements from Hawaiian Airlines.
The company indicated earlier this month: “Hawaiian Airlines was informed yesterday by Pratt & Whitney that a small number of its later model A320neo and A321neo engines have experienced problems in flight significant enough to warrant an FAA Airworthiness Directive requiring temporary suspension of service for those engines.” Those issues also temporarily removed ETOPS (over-water) certification for trans-Pacific flights, on planes fitted with those engines.
Hawaiian said it has been working with Airbus and PW to “understand the longer-term implications of this situation.”
At the time of the announcement, Hawaiian indicated that some flights designated for the new fleet would operate instead on legacy B767 and A330 aircraft.
Get Breaking Hawaii Travel News
Hi,
Late to the conversation here, but thank you for the detailed information. I will be flying from LAX to LIH in mid-August and as I price flights, I’m disappointed to see that Hawaiian is converting its morning flight from a 767-300ER to an A321Neo on July 17th. I can no longer find any twin aisle planes (on any carrier) from the west coast to LIH after mid-July.
Don’t get me wrong, the 767 was far from the most luxurious or technically advanced aircraft, but as someone with no kids who travels regularly with my girlfriend, it was nice to have the 2-3-2 configuration. I like the window, she needs the aisle so it worked out perfect. Now, I’ll need to upgrade or connect from a neighboring island to avoid the dreaded 3+3 configuration.
So unless you or one of your readers has information to the contrary (which I hope you do), looks like I’ll be flying into either HNL or OGG then connecting to LIH.
So when customer try and reschedule their flights there are change fees to be paid. Since this is Hawaiian’s doings of cancelling the LIH to OAK route, is this airlines planning on compensating for this mishap.
I called to reschedule my OAK-LIH flights and there were no fees involved. I rebooked on OAK-OGG, OGG-LIH, LIH-HNL,HNL-OAK.
Aloha Hawaii friends. That was excellent advice to check your reservations on HA flights. I’m flying from OAK to LIH in April and everything changed on the A321neo without my being informed. I am no longer flying non-stop to Lihue and now have a 1&1/2 hour layover in HNL. I’m happy the airline is being pro-active- safety should be their first and foremost concern. But why I was not informed is troubling. Seating was left as my original chosen seats but surprisingly there are 2 rows missing on the new plane which is a Boeing 767. Rows 24 & 25 aren’t there, and my original seat 25J didn’t exist anymore! I was fortunately able to move to another seat on the plane which is now 5 seats short of being full. So I strongly recommend going the extra step to view your seating assignment. In addition, this trip was booked through Hawaiian Vacations because I booked a flight and a car rental together, so the staff at the main Hawaiian help desk knew nothing about my reservation. I now understand this is normal, but now you talk to an agent in the Phillipines if you went through HA Vacations. Why wouldn’t HA keep all their flight information centralized for US reservations? It was very confusing! Thanks for any response you might have.
Hi Susan.
Thanks for your update and enjoy your travels! Hawaiian Airlines customer service is largely in the Philippines. Seems to just be the way of life. In our experience they’re generally better trained than other companies we have experienced.
Aloha.
Had scheduled flight June 19th Oakland to Kona. Called Hawaiian regarding canceled flight. They resolved our flight for 9 family members within 18 hours. Wonderfully accommodating! Very happy with their resolution.
Do you think this will impact prices going lower? We are going Sacramento to Lihue sept 14-28. Can’t find anything less than $612.
Been following your notes for a few month.
Thanks
Hi Deb.
If you are able to fly mid-week instead, you’ll do somewhat better. Also consider waiting since that’s low season and many more deals will get announced over the next few months.
Aloha.
I am flying out of Long Beach to Oahu on June 2. Will my flight be affected? Thank you Susan
Hi Susan.
As we indicated in the post, this issue will not impact your flight.
Aloha.
My name is Frank and I’d like to thank you for your update on the 321 situation. We have tickets for 7/1/18 from PDX to OGG. After reading your article I went in and checked on our flights. Sure enough HA had changed our plane going to OGG from the 321 to the 767 and had not notified us of this fact or the fact that they changed our flight times, both going and coming back. I had to change our seats as we had seats B&C on the 3 and 321 configuration but that put my wife and I in seats separated by the aisle on the 767. However, they still show us coming home from OGG on the 321. Any idea why would they would do that?
Hi Frank.
Hawaiian had one plane that was not part of the issue. The other plane that was has had different engines fitted as far as we know. So they will have two A321 planes flying. The issue at hand isn’t those, it is when deliveries of the remaining planes will start. They are expecting 7 more soon.
Aloha.
My friend and I are scheduled to fly out of San Diego directly to Maui on Hawaiian on May 10th. Do you know if there are any issues with flights out of San Diego to Maui? Thank you for your reply.
Hi Dolores.
There are no issues.
Aloha.
True Aloha will come from an airline when Southwest starts flying next year. All Boeing fleet. YES
Shame on Hawaiian for going to a foreign built aircraft starting with the 300 Airbus.
Hawaiian has never cared about anything but making a killing on every flight.
If its not Boeing, I’m not going!
The planes in question have Pratt Whitney engines which are still made in the USA, the last time I checked
Airlines go with whatever plane makes them the most money, regardless of country of origin. They have to look at a large variety of factors, including but not limited to:
– acquisition cost.
– crew training costs.
– spares and repair costs.
– fuel burn costs.
– financing and resale costs (these do factor in and may explain why Hawaiian may move away form the “orphan” A338).
– Etc.
The bottom line is that whomever makes an airline the the best deal and meets their operational requirements the best will get their money. I’m a Boeing shareholder myself and while I hope that airlines buy Boeing products, if they don’t and choose to buy Airbus that only means that Boeing didn’t do a good enough job developing and selling it’s products.
Something else also comes into play: the A321 is increasingly being seen as a 757 replacement. Well, Boeing hasn’t really offered a true replacement for the 757. The 737-900 is a tad underpowered and short-legged for traditional 757 routes, which the A321 can handle (usually) quite nicely. As the 757 ages and is eventually retired and Boeing has no true replacement in the pipeline, airlines are gravitating towards the A321, either as a true 757 replacement or as a means to open new routes as Hawaiian is doing. The blame here should be on Boeing for not anticipating the market’s need for such an aircraft. By not doing so, they have basically ceded this entire market segment to Airbus until such time as they do choose to offer something in this arena. You truly can’t blame airlines for ordering Airbus A321s when Boeing didn’t offer a competing modern product.
Bob
Good afternoon. We are flying from San Jose to Kahului on May 16th. Can you please tell us if this will affect our flight?
Thank you and have a nice day.
Hi Gloria.
Only flights impacted are those listed. No others.
Aloha.
Our flight from LAX-LIH in late May has been switched back to 767 since the Announcement – Andy
I’m flying Oakland to Lihue on July 18. Will I have to leave from another Bay Area airport? I already know my flight was canceled
So I am flying out on a new plane PDX to Maui on Monday….all this is not making me feel real warm and fuzzy. Are you telling me it is not safe??
My sis is flying next week supposedly on an A321 from OGG to PDX. Will there be a plane change or are some A321”s flying?
Hi Randy.
We were told that one is flying and one is not. Only a single aircraft that had already been delivered had the engines in question.
Aloha.
We will be flying to HNL from LAX on July 17th. Any problems her? Please and Thank you
Hi Chris.
The only information we have is what we already shared. So as far as we know, the answer is no.
Aloha.
Interesting, I am booked on the Lihue/Oakland flight for May 18th and received an email this week from Hawaiian changing the time of the flight but not altering the flight number or seat assignment. I guess there is more information coming.
Hi David.
Thanks for your frequent comments! This news came from their corporate communications. Perhaps their reservations side is still sorting out this change.
Aloha.
So, I am supposed to fly out of and back into Oakland next month. Does that include my flight being moved?
Beat of Hawaii,
Do you think Southwest Airlines is now on hold regarding announcements for flights to Hawaii from the West Coast?
Thanks so much,
Beth
Hi Beth.
Good question. No Southwest’s issues are entirely unrelated and deal with government certification. As soon as that’s resolved we expect them to announce routes and flight schedules.
Aloha.
Hi, my name is James and my wife and I have already booked a flight from Oakland to Kona on July 5th and returning July 11th. Please tell me if we are affected by the new planes engine problems and if so do we need to rebook? Thank you, James
Hi James.
We’d suggest you contact Hawaiian to discuss this.
Aloha.
I am scheduled to fly out of lax to Hnl on April 1st on the new plane. Should I be concerned?
I am on a flight from PDX to Lihue in May 2018 on a Airbus 321- HA25. Will they be changing to an airbus 330 and when will they let passengers know? It was originally a 330 which I prefer but then they changed it, Seats were messed up and I never received email. Customer Service is not great and not very helpful!