This morning we checked all of the airlines that fly to Hawaii to determine if there had been any changes to their Maui fire travel waivers. And in fact, there have been changes once again. The airlines have just become significantly more flexible on the waiver offers. Hawaiian, for example, will allow passengers with flights up to December 15 to change flights, or if you were traveling up to September 15, to receive a refund entirely. Each of the airline’s waiver policies varies significantly, so we are again providing the links to each so you can get the details. Please let us know if you have any questions in the comments below.
Alaska Airlines.
For those scheduled to travel by August 31, Alaska is now allowing changes so long as travel is completed by October 1, 2023. The airline will now allow you to “Change your trip without a fee. No difference in fare will apply for new travel to/from Maui (OGG), Honolulu (HNL), Kona (KOA), Lihue (LIH) through October 1, 2023 in the same cabin.
Cancel your trip without a fee and choose to deposit the funds into your Account wallet, or receive a credit certificate for future travel.”
American Airlines.
American will allow those passengers who purchased tickets by August 9 for travel through September 16 to rebook for travel through November 18. This applies to all fare classes including Basic Economy. The airline says you can “Change your origin or destination to Honolulu (HNL), Kona (KOA) or Lihue / Kauai (LIH), Hawaii; Rebook in the same cabin or pay the difference; Cancel your trip and request a refund.” All changes must be made by September 16 and flights must be flown within one year of the original purchase date.
Delta Airlines.
For travelers who had travel plans through August 14, Delta has extended their travel waiver policy. “When rebooked travel occurs on or before September 19, 2023 in the same cabin of service as originally booked, the fare difference will be waived. A fare difference may apply when the waiver is class to class restrictive and the original booking class is not maintained in the rebooked itinerary. When rebooked travel occurs after September 19, 2023, a difference in fare may apply.”
Hawaiian Airlines.
The Hawaii hometown carrier has now extended travel waivers for travel through December 15, 2023. “Due to an emergency and evacuation situation caused by fires on the island of Maui, a travel waiver is available for guests traveling to/from Kahului (OGG) between Aug. 9 – Dec. 15, 2023 HST. The options provided include rescheduling flights at no additional cost including no fare difference. You can also cancel your flight and have the value applied as a future ticket credit so long as future flights are flown within one year of original purchase. Or, if you were traveling between August 9 and September 15, “you have the option of receiving a refund for your trip. Refund requests must be made to our Reservations department or via our online form by September 1, 2023. For those submitting the online form, please ensure that your request includes the topic, “Refund,” and sub-topic, “Maui Fire Travel Waiver.”
Southwest Airlines.
In addition to its normally generous policies regarding changes and cancellations, Southwest has added the following flexibility. “Between Wednesday, August 9 through Monday, September 4, Customers holding reservations to, from, or through Kahului (Maui), HI – OGG can alter their travel plans, and may rebook in the original class of service or travel standby (within 14 days of their original date of travel between the original city-pairs and in accordance with our accommodation procedures) without paying additional charges. In order to provide our Customers with maximum flexibility, Customers scheduled to travel to, from, or through Kahului (Maui), HI – OGG during this time period may also change their departure/arrival to any of our Hawaii destinations… without paying any additional charge.
United Airlines.
United has also extended the duration of its Maui travel waiver to November 18, as follows. United does not, however, allow for a change in Hawaii destination city. “You can reschedule your trip and we’ll waive change fees and fare differences. But, your new flight must be a United flight departing between August 10, 2023 and November 18, 2023. Tickets must be in the same cabin and between the same cities as originally booked. If your new trip is after November 18, 2023, or is to a different destination, we’ll still waive any change fees but you might have to pay a fare difference depending on the flight. If you cancel or don’t take your trip, you can get a full refund.”
I tried to get my tickets exchanged through Hawaiian Airlines and they said they couldn’t help me. I was flying to Maui from November 4-11 and I wanted to exchange them to go to Oahu instead because I have no place to stay in Maui after the fires. Where are you getting your information that they are exchanging or refunding tickets? Ive emailed them 3 times now and they say since I originally bought non refundable tickets that they cant help me. I am losing 3 flight’s because they wont do anything for me.
I am traveling Sept 17 to Maui and Alaska Airlines won’t change my flight for me as they said the original travel dates are through Sept 16th. So now we have no ability to move our travel to a different island as planned with family, which are doing the same and have been able to change our tickets even though we don’t have a place to stay on Maui anymore. We just want to update our destination not even cancel. So, we are now losing the $ we paid for our flights unless they extend the original travel dates. We booked a saver ticket because we needed to be cost conscious however that doesn’t seem fair that we cannot just change your flight end travel since we already paid for the flights, and we aren’t looking to cancel.
I am wondering if people will be allowed to travel to Maui in April of 2024. If anyone know.
s, please respond. Thanks
Hi Sherry.
Yes you can.
Aloha.
Do you know if hotels are allowing cancellation refunds beyond august 31st? I booked a trip through Costco and they are not allowing me to cancel with a refund due to my trip being September 11th-15th.
Thank you for daily updates. Norwegian Cruise Line has not revised our end of September itinerary; first stop is Maui. We trust they will substitute other ports of interest. This booking was super expensive, but important to us as we celebrate our wedding anniversary.
Hi Tony.
We have not heard yet but they may well return to Kahului soon.
Aloha.
I am an airline crew member. I flew from mainland into OGG today with only 35 customers onboard. I got to our layover and found Everything open in Kihei, in Wailea too! The Governor recommended everyone leave last week, but with everything now open on the south side of the island, there are almost no tourists compared to normal, so it seems the Governor’s recommendations are going to be more harmful than good in the weeks and months ahead. The devastated west side yes should be off limits to all visitors, but the rest of the island is going to have to face the devastating loss of income and influx of the very valuable tourist dollar that is the economic driver. The news reports about the fires have seemed to have scared all potential visitors, so trying to reverse that trend this year will be a heavy lift. I have visited Maui more than 50 times and am heartbroken for this special place.
Happy to hear Airlines are extending waiving fees. Now if I could get the airbnb in Kaanapali to give me a full refund.
We had plans to fly Southwest in January & they allowed us vouchers without an expiration so we can plan again to hopefully come in January 2025
I was able to donate the 19,000 miles that I had with Hawaiian Airlines to the Red Cross on the Hawaiian Airlines website. Those miles will be used for the Red Cross to fly their employees and volunteers to Maui. Hope that is what they went for. I think it was a good cause.
Hello. Thank you for your daily update. Do you have any information from WestJet, the air carrier that many Canadians use to fly to Hawaii? I am scheduled to fly back on November 5 from Maui to Vancouver.
Any insight appreciated.
Hi Cheryl.
Definitely. Here’s the update. https://www.westjet.com/en-ca/news/2023/westjet-service-update–maui-wildfires.
Aloha.