We are receiving messages from those involved in the recent decompression event on a United Hawaii flight. Not only that, but United Airlines had another Hawaii flight diversion today as well.
Today’s latest United Airlines Hawaii flight diversion.
At 2:18 pm on Wednesday, United Flight 706 departed Kahului (Maui) bound for Los Angeles. The flight was onboard a Boeing 737 MAX 8. We were tipped off to the problem by Diane, who said, “My husband is on a United flight today that has been diverted back to HNL…It still has not arrived back in HNL, so not sure what the problem is.”
Flight 706 arrived back at Honolulu Airport at 5:52 pm Wednesday. It was on the ground for just over one hour. The flight’s continuation departed Honolulu for Los Angeles again at 7:01 p.m. It is due into LAX at 1:58 a.m. tomorrow. We are also waiting to hear what caused the diversion.
Uncomplimentary comments about United Airlines customer service following recent Hawaii decompression.
We reported on last week’s United flight 1639 that lost cabin pressure two hours after leaving Maui on February 16. It diverted to Honolulu after midnight. Passengers were not able to continue until later the next day. Here are comments from some passengers on board.
Danna reported today: “My husband and I were on the United flight from Maui to San Francisco that depressurized. We were safely redirected to Honolulu, but the whole experience was rather traumatic for passengers, grown men were crying. When we arrived in Honolulu, there were no flight accommodations for over 24 hours, nor were we given hotel vouchers. My husband and I finally booked on another airline so that we could get to our destination, but there were other passengers who did not have that option. The whole episode was handled very poorly by United Airlines.”
She went on to say, “United Airlines sent a generic apology to our email with $175 flight credit on a future flight. For those of us who spent hours on the phone and a lot of money to get out of there. At least two or three times, we were directly lied to about the next steps… literally just passed off to another employee who had no idea what was going on. I would not call that “accommodated.“ It was a sad situation, given what we had all been through on the flight.
Regular commenter Lee asked: “So do we have more incidents or just more attention being paid to every incident that happens?”
But that wasn’t the end of it. Katelynn reported: “I was also on that United flight to San Francisco, and I totally agree with everything you said. United’s customer service was atrocious. I would have been better off if they didn’t even have customer service because I would have wasted less time. In the end, United was never even able to rebook me (or at least I gave up after waiting for hours and hours), and I just ended up booking with another airline. That experience was genuinely terrifying. A $175 flight voucher is nowhere close to the value of the therapy I’m going to need!
If you were on either of these flights, we’d love to hear from you.
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Same experience only on a flight from Denver to Las Vegas. United has the worst customer service I’ve ever experienced. Cancel, rebook, cancel again and again. And everyone is correct their “vouchers ” are worth nothing compared to what they put you through. Never again will I fly United.
It sounds like it was a nightmare to get rebooked to get back home. I think with all the delays and incidents that are happening these days it probably would be wise to have a back up with travel insurance. At least you wouldn’t have to hesitate about paying for more tickets from another airline to get to your destination.
Why is anyone getting on a Boeing 737 Max 8 these days? More importantly… why are the airlines keeping them in service. According to Boeing whistleblowers the plane has a major design flaw that can not be fixed by software updates. And how do the pilots feel about all these multiple mechanical problems/ diversions across the board?
I was on United Flight 706 Wednesday from OGG to LAX.
An infant on board was choking on something (I was close enough to witness). The crew asked over the intercom if there were any licensed medical professionals on board to ring their call bell. In the meantime, one of the flight attendants was performing some sort of infant choking first aid and managed to dislodge whatever it was choking on. It was pretty intense, the parents seemed calm and not many people outside of the nearby rows likely even knew what happened.
Flight was about halfway, then they turned around to Honolulu. Above all thankful the baby was safe but once again the United customer service was atrocious. Same experience as told in the depressurization incident
Sounds like typical “customer service” from the worst of all airlines.
Pretty chintze of them w just $175 bucks for an experience like that. AA put 10K miles into my Advantage account for being several hours late flying back on the 1st. Plus they reimbursed me almost $150. Big difference between just late and depressurization between the two!
Best Regards
I don’t understand why people continue to use United. They have had poor safety ratings for years. There’s a reason they are cheaper.
Last fall I was on a British Airways (BA) flight from London to Denver that had to return to London due to a mechanical issue. BA is covered by the EU rules for commercial passenger air carriers. We were given vouchers for: transport to & from hotel, 1-night hotel (a very nice one), and meal vouchers for dinner and breakfast. In addition, I received a refund from BA that was about 3/4’s of the cost of the ticket to Denver. So yes, air travel interruption protections here in the US are not great, but passengers absolutely should have received a hotel voucher. So yes, do file a complaint with the US Dept of Transportation.
Airlines contract of carriage is to get you to your destination. It doesn’t say anything about your mental state upon arrival. My brother retired from United, worked on the ramp. I wouldn’t fly United if he gave me a First Class/Business ticket.
Everyone on the united flight that had to fly at 10,000 ft needs to contact the Department of Transportation. Demand help from Pete Butsjeg
United is another airline I avoid… Even up front, they’re not particularly helpful. Don’t get me started on the seating arrangement in those old 772… 😀
Best Regards!
$175 voucher? What a joke.
Seems like more incidents every week….
I have been flying Hawaiian airlines for over 30 years. I have been happy with each and every one of my flights. Customer service has been top notch. I talk up Hawaiian every chance I get and continue to fly with them.
Aloha Danna,
I am so very sorry about your non pono, no aloha, non ho’okipa (no good, no aloha, no hospitality) flight experience. If they had diverted back to Maui, I would come gotten you and your husband, brought you over to our South Shore home, made you folks dinner (or maybe we hit up one of the local food trucks), then insist that you two stay in our guest room at least one night while the airline tried to get you home.
Alas, I am not home and you did not get diverted back to Maui. I am an old Mauian currently stuck on the west Coast of the Mainland for fixable medical reasons and I probably cannot get on a homeward bound plane until early May.
Aloha Nancy. Do you need my wife and I to house sit for you while you are away? We are currently on the Mainland’s west coast. I hope you are back to 100% soon.
“Grown men were crying”? Really? And what about the grown women? 😉