Do you already have a trip to Hawaii planned between now and summer? If so, you’re wondering what to do, how to not lose your money, and when resuming trips to Hawaii will again be prudent. You are not alone!
Beat of Hawaii:
1. If you need to cancel or postpone a Hawaii vacation, the goal is to preserve all of the money spent. Keep in mind that when an airline cancels your flight, or does a significant change of schedule, you should in all likelihood be entitled to a complete refund, rather than a credit for future travel. Therefore, it may work best to wait to change plans, pending upcoming flight cancellations.
2. It is virtually impossible to reach the airlines via phone anyway, due to overwhelm. Airlines are suggesting you either reach them online or wait, if your travel plans aren’t within the next few days.
For Hawaii vacations planned from now through April.
Airlines have policies in place for cancellation or rescheduling. These are airline-specific and you need to check the details. Those can mostly help if you booked your trip recently. If they apply to you, and the terms are acceptable (credit instead of refund), then by all means go ahead and take advantage of them.
Our most recent updates of airline fee waiver and cancellation policies.
For Hawaii vacations planned from May through summer.
If you do not have an option to cancel with the airline thus far, we suggest just sitting tight at this time. The reason is that airline schedules are only now starting to be changed for spring, let alone for summer. If the airline cancels your flight, or changes your itinerary, you should become entitled to a refund, even if that isn’t available now.
Airlines are offering less help with late spring through summer changes and cancellations at this time. These waivers mostly apply only to people who have just recently purchased tickets, not those who purchased non-refundable tickets months ago.
We are certain that many of you did buy far in advance, as that has been the norm for peak summer Hawaii vacations for decades.
For Hawaii vacations planned starting this fall.
We do fully expect Hawaii to be open for business by then, and we totally look forward to welcoming you back. When that happens, we except to see cheap flights to Hawaii and the best Hawaii hotel and Hawaii vacation rental values too. That in order to restart the Hawaii travel industry.
What are visitors thinking about resuming trips to Hawaii?
We don’t have the crystal ball on this, but here’s what we’ve learned and what Hawaii visitors may be thinking. For example, we note that this week, flights from China to both London and San Francisco are resuming, about three months after their outbreak began. That as new cases in China have diminished to near zero. We don’t know if that time frame will be similar here, but we are hopeful.
A study was conducted last week (now a lifetime ago and things have changed since then), by Omnitrak, a leading Hawaii-based strategic research firm used by Hawaii Tourism Authority. In that, those in the US who have traveled at least once in the past year, 49% of them still intend to travel between now and the end of August 2020, while 51% do not have current plans to travel during that period.
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Big fan of your posts for the past 3 years…really enjoy reading them, even during times of the year that we’re not traveling to HI. Keep up the good work!
Our early May travel to HI has obviously been postponed, as we don’t want to sit in quar antine for the visit. Most rescheduling (hotels/airlines) has been okay with no extra fees, as we want to (tentatively) try again in June….with the exception of Hawaiian Airlines (inter-island). They’ll graciously apply our funds from a previously booked flight for early May, to rebook, but will not give us the lower cost online ticket price, rather asking for $75 more for the three of us, when the online difference is $30 total. Did I miss something or are they blatantly trying to manipulate the situation?
Hoping for a June rebound…
Would appreciate your comments.
Hi Dean.
Thanks for your comment and the nice words. Much appreciated.
So we’re suggesting based on other comments, that you try to contact them again since you may get another answer. That doesn’t sound right that you’re being asked to pay $75 vs. $30.
Aloha.
My daughter is getting married on the big island on June 14th, well that’s the plan anyway. We are sitting tight for now hoping we’ll have the all clear by then. So much planning has gone into this and all the arrangements have been made, not only by us but our guests as well since everyone is traveling from the mainland. It will be so sad should we have tp cancel everything. Keeping our fingers crossed! It’s still so hard to believe this is happening and that our entire world had practically shut down. My thoughts and prayers are with everyone. Stay safe! Sending much aloha…
Hi Lorilee.
Thank you.
Aloha.
Our sons wedding was scheduled for April 4th in oahu with the majority of guest coming from the mainland. As you can imagine the disappointment in having to postpone. But what’s so upsetting is that one of their vendors wants to charge fee to postpone.
We had a trip to Vegas planned for March27th and cancelled it…bought tickets and a condo to maui for March 26-1st…cancelled that too. Our VRBO owner was very understanding and said if we need to move a 3rd time it’s not a problem. So.booked again for April 22-28 because I was told Maui was on two week Quar antine….now hearing it could extend into May. But also saw where the Maui government told people to please wait 30 days and reschedule their trip starting on March 18th….so by booking a month out that doesn’t put you into May yet. Anyone see airline spikes in May? I will be paying triple per ticket if we extend the trip…..so, were hopeful that by mid April restaurants and tourist activities are back up and running.
I am born and raised on the island of Kauai but now live in Oklahoma. My family and I has reservations for May 18- June 02. We have sent email inquiries to both airlines and hotel accommodations regarding cancellation and has yet to receive a response😔 I appreciate and love the information I receive from this site!
Hi Frank.
Thank you! Hope it all works out. Airlines are definitely having a hard time keeping up with this. Let us know how it works out.
Aloha.
My husband and I and our friends had a trip planned to Maui for March 20 – 28. We cancelled and the condo people said we could reschedule and not lose our money. They were so good about it. Our Alaska airline tickets were originally non- refundable but we were able to cancel and receive a full refund with no cancellation fees at all. I love Alaska airlines and they just proved why I do. I look forward to our trip we have scheduled for November now.
We too like Frank have reservations in Waikoloa for end of May and are just pressing the pause button – no cancelling yet!!. This trip was planned in conjunction with my daughters 8th grade graduation. Now that schools have been cancelled for the remaining of the school year it seems like an eternity until May. We do look forward to being back on the Big Island snorkeling at Captain Cook and slurping those delicious Pineapple Shakes!!!
We have 3 condos rented in Kihei for June 30th thru July 13th. The on island property management company is not changing their cancellation policy for this time period. In order to get 100% refund, it has to be cancelled 60 days out, no rescheduling.
Do you think that property managers and owners will become more flexible as this situation progresses? We really do not want to cancel this early but will have to by the end of April to not lose money. Seems unfair.
Hi Adele.
Hard to say. As with travelers, both of those groups have significant challenges at this time.
Aloha.
We just came home after 3 wonderful weeks on Kauai. SO grateful for your Aloha spirit – brought it home. Things are more glum mainland. We will return ASAP! Meantime, we thank all of the gracious folks who made our stay in Princeville and Poipu so memorable…Smith Family Luau, too! Mahalo and Aloha till 2021.
Hi Mary Beth.
Thank you.
Aloha.
Any advice regarding returning to the mainland from Hawaii? I am unsure if I should extend visit or go home. Thanks
Hi Nancy.
Not sure how we an help. Flights are likely to be cancelled soon, one way or the other. So if you want to go home, it might be good to do so sooner than later. We know of long term visitors who plan to stay until summer before returning to the mainland, on the other hand.
Aloha.
We are suppose to be going to Oahu on June 15 to July 9th to stay at Koolina Resort. Should we cancel our reservations now or wait.
Hi Joyce.
It comes down to the terms and conditions associated with you accommodations and air travel and your ability to postpone or cancel. It is a tough call and we gave all the thoughts we have at present.
Aloha.
We’re in Maui now flying to kona. Just received notice from the resort that even the pool is closed. Now that truly is disheartening considering the crowds are minimal -lots of room at pools for social distancing. State parks closed but unsure if that includes the beaches
Can you recommend a trip insurance company? Probably too late for April but looking for October. Thanks!
Hi Chris.
It is out understanding that trip insurance generally does not cover things of this nature. That is especially true once the issue is known.
Aloha.
Family trip to Hawaii and Alaska late July this summer…do you see it happening? We are from Minnesota and have been saving and planning for years.
We have reservations for Maui from Sacramento on May 9-14 do you think we will need to cancel?
Thank you, that is exactly what we are doing. Waiting. The event we were basing or entire trip around (and only getting half our money back for 🙁 ) was cancelled. I don’t want to cancel anything else ourselves yet since it’s still a little under 2 months out. I want to make sure we get as much as we can back, if that is going to be the case. I appreciate the reinforcement that we are making the right decision in this. How did we get here??? I still can’t wrap my head around it. I hope you and your family are safe, stress free and healthy. Mahalo, Erin
Hi Erin.
Thanks. Stay in touch and let us know how it goes.
Aloha.
I just want to offer my thanks to your comments regarding the questions from the folks re their travel to your beautiful islands.
Linda
Hi Linda.
Thanks very much!
Aloha.
Alhoa, Mahalo Nui Loa for all you do on this site. I have refereed many to it for your awesome information. I’ll share my recent experience. We were to travel out to the Big Island from Chicago on Wednesday March 18 to start a 13 day trip which was to complete on Maui, there were 12 ( 10 adults 2 kids) of us in total. I rescheduled it figuring it was going to get worse before it got better. I have an awesome condo owner on Maui that I have worked with for 3 years on VRBO and he refunded our entire reservation, understanding that this was getting worse. We were told that I have to use the airfare by middle of May because I booked this in May 2019. Our air and hotel at the Hilton on the BI was moved out 6 weeks (we are hopeful). As of now this isn’t looking good and if this continues I may be out the airfare. If not, I will continue to move this out as it’s looking like the kiddos might not be back in school anytime soon. As a plus, there’s finally good airfare out of Chicago to Hawaii and May is a wonderful time to visit Hawaii.
Hi Jason.
Thanks. Hope it works out for your trip.
Aloha.
We have return flights booked from OGG to Lihue on May16th back May20 but we bought insurance. Will we get insurance fees back?
Aloha..we have plans to visit Kaui..april 28 to may 7th to get a refund from.vrbo we need to cancel by march 28th ..just wondering what to do at this point! We really want to keep our plans but not sure what to do at this point.
Hi Shelly.
If you’re asking for our gut feeling, it would be to cancel unless something changes prior to that cancellation date. No one really knows at this point.
Aloha.
No legal ban. If you really wanna go you still can.
I just cancelled my trip that was scheduled next week. So sad! But I have faith that this will pass and we will be able to go to Beautiful Hawaii soon!
Thank you for this timely article. Two sets folks back in Missouri have plans for May and have asked “what to do?” This is perfect.
Hi Thomas.
Thank you!
Aloha.
What about accommodation cancellations. Those are the ones I’m most concerned with right now.
I only got back 50% of my accommodation reservations. Disappointing…
Sorry to hear Frans was refunded 50%. I was fortunate to get a full refund on my deposit.
Just cancelled 3 different accommodation reservations, 1 in Honolulu, 1 in Laie, and the other on Molokai. All refunded us 100%. Appreciate the Aloha spirit even when it’s hurting their bottom line!
Not cx for 6/20/2020 fingers crossed to Kauai