Visitors are rankled and reporting many Hawaiian Airlines flight cancellations in comments we receive. These come as both A321neo engine problems worsen and less demand for Maui service continues at the challenged Hawaii bellwether. See the most recent cancellations below.
Hawaiian Airlines is still having significant issues with excessively long engine repairs required on the entire fleet of 18 Airbus A321neo aircraft. The airline had temporarily eliminated some routes, as we’ve previously reported, and canceled flights, sometimes at the last minute, as reported in comments, on routes that are otherwise still operating. Previously the aircraft engine manufacturer announced that instead of their previous estimate of 60 days per engine for inspection and repair, it would instead take up to 300 days!
Regular commenter Tim alerted us this week, “Look guys, love BOH , but really stop with Hawaiian Air; they are the most inconsiderable group of people. They canceled my trip from LGB to OGG yesterday and said they would assign us to another flight. Still haven’t heard, called to hear them say all flights for the next week are canceled; wow, Maui is trying to open, and they decided to join the government and mayor to keep people away, it’s sad.”
Les reported, Regarding the new app..well, it failed in notification. I checked in to my flight for today, Oct. 9, as usual, 24 hours ahead of time, for both flights, and this was into Long Beach. I checked 3 times as usual to ensure still scheduled and on time, which it was. Then at 9 pm Oct 8, I checked, and bam, the main flight to LB was canceled, no notification, no email, nothing.”
Darren added, “Hawaiian Airlines is currently a disaster. My direct flight from Oak to Kauai I booked in January, was canceled in August. The new flights offered were terrible, with a long layover in Honolulu. Then, on October 8th at 6:00 pm, I was told my October 10th flight, literally 34 hours away, was just canceled!!! Now the only flights they offered were horrible!! 6-hour layover and terrible seats. I had good extra comfort and isle seating on my original trip.”
Finally, Bill exclaimed, “We were due to fly to OGG tomorrow from SJC, and our flight, along with all the other flights from S.F. Bay Area airports, were canceled. Less than 24 hours’ notice was given, which seems terribly wrong. I took the refund and am flying United instead.”
Unfortunately, these comments were just four in a long list we received on this issue. You will also read more of these problems in comments below. Please add your experiences.
Read: Hawaiian Airlines Chopping More Routes | Reality Of Engine Recall Looms.
Two mainland departure cities that are reported to have suffered the most from the Hawaiian Airlines’ cancellations are San Francisco and Long Beach. Frequently, it is also the flights traveling to Maui that are being canceled. We can’t say, and Hawaiian doesn’t reveal how many planes are out of service for the nearly year-long repair required at any given time, but that could well be in the range of five or more planes at once.
Sixteen Hawaiian Airlines flights recently canceled on just two routes.
As an example of the problems, we investigated two popular routes that visitors had mentioned.
- Hawaiian Flight 41 from San Francisco to Maui has been canceled ten times from September 26 through October 17.
- Flight 71 from Long Beach to Maui has been canceled six times in just the eight days.
Please share any recent experiences you may have had, good or bad.
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Hello, I’m very concerned, I booked a trip for 7 back 8 in April. We’re suppose to leave Sept 30 from Seatac. Its a package deal with flight and ĥotel. How do i find out whats going on or chances of cancellation? Im freaking out! Anybody please help!
Same flight here HA 41 on May 3.woke up early to prepare for our early morning flight only to find out an email was sent in the middle of the night our flight was cancelled. This was our 15 wedding anniversary trip, really disappointed.
Just seeing this now after my flight 41 from San Francisco to Kahului was canceled with less than 24 hours notice. Major pain to rebook and seek refund for baggage and other extra fees.
HA has cancelled the SFO/HNL 330 rotation (Flight 11/12) 3 times in the last 7 days. Presumably they are cancelling this flight because passengers can be accommodated on United. HA has become very unreliable the last 3 months. We’re traveling to Maui on Thanksgiving Day and have had 5 schedule changes. If I had to book again, I would avoid HA at all cost until they can get operational reliability.
We were a traveling party of 11, 6 adults and 5 children. Hawaiian airlines cancelled our return flight LGB to OGG on 10/16/23 with less than 24 hours notice!
They could not return us home to Maui until 10/18/23! Fortunately the hotel we were staying at could accommodate us for the additional 2 days.
We are now in the process of recovering additional cost incurred by this travel delay with Hawaiian Airlines. Filed request for reimbursement on 10/19/23 with follow up communication a week later. Haven’t gotten anywhere with Hawaiian Airlines to date. Customer service has been very disappointing.
I’ve had 3 Hawaiian flights canceled this year as well. One was in March to Honolulu 12 hours from departure from SFO AFTER I was checked in! No notification except for an email. No rebooking or assistance from customer service. I ended up missing a funeral service. Then 2 in October to Maui same scenario, but a text 24 hrs before departure. Flew united and a flight attendant said they have been getting an influx of passengers last minute from Hawaiian on a regular basis. Hawaiian, first to worst…
I was just notified that my direct flight from Long Beach to Maui/OGG was cancelled, and they put me on a connecting flight via Honolulu. I paid extra for the direct flight, and I paid almost $100 for a seat upgrade. Now, I am getting no direct flight and no upgraded seat. Would Hawaiian Airline at least refund me the difference? Of course, the pricing has gone up since I booked more than a month ago, so now you can’t tell there was a price difference when I booked. Any advice on what to do?
We have a trip next month on Hawaiian. We had gotten a time change notification on our flight but the changes were minimal so I thought nothing of it. I went to see about a possible seat upgrade when I noticed that our SEA to OGG and return flight both were no longer on the wide body jet, and our seats were no longer together. We specifically fly Hawaiian out of Seattle due to the 2 -4-2 seating and often pay more for it. So this was a disappointment. I’ll be curious if this is a permanent change or to do with decrease in tourism/plane issues. Now I have a new fear unlocked that might flight might be cancelled altogether!
Hi Jen.
Glad you asked. They are downsizing that to A321neo in November and December. Then it returns to A330 for the remainder of their schedule. It would seem highly unlikely for them to withdraw from that route, and leave it to the other nonstops from Alaska and Delta.
Aloha.
Thank you for the information!
Looks like OGG-LGB is discontinued from 12/14 and the return LGB-OGG from 12/15. What a mess for the winter travel plans!
I live in state and will never fly Hawaiian airlines again. I have a $100 voucher for when they literally left me on the ground on Kauai as they had no wheelchair service for me which since I’m disabled I use to board and deboard the plane. This was because they were still sorting out the cancellations because of the previous day’s turbulence incident resulting in 34 injuries…and then the following day landing gear failed on a flight from Maui to Oahu. I tried them once more to burn flight credit flying my 12 yr old daughter back from school break, she had an earache and they tried to take her, without me, unaccompanied by ambulance on Oahu and send me on my way back to Big Island and her friend (age 14) on to Kauai without us.
I have often wondered in similar situations of a route that is not selling well if an airline can easily away with claiming mechanical reasons for a cancellation when in reality they just didn’t sell enough seats to justify the trip. Do industry veterans have insight on this?
Wah wah wah, everybody’s crying worse than babies. You think it’s the airline’s fault, no. It’s the manufacturers fault. Their engines failed to produce & that’s why there’s a recall. You think changing an engine is like changing a tire? think again. So reschedule, rebook or research other options of travel if you have to
Are you serious? Of course it’s Hawaiians fault. They know what planes they have available and cancelling at the last minute is inexcusable.
Maybe your just comfortable with disappointments in your life
Aloha! My recent flight OGG/Maui to Long Beach on October 13th was canceled 4 days prior due to “Maintenance grounding” whatever that means …I specifically chose Hawaiian because they were not canceling flights. I immediately called & was booked on direct flight to LAX/Los Angeles…Hate their Gate!!! It’s soooo far from exiting the actual building and LAX on a Friday night is nuts !! Hoping flights are more consistent going forward as tourism S l o w l y returns …ps. My daughter & her boyfriend just booked Thanksgiving week for $440 round trip : LAX to Maui !!!
My return flight from SFO to HNL on Hawaiian Airlines was also cancelled without notification causing my daughter & I to be stranded in SF. Hawaiian agent said they could not help wit finding accommodations. I called their reservation line and was told their next available flight would not be for 3 days. I incurred a $2000 expense for an additional night stay, transportation, food and next available flight on delta the following day. Hawaiian denied responsibility.
I don’t fly Hawaiian anymore they burned me in the middle of a purchase tried to burn me for an extra $100.00 they lost a lot for a lousy 100. Which they never got anyway. But would absolutely Never fly united ever never ever.
Hawaiian Airlines is all about the money. They’ve been this way for the longest of times. They think because there was no competition after Aloha Airlines went out of business that they can treat us locals bad. They offer no service, no personality and no Aloha spirit. We were forced to fly with them because of no other competition. Like I said, only because I see it, Hawaiian Airlines, doesn’t give a flying beep about us kamaaina, it’s only for the money.
We booked a trip from SJC to Maui in April on Hawaiian for Thanksgiving. As of today, we have received 5+cancellations and reroutes. Hawaiian is in disarray with the 321 maintenance problems and post Lahaina fire loss of passengers to Maui. It was only thru persistence on my part that on #4 change that they agreed to move us to the SFO-OGG nonstop. They did so. Now, today, they cancel the OGG nonstop and we’re going thru HNL on the outbound. At least we’re upgauging from a 321 to 330 and get a lie flat bed since we’ll be getting up so early.
Similar experience but with flight leaving Maui OGG on HA 34 to LAX on Sept. 7. Checked in online, but no boarding pass given. Flight to leave at 12:50 pm Sept. 7 and late night at 11 pm on Sept. 6 was sent email that flight cancelled. I immediately began looking for flights. HA ultimately bought me a ticket on a United flight.
We flew out of San Jose CA on September 06,2023 to Honolulu and back on September 14, 2023.
Had a great flight.
We thought we were the only ones until we read this article. Our flight
just got canceled three days in a row – HA 71 from Long Beach to Maui. Beyond frustrating experience.
Just returned from Kaua’i, round-trip on HA–an exasperating, glitch-filled journey from the start at LAX. Despite great past experiences with HA, this trip was a nightmare. We’ll spend the next week sorting out who did what to our reservations from months ago, and when, and why, and why we were never notified, and how much extra we were charged for Their errors. Two great HA agents worked with us at LAX and LIH, but nothing transpired as they reassured us it would. Will give serious thought to flying HA next time.
Thanks for the article. Because of it, I just checked my reservation for January 8, 2024. They now show it as Long Beach, CA to Honolulu, Nit OGG, Maui, without informing me, Or have an Interisland flight scheduled. I can’t believe they did this to me, and glad I caught it.
Perhaps Hawaiian needs to suspend the routes with A321 service or consider a change to Boeing aircraft.
Our flight from Maui to Long Beach was canceled on Saturday, we were given just under 24 hours notice and were offered final destinations of Seattle, Phoenix and Las Vegas, nowhere near Long Beach. 2+ hours on the phone later, my family of 5 (including 3 young kids) secured seats spread all across a United flight going to LAX. The fact that they are canceling last minute, calling it a schedule change and not offering any reasonable solution is very frustrating, to say the least.
Seattle to Maui last week and back 2 days ago was just fine. Packed flights, but just fine.
How wad the mood in Maui? Friendly to tourists or did you get side eyed?
These days, I find Hawaiin only useful when i want a late inter-island flight.
Just got notified my flights in Feb on HA direct from Long Beach to Maui were cancelled. HA rebooked us on LB to HNL to OGG on our way out, and just HNL to LB for our return. No OGG to HNL…. And not all flights first class, as we had previously booked. Thankfully we booked via Amex Platinum travel so they took care of booking our OGG to HNL leg and getting back into first class seats. We are booked on same direct flights LB to OGG in April – fingers crossed -they still show direct.
Still a pain in the A##.
Use Alaska. We have never – in decades – had a cancelled, a change without adequate notice, a delay, long waits or last minute plane issues.
Whew, am I glad I don’t ever fly Hawaiian! Their rates have never been competitive enough to warrant layovers and such. This is even more icing on the cake. I understand issues mechanically and supply chain related headaches, but the way they go about things seems to be less than ideal bordering Frontier class levels.
Typically I fly Alaska for the Hawaii routes as they’ve always been timely, affordable and no issues at all. We leave next week to Kailua-Kona via Southwest, so this should be interesting. At least the layover is a 1 hour plane swap in Oakland rather several hours in Honolulu.
Just flew from San Jose to Maui last week, returning yesterday. Best flights I’ve been on in decades. No delays or cancelations, even arrived in Maui early.
I was so concerned that my Maui to Long Beach on 10/18 would get a last minute Cancel, I actually switched my flight to LAX from Kona. Hawaiian has just become less reliable for my travels that other airlines will probably start getting my business.
Had good service yesterday on an A330 from PDX to HNL/LIH.
Although HA changed my original reservations made back in May
via email in late July trashing my seat assignments on an A321neo.
Took several long phone calls and was forced to pay an additional $456 to reconfirm my reservations. I really wonder if HAL will even be in business 3 years from now???
This is why Southwest flights are so busy!
Southwest cancelled my flight when I was on the way to the airport in Kona. Left me scrambling and cost me $$. Then reluctantly gave me a credit only after I grumbled, except the credit they gave me happened right before COVID and The flight shutdowns. So there was zero flights out of hawaii and I couldn’t use it obviously before it expired. When I tried for get it extended they wouldn’t. How was I supposed to use a credit when there is zero flights to use it on?! Southwest sucks too.
Our Hawaiian Flight from LBG to OGG was 2 hours late departing because of engine trouble. We missed our connecting flight to KOA and met with our friend four hours late. She had to Uber. Then, at 9:30 pm the night before we were to leave Hawaii, we received a text that our flight from OGG to LBG was cancelled!. They wanted to book us on a flight two days later, but we had no place to stay in Maui (the flight from KOA to OGG was at 8:00 am.) We were flying 1st class, so they found us a United flight (tiny plane) to LAX! Then we had to find transportation from LAX back to Orange County… “No more Hawaiian airlines!” We travel to Hawaii once a year… Our friend on Alaska had no problems…and a direct flight to KOA from Seattle!
Aloha, BOH. Thanks for this update on the ever changing saga of HA’s A321s. I’m curious about why Pratt and Whitney is saying it will take up to 300 days per engine. 60 days sounds reasonable, but 300 days???? Pretty sure it doesn’t take that long to build an engine from the ground up, much less repair one.
But, I’m not a jet engine engineer….
Hi Ed.
Thanks. That is what has been repeatedly reported to be the case. We don’t know why that changed to be so very long, And you can be sure that Hawaiian Airlines must be livid about it. And on such new planes.
Aloha.