15 thoughts on “Passengers Stranded Over 24 Hours On Two Hawaiian Flights”
Chris D
Failed to mention HA48 for Saturday 7/15 was canceled late Friday night after many were in bed already. No additional details followed, just a text that said flight canceled, more details to follow. Never got a call, no offer of lodging for extra night, nothing. Limited availability by their “General Inquiries” folk, whom have no authority at all. No guarantee of compensation of added costs incurred from extra day. Just told to fill out online form with the Consumer Affairs Department, which has no phone number. They give themselves 30 days to respond. Same General Inquiries folk then said the CAO was not getting to claims back in mid May, so they are 2 months behind. Best part, to get my family to sit together after they tried to separate us on a Sunday flight, including my 9 and 11 year old little girls, and my autistic son, I had to pay another $200 to get seating together, which I had previously in the extra comfort level, and the seats were a downgrade from extra comfort! I will not be using HA moving forward as I have now done research on them and their ranking with FAA and consumers affair (federal) is awful! Highly doubt I will get any reimbursement at all as no one will get back to me save for generic emails saying they apologize for the inconvenience experienced and please allow them 30 days to respond. But in the mean time snail mail all my receipts to them for them to “potentially” reimburse me.
They truly acted like they had no clue what to do, no actual plan in place for this type of situation, and completely not prepared to make things right. Their own “Rule 21” was violated as they failed to offer lodging of their choice or food vouchers. Just left all customers on that flight in the wind, and forcing everyone to jump through hoops in which we assume they will screw over in the long run or try to force compensation with miles or airline credits to force you to fly on them again!
I will not fly HA outside of Hawaii. They do not have the infrastructure or support when things go wrong in these markets where they have one flight a day; Boston, Long Beach, various cities in Japan, etc. If you look at Flight Aware’s flight history they have a pretty sad flight history on these flights. Contracted help usually helps several carriers so making it right for Hawaiian passengers is limited and not a priority.
Interisland fares a lot better since they have enough staff to take care of things.
Mexico would be a far better choice than the Philippines. I would be very afraid of ‘it is only one screw, no one will notice.’ I live in Hawaii and have witnessed such an attitude, more times than I care to imagine.
And those are not all. They have had several major delays from Vegas to maui on their A321 aircraft the past several days. I have been keeping an eye, as I have upcoming reservations. Unfortunately, I did not read about their A321 problems until after I already had reservations. I do not think their CEO is being forthcoming enough about the issue. If you do a little digging on flight aware, it appears they still have a large number of A321 fleet still grounded. I’m not holding my breath about getting to Maui on time. But, with that said, I would rather they take every precaution on their maintenance to get everyone their safely. They just need to be honest with their customers.
SWA abandoned dozens of people from infants to elderly in wheelchairs at the Denver airport. Plane delay in Dulles waiting for 5 pieces of luggage from another flight. Landed in Denver and connecting flight at the gates but connecting passengers not allowed on. One gate agent trying to start fight with passengers. No accomodations, food, water, blankets, cots, etc. offerrd. They agent said it was coded as weather so they owed nothing. They also knew no one would make their connecting flight and no hotels available i Denver due to Swift concert. Outgoing flight was delayed 2 hours in the morning due to jet bridge issue and nothing offered. Agents told people they could get a refund and find their own way home. Total time from Dulles to Sacramento was 22 hours from 7/14-15. Not one sorry.
As far as the JFK flight, was the flight delayed or cancelled? Is HA blaming the delay to “weather”?
When you look at the D.O.T website as to what and how much HA will provide, it really is slim pickings – not much and pretty much aligns with Allegiant, Frontier and Spirit. Very consumer un-friendly for an airline that models itself “full-service”.
If it were me, I would have booked a hotel near to JFK with a shuttle – if the delay was a “creeping” delay and obvious that it was going into the late night hours.
If HA tells me to “pound sand” as far as reimbursement, I would file a formal complaint with the D.O.T – explaining exactly what occurred at Kennedy and requesting all reasonable and out-of-pocket expenses to be reimbursed (food, hotel, shuttle/car service, new ticket expense for another airline, etc.).
I have had to use this tactic in the past with other airlines, and it has worked successfully for me – YMMV.
When you file a “formal” complaint with the D.O.T., keep in mind it does become public record – and I redact my information (addresses and other personal identifying information). I also succinctly detail in the complaint what it is I am seeking as redress/recovery (reimbursement for expenses, full refund of paid ticket, action against the airline, etc.).
As far as the offer of a $12 voucher, is that really worth anything at JFK? Vendors at JFK are supposed to offer “street pricing”, but when I travel in and out of Terminal 7 (Alaska) and Terminal 8 (American) the prices in those two terminals are not “street” pricing. Even though it is New York City – nowhere near street pricing in those two JFK terminals.
Now with the NEA agreement ending between AA and Jet Blue, hopeful that HA moves back into Terminal 5 at JFK – even though the HA A330’s take two gates when parked at JetBlue’s Terminal 5.
Wow! As I mentioned several days ago, my family and I are on Kaua’i, and have noted that local media have not reported on the recent missteps attributed to Hawaiian Air. I am a former news person from Alaska (KICY-AM & FM, Nome) and cannot help but wonder why you are about the only media that seems to care!?
Jim E
Failed to mention HA48 for Saturday 7/15 was canceled late Friday night after many were in bed already. No additional details followed, just a text that said flight canceled, more details to follow. Never got a call, no offer of lodging for extra night, nothing. Limited availability by their “General Inquiries” folk, whom have no authority at all. No guarantee of compensation of added costs incurred from extra day. Just told to fill out online form with the Consumer Affairs Department, which has no phone number. They give themselves 30 days to respond. Same General Inquiries folk then said the CAO was not getting to claims back in mid May, so they are 2 months behind. Best part, to get my family to sit together after they tried to separate us on a Sunday flight, including my 9 and 11 year old little girls, and my autistic son, I had to pay another $200 to get seating together, which I had previously in the extra comfort level, and the seats were a downgrade from extra comfort! I will not be using HA moving forward as I have now done research on them and their ranking with FAA and consumers affair (federal) is awful! Highly doubt I will get any reimbursement at all as no one will get back to me save for generic emails saying they apologize for the inconvenience experienced and please allow them 30 days to respond. But in the mean time snail mail all my receipts to them for them to “potentially” reimburse me.
They truly acted like they had no clue what to do, no actual plan in place for this type of situation, and completely not prepared to make things right. Their own “Rule 21” was violated as they failed to offer lodging of their choice or food vouchers. Just left all customers on that flight in the wind, and forcing everyone to jump through hoops in which we assume they will screw over in the long run or try to force compensation with miles or airline credits to force you to fly on them again!
I will not fly HA outside of Hawaii. They do not have the infrastructure or support when things go wrong in these markets where they have one flight a day; Boston, Long Beach, various cities in Japan, etc. If you look at Flight Aware’s flight history they have a pretty sad flight history on these flights. Contracted help usually helps several carriers so making it right for Hawaiian passengers is limited and not a priority.
Interisland fares a lot better since they have enough staff to take care of things.
Maintenance move to Phillipines maybe not so great decision?
Mexico would be a far better choice than the Philippines. I would be very afraid of ‘it is only one screw, no one will notice.’ I live in Hawaii and have witnessed such an attitude, more times than I care to imagine.
And those are not all. They have had several major delays from Vegas to maui on their A321 aircraft the past several days. I have been keeping an eye, as I have upcoming reservations. Unfortunately, I did not read about their A321 problems until after I already had reservations. I do not think their CEO is being forthcoming enough about the issue. If you do a little digging on flight aware, it appears they still have a large number of A321 fleet still grounded. I’m not holding my breath about getting to Maui on time. But, with that said, I would rather they take every precaution on their maintenance to get everyone their safely. They just need to be honest with their customers.
SWA abandoned dozens of people from infants to elderly in wheelchairs at the Denver airport. Plane delay in Dulles waiting for 5 pieces of luggage from another flight. Landed in Denver and connecting flight at the gates but connecting passengers not allowed on. One gate agent trying to start fight with passengers. No accomodations, food, water, blankets, cots, etc. offerrd. They agent said it was coded as weather so they owed nothing. They also knew no one would make their connecting flight and no hotels available i Denver due to Swift concert. Outgoing flight was delayed 2 hours in the morning due to jet bridge issue and nothing offered. Agents told people they could get a refund and find their own way home. Total time from Dulles to Sacramento was 22 hours from 7/14-15. Not one sorry.
As far as the JFK flight, was the flight delayed or cancelled? Is HA blaming the delay to “weather”?
When you look at the D.O.T website as to what and how much HA will provide, it really is slim pickings – not much and pretty much aligns with Allegiant, Frontier and Spirit. Very consumer un-friendly for an airline that models itself “full-service”.
transportation.gov/airconsumer/airline-cancellation-delay-dashboard
If it were me, I would have booked a hotel near to JFK with a shuttle – if the delay was a “creeping” delay and obvious that it was going into the late night hours.
If HA tells me to “pound sand” as far as reimbursement, I would file a formal complaint with the D.O.T – explaining exactly what occurred at Kennedy and requesting all reasonable and out-of-pocket expenses to be reimbursed (food, hotel, shuttle/car service, new ticket expense for another airline, etc.).
I have had to use this tactic in the past with other airlines, and it has worked successfully for me – YMMV.
When you file a “formal” complaint with the D.O.T., keep in mind it does become public record – and I redact my information (addresses and other personal identifying information). I also succinctly detail in the complaint what it is I am seeking as redress/recovery (reimbursement for expenses, full refund of paid ticket, action against the airline, etc.).
As far as the offer of a $12 voucher, is that really worth anything at JFK? Vendors at JFK are supposed to offer “street pricing”, but when I travel in and out of Terminal 7 (Alaska) and Terminal 8 (American) the prices in those two terminals are not “street” pricing. Even though it is New York City – nowhere near street pricing in those two JFK terminals.
Now with the NEA agreement ending between AA and Jet Blue, hopeful that HA moves back into Terminal 5 at JFK – even though the HA A330’s take two gates when parked at JetBlue’s Terminal 5.
I’ll always opt for being inconvenienced by a maintenance issue on the ground rather than once in the air.
Hawaiian islands dodged the eye of hurricane Calvin as it passed south toward west path. Rain & wind bands affected some areas but Kona remains dry.
Wow! As I mentioned several days ago, my family and I are on Kaua’i, and have noted that local media have not reported on the recent missteps attributed to Hawaiian Air. I am a former news person from Alaska (KICY-AM & FM, Nome) and cannot help but wonder why you are about the only media that seems to care!?
Jim E
Keep outsourcing your maintenance!!!!