This morning, regular commentor Stephanie exclaimed, “HA website for members to purchase with miles has been down now for 6 days, and they are not allowing us to place a hold on the fare to pay for the trip with our miles. But they will gladly take my money. I’ve got close to 300K miles and would have liked to take my family to Maui in October. Calling is out of the question. I was on hold for over an hour yesterday just to try and book. I finally got through to someone via their chat on the mobile app. That’s when they told me I couldn’t purchase tickets using points at this time. I think we are just going to use our Alaska buy one get one for $99 voucher.”
What we know.
Hawaiian is apparently still experiencing problems with its online systems and call center, which we first started hearing about from you more than two weeks ago. On Friday, the airline indicated high customer volume was the cause, following a greater than anticipated demand for Hawaii travel this year.
Alex Da Silva, the Hawaiian Airlines representative, said that they had made progress in resolving the issues while requesting guests who were still experiencing problems just to wait and try again later. The company also said it was beefing up the staffing of customer service agents, most of which are based in the Philippines.
Hawaiian acknowledged that “there are two separate issues – one technical and one associated with staffing. Both, however, are driven by the same underlying cause: an unexpectedly sharp surge in demand to book or rebook travel. And the two issues have compounded each other. The errors on our website have prompted customers to contact our call center, and the inability to get through to our call center has driven more traffic to the website.” Alex went on to say that, “We’re fixing these problems…we’ll do our best to be transparent about where we are in restoring our systems and how best to receive support and access help.”
Technology vs. staffing issues.
Cloud-based technology infrastructure used by airlines is largely elastic in relation to demand, while call center resources are obviously not. We can understand the issues of trying to reach a representative, especially while you are having tech issues and concurrent high demand. Something different, on the other hand, appears to be responsible for their web-related systems. We have not heard details but look forward to it being resolved, as well as learning more about the problem and why the fix has taken so long.
These problems come at a most unfortunate time, with post-COVID demand for Hawaii vacations just returning, and Southwest’s just announced competition on 19 Hawaiian Air mainland to Hawaii routes.
Can we please hear from you?
Aloha all! On May 12th I purchased 2 r/t tix to Maui on Hawaiian Air – I received my reservation code and a response to “special needs” request (my friend has knee replacements and would like a wheelchair) – however, this morning I logged onto my Hawaiian Air account and there’s a note that I was booked although they had a problem “issuing tickets” and to call – so I did, and did, and did – all busy – then I saw they have a text number so I texted – not a peep – I’m actually thinking to drive over to the airport and talk with someone in person to find out what’s going on. Have any of you ever experienced something like this? Needless to say I’m concerned. Mahalo in advance for experiences, thoughts or ideas.
Hi Tea.
We have never encountered an issue of a problem issuing tickets before. We reached out to Hawaiian Air to see what more we can find out. They are checking on it now.
Aloha.
Hi Tea!
How did you solve the problem? I have a same message on my reservation “had a problem issuing tickets and call” so I did but they are all busy.. same as you. Did you go to the airport and solve it in person?
if its Hawaiian air use their text message option. Thats how I got thru
Aloha, Jin, I had amazing help from Jeff and Rob, here on BoH – I was truly at a loss.
Hi Tea.
You are very kind. Mahalo.
Aloha.
Auwe! Good luck with HA. Ever since they moved their call center to Manila, its caused problems. One main issue is that callers are not able to understand the agents. My advice…next time book with any other airline than HA.
I really wanted to fly Hawaiian for my upcoming trip because of their reportedly outstanding inflight service and had booked nonstop flights with them. Unfortunately they abruptly canceled the return leg of the trip and moved around my inter island flights without explanation, 6 weeks ahead of the trip (way before the pipeline issues started). Not a good way to inspire confidence in travelers with busy schedules. Then I couldn’t even alter my itinerary online and had to wait 5 hours on hold listening to “rhythm of the ocean” before I could reach an agent who helped me. To their credit they were very nice on the phone and refunded everything to my credit card. I ended up canceling and rebooking all my flights through AA and SW instead.
I’ve spent days trying to book a trip on Hawaiian Airlines using my credit for two first class tickets which I had to postpone in November because of Covid and the shut down of the Islands. No Website help, No one will answer phone, Unable to get credit for my money and fares for the flights I was trying to book have increased by $1050 on the two tickets I had bought.
How long is this credit valid. Will they say sorry now no more tickets you’ll have to forfeit your money.
We often use HA and tried to book last Thursday. It was frustrating that we could not log into our miles account. SWA sale came timing was perfect and ended up booking great fare LAX to OGG for$268 RT.
I needed to change the date of my return flight booked with miles, which the website said had to be done through an agent. I was on hold for over five hours before I got through.
Never been easy to book HA flights using miles for me. Forget the extra comfort seats. That said I’ve been pleased with the overall experience of flying HA.
Does anyone know how to get a flight to Molokai? There don’t seem to be any at all.
Unacceptable on the part of HA. They needs to fix this NOW or run the risk of loosing busingess to Southwest, United, Alaska, American.
I’ve been flying Hawaiian Air for a number of years. Their website has never been the best. Compared to other airlines, HA’s website is rather sluggish and their App and website don’t seem to be synchronized. Cancelled reservations and expired fare holds often show up on the App as active itineraries. Indeed the current tech issues are frustrating. My login credentials appear to have been vanquished to endless cyberspace – I don’t exist anymore. Offsetting these deficiencies is the helpfulness and friendliness of their call center staff and gate and flight personnel. Never a cross word or condescending tone from them, even under the worst of times.
Aloha BoH – I’m usually kinder when I post but not this time – I call BS on Hawaiian Airlines – they know exactly what they’re doing.
After how I was treated by Hawaiian Airlines last year I will never fly with them again. We will use Southwest Airlines for our future flights to Hawaii. I was so disappointed with Hawaiian Airlines when I was trying get a refund for flights that were canceled. I had to beg them to issue a refund and not a credit. After they finally refunded our tickets they didn’t refund the money we paid for extra legroom seats. I had to fight for another month and when they didn’t refund the money I had to put the charges in dispute with my credit card company to get the money refunded. We flew to Maui and Hawaii in April on Southwest and we’re very happy with their service. Thumbs up for Southwest and thumbs down for Hawaiian.
Hawaiian may be getting a handle on it. I was just able to book LIH-KOA with miles for June flights.
Thank you to BOH for always keeping us updated, my go to site for all Hawaii travel related questions. I was having problems accessing my HA account for a few days since Thursday last week. It took me 2 hrs to get hold of a CSR on the phone to use my miles to book. I also found their text messaging system to be helpful although they didn’t get back to me til 8 hrs later but when you do connect with someone they can help you with a 5 min lag after every question, intermittent connection but better than being put on hold for over 2 hrs. Also try the tip from another commenter to go online at odd hours, I was able to easily access my account during the hours of 11pm-1:30am pst
Hi Inah.
Thanks for letting us know how your experiencing contact HA went, and for your nice words.
Aloha.
I was having a lot of trouble too. I had tried for several days and somehow I actually was able to log in on May 13 and book with award travel points. Sorry to hear that it is still an issue.
As always, mahalo, Jeff & Rob, for your continued updates on Hawaii travel!
I needed to change our Hawaiian Air flight to HNL but had to do it by phone for our particular reservation. I researched a variety of dates/flights online, which was a challenge with intermittent “error” messages appearing throughout the process. Once I settled on possible 1st & 2nd choices, I phoned Hawaiian, placed my device on speaker phone, set it down, and grabbed a snack while I prepared for the long wait. After over one hour, customer service in the Philippines answered. The process to change our tickets took another hour as the rep’s computer didn’t show the same fare difference as the website. It was not a pleasant experience except that both the rep and I managed to stay courteous to one another throughout. Usually I try to call at odd hours, but this time I simply wanted to get it done. Hoping other Beat of Hawaii readers take care of their Hawaiian Air flights with less hassle in the future.
Hi Teresa.
Thanks for that report. Yes keeping a good attitude sure helps in keeping stress levels in check.
Aloha.
Request to Hawaiian Air: Please move your call center to HAWAII and help the local economy ‼️
I agree that this would be great for the local economy, but are you willing to pay higher fares so they can pay locals a living wage?
I totally agree — Hawaiian needs to move their call center to Hawaii and help the local economy.
The other thing they need to fix is being able to book a flight online using your ecredit. I’m sure many people have them for trips that had to be canceled last year. It’s ridiculous to have to call in to make a reservation using a credit.
Husband was on phone for 3 hours today but did get previous postponed trip rebooked….combo of cash and award flight….agent went above and beyond to try to accommodate.
I’ve had this problem so mnay times — having to call in to use credit from cancelled flights. Maybe that’s one of the reasons of the call center being so busy.
I did make a reservation, but unfortunately using no Hawaiian Air miles as your frequent commentor indicated! But I did make a mistake in booking a flight out of Kona that’s really too early for me to get my handicapped Husband to the Kona airport in time. I’ve tried to rebook for a later flight but the website says I have to call. I was on hold this morning for over an hour and never did get to speak to anyone. Mahalo for,letting me vent, Diane
Hi Diane,
Try using their text service. They seem very responsive via text
I agree. Texting has been very effective for me as well. Helps me keep my cool and get other things done while waiting.
I understand that Hawaiian airlines might be having problems. That still doesn’t account for them tripling their prices. They’re a complete rip off and their lack of customer service is ridiculous. I won’t be flying them any longer. I sent in an email letting them know website was down and their phone system was down. Their canned response was please go to our website or call her 800 number great job reading and listening to what the email actually said.
Aloha,
I purchased round trip tickets via Hawaiian’s website on Friday… Could not log into my Hawaiian Miles account, so made the purchase without logging in… I did not use miles for my purchase, and was able to link my trip to my account via the Hawaiian app and using my confirmation code… There we’re no problems minus not being able to log in normally…
Mahalo
Surpising they are having trouble with staffing. HA call center is located in Manila.
We booked 2 trips two trips too Hawaii next year from Australia we had no problems at all
We called on Saturday, May 15, 2021 and were told we would have a phone wait of an hour if we wanted to hang on. We did and after 2 hours and 20 mins.we finally spoke to a customer service representative. She helped us rebook last years tickets for Oct. 22 to Nov 19th on Kauai to spend time at our condo timeshare as we have done for over 30 plus years. She was a great help and we got it done. We also booked our car for a months stay through Avis and all went ok. Now we hope all will be pkay and we can fly to Kauai on late October. Mahalo. Tricia K
I called Hawaiian about a week ago, later at night. Waited 1 hr 45 min before giving up. Called again during daytime hours, again waiting 1 hr 40+ min but did get a rep on the phone so I could order wheelchair service for flight.
All I can say is – it’s worse than the initial pandemic lockdown when all flights were cancelled. Then, I got through to representative with only about a 15 min wait at night. And there is no way to order wheelchair service via website. And the Maui airport website refers you to a disconnected phone number for wheelchair requests.
A lot of companies should be checking their website for changes.
2 hours waiting on hold and never picked up. Tried the night before for an hour. Insane. But at least now I know why. I finally got through via text last weekend just to change my flight to a later time. That chat took 1.5 hours. Good grief.
This is so discouraging. I am glad I traveled in April. But the Hawaiian first class flight was wonderful.
I also tried to book on Hawaiian with miles, but just gave up. Extremely frustrating. We have over 500k miles and can’t use it. We ended up using Southwest points and booked through them, but prices are not cheap. Fortunately, I booked a 8 day rental minivan months ago for a pile of cash ($800)- now it is a HUGE pile of cash ($1600). What the hell is going on over there?
Rental cars around the nation, not just in Hawaii, are sky-high. Many rental car places, faced with tons of unused cars during COVID, elected to get rid of the excess rather than carry them on their books by moving them to the mainland or selling them off completely. Now rebounding demand and lack of cars is making the prices skyrocket. Sorry this happened to you!
Two weeks ago, I wanted to change my return flight date from LIH to SMF. I waited on hold 2 1/2 hours one afternoon, 1 /2 hours that evening, and 2 1/2 hours the next day before I could get thru. Once I got thru all was good.
I have been flying to Honolulu from Los Angeles two to three times a year for business prior to Covid on Hawaiian Airlines. Last year had scheduled a trip with my wife in April. Obviously cancelled. I have rebooked travel for October assuming that the state will accept proof of vaccines by then. Rates have gone down since last year, so when I rebooked with HA, instead of giving me credit of about $300 per ticket to use in the future, they forced me to use the credit amount towards an upgrade flying back to Los Angeles. A terrible way to treat a long standing customer not to mention I will look at flying other airlines after my October trip because of this. Hey HA CEO, you ought to take better care of your long standing customers. Or do you care?
that has to be very frustrating. I have had great experience as has my GF with their customer service though they do sound overwhelmed and super busy but still with the Aloha spirit and very nice