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.Â
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?Â
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.