Read what big changes at LAX could mean to Hawaiian Airlines’ passengers.
69 thoughts on “Trouble Brewing at LAX for Hawaiian Airlines”
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Read what big changes at LAX could mean to Hawaiian Airlines’ passengers.
Comments are closed.
For what its worth, and as far as this paragraph: (quote) “Luggage will be handled at another terminal, requiring significant additional time for passengers to transit by bus (to pick up luggage) and extra handling for Hawaiian.’ (End quote).
This happens to be the way Delta’s passengers flying LAX to ATLanta (and several other destinations) must experience. Check bags at Terminal 2, go through security, then take a back alley and a service elevator to this small, crowded, unventilated, jetfuel fumes filled waiting room to wait for a bus/shuttle to take you to terminal 3.
Yes, I did say DELTA… and this is AFTER Delta’s reported “Airport Shuffle” they did a while back (May of 2017,I think). However, I assume (and certainly HOPE) that for Delta, this is only temporary!
Tell Hawaiian to solve all their problems and their guests problems and ditch the huge headache of LAX by flying into wide-open Ontario instead. Very convenient on all levels compared to LAX.
If moving Hawaiian to another terminal within LAX but away from its code-share partner (Jetblue) has been a cause for concern (for fear it might be an inconvenience to their passengers, I don’t think moving Hawaiian over 50 miles to an airport in a whole other city and county would solve Hawaiian’s problem!
But in addition, taxes and fees are higher when flying through Ontario as compared to LAX! (Might only be a few dollars higher, but still “higher”). I doubt Hawaiian would want to absorb the difference, and not sure they’d be allowed to pay part of the tax on behalf of passengers.
I made the mistake of booking American Airlines from LAX to Maui because the price was quite a bit less. The American Airlines LAX gate was scamming everyone with carry-on bags, making them insert them into the baggage size testing compartment and then making them pay the fees if there was any resistance. They said you had to just drop it in, couldn’t push it down at all or it was too big. 90% of the people were told to check the bag and pay their fee. I dropped mine and it went down about 80% so I gave it a slight push down. She says, “Sorry, you need to pay the fee!” I then remove it, push out some air pickets in the bag and easily drop it in the testing compartment with no resistance. She says, “Sorry, you squeezed the bag first and you can’t do that! I said, “Are you kidding me? Let me talk to your manager.” She said “We are boarding and I don’t have time for that.” Then I said you need to get your manager or I will film my bag inside the testing compartment with my cell phone and put it on YouTube to make sure everyone understands your unreasonable baggage policies?” Only then, she says ‘Fine, just go on the plane.” I swear, she must have been getting a commission for each baggage fee she generated.
On the flight home, I took Hawaiian Airlines and they were awesome and seemed to understand how customer satisfaction is important. My point, I will never fly American to Hawaii again and it is a shame they are getting priority over Hawaiian Airlines in LAX.
I would definitely email or preferably tweet to AA. Sounds like a person with a chip on their shoulder
OK… So which came first…
(a) Passengers taking advantage and trying to sneak “carry on” bags that are larger than what can fit in a overhead bin and/or under the seat in front of them….
OR…..
(b) Airlines charging a per bag fee for bags that are checked-in?
I know you’ll agree that its (a).
Another one:
Which came first:(a) The sizing bin (that contraption you’ll find near the check-in desk that some airlines might force passengers to use prior to boarding)…
OR….
(b) Airlines charging a per bag fee for bags that are checked in.
I know you’ll agree (again) that its (a).
You can call it a scam, if you’d like, just keep in mind that the only passengers who are going to complain about being forced to use the sizing bin, are those who are trying to sneak a bag that would not fit in the sizing bin.
And keep in mind, it is those same passengers who, if they were able to sneak that bag on-board, are the ones holding up the boarding process as they try to stuff their oversized bag in the much smaller overhead bin (or are trying to “squeeze air” out of their bag to make it fit)!
It should be noted that Hawaiian made $11M last year on baggage fees and cancellation/change fees last year.
Very irrelevant to the article 🙄. This is about convenience to the passengers. What does bag fees have to do with it? Almost all airlines charge bag fees.
First bag should be free and included in our airfare. Just because all the airlines charge does not make it right.
Just to clarify, if a carry-on clearly can’t fit into the testing compartment then I have no issue with an airline asking it to be checked and having the passenger pay a fee. But if a passenger can get the carry on to fit, even by squeezing the air pockets out a little bit, then all should be good. This flight attendant was basically saying if there was any resistance whatsoever, it needs to be checked. It had to drop right – which was way over the top.
Funny, I had the same problem here in Phoenix except it was the scamming Hawaiian Airlines agent. I haven’t flown Hawaiian for 10 years because of the one agent in Phoenix was trying to scam me to pay an additional baggage fee. I wrote to Hawaiian and told them about the situation and they didn’t even bother to respond. Very poor customer service by Hawaiian and they lost 10 years worth of my twice a year travel to Hawaii!
Mahalo for the update. Wow. Is there a time table for this to take place? We’re flying out soon.
Hi Jon.
If it happens, it is due to be sometime in 2020. We don’t have anything more specific at this time.
Aloha.
Clearly Hawaiian has been been THE way to fly to Hawaii from LAX for a long time now (disregard the 10% on the Internet that need to throw stones to feel validated 😀) The difference between Hawaiian and the mainland airlines is as palpable as the difference between the mainland and Hawaii. There’s a reason why people go to Hawaii and for the same reason people choose Hawaiian Air. A little cliche, but you really are in Hawaii when you board the airplane and on mainland airlines you have have to wait, sometimes painfully so!
This is a very sad example of money “trumping” quality and the common good.
Sure hope HA fights this, as it does appear to be discriminatory, and having Jet Blue and HA in the same terminal is extremely advantageous to passengers. Separating them will further diminish HA business, not to mention the inconvenience to passengers. I note that there is no mention of a terminal “train” on the lower level. I’ve had to traverse the underground tunnels and they are long and isolating! Expecting kapuna or disabled to do this is unrealistic! Sadly I believe this is being done in part to enhance the patronage of the three carriers flights to Hawaii and do minimize the use of Hawaiian Air. The partnership between HA and Jet Blue has benefited both airlines. Separating them will be very harmful. I fly LIH-LAX several times a year and know the problems of getting around the terminals.
Maybe Hawaiian Airlines could simply dump LAX and move to Long Beach or even Burbank. One of the major reasons I can’t fly Hawaiian is the fact LAX is a horrible airport for passenger facilities. It is difficult for me to travel between concourses and this proposed move is unacceptable. I depart out of SLC for LIH and usually try, try, try to connect in SFO or take the direct SLC-HNL flight on Delta at 11:30am. It’s more expensive but worth it for me.
Hawaiian flies to LGB.
I’m sure ONT would love to have HA. Just 40 miles from downtown Los Angeles, long runways, low airport congestion, rare weather delays and much easier access to the region than the traffic hell that is LAX.
How fun! Now Hawaiian can experience what “bait and switch” really means! They are very good at it when they are dealing with their passengers. Thanks, LAX!
LAX is a huge outdated mess and needs redesigned especially on the south side of the airport. Alway gate delays because of the small alleys between terminals. Maybe HNL should put American over in the PAD area where Southwest parks. Hawaiian could also ask Alaska if they could use their terminal 6 end gates in LAX. That would be more convenient for the transferring JetBlue Pax to Hawaiian.
LAX is truly an outdated mess. Even with the newly or half way renovated departure terminals, it stills looks and feels hideous. You would think it would be better. No reason to fly in or our of LAX because if I want old and outdated, I’ll stick with Burbank (BUR). It’s old, outdated, doesn’t have all the bells and whistles, but it’s efficient, airport staff is extremely nice, easy to navigate, they appreciate there customer, and they’ll go out of there way to fix any traveling matter, good or bad without hesitation. A connection is almost inevitable, but hey, BUR is awesome.
Thank you for this information. It is terrible news. I go to Hawaii at least once a year always using LAX. This change would definitely affect my HI travels. I appreciate this website and all the updated news.
Hi Gwen.
Thank you.
Aloha.
Why don’t they fly out of Santa Ana?
If I had to guess, it’s probably due to lack of capacity at John Wayne.
Like Kevin mentioned, the capacity at SNA and the lack of aircraft since its runway is a bit too short for their A330 and upcoming 787.