Major change from DOT to impact Hawaiian Airlines and Alaska Airlines Hawaii flights, perhaps others.
133 thoughts on “Why DOT Just Approved Major Route Cuts For Alaska and Hawaiian”
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Despite the travel ban and quar antine, United still hasn’t cancelled my flight from SFO-OGG on April 2nd. Does anyone have any idea why? Obviously, we’re not going and have held off contacting United in hopes that they’ll cancel and then I can ask for a refund. However, they seem to be playing hardball – even the usually less than consumer friendly American Airlines seems to be far more open and pro-consumer in terms of offering refunds. Does anyone have any suggestions on how to handle this?
Flight scheduled for MAy 4th with 2 other families. We’ve all changed dates for condos, but I’m waiting for best deal for flight… I have 4 people in my party and don’t want to put out $900 in CHANGE fees, even if Hawaiian Air says they’ll pay it back…. 😉
We had flight reservations with Hawaiian Airlines and condo reservations for May2-9, the flights were all cancelled. The condo people worked with us and we are now going in October 2020 at no add’l charges Having been waiting for HA to state that they will be giving refunds as well as re-booking but as of yet they have not posted anything. We have been looking at flights on HA for October 2020 round trip from LAX to Lihue and back. They are super cheap than what we paid orginally. But, if we cancel now and rebook now on-line (rather than calling reservation desk) at the lower rate will we also get a refund? Any responses would be appreciated. Thanks for all the info you have been posting!
Hi Kay.
Thank you. Would suggest you use their new online form to initially pursue your options. Let us know how it goes. https://www.hawaiianairlines.com/OnlineTicketChanges
Aloha.
An update to my comment from 3/28. Have been checking the HA website, there is still nothing about refunds, only cancel and rebook at later date. I broke down and called HA today, was put on hold but for only about 1/2 hr, the representative said still no waiver to cancel and get refund, just waiver for cancel and rebook. She said they are still working on April business, and maybe a little before end of April the waiver for refund will be on the website. Told her about the US DOT statement, and all she would say is that hopefully by end of April they will be offering that. Geezz!!! Going to try and call the credit card company to get our refund that way. Hopefully, they will resolve this mess!!! Thanks again for all your informative info!!
Hi Kay.
Difficult situation. Thanks for the update.
Aloha.
I called Hawaiian with the question on a refund of the fair difference. The answer was no- if you bought a non-refundable fare, you have to pay the difference if the new fare is more but do not get a credit or refund if the rate is less.
This is illegal based on the US DOT rules, they can NOT deny you a refund if they cancelled your flight. They also cannot make you take a flight credit instead of offering a full refund to your purchase method. I am having issues getting a refund too for my cancelled flight. I will look into a class action lawsuit, as others seem to have the same problem.
Hi,
We have (or had) a trip booked for Hawaii for April 29 – 05 May. However, our hotel reservations were cancelled by the hotel. Our departure flight booked 05 May HLN to BWI with Alaska Airlines. Never used the airline, only familiar with SW. Should we initiate the flight cancellation or wait for the airline?
Thank you for your assistance.
Hi Tammy.
Would suggest you go online to the airline’s website for options that should include refund.
Aloha.
We have a flight scheduled for Maui 05/15/20.
We are waiting on HA to send me a confirmation cancellation but have yet to receive anything. In fact our trip still shows as booked. We posptponed our condo rental and that was pretty easy. Wondering why HA hasn’t cancelled our flight.
I have roundtrip flight on Southwest in early April. The outbound flight is still showing up on Southwest’s website. Using fare calendar, Southwest has listed all flights to Kona after April 5th to 30th as “unavailable”, however the flights are not cancel. I contacted them and they said the flight is still not cancel, but it seems like they are not selling tix for them.
Instead they send me a email telling me I can reschedule for free. I would like a refund instead, so I am waiting for them to cancel the flights. Any thoughts? Are they holding out at the last minute to cancel?
I have a flight scheduled from Portland to Maui on May 8th. I went to Hawaiin Airlines website to see about a refund. They do have a site to cancel due to Covid but it only mentions travel credit. Do you have to get deeper into the process before a refund is offered?
How can I get my redound on my canceled flight from Oahu to LAX on March 25 th. I have had no response from HAwaii Air. Please help. Thank you
Hi Ilija.
Have you tried cancelling your ticket online? Here is the link we found for that on their website: https://www.hawaiianairlines.com/OnlineTicketChanges.
Aloha.
I have tickets on Alaska for mid April to Hawaii, using a companion fare. Any thoughts on if the companion fare is likely to be reissued if they cancel the flight? I understand that normally the advice would be to just change the ticket to a different date to keep the companion fare cert. We would be willing to do this, but if it’s likely that we could just wait for the cancellation and get a full refund, plus the reissue of the companion fare, that would be best. This is mainly because we currently have so much money in our Alaska wallet from other cancelled flights. I “think” we can use it all by the various deadlines, but really who knows.
Alaska air addresses the companion fare issue in their blog.
https://blog.alaskaair.com/coronavirus/fly-with-peace-of-mind-flexible-travel-options/
Southwest gave me a chance to rebook any dates for the same price as my May flight so I got 3 weeks from mid July-August for the same price even though those dates were 2x the price.
SW always has worked out for me. I love them.
I made a reservation on AA on 3/10. Though about the situation and decided canceling was the best thing to do. I canceled the very next day- while my flight was still “ pending “ and told I would get a full refund. 10 days later they had not reversed the charged on my card. Called the card company and said AA had claimed the money. So I started a dispute. I now read about this 20% discount offer – and called AA since they haven’t refunded yet. Talked with 2 agents. They have no clue about a 20% discount offer. 😩 frustrating. And no refund yet My flight was for 5/15-6/10. I now see that same flight has only 1 seat available- in first class – 800. Less than what I paid.