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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I had a flight on Mar 30 to Tokyo that had been cancelled by United on 3/25. I initially called to cancel the itinerary and was told I’d receive a travel credit to use within 1yr of when I originally purchased my tickets (June 2019). In June 2020, if I had not used it, I would be granted a refund, because it was an international flight. I called them back today after hearing about the DOT’s policy and asked that I be refunded today instead of later, and this time they did not put up a fuss and gave me back my refund.
Aloha, I received an email from HA today confirming my May 19 flight (what!?). I went to the website and sure enough it showed my flight was still on. *?* I called HA and they did not see a cancellation notice on the flights. I told them that I don’t know how they could expect us to take the flight only to be put on a return flight the same day. Anyway, they finally agreed to give me Ticket Vouchers and said that as long as I booked our flights before February 25, 2021, that I could use the tickets for anytime in 2021 at the same price that we paid for first class (which we got at a bargain thanks to you guys!). So I accepted the vouchers. We had originally booked these flights in November, but HA is still not offering refunds. And because the agent I spoke with said he didn’t have a way to send an email, I wouldn’t receive a confirmation. They said all I had to do was call the airline and give them the voucher numbers when we rebook. Does this sound right to you? Should I call HA again to verify or should I go to DOT and get the refund. Mahalo for all the guidance you provide.
Hi Debi.
Thank you.We have not heard that one before One thought that comes to mind is to get back in touch with Hawaii – a different person, and see what they say about the vouchers, and if corroborates what you were previously told. That might help. The validity dates/terms sound good. Otherwise, you always have the other refund options of credit card and DOT.
Aloha.
Aloha Jeff & Rob –
I took your advice and called HA and found out that I could find my E Ticket / Voucher under “My Receipts” on their website. All I need to do is type in the number and *voila*. They also said that they can look it up for me using my name. They confirmed that I can use the vouchers any time in 2021. Mahalo to you for once again guiding me in the right direction. Aloha
Hi Debi.
That’s great! Thank you for the update.
Aloha.
Our flights show being cancelled on the SW website, for May 13th, but we have never been notified?
Aloha,
Thanks for all the news and updates!
Here’s our experience with Hawaiian Air, we had planned to go from Maui to Seattle 3/31, after getting to spend five months on Maui.
Our flight canceled on 3/23. Long Story short, yesterday rescheduled for 6/1 for the three of us. The flight is about $40 cheaper than our original flight. The rep said he could refund our original flight, but it would take 2 -3 billing cycles. We decided to just reschedule and not refund. I asked the rep for the $40 (times 3) difference. He said no and justified it by saying, they are really doing us a favor by not charging us each $200 rescheduling fees. I told him I think that is by law.
I’m glad we got the flight home, but I do thing we are owed $120!
Be safe everyone!
Thanks for listening.
Hi Lanell.
Thanks. Yes we understand your concern.
Aloha.
Thanks for This info!!! I have also been getting the “run-around” from Hawaiian. Now I have tried posting on FB. WOW! the amount of upset people is crazy!! If they weren’t having a cash flow problem before they surly will in the future. They have lost me as a customer. I will contact DOT or my bank next.
Thanks again!
Ane T.Maui
Hi Ane.
Thanks for your comment. Please let us know how it shakes out.
Aloha. R/J
We communicated via Twitter and our HA saver tickets were fully refunded. The communication took only a few days. I did tell them I was willing to rebook at a date of their choosing since we were flexible, but I wanted the same fare. They said since it was so low they couldn’t rebook but at their suggestion offered the refund.
Despite the fact that my flight no longer shows up online, Hawaiian says my flight is not canceled. My flights are in mid May. I’ve tried several chat sessions to no avail– they insist my flight is not canceled.
Aloha,
I called Southwest on Monday in regards to a refund for our cancelled flights for this week. They were awesome. Did not even ask if we wanted a voucher instead. And yesterday the credit was already on my credit card.
Mahalo for always keeping us up to date. Looking forward to making up our trip soon.
🙂
Hi Hanna.
Thanks for the update.
Aloha.
I was scheduled to fly to Honolulu from Chicago, 4/26-5/2 via United Airlines. I got an email stating that my flight had changed. My departure was originally CHI….LAX….HNL, they changed it to CHI…SFO…HNL. But, they had no return flight for me. So there was no way for me to get back home on 5/2. They refunded me the return flight for obvious reasons. However, they gave me a hard time about refunding the departure flight. I don’t understand why they thought I would want to fly to Honolulu but not have a way back. Long story short, I was persistent and I was granted a refund and after being on hold for 30 minutes. I got the refund for both! Don’t give up!
I had a similar experience like Zach. I called Hawaiian Airlines to see about the refund. I never did say I wanted to cancel I said something to the effect that I see May flights are cancelled. The customer service rep asked if I had received an email stating that. At that time I was unaware about the ’email issue’, I think I said yes, but she came back with your flight is still scheduled on May 10th. I said I will call back later in April and check. So I will wait for this email I guess so I have them stating they cancelled. There is no way I can rebook by end of Dec 2020, maybe 18 months, but 24 months would be better, if I choose credit voucher.
For what it’s worth: we had tickets on Alaska Air for May 1, return to the mainland May 31. SAN-HNL-SAN, nonstop. I called today, explained that in CA we’re on lockdown, plus Alaska Air has eliminated all non-stop flights between SAN-HNL through the end of April and obviously at some point they’re going to do it for May. So I asked if we could just go ahead and cancel now for a refund (not travel credit). They said no. However, since they had previously changed our departure time twice, and the total change made the most recent departure time more than 2 hours different from our original departure time, they would give us a refund on that basis. This might be an angle that works for someone else, if all else fails.