Many Hawaiian Airlines inter-island flights were delayed and/or diverted yesterday, with multiple aircraft grounded, due to a software system malfunction. The company said at 645pm Saturday, “eight aircraft have been returned to service, and we are continuing to work to have our full fleet restored.” Delays of five hours or longer are being mentioned, plus cascading issues with passengers’ accommodations and car rentals too. If you were on any affected flights and care to comment, we’d love to hear from you.
Technical issues arose in a flight management system that Hawaiian said “had been upgraded over the past several months as part of an FAA-mandate.” The resulting delays, groundings, re-routing, and communication issues spiraled into bad PR in social media as well as in emails we received.
We’ve since learned that this issue may have impacted all US airlines with certain Rockwell Collins GPS/flight management systems.
What we were told is that the problems and delays were not explained to customers who waited in line for hours, and made futile attempts to get answers online and via the call center. As one person said, “a little communication would have really gone a long way, ” while another said, “we are appalled at the lack of communication to people who were waiting hours and hours.”
Passengers also reported being routed to the wrong island, with flights destined to Kauai and Maui instead going to Honolulu. In addition, there were personnel complications, perhaps as people’s shifts ended or they timed-out on the number of hours they can work in one day. More than one person mentioned that there was no pilot to fly their plane.
On Facebook, Hawaiian Airlines said, “please send us your details in a private message; we can also help you with filing a formal complaint if you wish.”
One passenger suggested that it could be worse – “at least you are stuck in Hawaii.” And yet others opined about how Southwest Airlines entering the inter-island market might change things.
From our own experience flying Hawaiian Airlines inter-island hundreds of times, delays and communications issues have been rare, and overall their systems run extremely well. It’s a good thing that problems such as there are infrequent, inasmuch as for those of us living in Hawaii, Hawaiian’s inter-island service is tantamount to a bus system. We rely on it for meetings, doctor appointments, and social events. When “the bus or train” stops running or goes to the wrong place, with little communication, this is what can happen.
We traveled Hawaiian Airlines in December 2018 and again May 2019. Our trip from SFO was delayed due to mechanical problems but after 2 hours of delays they re-booked everyone. We waiting in line over and hour and half, to get a transfer to United. Our trip to Maui put us on a United flight, sitting in the back seat, with a United crew, who admitted they didn’t really have enough food for everyone because of the crowd. The voucher they gave us for food in the airport was only for one area so, we took care of that ourselves. I sent them information in complaint format, on the Hawaiian site, but no reply. Our trip in May was from SFO to Honolulu but due to a delay in Detroit (Delta mechanical), we missed our connection in San Francisco. Hawaiian charged us 200 change fee and 103.00 price increase for each passenger. We thought we were being so careful, booking with Hawaiian for our Honolulu flight. We were traveling with our 6 year old granddaughter and my husband and I our both over 65. Delta gave us each 200.00 vouchers for their part. Our Airbnb in Honolulu was checked into 1 day late, missing a day of our holiday, but paying. Hawaiian explained that if we had booked with them all the way, they could help us but that not being the case, it was just unfortunate. Our son’s live in Maui and have a Hawaiian card but we will only use the card to use our miles; they are a business who puts the passenger last. In addition, we pay for our luggage; what a sham they are indeed.
In a completely separate issue, my wife and I had a Delta flight that was supposed to depart Maui for LAX at 11:35 delayed 6.5 hours on Sunday. The airplane was a little late and landed at 11:45-12. We proceeded to stare at said airplane for 6 hours because of an issue with the crew working too long? It was unclear, but the flight attendants were making announcements that they were willing to go but that Delta wouldn’t let them. After a few hours of uncertainty, the flight attendants said, “We tried and feel horrible for you, but there’s nothing we can do. We recommend contacting Delta and complaining.” Them, they walked off. We were extremely lucky to get a crew from a flight that landed at 4:30-5 to walk right over to our flight when they were supposed to have a day in Maui. The new crew looked tired but did a great job and had smiles on their faces.
When we first arrived at the airport, Delta gave each passenger a $15 food voucher since they had already delayed it 2 hours. After delaying it two more times, they have each passenger $30 more in food vouchers. The food vouchers were nice, but obviously we have skipped those to be back on time. We don’t travel a lot, so we aren’t really sure if this is standard procedure and how to proceed. We loved our week long trip overall, though. Any insight on what we could/should do would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!
Hi Matt.
In the US, we don’t know of any recourse other than to contact customer relations to see what they might offer you. It is interesting just by comparison to note that on flights from the UK, there is mandatory compensation at a fixed number of hours late. We received 100% compensation recently ($600 per person in our case) for a mechanical delayed flight from London to the Bay Area.
Aloha.
Thanks for the assist. I gave them a call and we each got credit toward a future flight.
Hi Matt.
Happy that worked out! And thanks for letting us know.
Aloha.
My husband and I were in Kauai leaving to go to Maui on flight 300, the flight was scheduled to leave at 3:00pm around 3:30 they announced that there was a flight delay and the flight should be there by 4:00pm, they keep making announcements about 30 minutes after the last time pushing the time back again for another 45 mins to a hour. They did eventually tell us that the gps systems were down in all of the Hawaiian Alielune planes. We were able to get in a plane to Maui about 5 1/2 hrs after our original flight time. Which we had to run to get to the rental car before they closed.
We had been trying all weekend to book tickets from SFO to Kona. Had one on hold abd when I went back in last night to pay, I got half way through and got kicked off with a message that said website temporarily down. Try back in 10 minutes. I did but was longer than that. Got back in and it was 12:02 HST and the reservation was void!
Tried today. Same thing happened 4 times. I called. I was told it was my computer and their website was just fine. Tried 2 other computers. Same thing kept happening. Each time I would go back in, which was roughly 10 minutes, the airfare for first class went up $300, then $700, etc.!! Every time I would get a lower (1700) ticket it would kick me out when I’d try putting in our names! I don’t want to fly united straight in on a Max9- Know pilots whom day they won’t let their family fly in those. Getting harder to get to paradise!
I feel American airlines did the same thing on its out bound flight from Phoenix to Maui May 9th. We ended up with a 10 hour delay. Very little information about why we did not get our regular scheduled aircraft. They attempted to give us a another one hours later and it had issues. Our flight crew also timed out. We had to wait for another aircraft to arrive. It was a 10 hour delay leaving Phoenix. (those then leaving Maui to Phoenix had a 4+ hour delay….so instead of a 9pm flight home, I believe it was 1:30am. ) Airlines often dont really tell you why.
We were scheduled on American flight June 9 at 10:00 pm to Phoenix. We received an alert that we are delayed until 3:00 pm on June 10. I’ve been on hold with American for 1 hour 45 minutes so far and still on hold! We have zero idea what is going on, but we were lucky to be able to extend our car rental and to find a hotel for the night. (If you call those last minute extra expenses lucky!)
This wasn’t just a Hawaiian Airlines problem. Any aircraft nationwide with a certain Rockwell Collins unit was affected including all CRJs and A220s, and some 737s and 757s. In fact, the FAA created a teleconference to address the issue (https://www.fly.faa.gov/adv/adv_otherdis.jsp?advn=11&adv_date=06092019&facId=DCC&title=ADS-B%20AND%20GPS%20ANOMALIES&titleDate=06/09/19) and later issued a waiver for affected flights (https://www.fly.faa.gov/adv/adv_otherdis.jsp?advn=30&adv_date=06092019&facId=DCC&title=GUIDANCE+FOR+GPS%2FADS-B+ANOMALIES&titleDate=06/09/19)
Hawaiian handled this quite well by rolling back to an older unit. By Sunday morning they’re back to operating on time. Compare that to Southwest who has taken multi hour delays on their interisland flying but the only articles about them are about their “announced” Kauai and Hilo service. Free bags are great but I’ll get mine with the Hawaiian credit card and take the #1 on time carrier who happens to have way more flight options and lets me pick my seat.
Very well put, never hear about the Southwest delays either transpac or inter-island!
As those of us who also work in critical service areas, aka hospitals, here in Hawaii, when the rare event, like an unexpected trauma case arrives, we all just can’t “hit the door” & go home. We actually have to work overtime, occasionally, to take care of our customers. Don’t the employees of Hawaiian Airlines get that? It should literally be “all hands on deck” until a critical issue is totally resolved. Honestly, just leaving work when one’s shift is over, regardless of how that affects those who totally depend upon you: that’s the attitude that can happen when a company has a near-monopoly.
Hi John.
We don’t know that it was shifts being ove, whether it was crew time out, or something else. There is, however, a maximum flight time permitted during each day. We just know there was some apparent shortage of personnel based on what people there have shared with us.
Aloha.