Hawaiian Airlines

The first representative wasn't good in English and after making us repeat many times certain informations and not being able to help us I ask if I could talk to someone that would be able to understand me and who speak better English. I was told to call back because calls where randomly answered. I call back. I was quoted 149 plus the difference in fares. Which was now another 480$ per passenger. I told her that it wasn't what we were told. She apologize but told us prices changes with the availability. I wasn't satisfied and told her that it sounded more that it changes according to whom we spoke too. I called 5 minutes later spoke to someone else still in Manila. Now the prices was 200$ plus 480$ for the difference in fare per person.

We decided to stick to the tickets we already have. It is very disappointing to be quoted different prices depending to whom answer and to have to deal with people who aren't locally based. I understand that company wants to save money but Hawaiian Airlines is known to not be one of the cheapest airlines and they can't even have the decency to have a local number to call when we have problems. Second why is it that this company has the monopoly on flying direct fly from French Polynesia to Hawaii. It doesn't help with price competition and we have no choice that taking that company unless we want to swim there. Their customer service is disappointing.

We are at a loss on even providing a simple green salad for people who are stuck in the plane for 10+ hrs. NOT AN OPTION. VERY UNFAIR. When I reminded them of the nonstop flight from JFK-HNL takes more than 10 hrs their answer was, "Bring your own food." It was not an option for us because we live two hours away from the airport and the departure time was early in the morning. All the STAFF I spoke ON THE PHONE or interacted on e-mail were outright nasty and very unprofessional. We will definitely fly to HNL, not flying Hawaiian Airlines for sure. So, stay away from flying this airline if you are vegetarians.

My second call ended up with a supervisor. After over a half hour on hold while he checked for a lounge at LAS, he came back and offered a call back because he couldn't find out, needed to research further. He called back shortly and advised that HA doesn't have its own lounge at LAS, the lounge HA passengers access at LAS is run by the Airport Authority. He told me to call McCarran Airport Information at 702-261-5211 for more information. I don't understand why someone at HA wouldn't make that call and tell me, very poor service, especially for a premium cabin passenger.

I called MAI, which advised that the lounge in terminal 3 which HA flies out of is "The Club At LAS", phone 702-261-1951. Unfortunately, The Club At LAS doesn't include HA. It serves many other airlines, including (but not limited to) British, Virgin, Aeromexico, Alaska, Korean Air, etc. but NOT HA. So other airlines provide premium cabin passengers a lounge but HA does not. Note - Any passenger can also buy a "day pass" for $40.00.

I called HA once again and talked to another supervisor. She quickly told me that HA does NOT have a lounge at LAS, period. I asked her to refer this to a management person for review and consideration, which might include HA paying for my entry to The Club as LAS. She refused (I asked three times) and continued to refer me to HA Consumer Affairs, which can only be reached by e-mail, no live support or assistance.

This leaves two major issues: HA doesn't have a lounge at LAS for "premium cabin" (first class/business class) passengers, and HA's personnel mostly have no clue about the lounge situation or availability. People are nice and "sorry" for the situation and inconvenience but that doesn't fix the problems. The last supervisor I talked to flat refused to escalate the problem further excepting that I could take more time and energy to contact CA and start all over again.

I e-mailed CA and asked for: A sincere apology from a MANAGEMENT PERSON for all of the above. Compensation from HA of $40.00 USD so I can purchase a lounge day pass at LAS. That's a credit back on my flight purchase credit card, not a flight credit for future use. What did I suggest further: HA needs to provide lounge access to LAS premium cabin customers. This is a basic "no-brainer". These passengers are the cash machine that profit most every airline. This is a basic benefit of a premium cabin purchase.

HA needs to retrain its telephone personnel with actual information about lounge access, at LAS and anywhere else HA flies, without having to put callers on hold or do research. HA needs to make this basic information readily available on its website. After clicking through multiple guesses, I found a click link for "Hawaiian Airlines Premier Club". When I clicked on it, a screen came up saying "This Site is Not Secure". (www.beta.hawaiianairlines.com/our-services/at-the-airport/hawaiian-airlines-lounges) and warning to close the site immediately.

November 28, 2018, five days after e-mailing HA CA, I called in again as I didn’t have a response. The representative advised that CA responses were out about a month, now serving requests from about October 28 to 29. After trying for over 15 minutes to connect me with a supervisor, she offered a call back within 24 hours. I declined as I can’t sit waiting for a call when doing other things, like my life going on. After more unsuccessful tries to connect me to a supervisor, she came back and offered a call back within 10 minutes, which I accepted. And a supervisor did call back in that time frame.

He advised he had read my CA e-mail, understood the situation, and could offer a TRAVEL CREDIT of $40. I advised him that as stated in the e-mail, travel credit was unacceptable. Even if I were contemplating another trip on HA, I wouldn’t want to be limited to spending my money there for another trip, all within the next year or it expires. Since I am spending cash for the lounge HA should be providing, I want a cash (credit card refund) credit in return. He said he couldn’t do that but would try to contact CA to accelerate their response from their current one month +/- time frame.

ANY AIRLINE CAN HAVE PROBLEMS. How they respond and fix situations tells the story. HA is deficient in customer service. Their representatives are unknowledgeable and waste time accordingly. Their amenities are not at an appropriate level for their premium cabin passengers. Their Consumer Affairs function is so backlogged as to be useless. I recommend anyone considering flying HA explore other alternatives first. Use HA as a “last resort” if you can’t find something else.

I tried hard to maintain my cool and not get upset. I was worried they might hold me and I will miss my flight and also I had to work the next day. My recommendation for Hawaiian Airlines is to please educate your travel agents in Narita Airport about countries in Western Pacific and their association with US regarding their political status. No one from these countries should experience what I went through and I have contacted their consulate in Honolulu.

They separated us, while my daughter was screaming, and told my husband he had to go to the end of the line or they were going to call security. We will never fly with them again. Another HA employee said “well that’s too bad” when I told her I needed help with my daughter and I was really overwhelmed. She finished by saying “you should have went with him to drop the car off and then get in line together.” Worst customer service I have EVER experienced.

Upon arriving in Phoenix we reweighed the bag on the Phoenix Airport scale and it weighed 44 pounds. On another scale in the airport it weighed the same. While in the boarding line a couple other people said they had a similar experience. When arriving home we weighed all the bag again. They all matched the weight given by the courtesy scales in the Honolulu and Phoenix airports. Yet the actual baggage scale weighed all bags much higher. Hawaiian Airlines where you can’t find one employee to check the scale. So we pay the extra money on top of their standard outrageous baggage fees. We could not find anyone that even showed the slightness of concern on what is wrong with your scale, that had been replaced with just pay the fee. So we did and will never fly with them again. Southwest Airlines hurry up with your plans to fly to HI.

I call again and they indeed have no record of a transaction going through. I have disputed the charge now with my bank. I have also sent 6 emails about getting my refund with no answer besides the one saying they were forwarding it to accounting 10 days ago. I sent another email last night demanding a refund and telling them after this I will no longer fly with them. Still no answer. It's more a lack of customer service than it is the refund at this point. Over 2 weeks later I still have no refund and am waiting for my bank to do its job with the dispute. Hawaiian Airlines after 20 years of flying with you... I am done.

We go to Hawaii every year and tried another airline 1 time and that reminded us why we always flew HA. But here we are freeing up 2 main cabin seats giving them the potential to make $872 more dollars on top of the $40 we were willing to pay on seats that are more than likely not going to sell by the time we travel. I guess next year we will be trying another airline once again, more than likely Southwest Airlines seeing as they will be flying to Hawaii by this time next year. With the upcoming competition HA will be forced to lower their prices, but better customer service is how you confront that by keeping the customers they have now. Big mistake, I am just one of hundreds of thousands that will be looking elsewhere for Hawaii travel.

My husband is wheelchair dependent but is able to stand and pivot. She said, "Look your husband humbug, he able to walk up ramp?" I was desperate at this point and said yes, he cannot knowing how steep the ramp is. Proceeds to say, "If you go on flight can you just take a carry on?" I said, "Yes please! Anything to catch the flight, I will buy all new clothes in Japan." There were 2 others there, one a Hawaiian air employee and the other a porter who was so helpful and said, "We will help you pack your carry on," they proceeded to take all what I had in my large suitcase and manage to fit it all in to my carry on suitcase and 2 bags.

Also said, "Look at the security line so long. You not going to make it!" I got my tickets after all that and the porter went in the front of the line to get us checked through TSA. We made it and there were passengers not boarded the plane yet, and we were not the last as well, others were behind us. I gave my suitcase to the porter, I was so thankful to the supervisor and the employee at the desk for allowing us to catch the flight. Boarded the flight in adequate time to sit and settle comfortably.

In flight I was making sure I had my necessary belongings and medications etc... the stewardess asked what I was doing, I told her what happened. She suggested I write to this e-mail and gave me the card with information of Consumer Affairs Office. She encouraged me to write this up because of the explanations said to my husband and myself. Who says to the customer, "Look your husband in wheelchair humbug, Oh well. Not my fault you late, security line too long, you not going to make it, humbug, you can only take carry on" when in fact the airline was still loading. I hope no one has to hear what I heard about your love one(s). Thank You.

Once we were close to Honolulu the attendants came on the speakers and advised everyone which gate to go to depending on their destination. For those of us going to San Diego she advised us to go to the service desk, which means we aren't going anywhere. Once at the service desk there were only a few people in front of us. It took the employees forever to help them. One employee wound up leaving with some customers to a different desk due to printer issues. A while later the other employee left with customers as well for the same reason. BOTH employees said they'd be back. They never came. While waiting with my wife and 8 month old, my mother in law went to stand in line at another service desk. Eventually I went over there as well.

We finally were able to make it up to an employee so I called my wife to come to us. The employee said, "We have no flights for you so we have to book you on the same flight tomorrow." FINE. They gave us vouchers for two hotel rooms at Ala Moana, 3 dinner vouchers at $20.00 each, there were 3 adults, and these vouchers can only be used at the restaurants listed on the vouchers. 3 breakfast vouchers for $10.00 each good only at one place at the hotel, and vouchers for taxi to and from hotel. They also gave us new boarding passes for the next day. However, they did not give us a boarding pass for my 8 month old infant. Instead they wrote the words W/ INF on my ticket. They said we did not need a separate boarding pass for her. On top of this, we seemed to be missing our baggage. They didn't know where it was but gave us tickets for our baggage stating it may have went to San Diego.

We get to the hotel that has a ridiculous line. I find a Mgr who helped us get in quick. PROBLEM - We have no luggage and minimal items for our 8 month old, and no items for us. We HAD to go to the Target in the attached plaza to buy formula as well as multiple items for our infant, as well as items for ourselves. DINNER - The vouchers were $20.00 per person only at the places listed on the vouchers. Keep in mind they are all MAJOR restaurants, not cheap. We decided on Macaroni Grill. We did not get out of there for $20.00 per person. We had to pay the remainder out of pocket. BREAKFAST - 3 $10.00 breakfast vouchers only good at one place at the hotel. Unfortunately that place only serves a buffet priced at $18.00 per person. You do the math - $30.00 in vouchers, but a total bill of over $54.00. We had to pay the rest.

We get back to airport next day, Honolulu Airport, horrible. We get to TSA and the jerk TSA guy verified us and our boarding passes then asked for my infant's pass. I said they didn't give us one. He immediately gave our passes back and said, "You need one." I explained the situation from the day earlier to him and what they said about the boarding pass for my daughter and that they wrote W/ INF on my pass. He said that won't work. After becoming highly irritated and a little loud, an older TSA guy comes over and says what's the problem. The jerk TSA guy tells him we don't have a boarding pass for my child.

The older guy said that we need one for her. I explained the situation to him and advised him they wrote W/ INF on my pass. The older TSA guy then says "oh, let me see them", he looks at my pass then looks at the jerk TSA and says, "That's fine, they are good to go." The jerk TSA then says "I know. That's what I've been telling them, it's fine. It's written on the pass." I then said to both of them "Excuse me? You told me we needed a separate pass for her and refused to let us through and I advised you 3 times it's written on my pass." Anyways, we got through.

BOARDING - Prior to our plane arriving for us, some flight attendants came to the gate to wait for the plane. One of the female attendants very loudly and rudely said to another attendant "Is there a more sanitary place we can wait?" RUDE. Once our plane arrived and it was time to board, we were in front with some other people who had an infant. Once boarding began, we were first in line. The ** Hawaiian Airlines employee at the gate said we need a boarding pass for my 8 month old. Immediately pissed off I was. I explained to him what happened and he said sorry, that's not how it works. It can't be written on the pass. I told him I specifically asked that the prior day and they said it was fine. He said "Nope, that's not how it works." Exactly like that. Eventually he said to write my daughter's info down on a piece of paper which I did and he said "I will make sure she gets into the system and you can board, but that's not how it works."

WOW - WTH? Is their customer service really this bad? Eventually we got to Honolulu and our baggage was there and we left. We also had to pay an extra day for our car to be parked there due to the delay. Only way for reimbursement is to fax it in which I did the following week. Receipts, passes, everything. Total cost to us due to the delay was just under $400.00. Still waiting to hear from them. I called Hawaiian and a lady helped me out, after a long hold she said she found my case and gave me the case # and advised me to call back whenever I want to find out the status of my case. I said, "Well I'm calling now and want to know the status." She said they are reviewing it and again to call back whenever.

It's now a month later and I have not heard a thing. How is Hawaiian Airlines still in business? Their employees clearly aren't trained well if at all. No one knows what they are doing. A lot of their employees are very rude. DO NOT EVER fly with them. You will most likely regret it. The night at the hotel I Googled reviews about Hawaiian Airlines, and they were mostly bad and were all the same problems we had. Ridiculous.

We boarded a plane and were sitting on the plane for 1.5 hrs with no idea of why we are not taking off, no communications from the staff. Nobody was able to give us any information on what kind of “issues” are those. We had to get off the plane and only after numerous inquiries and concerns raised one of the staff told us it was an issue with pilot’s communication system. 2 hours later from the original departure time, we boarded the plane again, and took off. The plane was freezing cold and I was told I have to purchase blankets if we’re cold, and they can’t change the temperature. Other people were freezing too, and there was nothing done about it. Additionally, there were electrical issues and our monitors weren’t working for a long time. They said we will all get unlimited entertainment package for our inconvenience, but it never happened.

20 min into the flight one of the passengers had medical issue. Within minutes this man collapsed in front of our eyes and they started performing CPR on him, alternating with oxygen mask. They have been doing it for over 30 min! Only after the plane started flying back we got an announcement that it was turned around. It is still a mystery to us on why the plane wasn’t turned back immediately as this poor man collapsed and needed CPR. This man died! Getting help an hour earlier might have saved his life!

Back at Honolulu we were waiting for at least another hour for all of the medical procedures, and police investigation, before we could get off the plane to switch the planes. By the gate we were told to wait in line for food vouchers and new seat assignments. You can imagine a line of 250+ people, all exhausted, staying in line for food vouchers. Why couldn’t they be distributed on the plane on the way back? It was a chaos to say the least as all of us were trying to get food at only one restaurant that was opened by the gate. There was not enough fast food left after first batch of people went through it, and ordering food was impossible as they said they won’t be able to make enough for everyone in time. It was past 9 pm at this point, and we have been travelling since 10 am.

We then boarded a new plane which was an older plane and it was freezing again! And AGAIN we were sitting on a plane for an hour with no announcements or letting us know what’s going on. Later they were waiting on a second pilot. Why were we rushed to get on the plane with no time to eat, if the pilot was not even there? Entertainment systems were still locked, and we got offered no comfort, drinks or anything after everything we have been thru. Back home, their luggage process got screwed up with mixing bags from different flights, and nobody from the staff knew what's going on. After all of that, we only got offered $50 refund! Absolutely ridiculous! And there is no way to talk to someone, and all we get is that consumer affairs approved $50 and good luck with that. Any responses are required to go through online request, with them not responding. THE WORST COMPANY EVER!!!

The counter lady was extremely rude and the manager refused to give his name and literally ran away from me while I was trying to talk to him. Very unprofessional. Hawaiian Airlines should be embarrassed by themselves. I'm embarrassed for them. They never responded when I wrote in regarding this incident either. I'm not impressed. They are one of my only options for flights to the mainland so I have to put up with them from time to time. Most recently, they tried to seat me and my child in completely different parts of the plane from each other. She's a minor. This is my last time flying with them. If I could put negative stars, I would.

Supplying the ticket numbers only indicates the one valid transaction, it does nothing to identify where the other transactions have gone. The woman was rude and unhelpful and continued to deny the problem despite the transactions appearing on my bank's website, and subsequently confirmed by calling the bank's credit card team. Appalling software that does not understand the concept of a double-sided transaction! Time to get the credit card company involved and I may just cancel the entire lot and use a more reliable airline.

The problem I immediately foresee is that I don't have any of my clothes with me and I have a dinner meeting with investors later that night. (We arrived around 9:30 am). Once again I am reassured that the bag will most likely arrive before noon, and if it isn't then... we will see then? SURE. A few hours later, I get a call and it's from the employee. He's really nice about it, says that my bag hasn't arrived but since I need clothes and necessities I have authorization to get it. I'm not dumb, I have a few expensive items I was going to wear that were missing but I knew that an airline would never reimburse me so I went to Target and bought black pants and a blouse as well as toiletries. I also emailed the Hawaiian Claims dept. to open a claim. This was the Sunday, before Memorial Day.

I figure, it's a national holiday the next day (Monday, Memorial Day) I probably won't hear back till Tuesday/Wednesday which means I'll already be back home in Texas. I was completely wrong. NOBODY reached out to me at all. I emailed them a second time. NOTHING. The only person who reached out to me was the original employee who followed up. Luckily for me, he was kind enough to reach out to the claims department and make sure someone responded.

I have a lost baggage I am trying to locate. The bag went missing May 27th, which is the same day I emailed and asked to file a claim. I also called multiple times but the line was ALWAYS busy and I would get automatically disconnected. I did not receive a call or email back from anyone in the Claims dept. I received a phone call from another employee who worked at the actual airport in Honolulu on June 4th. OVER ONE WEEK before ANYONE would help me with anything!!!

Even now, I have sent in emails with my proof of loss, as much receipts as I could gather, and asked them to verify that they received my email and I get NOTHING. I already sent in hard copies of everything via certified mail, so hopefully that will give me a response. I was lucky that one individual employee helped make sure that finally one person responded to me. However, the claims dept. has done NOTHING to help me or give me any knowledge of my bag. They won't even respond to my claims and if it were not for another employee, did not get back to me about filing loss on my baggage till after more than ONE WEEK after it was lost.

He then said that the credit has to all be used no matter the purchase price of the next flight. So, if the next flight we chose out was, say, $450, we would never get the difference back on our credit. I was so angry. I asked to speak to a supervisor. After being on hold, the ruffled representative said I would get an email within 10 minutes. I wondered why this had to go so far? Then, I got a nice little email that says I have this credit, which must ALL be used for the next flight, and IN ADDITION I MUST PAY ANOTHER $200! So the flight I cancelled 48 hours before departure now turned into a $1000 "credit" that must be used all at once for any one way ticket. YIKES! Please come to Hawaii Southwest and save us!

After those few, per the gate agents, there were no other flights available, either on Hawaiian Airlines or any other airlines that day. The rest of us were left without any option but to wait. I, like many other passengers, requested a shift in my return flight, as we basically spent the day at the airport. The gate agent at LAX let me know that would not be a problem and that she switched my return flight from Thursday to Friday, same time, just one day later. The gate agents in Kona would be able to assign seats. I asked for a printout of my updated itinerary. I was told to "just use the same confirmation (PNR) code". They were still having "printer issues". Others in line before me did not have printouts, but it was a mistake was not receiving this confirmation in writing. I advise any future customers of this airline to always receive confirmation of any changes in writing.

Approximately 8 hours later, around 7 p.m. we were able to board a plane. A credit of $100 for a future flight was offered. The flight offered snacks, headsets, blankets, etc. for purchase. The meal service was one sandwich (meat & cheese), 1 cookie and the usual soda, juices. The plane itself was older, fairly clean, the upholstery is scratchy and worn out. It is now Wednesday afternoon and I receive an email to "check-in" for my flight scheduled on Thursday. Which was incorrect because my flight was switched by the gate agent to Friday. After several hours on the phone, chat, twitter with various customer service agents, I was told that the gate agent at LAX did not "enter a note" or update my flight in their system.

Therefore, my family was not on any flight. Also, there was "nothing that could be done". I would be charged a $200 change fee for each ticket plus the cost of a new ticket IF they could get me on a flight. I was charged double the original fare, for each family member, to get on a return connecting flight back to LAX. The entertainment system on the return flight back to LAX was not working. HA offered a $14 credit towards a future flight. Snacks for sale, 1 meat sandwich, 1 small bag of chips/snacks and 1 macadamia nut candy was provided.

Their twitter account asked for my flight information, however, no response after I sent the information. I am currently appealing this charge with HA. No response or resolution yet. I am also going to file a complaint with the department of transportation. For reference, the link on info. & to file complaints is here: https://www.transportation.gov/airconsumer/file-consumer-complaint. I am requesting a refund of the additional airfare cost incurred because the gate agent at LAX did not properly modify my flight itinerary. I was truly hoping that HA was more responsive. I will update this review if any changes to my situation occur.

The only thing, I am glad that I finally gotten my luggage. I found out my small brown purse with my gold rings, coins, earring etc lost during my trip back to Honolulu that 4 3 18 HA 17, arriving to Oahu 645 am. I gotten it during my trip in Vegas, got lost during that trip back. I just want to point out, may want to check camera who is your loyal good employees, who is not, and need background check before hiring seriously.