Hawaiian Airlines

She claimed they did not close the doors early. I asked her what time they close the doors and she said 10 minutes before departure. I asked her what time that was because I believe they closed the doors early. She would not answer my question. Her words were that I was upset because I missed my flight and that it’s my own fault. I seriously have never experienced a service rep more rude in all my travel. I asked to speak with her supervisor and when he got there she continued to bully her supervisor! She yelled at me in front of him.

Ignored him when he was talking. I told her she was lying about what time they closed the boarding and that they closed boarding early. She started yelling,” No you’re the one lying!” It was shocking to see an employee acting like this in front of her supervisor! Her supervisor Em didn’t know what to say other than asked me to email a complaint to consumer affairs.

Employees like this should be fired. She could have easily taken care of the situation in a professional way, starting with being honest that they closed the doors early followed with an explanation of why. Then I would understand but instead she told me I was late, I was mad because I missed my flight, and would not answer my questions. Lufi is not the typical Hawaiian Airlines employee. She is rude and I’ve never encountered someone with such antagonizing behavior while traveling in my life. If you have a problem with Lufi please know you are not alone and report her to Consumer Affairs so she doesn’t continue to get away with disrespecting her supervisor and customers.

I say check again because I had plenty of miles. “Oh oh oh, here it is ma’am”. And they proceed to finish the reservation and give me the ticket code, which I am unable to pull up on my computer. After several tries to see the receipt and several “oh oh oh ma’am try this” I finally saw a receipt and still feel I took it up the **. I will never fly with them again! Someone needs to investigate!

This automatically caused us to miss our flight in Las Vegas to Hawaii. We called Hawaiian Airline and they changed our flight to following morning from JFK. This experience caused us extra cost on transportation and one day delay in Hawaii which was the purpose of trip. We contacted Hawaiian Airlines for reimbursement of the extra expenses caused by the delay on the first flight and they asked us to contact JetBlue which was arranged by Jet Blue and purchase was made in Hawaiian Airline’s website. In the meantime, we did reach out to JetBlue Airlines and they told us we should be reimbursed by Hawaiian Airlines. The entire experience has been a nightmare with Hawaiian Airlines.

First of all I am a local of Hawaii and believe in local first. Hawaiian is a local company and love flying Hawaiian but getting to that point is downright ridiculous!!! As an example: Just this weekend I flew to Lanai (a stone throw away). I got there 3 hours early expecting lines and delays and lucky I did. After checking in with the automated check ins which is a great idea and even if there is a lot of people there, you still don't have to wait but two people in front of you and you can always find someone there friendly to help you, if you have any problems. That is acceptably and great. But after you're done with that then the confusion starts, from there you have to drag your bags all the way to the other end of the lobby for your bag drop... (Why not make the inter-island bag drop right there) Then people could go straight to TSA.

Right now I think you had the Japan or International lines there, you know that most local people are hitting the dropoff in the beginning why not put the Japan and International flights at the end on the terminal? After a few drops the buses and taxi's would know exactly where to drop people off just by their destination. Carrying/lugging your bags through all the lines of people causes more confusion, workers actually have to stop a lines just to let people by to get to another line... They direct you go outside of the lobby and come back in just to get around the TSA check point. It was raining, and everyone outside waiting in line got wet. There has to be a better way! It's ridiculous!

With all the overhead $$$'s you have made over the past years, I would have thought your CEO's/engineers would have came up with ideas to make passengers experience better. From what I see it has gotten worse... Hawaiian Air has/had the market cornered especially on inter island flights. I would have hoped they came up with something by now to take care of the local people. Like Alaska Air does, just as long as you can present a local Alaska ID, your bags fly free, and you may change your flight at no cost. (Take care of the Kupuna's, they are the ones that would stay loyal). Now with SouthWest entering the market and the feeling that Hawaiian has been taking us locals to the cleaners for all this time. I'm sure I'm not alone when I say "I'm not sure if I want to fly Hawaiian?" You guys gotta get your act together and soon! Disappointed traveler.

Hawaiian Airlines called MedLife and she deemed us unfit to fly. Granted no one actually came to physical assess him. This was all done through the phone. But before she said we couldn’t fly they allowed us to go to the gate and sit there until 5 mins before boarding to tell us we couldn’t fly. Her words were “not recommended”, my husband came over and told me and I said I don’t care if it’s not recommended, we need to be back there because my husband is active duty military and we need to go home cause his pass ends tonight. Well she then says again it’s not recommended and we’re basically on a 24 hour hold. So we had to beg to get our stuff off the plane because our car seats were on the plane already. That took forever as well to even get it. She doesn’t give us new flight information and just says she’ll put it in the system and to come back at the same time tomorrow.

So I called Hawaiian Airlines and after the run around, I was told nothing was in the system and they were gonna charge us $251 PER PERSON for flight change. I went off asking why? I was forced off this flight and told to come back tomorrow, to where he tells me over the phone they have to charge but to just show up tomorrow and things should be free.

For both this flight and our layover flight. End of the day we made it on the flight and now I’ll never fly Hawaiian. Their customer service needs a lot of work.

One would hope that safety would be their top priority as they claim. But instead of running a safety inspection when the plane landed they waited until it was time to leave, and if a safety inspection had been accomplished when the plane landed then it was conducted improperly, proving that safety is not their top priority. And if safety was so important to Hawaiian Airlines and they proudly preach, why would they not have spares of such an integral part of the plane. Why did they have to order it from Seattle. Why did I have to wait for them to order it, package it, load it on a plane, fly it out, unload it, install it and test it with no guarantee that it would even work.

We were delayed over 7 hours due to their failure to safely and properly maintain their plane. Then to make matters even worse, while we were on the plane my wife began to feel nauseous and felt like she was going to throw up. I kindly asked a flight attendant if they had any nausea medicine on board and he said “I’ll check for you” and I never saw the flight attendant after that. It would have been one thing had they not had any but to not even return to the customer and help a passenger feeling ill is outrageous.

Then we land and I file a complaint with their customer service department and the individual I dealt with was rude and inconsiderate and all they offer is a $100 credit towards a future flight within 1 year. So to break it down that’s $50 for me and $50 for my wife, we were delayed 7 hours so that’s equates to roughly $7 an hour for both of us. And they called it appropriate compensation. Let me ask you, is it appropriate that after you spend almost $2,000 on flying with them and dealing with all the safety issues and lack of customer service that they give you $7 an hour for something that should’ve never happened in the first place. This was by far the worst customer service and Airline that I’ve experienced to date. I deserve better, you deserve better and for that I’ll never recommend Hawaiian Airlines.

I waited there at the gate for about 10 minutes for someone to come with a yellow/orange vest and she immediately rudely told me that she was NOT taking the keys and that I should have left them at “Will call” down at check in!!! Well, heck WHY didn’t the gate agent just TELL ME that so that I could’ve gone over there and dropped it off?! So...here I am STUCK at the gate with the car keys and car of the Turo guy who never showed up and my family is already on the plane!!! I finally got in touch with the guy about the key and he said to just send it to him and get on the plane. He had an extra key. During the time I was talking with him trying to figure things out with the car and keys the gate agents CLOSED the doors on me and I couldn’t board the plane!!!

I was so upset that Hawaiian Airlines would treat a customer that way. Especially when I truly felt it was a situation that could’ve been handled in a better way from the start and NOT lead to me missing my flight. Had I just been informed from the beginning to go back to the check-in desk to leave the keys everything would’ve been fine.

My husband sent me a text message with a video of my poor daughter crying looking for me and repeating “I want Mama.” This just tore my heart out and has really made me feel bitter towards Hawaiian Airlines. Ohana is supposed to mean FAMILY where NOBODY gets left behind... I guess they not only NOT believe in Aloha but also Ohana. To make matters even worse I’ve written emails to Hawaiian Airlines and on their website and I’ve gotten ZERO response. Maybe a little completion from Southwest Airlines will do them good. I’m sure they’ll learn very quickly how to be humbled.

So, when we finally boarded, about 9 or 10 something in the morning, they handed out travel vouchers worth $100. One per family, not one per person. I would think they should have given out a voucher per person. Because, each person bought a ticket, not one ticket per family. What's wrong with Hawaiian Air, telling us they take care of their passengers then turnaround and stab them in the back. Then in Honolulu, I was told by a supervisor that there was a death on the plane and had to sanitize the aircraft, that's why it took so long. So why didn't they say that in the beginning, instead of saying nothing and let us suffer.

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.