Hawaiian Airlines
Reviews and Complaints

My son has a severe peanut allergy - I called Hawaiian airlines and they said they cannot honor my request to not serve peanut snacks on this flight - The smell of hundreds of packs of peanuts being opened can cause my son to have a serve allergic reaction - other airlines always honor our request - we are flying Alaskan Airlines to Maui and they will not serve peanuts and make an announcement to the row in front and behind where my son is sitting to please not eat peanuts - I understand your airline cannot keep people from bringing peanuts onto the plane - and I understand peanut product may be in your meals - I am just asking that packets of peanuts not be served - Please advise - we are flying from Maui to San Jose Ca 1/5/18
flight 46 - ticket # [protected]

Thanks

Web site not working. Called customer service. They confirmed. After 1 1/2 hours I gave up. Agent said that she would help, kept asking her supervisor questions and putting me on hold. Had credits I wanted to redeem. Instead of just saying try again later, they kept me on the phone and put me on hold 6 times! Agent was not knowledgeable. Not acceptable!
Nothing was resolved. I was very frustrated.

Talofa. My name is Araisa M. My mom and myself were due to fly out of Honolulu on the 20th. of Nov. 2015. from Gate 22...to Pago Pago Am. Samoa. We were in line to board. We got to the front she asked for our traveling documents. My mother is an elderly woman in a wheel chair and needs assistance at all times. She looked at our documents and told her co worker to go ahead and push her in she's good and told me to step on the side and wait. I waited. After everyone was rushed into the aircraft...I was not able to get a seat...So I asked to please bring my mother back out she cannot fly alone due to med. reasons. She has to be assist at all times. They brought her back out and I asked her for our traveling documents and she snapped by saying "She don't have our traveling documents." We were going back and forth and I did tell her "look i'm not trying to fight with you...you're the last person I gave it to"...and she kept snapping back . So I just left my phone number to reach me. We are trying to leave for Pago Pago on Monday the 23rd. and hoping that our documents would be found. I'm just trying to get my Mom home. So please Honolulu Hawaiian Air co. please help me find our traveling documents. It was last given to your Hawaiian Air Employee at the gate.

My "confirmed" pre-assigned seat from Sydney to Honolulu was given away to someone else and I was re-assigned without my knowledge or assent to an undesirable stand-by seat adjacent to a toilet, which I would not have selected or assented to given the opportunity. If I had known HA would not honor my stated "confirmed" seat selection for this flight I would not have booked with this airline at all. Instead, I would have booked with JetStar or Qantas, which in my 22 years experience flying the HNL-SYD route never failed to honor passenger seat selection. Furthermore, the check-in agent at SYD blatantly lied by alleging that there was "no record" of any advance seat selection in my reservation. Such fraudulent and unethical behavior on the part of your airline and representatives is nothing short of reprehensible.

The cabin pressurization on this flight was disastrously inadequate. I personally experienced massive hemorrhaging in both legs and bleeding from my eyes. The passenger seated next to me became dizzy upon standing and had to crawl to the toilet. In the same row, an elderly man became unconscious in the aisle and after considerable berating, goading, and futile attempts by the cabin crew to revive him, a flight attendant attempted to summon a doctor over the intercom. Only a veterinarian could be produced. The man was eventually carried off still unconscious to a baggage storage area.

The cabin staff exhibited poor training, severe communications handicaps, and in general were disdainful of passengers. Their dispassionate and abusive handling of the unconscious elderly passenger was unforgivable.

The meal quality was among the worst I have ever sampled in 48 years of air travel. The attitude of the staff was that having to serve food and beverages was a nuisance. Every passenger request was met with a withering stare known in Hawaii as "stink eye." I heard one employee say, "we get you from point A to point B, don't we?"

The seats are not merely uncomfortable, but torturous, obviously not designed for long hauls. By the end of the flight, many passengers had difficulty rising from their seats and walking from the plane. On landing, the cabin crew seemed confused about the procedures for preparing the aircraft for disembarkation.

What Hawaiian Airlines offers on their website is a scam and I am surprised that an airline is obviously able to commit false advertising without having to take responsibility for it.
This is what they are advertising on their website:
N E W ! Combined Dollar / Miles Flights You can now book award flights by redeeming HawaiianMiles for one way and paying for the other.
Just log in to your account then visit the booking tool and select "Miles" in one direction and "Dollars" in the other direction.
* Offering More Flexibility with Your Miles * Making Award Travel Even easier to Reach * Log in to your HawaiianMiles Account to view This Option
After I transferred about 40, 000 points from my Amex account into my Hawaiian Miles account I tried to use this option and found out that it would not work. For a return ticket I would have needed at least 120, 000 miles but I had only 95, 000 miles on my account and was planning to pay one leg with 60, 000 miles, the other one in cash. Each time when I switched on leg from Dollars to Miles the other leg would switch as well. i called their CS and their answer was "Sorry for the inconvenience but this only works on specific routes, we are not able to do this manually for you.
My "Hawaiian Miles" are going to expire in a few months and again, i was not able to use them. For the 40, 000 points that I had transferred from my amex account I had spent roughly $ 40, 000.- and I could have ordered some gift cards instead. I feel that Hawaiian Airlines cheated me.

In all my years of flying, this was the worst experience ever. This occurred at OGG, Maui. We went to check via computer and Hawaiian had no record of our reservation. They told us to call Continental. Continental told us to call Hawaiian. I spoke to a supervisor at Hawaiian and they said that they could not help me even though I was flying on their airline. I called Orbitz, who I made the reservation with, and after an hour on the phone, they assured us that we had valid reservations.

I did not trust Orbitz, so we went to the airport several hours early to check in. Hawaiian in fact did not have a reservation for us. We had to go to United, located way on the other side of the airport. After spending an hour with United, and almost having to buy tickets, which I would have disputed anyway with my credit card company, we were able to get checked in for the 20 minute flight from Maui to Honolulu. However Hawaiian could not check us in for the Honolulu to Newark flight.

Hawaiian Airlines could check our luggage to Newark, but could not give us boarding passes. Again we had to go to the other side of the terminal to United. United could not give us boarding passes, so we decided to try our luck with Continental in Honolulu. When we got to Honolulu, we spoke to a Continental Agent, who resolved the issue in about a minute

HawaiianMiles = WorthlessMiles

My wife, and I, have been using Hawaiian Airlines and a Hawaiian Airlines/Bank of Hawaii credit card for the last four years to accumulate enough miles for two round trip tickets to Europe on Hawaiian’s partner airline - Delta.

We have accumulated more than 130, 000 miles to date, which is more than enough (110, 000 miles) for two round-trip tickets from the Mainland to Europe.

On July 28, 2011, I first called HawaiianMiles to make reservations for the subject tickets. This was only 307 days before the early end of our travel date range, and significantly after the 330-day period when airlines supposedly release their seats for mileage programs.

We tried to be flexible in our dates, departure sites, and arrival sites. In spite of this, HawaiianMiles was unable to arrange travel to and from any of the sites in the U.S. and Europe that we provided.

The woman I spoke to promised to get back to me in 72 hours to inform us whether any of our desired seats were released (she never called back). She also suggested that we try every day to see if the situation had changed. I wasted more than 22 minutes of my valuable time for nothing.

On July 29, 2011, I again called HawaiianMiles. The result was the same. Nothing available. I wasted another 24 minutes of my valuable time for nothing.

On August 1, 2001, I again called HawaiianMiles. We tried 8 different departure dates (May 30 – June 6, inclusive), 4 different Mainland departure sites (Seattle, Minneapolis/St. Paul, New York, Boston), 3 different return dates (19, 20, and 21 days after departure to Europe), and 5 different Europe arrival sites (Amsterdam, Frankfurt, Copenhagen, Brussels, Paris). After trying these 480 combinations, the “customer service” representative could only come up with one option from Minneapolis/St. Paul to Frankfurt. He would have to request a return flight from Frankfurt.

On the afternoon of August 4, 2011, more than three days later, I received a call from HawaiianMiles informing me that there were no seats available from Frankfurt to Minneapolis/St. Paul for my wife and me. I wasted another 1 hour and 27 minutes of my valuable time for nothing.

After wasting a week, more than 2 hours on the telephone to HawaiianMiles, and not having any luck with more than 480 travel possibilities, I gave up on HawaiianMiles. It was apparent to me that they would not/could not help me and I was forced to make alternative travel arrangements on another airline at an out-of-pocket cost of $2, 169.

I filed a complaint with Hawaiian Airlines about their lousy customer service and my inability to use my miles on August 4, 2011. I did not receive a response until late on August 5, 2011.

On August 5, 2011, Eddy Mundo, from the Hawaiian Airlines corporate office called me to ask me what she could do to assist me. I stated that this offer was after the fact and that I was forced to make alternative travel arrangements. I expressed my great dissatisfaction with Hawaiian Airlines and HawaiianMiles.

She stated that since the merger of Northwest and Delta that Hawaiian Airlines was having problems with their partner and difficulties in fulfilling requests. No kidding. She then stated that she would request the telephone conversations I had with HawaiianMiles (for what reason, I do not know), review them, and get back to me. She further asked me what I wanted Hawaiian Airlines to do for me and my wife.

I gave Eddy’s question some thought and came up with a proposed resolution to my complaint. I submitted this proposal on August 6, 2011. On August 11, 2011, Hoyt Zia, Senior VP, General Counsel & Corp. Sec., rejected my offer and rejected any compromise. His response was flippant and offensive, and was indicative of the standard Hawaiian Airlines response to customer complaints.

Eddy never did get back to me. I had to call her on August 9, 2011 to determine the status. She claimed she had still not gotten copies of the telephone calls. She claimed she would get back to me by Friday, August 12, 2011. She then abruptly hung up on me. Very rude. Very unprofessional.

When I first filed my complaint with Hawaiian Airlines (August 4), I was promised that they would get back to me within 3 business days (August 9). They did not. When I followed up on this promised response, they then claimed that it would be another 5- 7 business days for a response. A subsequent email stated 30 days. It was apparent that they were just trying to blow me off.

Don’t fly on Hawaiian Airlines. Don’t join their HawaiianMiles program. Don’t use their credit cards. There are other, better alternatives.

In March 2010 I saw that Hawaiian Airlines was advertising a feature for "Hawaiian Miles" members that would allow them to book a Roundtrip flight paying one leg with Dollars and the other one with Miles. I was planning a trip to Manila and decided to convert 49, 000 Amex points (worth $ 490.-) into Hawaiian Miles so that I could pay one leg with Miles, as advertised. (the cost for one leg was 60, 000 Miles, the cost for the RT in Miles was 120, 000. When I tried to book this flight I saw that each time when I switched one leg from Dollars to Miles, the other one was switching as well. I called their CS and was advised "this feature is not available on international flights". I asked the lady where this was disclosed and did not get an answer. Even when I made a second booking a few months later it was still the same thing: I had to pay the entire trip in Dollars and was not able to use the Miles. I asked them to reverse the transaction and to give me my Amex points back but their answer was "this transaction was final, we won't reverse it".

They never commented on their failure to disclose that their offer was only for domestic flights and it looks like after I wasn't able to use the Miles on 2 trips they changed their system and made this feature available for all flights. Even two certified letter were ignored. Their idea is that I should book a third flight with them (within a few months before the miles expire) and that this would make their wrongdoing right. The problem is that I don't feel like I ever want to do any business with this company anymore and I don't see why I should give them additional business as a result of their false advertising.

My brother who is 80 years old was flying from Hilo to Seattle, WA. Seattle has had an Artic Blast and the weather conditions are not favorable for him to travel here.

He went to the airport to change his ticket to come in January and they have charged him a feel of $225 to change his ticket and I spoke with Cherry at Hawaiian airlines and she said "All he had to do was say he disagreed with this fee, and they would NOT have charged him that!" This is definitely taking advantage of a Senior Citizen and it's disgusting that they are getting away with this!

HAWAIIAN AIRLINES RIPPED US OFF NOT ONCE BUT THREE TIMES FOR THOUSANDS OF DOLLARS.

My name is James L. Tucker. I live in California with my wife of 46 years. Our son, Bryon, lives on the island of Oahu with his wife, Arlene. We made plans to visit them in February of this year and began checking about ticket prices and went through Cheap Tickets (Ha!). Each time I checked the prices were going up, so, my son advised me I had better go ahead and purchase the tickets. I did so on October 22, 2009, and paid $579.00 for each of us. Our departure time was for 8:30 a.m. which was going to make getting on the plane on time would require an extremely early get up and travel down to LAX. So, in checking prices directly on the Hawaiian Airlines.com, I found that the ticket prices had dropped to $325.00 each for a total of $651.40. When I checked what penalty I would face to cancel my original tickets, it stated there would be a $400.00 penalty.

Since, even with the $400.00 penalty, I would still have over $700.00 to spend on a future flight, I cancelled our flight reservation through Cheap Tickets and purchased the new tickets through Hawaiian Airlines with a more reasonable departure time of 5:00 p.m.

RIP-OFF NUMBER ONE

Later on in 2010 we planned to visit some friends in Colorado, so I contacted Cheap Tickets to utilize the $700.00+ remaining on our account. I was notified that Cheap Tickets did not have the credit. Hawaiian Airlines held the money (credit). Well, there goes our Colorado trip. So, I contacted Hawaiian Airlines to see about purchasing tickets for a flight in 2011. I was told that it would cost us another $350.00 since we HAD TO PURCHASE THE NEW TICKETS AT THE SAME PRICE of $579.00 each.
I said, “No way, ” as well as a few other phrases.

As the deadline (October 22, 2010) approached we decided to put aside our pride and purchase tickets for $350.00 rather that loose the $1154.00 we would otherwise lose.

This time, after going on to Hawaiian Airlines.com and finding two round trip tickets in February 2011 for a total of $668.00, I contacted Hawaiian Airlines to book the tickets for a surcharge of $350.00. The representative now told me the cost would be over $600.00. In other words, they were charging me virtually the same price it would cost for new tickets. I asked him, “What did you do with the $1154.00 that you charged my account.” He (who sounded like he was from/in India) went into a legalized sermon on why it cost so much.

So, my canceling the original tickets cost my wife and I $1154.00, not $400.00 as stated in the

RIP-OFF NUMBER TWO

On February 1, 2010, I went online to Hawaiian Airlines to print out our (my wife an my) boarding passes. During that transaction I was offered to upgrade from coach to first class for $698.00. Since our original tickets totaled $651.20, and since they never showed me that the new total was going to be $1349. 20, it made it appear as though the upgrade was going to cost $698.00 total. They also told me that they could not print out my boarding pass since they needed more information and I would have to check in at the counter at LAX. (I believe this was done to avoid showing me the new total would be $1349.20). Even when I checked in at LAX I was never shown the total amount.

It was not until I went online on February 8, 2010, to print out the boarding passes for our return flight and, once again, they offered me a chance to upgrade to first class for $698.00, that I realized what had happened. I declined the upgrade and they allowed me to print out my boarding passes. I then immediately called Hawaiian Airlines and complained about the deceptive method they had used to get me to spend more than twice as much for our airline tickets than we had planned and saved for over a year to purchase. They said that, since we enjoyed first class accommodations on the flight over, they would not return our money.

I have never purchased anything online from any website that had not shown the total amount of the purchase. This was an obvious intentional misrepresentation and trap that I’m sure has tricked more than just myself.

RIPPOFF NUMBER THREE

Additionally, my wife had a pair of very expensive shoes stolen from her suitcase on the flight over to Hawaii. This could only have been done by an airline employee.

Hopefully, this information will make people aware of how deceitful and cold hearted is Hawaiian Airlines. A company that advertises how wonderful they treat their customers. Two tickets costing $651.20 ended up costing us over $2593.00. We contacted Hawaiian Airlines, Capital One, The Better Business Bureau, and FAA and came up with no help.

We will never fly Hawaiian Airlines again. If you do, DO NOT, change your flight in ANY MANNER because you will fall into a trap of immense proportion.

SIGNED: James L. Tucker

My husband is in the United States Navy. He protects this country so that we can all live freely. We live in Hawaii and have to fly all the time to go anywhere. Every airline that we have ever flown on lets us check 2-3 bags without charge for being active military. United Airlines lets us check 2. U.S. Airways lets us check 3! Continental let us check 2 as well. Not Hawaiian Airlines. They made us pay for 3 bags costing an additional $80. We would have never chosen to fly with them had we known. We never will again.

Absolutely the worst customer service I have ever received. If I can avoid it, I will NOT fly them again...

My computer had crashed, normally I print my boarding pass the night before but couldn't due to computer failure and so I called Hawaiian air at 7:30am to confirm my flight which I though left at 9:30am because it arrives at 12:30pm a five hour flight. They informed me the flight leaves at 8:30am and there was no way to make the flight. They informed me that there would be a $200.00 fee to rebook on the next flight that to me was a major rip-off. I will never fly Hawaiian again very customer Unfriendly and their agent were rude in handling my complaint. After major complaining the dropped the fee to $150.00.

On 12/03/2008, I booked a round trip to Hawaii from Portland OR. I did that at that time ONLY because my wife and I were offered $100 e-certificates which claimed it was good for interisland travel. So the combination of the fare and the certificate made the trip work for us. After booking the trip I was told by the web site that the certificate would appear in my account in about ten days.

On 12/15/08 I was trying to book some interisland flights and make use of the e-certificate. This is where I started becoming unhappy about Hawaiian Airlines. There was no information available to see how to apply the e-certificate. This is rip off #1. They give a rebate but don't let you use it or make it very hard to use.

I could not find out the terms and conditions of the e-certificate was ; when I clicked on the link for 'terms and conditions' for these certificates, nothing happened. The bottom line is that I received no info. I attempted this on two different computers with were different security systems so it was not a problem with just one computer.

So on 12/15/08 I called the Hawaiian Airlines customer service and they transferred me to their web site technical service (or was it their rebate scam manager? ) and I was told 'after you book your trip your e-certificate will automatically apply'. After more attempts to book flights and use the certificate I gave up and went to bed. Note that she did not tell me I had to book a round trip interisland trip to use the e-certificate as I later found out. As I said, the web site does not show the terms and conditions and appears to be designed to work as such.

On 12/16/08 I attempted several times to book interisland flights and use the e-certificate without having the web site work as expected . So going on what the Hawaiian Airlines customer service rep in the Philippines told me, 'book it and the e-certificate will apply' I booked a trip for Jan 16th and confirmed as the certificate was to be applied later.

So I booked what I thought was a flight on JAN16th afternoon and another flight on a deferent day in the afternoon. This is where we get into scam #2. I believe that I booked the flights as required for Jan 16 2009. I believe that is what I confirmed on my screen, what was printed was the wrong info.

What printed out was a flight for the same day leaving 3 minutes after the booking time and returning that same day when I am 3500 miles away. That is scam #3. They cannot sell something in the past. I think this is credit card fraud, if not then it should be.

So after all of this hassle on your web site I believe I made a reservation for Jan 16th and saw that on my screen and confirmed it but later when I called your rep today to find out why the e-certificate was not applied I was told. that the flight was for yesterday. And they would not refund my credit card that was scam #4. Refusal to refund in a case of what was at worse an obvious mistake on my part due to what appears to be a deliberate attempt to make it difficult to use the e-certificates. All of this caused no actual loss to the company (the plane they said I booked on was already closed and on the departure runway they could not have sold the seats anyway.