This notice appears on the main page for Hawaiiairlines.com.
That sounds straightforward enough.
Then today I saw this Facebook post by someone I know.
I just got off of a half-hour conversation with the Hawaiian Airlines people. I wanted to cancel a trip I’d scheduled to the Big Island for Thanksgiving weekend.
The cost of my roundtrip ticket is $179. If I cancel the ticket, they will charge me a $200 penalty. And if that wasn’t enough, there’s an additional service charge of $30.
The flight is $179, and if I cancel, I pay $230. Does this policy even sound legal? Does anyone know who I can talk to about this? Some agency? Someone from the AG’s office? This doesn’t sound right.
Someone who left a comment reported running into the same situation, and that it was cheaper just to fail to show up and forfeit the ticket than to cancel it in advance.
What?
In a further comment, she replied:
…I even confirmed with a rep on the phone like “let me get this straight, if I’m a considerate person and cancel my flight you charge me tons of money but if I just don’t show up nothing happens??” And they were like yup that’s right
I stopped flying Hawaiian (except when there are no real options) after running into a similar policy a few years back.
Hawaiian’s okay, until it isn’t.
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I’ve learned to avoid HA like….Covid.
Ian: this can’t be right or fair. Letter to the President Hawaiian Airlines cc: media.
You can file a complaint or call the Hawaii Office of Consumer Protection. Among other things, they investigate false and misleading ads. Give them a call at 5878-4272.
Let me play devil’s advocate here.____ Regardless of the price of the ticket … ‘What is the value of the administration fees required to undo the process you had set in motion, the people denied seating because the plane was full and the computer/paper work involved in accommodating your change of plans ?’
Irrelevant. The claim is “no change fees”.
Maybe change fees means fees for a change in itinerary, not a cancellation of the entire trip.
This is exactly what it means. It says no change fees, not here’s your money back for free.
I would guess it cost Hawaiian airlines more money to talk with you on the phone and cancel your fare than it does for them to just let you be a “no-show” at the airport. If they have a passenger waiting list for that flight, they’ll put someone on the flight in your place. When they advertise, they can always say you can cancel anytime but in reality, canceling will cost you more than being a no-show. Saying you can do “something” always sounds better in advertising than saying you “can’t” do something. This could also be an example of stagflation (Read: https://nyti.ms/3btPcp4 )
Similar to the banks. That is why I use credit unions. Alaska Airlines is a much better option than Hawaiian to west coast destinations. I have no tolerance for this disrespect of customers.
I’m pretty sure you can change the date, for free, to another date – that’s what they mean by no change fees. Cancellation is different, though. For now, the passenger who posted on Facebook could just change to another date when she might want to fly (and keep the full value of the fare), though I don’t know if you can change the tickets a second time if that date doesn’t work out. Either way, good luck!
they are such a greedy ripoff i continue to boycott them when i can sure miss ALOHA !
I’m wondering if there’s a significant difference between a cancellation fee and a change fee. Note that the notice you captured indicates does not say anything about cancellation fees.
We fly often enough that rather than cancel a flight, we’ll change it, and we’ve been able to take advantage of Hawaiian’s ‘no change fee’ policy to apply the cost of tickets we did not use to future flights, with no additional charge.
E.g., if we’d been in the poster’s position, we’d get apply the $179 cost of the now unneeded RT ticket to a future flight.
I have a round-trip on Hawaiian in February to Hawaii, round-trip $409. For an extra $29 I bought the travel insurance just in case. Hopefully won’t need it,
I did not have this problem, and was NOT charged a fee. In March we had 4 of us booked to go to Oahu, and 1 person had to cancel. We called the airline and they canceled his flight and credited his HA account the full amount of the ticket. It just has to be used with in 2 years. No issues and it was super easy. No fees, no charges just a credit on his acct. I will continue to fly HA.
I had the exact same experience. Cancelled, no fee and rebooked. Easy peasy!
Hawaiian has flaws but is light years ahead of other airlines doing business in Hawaii. Its noticeable the aloha their staff has when flying on Hawaiian compared to the snarling flight staff I’ve experienced on other airlines. Carriers like United, Southwest etc. lack that kuleana to Hawaii and see us as a dumping ground for millions of people. I get the feeling Hawaiian is staffed by local people who see Hawaii as home and bear a sense of social responsibility.
Anyone that expects a business to refund for cash is insane. It says no change fees, not here’s your money back for free. If you need to move your flight date you can do so for free. If you miss the flight, you will have that amount to use as a credit. People love to bash Hawaiian Air, but are the first to ask their friends for buddy passes. The airline has been nothing but great for me, and I use them for many tens of thousands of miles a year.
3 letter answer: FAA. Complain. I had a similar issue with United years ago–worse, because I just wanted to cancel a leg of a 3-legged flight, and they wouldn’t let me on the flight home until I paid their change fees, far over the cost of the leg I dropped. So I paid them and when I got home complained to the FAA and then to the charge card I used to pay, which agreed to refund my payment.
The ad by Hawaii Airlines is accurate. They do NOT charge a fee for changing your flight departure unless there is a change in class of service or a change in ticket price associated with the day of the week or a normal change in ticket price unrelated to a cancellation. You can purchase a fully refundable ticket in the event of a cancellation and no re booking. I just purchased a RT ticket for my daughter to come home for Christmas from Australia. The non-change fee ticket price was $1300. The fully refundable ticket price is $8000.