Would Like to Know About Your Recent Experiences with Hawaiian Airlines

[Bibbobboo2u]

I was wondering if anyone who has flown Delta from mainland to Honolulu and then Hawaiian Airlines to reach destination island ever had problems with their luggage being transferred. Was your luggage transferred to your Hawaiian Airlines flight and arrive at the airport with you, or did it arrive later and end up being delivered to your hotel? We booked all flights under one ticket. Thanks for any insight!

 

[Bibbobboo2u]

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[dvcgirl67]

We just flew United to Honolulu and then used Hawaiian Airlines to fly back and forth between Oahu and the Big Island. We didn’t check luggage, however our first flight was delayed by 45 minutes. Once in Hawaii we were told this is common.

The day before our flight back to Oahu to Honolulu they had a big outage and major delays that day that bled into the next day. Our flight was delayed 1.5 hours and lots of people on our flight were going to miss connections. We planned it so we had 3 hours until our united flight home…so we were ok. Anyone who just made connections likely did not have luggage with them.

I’d use them again, just plan longer layovers than less than an hour.

 

[AustinTink]

We just flew United to Honolulu and then used Hawaiian Airlines to fly back and forth between Oahu and the Big Island. We didn’t check luggage, however our first flight was delayed by 45 minutes. Once in Hawaii we were told this is common.

The day before our flight back to Oahu to Honolulu they had a big outage and major delays that day that bled into the next day. Our flight was delayed 1.5 hours and lots of people on our flight were going to miss connections. We planned it so we had 3 hours until our united flight home…so we were ok. Anyone who just made connections likely did not have luggage with them.

I’d use them again, just plan longer layovers than less than an hour.

We were hit with delays and general lack of communication and apathy from Hawaiian airlines. I know plane travel is always going to be less than pleasing regardless of what airline you fly but Hawaiian was the worst I’ve experienced and we have flown all the major carriers.

Our first leg from Sydney to Honolulu was only delayed 1.5 hours. What sucked most was that unlike other airlines they don’t send out text messages saying the flight is delayed. That really chapped our hides because we had a nice comfy chair and cocktails in the lounge that we gave up to get to the gate on time. We would have stayed longer had we known. They also never made any announcements at the gate about the delay, no updates, nada. It was just plain weird. People kept having to go up and ask one of the workers hanging around laughing and talking. Then they would come back and tell the rest of us what the worker said. Again a lack of communication like I have never seen.

The second leg after Aulani was HNL to LAX. This flight was delayed 3 hours!! Again no text messages and 1 or 2 announcements over the intercom in that span of time. The reason kept changing too. We came to find out about the system outage the next day. The gate agents gave a variety of different reasons to people who walked up to ask OTHER than the system outage. Why lie? It’s like they were trying to cover up the major malfunction and hide their incompetence. We were supposed to get into LAX at 11pm and got in at 2am. That’s a big difference when you are dealing with a giant airport like LAX. The walk from the Hawaiian gate to baggage pick up was 1.3 miles. We clocked it on our Apple Watches. We were zonked and super upset by 2:45am when we finally got into our hotel room. Not a great way to end a delightful Hawaiian vacation.

 

[Imkarlawithak2005]

we flew with Hawaiian yesterday. No problem with arrival, but leaving from Honolulu they had a big mix up with a connecting flight that bled into our flight which was delayed for 1.5 hours. Online check in bag tags didn’t work and there was nobody who could fix it but guest services which had a huge line. 1 hour to get bag tags. They need a little refreshing of customer service.

 

[dvcgirl67]

We were hit with delays and general lack of communication and apathy from Hawaiian airlines. I know plane travel is always going to be less than pleasing regardless of what airline you fly but Hawaiian was the worst I’ve experienced and we have flown all the major carriers.

Our first leg from Sydney to Honolulu was only delayed 1.5 hours. What sucked most was that unlike other airlines they don’t send out text messages saying the flight is delayed. That really chapped our hides because we had a nice comfy chair and cocktails in the lounge that we gave up to get to the gate on time. We would have stayed longer had we known. They also never made any announcements at the gate about the delay, no updates, nada. It was just plain weird. People kept having to go up and ask one of the workers hanging around laughing and talking. Then they would come back and tell the rest of us what the worker said. Again a lack of communication like I have never seen.

The second leg after Aulani was HNL to LAX. This flight was delayed 3 hours!! Again no text messages and 1 or 2 announcements over the intercom in that span of time. The reason kept changing too. We came to find out about the system outage the next day. The gate agents gave a variety of different reasons to people who walked up to ask OTHER than the system outage. Why lie? It’s like they were trying to cover up the major malfunction and hide their incompetence. We were supposed to get into LAX at 11pm and got in at 2am. That’s a big difference when you are dealing with a giant airport like LAX. The walk from the Hawaiian gate to baggage pick up was 1.3 miles. We clocked it on our Apple Watches. We were zonked and super upset by 2:45am when we finally got into our hotel room. Not a great way to end a delightful Hawaiian vacation.

Ugh, that's really awful. My tech savvy husband noted right away when we were heading to the airport for our flight from HNL to KOA that the flight was delayed.....from seeing it on FlightAware. For our last flight, we were unplugged from the news, so only heard about the massive outage on May 12th...when we checked out at our hotel on the 13th. We received no emails or alerts from them.

The Hawaiian Airlines app was useless...didn't show up with the accurate time until around 5 minutes before boarding...same with time at the gate. Also, there always seems to be a super long standby list for every flight. I think that's people who have a flight that is crazy delayed, or people who just come to the airport and hope for the best? Also, on the HNL to KOA flight, he noticed about 30 minutes before boarding that the boarding passes on his phone were no longer showing up. At that time, I noticed lots of people approaching the gate and receiving hard tickets to board....so we did that as well. The gate agent said that happens "all the time". So...not the tightest operation.

As for the planes...we only flew on the 717 Boeings that they use between islands. For our flights, we did have "first class" tickets....which is just 8 leather seats in the front...slightly bigger, little more incline for only $60-$80 more per person. We primarily booked those seats as we had only carry-ons and would not check luggage...and knew we'd get our luggage on board with those seats. A ton of people had to gate check luggage. Well, thankfully I read from a "points guy" article that you need to literally be the first two people in line out of the eight....because the flight attendants/crew uses three out of the four "first class" overhead bins for safety equipment.....and other storage. And so what they did was take the luggage from others in first class and place them back in the bins over seats 4-5/6. And so when those folks boarded, their luggage is back another row or so....and so on. And so when you land, everyone is having to go backwards to get their carry-ons. The whole thing seemed to be so stupid....made no sense at all. Just not well thought through.

I will say that the Flight Attendants were very apologetic on our last flight...after the big outage/delays from the day before bled over to our day. Like you....had we known that we were 1.5 hours delayed, we would have had enough time for one last 45 minute snorkel session off of the beach and a shower before heading out.

 

[2Gma]

We flew Delta mainland 8 hr flight to HNL in July 2022, had 2 hour layover and then HNL onto Maui. Our bags made the transfer and arrived with us as expected. Hawaiian air between islands are quick flights with no frills but you do get prepackaged water or passion-orange nectar, very tasty.

 

[AustinTink]

Ugh, that's really awful. My tech savvy husband noted right away when we were heading to the airport for our flight from HNL to KOA that the flight was delayed.....from seeing it on FlightAware. For our last flight, we were unplugged from the news, so only heard about the massive outage on May 12th...when we checked out at our hotel on the 13th. We received no emails or alerts from them.

The Hawaiian Airlines app was useless...didn't show up with the accurate time until around 5 minutes before boarding...same with time at the gate. Also, there always seems to be a super long standby list for every flight. I think that's people who have a flight that is crazy delayed, or people who just come to the airport and hope for the best? Also, on the HNL to KOA flight, he noticed about 30 minutes before boarding that the boarding passes on his phone were no longer showing up. At that time, I noticed lots of people approaching the gate and receiving hard tickets to board....so we did that as well. The gate agent said that happens "all the time". So...not the tightest operation.

As for the planes...we only flew on the 717 Boeings that they use between islands. For our flights, we did have "first class" tickets....which is just 8 leather seats in the front...slightly bigger, little more incline for only $60-$80 more per person. We primarily booked those seats as we had only carry-ons and would not check luggage...and knew we'd get our luggage on board with those seats. A ton of people had to gate check luggage. Well, thankfully I read from a "points guy" article that you need to literally be the first two people in line out of the eight....because the flight attendants/crew uses three out of the four "first class" overhead bins for safety equipment.....and other storage. And so what they did was take the luggage from others in first class and place them back in the bins over seats 4-5/6. And so when those folks boarded, their luggage is back another row or so....and so on. And so when you land, everyone is having to go backwards to get their carry-ons. The whole thing seemed to be so stupid....made no sense at all. Just not well thought through.

I will say that the Flight Attendants were very apologetic on our last flight...after the big outage/delays from the day before bled over to our day. Like you....had we known that we were 1.5 hours delayed, we would have had enough time for one last 45 minute snorkel session off of the beach and a shower before heading out.

Yes, we were in the May 12th day from hell. It was just mayhem.

Agreed that the Hawaiian app is the worst out there. Totally worthless.

Yes, the standby line was cracking us up. It just kept growing.

Good thing you knew to stash your bags quickly. Now I know why all those folks were walking backwards toward us upon arrival. It was to get their bags! It makes for such a traffic jam during deplaning.

Our flight attendants were not apologetic at all. Not one apology. I feel like any apology would have gone a long way at that point. The pilot apologized a few times over the intercom because once we finally boarded we couldn’t take off for another 45 minutes so he apologized for that. Then when we landed there was no gate for us so we sat on the tarmac for another 45 minutes. Another apology from the captain. The whole plane literally laughed when he came on again and said “Sorry folks…” it was truly laughable at that point.

 

[slippahs]

We flew Delta mainland 8 hr flight to HNL in July 2022, had 2 hour layover and then HNL onto Maui. Our bags made the transfer and arrived with us as expected. Hawaiian air between islands are quick flights with no frills but you do get prepackaged water or passion-orange nectar, very tasty.

That was really before the runway construction at HNL has wreaked havoc on Hawaiian’s operations. Even under the best of circumstances, HNL’s ground control has traffic flow management in place that restricts the amount of planes arriving into HNL. Flights from the mainland are prioritized so the inter island flights suffer, and with the scale of Hawaiian’s operations at HNL, delays in the morning cascade and derail the entire flight schedule. Add to that the systems upgrades and it’s just a nightmare. This is coming from someone who flies Hawaiian regularly neighbor island.

 

[Paul Stupin]

Just to play devil’s advocate for Hawaian, their earned miles never expire and they have no change fees. Those are great benefits. And the only issue we’ve ever encountered on several round trip flights to Honolulu from LA this year was a 10 minute delay on the runway before we got to the gate one time after landing in Honolulu. They’re also going to start taking delivery of a new fleet of Boeing 787-9 “Dreamliners” in November with a very cool looking new cabin design, and I think have plans to start offering free internet as well.

Obviously, I think they’re a viable option.

 

[AustinTink]

Just to play devil’s advocate for Hawaian, their earned miles never expire and they have no change fees. Those are great benefits. And the only issue we’ve ever encountered on several round trip flights to Honolulu from LA this year was a 10 minute delay on the runway before we got to the gate one time after landing in Honolulu. They’re also going to start taking delivery of a new fleet of Boeing 787-9 “Dreamliners” in November with a very cool looking new cabin design, and I think have plans to start offering free internet as well.

Obviously, I think they’re a viable option.

Miles never expire on United as well and they no longer have change fees. We fly United whenever possible. Just couldn’t get a direct flight from Sydney to HNL.

Guess you are luckier than we were because both our flights with Hawaiian faced major delays.

Glad to hear they are acquiring a new fleet. The planes we flew on looked dated and junky. Couldn’t even get the seat back entertainment system to work on mine. Time for an overhaul.

 

[hulamom]

We are loyal Hawaiian Airlines customers and even have their credit card. My son attends the University of Hawaii Manoa, so he flies often and we use points for his flights. This latest fiasco with HA has me considering another airline.

We were at UH this past weekend for my niece's graduation. On May 12, they had ceremonies for individual departments. Several graduates who were coming from neighbor islands missed these ceremonies because of the issues.

Then on May 15, our flight home from HNL to San Jose was cancelled and we were not given an alternate. I was on the phone for over an hour trying to rebook (there were 6 of us including my elderly parents). We needed a direct flight with seats together (at least me with my parents). Finally got a flight to San Francisco, but needed to pay for seats together. I'm trying to get refunded for the seats (because I did pay for this on my original flight).

I'm considering switching airlines. What is the best to get to/from Hawaii? Alaskan or Southwest? Thinking Southwest because of the 2 free bags (especially when moving my son to and from the island).

 

[NorCalFanatic]

We are loyal Hawaiian Airlines customers and even have their credit card. My son attends the University of Hawaii Manoa, so he flies often and we use points for his flights. This latest fiasco with HA has me considering another airline.

We were at UH this past weekend for my niece's graduation. On May 12, they had ceremonies for individual departments. Several graduates who were coming from neighbor islands missed these ceremonies because of the issues.

Then on May 15, our flight home from HNL to San Jose was cancelled and we were not given an alternate. I was on the phone for over an hour trying to rebook (there were 6 of us including my elderly parents). We needed a direct flight with seats together (at least me with my parents). Finally got a flight to San Francisco, but needed to pay for seats together. I'm trying to get refunded for the seats (because I did pay for this on my original flight).

I'm considering switching airlines. What is the best to get to/from Hawaii? Alaskan or Southwest? Thinking Southwest because of the 2 free bags (especially when moving my son to and from the island).

A vote for Alaska out of the Bay Area....I think I'd rather swim than take that greyhound bus in the air called Southwest

Disappointing to hear about Hawaiian...PrePandemic they were our airline of choice to Hawaii, and never had any issues. Last couple of years though, we've been flying Alaska, and it's been great.

 

[LilyJC]

I'm considering switching airlines. What is the best to get to/from Hawaii? Alaskan or Southwest? Thinking Southwest because of the 2 free bags (especially when moving my son to and from the island).

We’ve switched to Southwest for our Hawaii flights exclusively since they started direct flights, and we’ve been super happy with the experience each time. We’re in So Cal and absolutely refuse to use LAX. LGB is easy peasy to fly out of, and flexibility/price with Southwest is another bonus for us.

 

[Bibbobboo2u]

We’ve switched to Southwest for our Hawaii flights exclusively since they started direct flights, and we’ve been super happy with the experience each time. We’re in So Cal and absolutely refuse to use LAX. LGB is easy peasy to fly out of, and flexibility/price with Southwest is another bonus for us.

Have you island hopped with Southwest? Just wondering if they are generally ok for this without long delays or cancellations? I an already unhappy with Hawaiian, as they turned my refundable fare into non-refundable without telling me that a flight change would do that. They just said “oh sorry that the agent didn’t mention that.” I should have just cancelled outright (which you have to call to do) and then re-booked myself instead of letting agent do that. I am stuck using them for one hop, but booked SW for others. How do you choose between 2 bad options?

 

[LilyJC]

Have you island hopped with Southwest? Just wondering if they are generally ok for this without long delays or cancellations? I an already unhappy with Hawaiian, as they turned my refundable fare into non-refundable without telling me that a flight change would do that. They just said “oh sorry that the agent didn’t mention that.” I should have just cancelled outright (which you have to call to do) and then re-booked myself instead of letting agent do that. I am stuck using them for one hop, but booked SW for others. How do you choose between 2 bad options?

We have island hopped before, but for the life of me I can’t remember which airline we used as it was several years ago. I just recall that it was out of Maui’s tiny airport (that is located closer to my in-law’s condo) over to HNL if that helps narrow it down. And I personally don’t think Southwest is a bad option. We’ve already done four WDW trips with them this year with 0 issues, and all our Hawaii trips with them have also been great.

 

[Bibbobboo2u]

We have island hopped before, but for the life of me I can’t remember which airline we used as it was several years ago. I just recall that it was out of Maui’s tiny airport (that is located closer to my in-law’s condo) over to HNL if that helps narrow it down. And I personally don’t think Southwest is a bad option. We’ve already done four WDW trips with them this year with 0 issues, and all our Hawaii trips with them have also been great.

Thank you! That is great to know, as we scheduled island hops with SW after my only and not so good experience with Hawaiian. They also tried to charge us more for what we booked until I told them the price I was looking at was lower and the fact that it was less than we originally paid for our refundable fare. I hope Sw comes through. We’ve never had issues in the past, but I know the past 12 months have been different. I am glad you haven’t had problems this year. Thanks again!

 

[NorCalFanatic]

How do you choose between 2 bad options?

Me personally? If they’re somewhat evenly matched on price and schedule, I’d pick Hawaiian. Not a fan of Southwest, and I’d rather give the local airline the business.