Hawaiian Airlines

✅ Trip Verified | In my 50 years of flying this was my first trip with Hawaiian Airlines and it has been the worst experience ever. Started off with flight being cancelled to Kona, and needed to hang around airports until I got squeezed in somewhere. During this my seats I paid extra for were no longer assigned. On the way back my flight from Kona was cancelled and then the flight to Phoenix was cancelled. Again the seats I paid extra for were not assigned and then the luggage I had to pay for on-line when buying tickets had to be paid again, because, as explained to me, “the baggage fee is for a different flight”. They owe me money at this point, and I will never fly with this airline again.

✅ Trip Verified | Hawaiian Airlines cares little for its passengers because the airline holds a virtual monopoly over interisland travel in Hawaii. Customer service is almost non-existent. Hawaiian recently "upgraded" its check-in process, and merely created a confusing, time-consuming, and frustrating opportunity for its personnel to show disregard for passengers. The contempt does not end there. Almost without exception (in fairness, there are a few good apples), every Hawaiian Airlines employee from check-in to departure treats passengers as inconveniences rather than as revenue-paying guests of the airline. It would not take much for Hawaiian to improve its outward face substantially.

✅ Trip Verified | They canceled my flight last minute, which needs me to grab the last seat in the next flight. Still, they don't manage their boarding gate well and the flight needs to wait for an available boarding on the ground. Avoid this airline unless you have a world of time to spare. In comparison, flight experience and staff service are fair. But still, the airline makes side trips to another island in Hawaii very hard. Despite Hawaii being a holiday destination, the Hawaiian airline makes travelling in Hawaii a painful and stressful experience. Last thing to note: the Hawaiian airlines say that you can change your flight within Hawaii freely, that is not very true. Firstly, you cannot do it online, you can only by phone or in person at an airport. Second, if you have checked in luggage, you cannot change to an earlier flight. I am totally OK with additional fee for changing flight, but having unwritten rule for that is not OK for me.

✅ Trip Verified | Constant delays and cancellations with no recompense and shallow, “we’re sorry” texts and emails for extended delays. Delays and cancellations happen almost on a daily basis for this airline. If you can book via another carrier do so. Book another airline if possible.

✅ Trip Verified | HA 26 from Honolulu to PDX on July 11, 2023 was severely delayed and I received a travel voucher. I was unable to apply it a few days later and called and they told me to wait 3-5 business days and try again. I tried again today, July 19 and was again not able to apply it. I then called again and they say they are still unable to apply it on their end. I asked to speak with someone above them and they said they could not even put me in line to talk to a manager due to high call volume. I am now suspicious they are just trying to get me to give up and have no intention of making good on their voucher. This review does not apply to any of the rating areas below and I've defaulted to using ground service, though my review is specifically regarding customer service, for which I give them a 1/5. Overall score of 2/10 reflects that I actually did make it home eventually.

✅ Trip Verified | This is the third time we have flown Hawaiian and the last 2 times have been horrendous! Not only have the flights been delayed by many hours but with no informative updates! Both time seemed to be pilot and ground crew have not cleared flight yet. The first time we missed connection and staff were extremely unhelpful in helping us get another flight. In the end put us on a lesser value one with no compensation! This time we get a voucher for $12 which doesn’t even cover the cost of a sandwich. We are also obliged to stay the night in Honolulu because connecting flights aren’t until the next day, but by the time we get there it is a total waste of money. This is an airline I will never use again nor recommend to anyone!

✅ Trip Verified | Worst service / airline processes and experience ever. Flying back from Hilo (changed flight from Kona) to Sydney. Arrived at the airport over 2 hours early. Checked luggage… then had to wait for security. No mention when I checked that one of the machines was down and the wait was over 3.5 hours to get through the scanner… Meant missed flight, then missed connecting flight. To my surprise the “machine hadn’t just gone down”… it had been down for a few days. They could have prioritised it being fixed, text passengers to let them know arrive 4 hours ahead to allow time to get through security (due to only one bag scanner). They then also lost my luggage - which I later managed to track down a few days later thanks to the apple AirTag, not the Hawaiian staff who had no idea where it was. Only flew with Hawaiian to get points as a partner airline to Virgin Australia. Needed to do a claim for insurance on extra costs incurred from this issue (connecting flights and hotels not connected with this booking) extra costs included $500 - wrote in feedback and complaints several times to all channels and ZERO response. Points also never came through even though they had my number, submitted claim through virgin with details and to Hawaiian. Seriously most incompetent service at all levels. Seriously would avoid flying with airline this incompetent at basics.

✅ Trip Verified | This was first time flying with Hawaiian airlines. We had booked our ticket from Delta to go to Hawaii. Coming back we had use Hawaiian airlines to go to one island to another and connect to Lax. The gate agent was extremely rude to me and my kids. We were just standing and waiting for boarding on side and not in anyone’s way. She told us to go site down, i reply saying we are not in anyone’s way. She then said they will be calling the pre boarding and first class first. When I told her I am first class, she didn’t believe me and took the boarding pass out of d my hand to confirm. Once she confirmed she left us alone but this was unprofessional and unnecessary behavior on her side.

✅ Trip Verified | Flew many times with Hawaiian between the islands and want to compliment the airline on exceptional service during at least 5 flights in May 2023. All the staff are genuinely customer focused, friendly, cheerful and enthusiastic about helping travelers. All staff members from Check in, Baggage Handling, Departure Lounges and Flight Attendants were always smiling, welcoming and pleasant to deal with. Such a refreshing change from most major airlines who can learn a lot from Hawaiian. They even give you a free welcome drink of juice or water! True Hawaiian hospitality - genuine and sincere. Mahalo Lui Noa Hawaiian and keep up the fantastic service. We will be back!

✅ Trip Verified | Hawaiian Airlines is really the airline to fly with between the Hawaiian islands. There was a hiccup on my experience but it was handled very well. Terminal 1 in Honolulu had been completely refurbished from the last time I had visited 10 years ago, and feels very modern, airy and welcoming, but less "island-style" - simple and relaxing, which is what the other airports around Hawaii feel like. Security took less than five minutes, and there was plenty of seating at our gate. I had two trips with Hawaiian, from Honolulu to Lihue/Kauai and Honolulu to Kahului/Maui. Both these flights are what I would describe as "up and down" flights, literally 3 minutes after we reached cruising altitude we already started our descent. One of the funniest things that I realised was that on both trips, the flights out of Honolulu was operated by the same aircraft (N483HA) and left from the same gate A19. When I asked the gate agent on my second trip about the aircraft's registration, I told her "I flew this exact plane and left from this exact gate to Kauai two months ago!" She was extremely nice and joked that I should buy it, since it was "my plane." That really made my day. Onboard, even though these aircraft are around 20 years old, they did not feel too old, and the 2-3 seating configuration is great for couples and families. I definitely recommend choosing an A window seat when departing from Honolulu to get a great view of Waikiki beach. The seats themselves actually don't recline and have a small drinks tray - no way you could get any work on your laptop done. Considering the longest flights these planes do are 45 minutes, I don't see any issue with the bus-like seats. The surprising thing is that during these "up and down" flights, the flight attendants still come round and offer passengers water, juice or coffee, the latter only on morning flights. Even with the limited service due to the short flight time, I still had great interactions with the flight attendants. The return from Kahului/Maui was a bit of an issue, where all the flights that day got delayed due to a storm in Honolulu. I went to the check in counter to ask if they could rebook me onto an earlier flight, and I was rebooked at no extra charge. Hawaiian Airlines' operation has a lot of quick turnarounds giving very little leeway for delays, the knock on effects went on for hours. However given how quickly the agent was able to rebook me onto an earlier flight (and luckily I didn't end up in a middle seat) it shows that they can handle a crisis very well. Indeed the flight they had rebooked me onto was still delayed, but it meant I got into Honolulu an hour earlier than if I was still on my original flight. Overall, Hawaiian certainly excels in terms of its product, and beats other US regional carriers by miles. They really carry the spirit of Aloha onboard and I would definitely choose them over Southwest when flying Inter-Island, except if I needed to check any luggage.