Comments on: Hawaiian Airlines http://www.elliott.org/help/hawaiian-airlines/ Consumer advocate Christopher Elliott's site. Fri, 10 Feb 2012 05:25:00 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: Jim Rowland http://www.elliott.org/help/hawaiian-airlines/comment-page-1/#comment-34780 Jim Rowland Sun, 28 Feb 2010 01:32:37 +0000 http://www.elliott.org/?p=6656#comment-34780 About an hour away from landing @ San Diego I happened to watch 2 stewardesses pushing a drinkcart down the aisle and one of them remarked to the other " They are looking for IEDs and bombs......that's why they use the dogs". Captain Wheeler would be real happy to hear that type of talk coming from one of the flight attendants as he piloted the fully sold out flight across the Pacific. Perhaps the attendant can be retrained into knowing that passengers have ears and they are not always covered w/ earphones. I was about 10 feet away from the gal who uttered this remark and wouldn't be surprised if some passengers closer to her heard her loose tongued remark. This is not the type of remark anyone should expect from a professional who is in a postion of passenger safety. You can easily remedy this situation by asking for more specifics from me. Respectfully, Jim Rowland About an hour away from landing @ San Diego I happened to watch 2 stewardesses pushing a drinkcart down the aisle and one of them remarked to the other ” They are looking for IEDs and bombs……that’s why they use the dogs”. Captain Wheeler would be real happy to hear that type of talk coming from one of the flight attendants as he piloted the fully sold out flight across the Pacific. Perhaps the attendant can be retrained into knowing that passengers have ears and they are not always covered w/ earphones. I was about 10 feet away from the gal who uttered this remark and wouldn’t be surprised if some passengers closer to her heard her loose tongued remark. This is not the type of remark anyone should expect from a professional who is in a postion of passenger safety. You can easily remedy this situation by asking for more specifics from me.

Respectfully,

Jim Rowland

]]> By: Stuart E. Scott http://www.elliott.org/help/hawaiian-airlines/comment-page-1/#comment-31092 Stuart E. Scott Mon, 18 Jan 2010 13:54:17 +0000 http://www.elliott.org/?p=6656#comment-31092 My girlfriend and I were scheduled to leave on Hawaiian Airlines Flt 29 Non-Stop to Maui on 09-Jan-2010, departing Sea-tac at 10:25 AM. We arrived at 08:00 hours to ensure that we were at the airport, and through security with time to spare. I was excited about flying on N587HA because it was the first aircraft to receive its winglet mod, and I actually was able to watch part of that mod. Apparently, N581HA (bound for Honolulu) RH Generator went bad, and Hawaiian decided to swap aircraft and send N587HA to Honolulu, repair N581HA and send it to Maui instead. Our vacation plans centered around a timely arrival in Maui, as the Condos go to first come, first served basis. N581HA was not repaired until after 1700 hours, which after the 6 hour flight, we arrived in Maui at just after 2300 hours. Just prior to boarding, we were offered a $100.00 voucher to be used within a years time. By the time we secured our rental car, and arrived at the Sands of Kahana it was just past midnight. We ended up with the Bob Uecker accommodations rather than what we were hoping / planning for, being right on the beach, first floor. So our first day of our vacation was spent waiting at the airport – ALL DAY- to end up with a “ Ocean View” accommodation, rather than beach access. To maximize our time on vacation, we decided to f;y back to Seattle on the “Red Eye” HA28. Again we arrived in plenty of time to process through security, and fly a B717 to Honolulu to catch flight HA28. When we were processing our baggage, we asked if we could be moved further forward for Flight 28, as our seats were in row 45. I am not comfortable flying in the back of any Airplane, however the ticket counter representative assured us the best way to do this was to exchange our assigned seats in Honolulu, as any seating change would be over-rode by Honolulu. We arrived in Honolulu and waited for the Gate Agent (gates 58, 59 & 60) to arrive, we approached the gate desk as instructed over the intercom by the young female gate agent. As we were waiting, an older male gate agent asked us to come forward. I asked him if there was a way that we could exchange our seats for seats that were further forward, the male gate agent replied ”well this is a pretty full flight, let me see what we can…” The young female agent interrupted him and rudely stated “ You CAN’T do that, I’M working from this list here, and you’ll mess it up.” The male gate agent looked at me, shrugged his shoulders, and I stated “ We (referring to my girlfriend) were caught up in that plane swap debacle in Seattle on the 9th of Jan, Hawaiian gave us these $100.00 vouchers, could we upgrade to first class maybe? I noticed that while I was politely explaining what happened, the Female gate agent was rolling her eyes, and sarcastically “sighing” while “allegedly” was helping the other passenger. The male gate agent, while typing on his terminal said, that hundred dollars won’t even come close to covering the difference. I then inquired as to how much the difference was and first he said $250 then corrected himself and restated $400 each. I said, C’mon, our first day of vacation was a total waste due to no fault of our own, isn’t there something you can do? The female gate agent rudely blurted out “ONLY corporate can do that”, the male gate agent again shrugged his shoulders and softly repeated the female’s exact words. I then asked, “Okay, well then maybe I could speak with a supervisor.” The female agent then raised her voice “I AM the Supervisor” The male gate agent glared at her and said, No you aren’t, I am the supervisor”. I then said, “Look, could I please speak to some who is in charge here?” the female gate agent then stated “You say one more word and I’ll have you removed from this terminal.” My girlfriend started to protest, which I stopped and we walked away from the gate desk, sat down and waited to board, while waiting, several passengers approached us and commented “What was her problem”, and “ I couldn’t believe how calm you remained during that woman’s tirade!” We finally boarded the aircraft (N591HA) and arrived back in Seattle 17-Jan-2010 morning at 06:15. What I am seeking your assistance on is: 1. Clearly the female gate agent’s abusive behavior was un-warranted, Surely Hawaiian Airlines has a Customer Relations Policy which was clearly not being adhered to by the female gate agent. 2. How do I recieve compensation for a full day of waiting at the airport, and our plans ruined for my vacation accomodations due to Hawaiian Airlines Neglegence? My girlfriend and I were scheduled to leave on Hawaiian Airlines Flt 29 Non-Stop to Maui on 09-Jan-2010, departing Sea-tac at 10:25 AM.
We arrived at 08:00 hours to ensure that we were at the airport, and through security with time to spare.
I was excited about flying on N587HA because it was the first aircraft to receive its winglet mod, and I actually was able to watch part of that mod.
Apparently, N581HA (bound for Honolulu) RH Generator went bad, and Hawaiian decided to swap aircraft and send N587HA to Honolulu, repair N581HA and send it to Maui instead.
Our vacation plans centered around a timely arrival in Maui, as the Condos go to first come, first served basis.
N581HA was not repaired until after 1700 hours, which after the 6 hour flight, we arrived in Maui at just after 2300 hours.
Just prior to boarding, we were offered a $100.00 voucher to be used within a years time.
By the time we secured our rental car, and arrived at the Sands of Kahana it was just past midnight.
We ended up with the Bob Uecker accommodations rather than what we were hoping / planning for, being right on the beach, first floor.
So our first day of our vacation was spent waiting at the airport – ALL DAY- to end up with a “ Ocean View” accommodation, rather than beach access.

To maximize our time on vacation, we decided to f;y back to Seattle on the “Red Eye” HA28. Again we arrived in plenty of time to process through security, and fly a B717 to Honolulu to catch flight HA28.
When we were processing our baggage, we asked if we could be moved further forward for Flight 28, as our seats were in row 45. I am not comfortable flying in the back of any Airplane, however the ticket counter representative assured us the best way to do this was to exchange our assigned seats in Honolulu, as any seating change would be over-rode by Honolulu.
We arrived in Honolulu and waited for the Gate Agent (gates 58, 59 & 60) to arrive, we approached the gate desk as instructed over the intercom by the young female gate agent.
As we were waiting, an older male gate agent asked us to come forward. I asked him if there was a way that we could exchange our seats for seats that were further forward, the male gate agent replied ”well this is a pretty full flight, let me see what we can…” The young female agent interrupted him and rudely stated “ You CAN’T do that, I’M working from this list here, and you’ll mess it up.” The male gate agent looked at me, shrugged his shoulders, and I stated “ We (referring to my girlfriend) were caught up in that plane swap debacle in Seattle on the 9th of Jan, Hawaiian gave us these $100.00 vouchers, could we upgrade to first class maybe?
I noticed that while I was politely explaining what happened, the Female gate agent was rolling her eyes, and sarcastically “sighing” while “allegedly” was helping the other passenger.
The male gate agent, while typing on his terminal said, that hundred dollars won’t even come close to covering the difference. I then inquired as to how much the difference was and first he said $250 then corrected himself and restated $400 each.
I said, C’mon, our first day of vacation was a total waste due to no fault of our own, isn’t there something you can do?
The female gate agent rudely blurted out “ONLY corporate can do that”, the male gate agent again shrugged his shoulders and softly repeated the female’s exact words. I then asked, “Okay, well then maybe I could speak with a supervisor.” The female agent then raised her voice “I AM the Supervisor” The male gate agent glared at her and said, No you aren’t, I am the supervisor”.
I then said, “Look, could I please speak to some who is in charge here?” the female gate agent then stated “You say one more word and I’ll have you removed from this terminal.”
My girlfriend started to protest, which I stopped and we walked away from the gate desk, sat down and waited to board, while waiting, several passengers approached us and commented “What was her problem”, and “ I couldn’t believe how calm you remained during that woman’s tirade!”
We finally boarded the aircraft (N591HA) and arrived back in Seattle 17-Jan-2010 morning at 06:15.

What I am seeking your assistance on is:
1. Clearly the female gate agent’s abusive behavior was un-warranted,
Surely Hawaiian Airlines has a Customer Relations Policy which was clearly not being adhered to by the female gate agent.
2. How do I recieve compensation for a full day of waiting at the airport, and our plans ruined for my vacation accomodations due to Hawaiian Airlines Neglegence?

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