Hawaiian Airlines has just announced that they plan to suspend a vast majority of their flights.
In this post:
Hawaii imposing a 14-day government quarantine
First of all it’s important to understand the background on this situation — Hawaii is imposing a 14-day government quarantine on all arrivals into Hawaii as of Thursday, March 26, 2020.
This is intended to effectively end tourism in Hawaii for the time being. Those who break quarantine could face a $5,000 fine and a year in jail.
Locals can quarantine in their homes, while tourists have to quarantine in their hotel rooms or accommodation. This essentially eliminates tourism to Hawaii, since you can’t actually do anything if you visit.
Hawaiian Airlines cancels most flights
With virtually no tourists coming to Hawaii anymore, you can also expect a big decrease in airline capacity to Hawaii.
Hawaiian Airlines is among the first airlines to cut capacity there. As of Thursday, Hawaiian Airlines plans to cancel all long haul (meaning non-inter island flights), with the exception of:
- A daily flight between Honolulu (HNL) and Los Angeles (LAX)
- A once weekly flight between Honolulu (HNL) and American Samoa (PPG)
It’s expected that these flights will remain in order to provide a baseline of out-of-state access to Hawaii. In the case of American Samoa, Hawaiian’s once weekly flight is the only long haul flight out of the airport.
The airline hasn’t formally announced when cancelled routes will resume, though based on availability that’s loaded as of now, most flights are once again on sale for travel as of May 21, 2020, give or take.
Hawaiian Airlines has a fleet of 61 aircraft, 41 of which are used for long haul flights — that includes 17 A321neos and 24 A330-200s.
As Hawaiian Airlines’ CEO, Peter Ingram, describes the move:
“Hawai‘i is our home and all 7,500 of us at our company care deeply for it. We support the state of Hawai‘i’s efforts to quickly contain this illness. We have begun notifying our guests and helping them return home – both to Hawai’i and from Hawai’i. We sincerely appreciate our guests’ patience and understanding during this difficult period for Hawaiian and the state of Hawai’i.”
Hawaiian Airlines is canceling most long haul flights
Inter-island service being maintained
Hawaiian Airlines is reducing frequencies for their inter-island flights, but isn’t eliminating them completely. There’s no quarantine required when traveling between islands, so even without tourists, there is still demand to get between islands.
Hawaiian is maintaining some inter-island flying
Bottom line
Aside from inter-island service, Hawaiian Airlines will only operate a once daily flight to Los Angeles, and a once weekly flight to Pago Pago. That’s a pretty massive reduction for the airline.
This of course makes sense, with Hawaii introducing some of the strictest quarantine rules we’ve seen in the US.
Other US airlines oddly haven’t followed yet, and still largely show a lot of inventory for Hawaii flights. I imagine that will change soon.
What do you make of Hawaiian Airlines’ service reductions?
I am stunned at the service I have been on hold three separate days each for over an hour and a half no answer. At this point I want a refund.
I hope your servicing your plans better than your customers this is quite unnerving.
We were supposed to fly from NY to Oahu at the end of June for a 12-day stay. On our day of arrival we were supposed to fly from Oahu to Mauii, and then back to Oahu mid-way through our stay. Hawaiian cancelled our flights from NY to Oahu and have issued a refund. However, they will not issue a refund for the inter-island flights, only a credit, which I can't use. How do they...
We were supposed to fly from NY to Oahu at the end of June for a 12-day stay. On our day of arrival we were supposed to fly from Oahu to Mauii, and then back to Oahu mid-way through our stay. Hawaiian cancelled our flights from NY to Oahu and have issued a refund. However, they will not issue a refund for the inter-island flights, only a credit, which I can't use. How do they expect me to take an inter-island flight if they have cancelled my flight from NY to Hawaii in the first place? Is there any way to get a refund on my inter-island flight?
Your right tourists are not welcome right now if the virus blooms we have limited resources in ourclinics+ small hospitals
Why is Lucky suddenly spelling the word ‘canceling’ as “cancelling”? While I don’t mind variations in spelling of the English language based on location, I’d like consistency. And that spelling isn’t consistent with what Lucky has put out before.
How would refund work for main cabin flights booked on Hawaiian using points via chase sapphire portal?
If HA cancels my flight, can't I get a full refund? I keep seeing "credit towards a future flight" on their website but I want my money back... I can't find a waiver code for "refund". nor can I call during this busy time.
@ Julie -- You're entitled to a refund, see here:
https://onemileatatime.com/flight-cancelled-refund/
We are Hawai’i residents with HA flights from Oakland to Kahului , then Kahului to Honolulu on April 9 th.
We were not able to contact HA to revise flights. Now, we are basically here in California until the flights are back to normal. Will HA contact us to advise us of our return flight to Honolulu when service returns to normal?
@guflyer
The current projections in Hawaii are that it's already following the same curve for community infection as the mainland and most European countries. It might be slightly behind the curve relative to early states like Washington and New York, but it's already happening. Hawaii is NOT an escape at this point, and given how isolated it is, getting additional resources to Hawaii is much harder than on the mainland.
So long, Hawaii.
It was nice having you as the 50th state of the Union for the last 61 years.
@guflyer
I think most other airlines would decrease service to an absolute minimum simply for belly cargo and for essential people to come/go.
Knowing many locals and having lived there myself for many years, there’s a bit of a disdain for mainlanders and tourism in general. Same with transplants. You would generally not be too welcome.
Many tour guides I’ve spoke with believe that within the lifespan of their career, the state will...
@guflyer
I think most other airlines would decrease service to an absolute minimum simply for belly cargo and for essential people to come/go.
Knowing many locals and having lived there myself for many years, there’s a bit of a disdain for mainlanders and tourism in general. Same with transplants. You would generally not be too welcome.
Many tour guides I’ve spoke with believe that within the lifespan of their career, the state will introduce a cap on the amount of tourists. Whether it be heavy arrival taxes exempted for locals and business travelers, cap on hotel rooms or airplane seats, who knows? I do know the sentiment is there - that the masses are doing more harm than good.
Thise people thinking about cook hing to Hawaii might want to rethink that. Yesterday Hawaii had 56 COVID-19 cases today we have 77
With 2 children
1 death so far
So yes it is and will spread to how many no one knows, but we're told it will increase i. Nunbers
I hope that other islands will maintain service and that the option will remain to travel to Hawaii, although with the quarantine.
I like having the option of going to Hawaii if the cases gets too bad and scary in the mainland US. Yes, it would mean 14 days of quarantine, but it means that afterward, if there is no community spread in Hawaii, it would be a safe place.
HA’s press release said they were evaluating cargo needs and might provide additional passenger options, presumably if they decide there’s flying worth doing for the cargo demand.
@Ross...Matson ships in a lot goods to Hawaii and there is still UPS and FedEx (among others) cargo service.
Last time I was in Hawaii I was buying English muffin at Target that were baked in California. How much cargo capacity is being lost? If anyone has reason to stock up at the supermarket, it's Hawaiians.
Mike, from speaking with people I know that had HawaiianMiles award tickets, Hawaiian was charging to redeposit the miles to your account. However, since Hawaiian is now canceling the flights (not us), they're offering refunds on cash fares. So I think it's safe to assume that they'll redeposit your miles without a fee too. Whether they'll apply this retroactively, though... I'm not sure.
@Mike, their guidelines state that award tickets can be canceled and miles can be redeposited without fees due to COVID-19, but I have not heard back from my online request to do so as of 3/14. My travel was scheduled for 3/29, so I'm giving them a few more days before I call and wait on the phone lines (they ask that you only call if your flights was scheduled to depart within 72 hours).
Any word on how it would work say if you flew LAX-HNL-LIH? Would you be quarantined in HNL or allowed to travel on to LIH since you aren't technically 'leaving' the airport until LIH? Curious if the in/out mainline carriers will pare back service..
Do we know their policy for canceling award tickets?
No, the order requires non-residents to remain in their lodging.
Wouldn’t you be able to go to the beach as long as you social distanced?