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| - The flight back from Honolulu to Phoenix was a horrible end to what would have otherwise been the perfect vacation. When we arrived at the airport in Lihue, we were told that our flight from Honolulu to Phoenix was "delayed". When we asked how long the delay was, the ticket agent "didn't know" but suggested we might want to take a later flight from Lihue to Honolulu. We asked if the delay was due to the weather on Honolulu, but she didn't know that either. The ticket agent in Lihue did offer each of us a 15.00 dollar dining voucher which I thought was odd since she "didn't know" how long the delay was going to be.
Well, not knowing if the "delay" was going to be 30 minutes, or several hours, we did not want to risk missing our 3:05 pm flight out of Honolulu to Phoenix so we accepted the dining vouchers and proceeded with our original travel plans.
We arrived in Honolulu and immediately went to inquire as to what time the flight to Phoenix was departing. We were not only shocked to learn that the flight would not be departing until 8:45 pm--nearly six hours later than originally scheduled--but that the delayed departure time had been printed on the second set of boarding passes the ticket agent in Lihue had printed out for us! The customer service agents in Honolulu were surprised that the ticket agent in Lihue did not know how long the delay was since "everyone had known since about 10:00 this morning that the flight was delayed......" Needless to say, the customer service agents were not too sympathetic with our plight. We were stuck until 8:45 pm--or so we thought.
When we arrived at our gate around 5:00 pm we discovered that the gate agents didn't know anything either! The gate agents didn't know if there was going to be any food service on the flight, or if pillows and blankets would be available. One agent did eventually find out about the food service and when she saw that I had gone out and purchased a pillow and blanket, since a second gate agent had flat out told me, "If you want them, you'd better go out and get them." the first gate agent gave me a pillow and blanket so my husband and I would not have to share.
I found out from another passenger that our plane was coming from Las Vegas and had been delayed due to mechanical issues. The Vegas plane was due to arrive at 7:30 pm but 7:30 pm came and went but our departure time was still listed as 8:45 pm. However on Hawaiian Airlines website, the departure time had been changed to 9:30 pm.
The Vegas plane arrived around 8:30 pm and we were told that since it had been delayed due to mechanical issues the maintenance crew was going to have to perform a few tests and the gate agent, once again, didn't know how long that would take. By this time the flight crew had arrived and around 9:30 pm, the captain announced that the maintenance team needed to perform some pressure tests and that he would have an update at 10:00 pm
At 10:00 pm, the captain said he would have an update in about 20 minutes. The crew then brought out boxes of water, juice and trail mix for us to "help ourselves" since the wait was "becoming excessive" . Around 10:30 pm, the captain annoucned that the flight crew was going on board the aircraft to perform their safety checks and boarding would commence once the crew was finished.
Finally, boarding started around 11:00 pm and we were in the air around 11:30 pm. 8.5 hours past the original departure time and nearly 3 hours past the second departure time. The flight between Honolulu and Phoenix was miserable. Crying children aside, we hit a pocket of turbulence 40 minutes into the flight that sent everyone bouncing into the air and the flight attendants rushing back to their seats. Then, the plane took a sharp nose-dive descent to what I was certain was going to be a repeat of Air France Flight 447. I've flown through rough air before, but never in my life have I been that scared.
Thankfully, my burial at sea was going to have to wait for another day. Nearly 5 hours of pure misery later, we landed safely in Phoenix--8 hours and 20 minutes late.
Hawaiian Airlines did issue 100 dollar credit vouchers which can be used on a later flight within one year of the date of issue. Since neither my husband nor myself ever intend to fly this airline again, it was an empty gesture. My husband called Hawaiian's customer affairs departmen where his complaint was noted and he was informed "someone would be contacting him within 30 business days". He is not holding his breath.
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