Hawaiian Airlines Delays & Cancellation: What You Need to Know! (2024)

Did your Hawaiian flight get cancelled or delayed by more than 3 hours? If so, you need to understand Hawaiian Airlines policy for handling these situations.

Flight delays and cancellations are an unfortunate part of traveling and while any unexpected schedule changes can be very frustrating, don’t let them discourage you from traveling. Just make sure you know the rules and your rights when one of these situations occurs.

If you are flying Hawaiian Airlines, and your flight gets canceled or significantly delayed, here are the key things to know about Hawaiian’s flight delay and cancellation policy, as well as the protections you have from the U.S. Department of Transportation.

Hawaiian Airlines Flight Cancellations: What to do if Your Flight is Cancelled?

If your flight is canceled, the first thing you need to figure out is whether the cause of cancellation is within the airline’s control. A controllable flight cancellation or delay is essentially a delay or cancellation that has been caused by the airline.

When the situation is “Controllable”, airlines have responsibility and have made commitments, enforceable by the Department of Transportation (“DOT”), on how they will take care of the customer.

Controllable vs. Non-Controllable Delays & Cancellations

• Controllable Delays are caused by things the airline has control over such as maintenance and mechanical issues, lack of available equipment, cabin cleaning, flight crew schedules, fueling, baggage loading, etc.

• Non-Controllable Delays are caused from things that are outside of the airlines control such as weather, air traffic congestion, terrorism, emergency diversion, etc.

Hawaiian Airlines Policy for Controllable Cancellations:

If your flight is cancelled for a controllable reason, Hawaiian Airlines has pledged to do the following:

• Rebook you on another Hawaiian flight at no extra cost.
• Rebook you on a partner airline or another airline with which it has an agreement at no extra cost.
• Provide you with a meal or meal cash/voucher when cancellation results in you having to wait for 3 hours or more for a new flight.
• Provide complimentary hotel accommodations for any passenger affected by an overnight cancellation. (Note: This has to be coordinated through Hawaiian Airlines, you can’t just go pick any hotel and expect a reimbursem*nt)
• Provide complimentary ground transportation to and from the hotel for any passenger affected by an overnight cancellation.

How to rebook a delayed or cancelled flight on Hawaiian

You’re eligible to rebook on Hawaiian when your flight is delayed longer than 30 minutes.

You can call the Hawaiian customer service line (877-426-4537) or wait in line at the airport, but it’s normally faster to make the change on the Hawaiian website or app.

Hawaiian Flight Cancellation Compensation

The U.S. DOT has fewer protections for passengers than other parts of the world. If you are flying in the United States, airlines are not required to provide additional compensation when flights are delayed or cancelled. You will be eligible for a refund, but not additional compensation.

Compensation is only required by U.S. law when passengers are “bumped” from an oversold flight.

Refund of Ticket Price

If your flight is cancelled and you choose not to take another flight option provided by Hawaiian, you are entitled to a refund for the unused ticket – even for non-refundable tickets. This refund includes the ticket price plus any baggage fees you paid, and any extras you purchased, such as a seat assignment or pet fee.

Your compensation for a cancelled flight is limited to the costs associated with your ticket only. Hawaiian Airlines is not required to reimburse you for any consequential costs affected by the cancelled flight, such as a prepaid hotel room or rental car, a cruise, concert or other tickets, or lost wages.

Hawaiian Flight Delays: What to do if your Hawaiian Flight is Delayed?

Just as with a flight cancellation, there are no requirements to provide additional compensation, so you will first need to understand what has caused the delay and is it controllable by the airline.

Hawaiian is committed to making customers aware of known delays and cancellations within 30 minutes of becoming aware of the flight status change.

The Flight Status section on Hawaiian’s website or the phone app are typically the best places to get an updated status of your flight.

Hawaiian’s Policy for Controllable Delays:

If your flight is significantly delayed for a controllable reason, Hawaiian has pledged to do the following:

• Rebook you on another Hawaiian flight at no extra cost.
• Rebook you on a partner airline or another airline with which it has an agreement at no extra cost.
• Provide you with a meal or meal cash/voucher when cancellation results in you having to wait for 3 hours or more for a new flight.
• Provide complimentary hotel accommodations for any passenger affected by an overnight delay.
• Provide complimentary ground transportation to and from the hotel for any passenger affected by an overnight delay.

Tarmac Delays

The DOT’s tarmac delay rule requires that flights (departing from a U.S. airport) are required to allow passengers to get off the plane if the delay is longer than three hours (for domestic flights) or four hours (for international flights).

Exceptions to the time limits are allowed only for safety, security, or air traffic control-related reasons. You should not exit the airplane unless told by the airline that you can do so safely.

• During a lengthy tarmac delay, airlines are required to provide:
  • Drinking water and a snack, such as a granola bar, no later than two hours after the start of the tarmac delay.
  • Working toilets.
  • Comfortable cabin temperatures.
  • Adequate medical attention, if needed.

Airlines do not have to serve passengers full meals during a tarmac delay, even if the tarmac delay lasts for a lengthy period of time.

For more information here is a link to Hawaiian Airlines Tarmac Delay Contingency Plan.

Hawaiian Flight Delay Compensation

As stated earlier, when flying within or from the United States, there are no federal laws requiring airlines to provide passengers with additional compensation when their flights are delayed.

Each airline has its own policies about what it will do for delayed passengers.

How to File a Hawaiian Flight Delay Compensation Claim

While there are no guarantees of compensation, Hawaiian does state that when long delays or cancellations significantly impact their passengers, they may issue compensation (in the form of travel credits, miles, or reimbursem*nt of reasonable expenses) as appropriate to the specific circ*mstances.

If you want to request compensation for a delayed flight, Hawaiian airlines requires you to send them a letter detailing your situation. With your letter, you will need to include copies of the following:

• Tickets
• Boarding pass stubs
• Expense receipts (if any)

Fax: 808-838-6777

If you prefer email, there is also the option to provide this information on Hawaiian’s website. Just use this link. This method will be much faster that the mail or fax option that list as the official option.

How to check Hawaiian flight status

You can check the status of any Hawaiian flight via the Flight Status and Notification section of the Hawaiian website. Here you can search by flight number or if you don’t have the flight number, you can search by the route.

4 ways to avoid flight delays and cancellations

There’s no way to totally avoid flight cancellations and delays, however there are a couple of things you can do to improve your odds.

1. Fly out in the morning

Don’t fly in the late afternoon or evening. Book the first flight out in the morning. Morning flights have the best chance of getting out as the plane is already at the airport, so the risk of an inbound delay is eliminated.

2. Book a non-stop flight

The logic here is straightforward. Having a single non-stop flight means you only risk having one flight delayed. If you have a connecting flight, you now have two flights to worry about and your odds of having a delay just doubled.

3. Fly a reliable airline

Any airline runs the risk of a flight delay, but it seems to happen to some more than others. Here is a list of the most reliable (U.S. based) airlines in terms of delays and cancellations.

Hawaiian Airlines is in the middle of the pack in terms of on time performance. They are typically pretty good when flying to the mainland, but can often have delays on their inter-island flights.

4. Fly out of a dependable airport

There are some airports that are known for flight delays and cancellations. If you are flying into or out of one of these airports there is a higher chance you will have a delay (listed alphabetically, not by performance).

1. Baltimore/Washington International Airport (BWI)
2. Boston Logan International Airport (BOS)
3. Charlotte Douglas International Airport (CLT)
4. Chicago Midway International Airport (MDW)
5. Chicago O’Hare Airport (ORD)
6. Dallas Fort Worth International Airport (DFW)
7. Denver International Airport (DEN)
8. Las Vegas Harry Reid International Airport (LAS)
9. John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK)
10. LaGuardia Airport (LGA)
11. Newark Liberty International Airport (EWR)
12. Orlando International Airport (MCO)
13. Philadelphia International Airport (PHL)
14. Reagan International Airport (DCA)
15. San Francisco International Airport (SFO)

In Summary

Flight delays and cancellations are inevitable, you can’t totally avoid them, but there are things you can do to reduce your chances of experiencing them. And if you do encounter a significant delay or cancellation, it’s always good to know the rules and the rights provided to you by both the airline and the DOT. Hopefully this article helps!