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Hawaiian Airlines Complaint - HawaiianMiles = WorthlessMiles - Frequent Flyer Program
Frequent Flyer Program - Complaint
HONOLULU, HAWAII -- HawaiianMiles = WorthlessMiles
My wife, and I, have been using Hawaiian Airlines and a Hawaiian Airlines/Bank of Hawaii credit card for the last four years to accumulate enough miles for two round trip tickets to Europe on Hawaiian’s partner airline - Delta.
We have accumulated more than 130,000 miles to date, which is more than enough (110,000 miles) for two round-trip tickets from the Mainland to Europe.
On July 28, 2011, I first called HawaiianMiles to make reservations for the subject tickets. This was only 307 days before the early end of our travel date range, and significantly after the 330-day period when airlines supposedly release their seats for mileage programs.
We tried to be flexible in our dates, departure sites, and arrival sites. In spite of this, HawaiianMiles was unable to arrange travel to and from any of the sites in the U.S. and Europe that we provided.
The woman I spoke to promised to get back to me in 72 hours to inform us whether any of our desired seats were released (she never called back). She also suggested that we try every day to see if the situation had changed. I wasted more than 22 minutes of my valuable time for nothing.
On July 29, 2011, I again called HawaiianMiles. The result was the same. Nothing available. I wasted another 24 minutes of my valuable time for nothing.
On August 1, 2001, I again called HawaiianMiles. We tried 8 different departure dates (May 30 – June 6, inclusive), 4 different Mainland departure sites (Seattle, Minneapolis/St. Paul, New York, Boston), 3 different return dates (19, 20, and 21 days after departure to Europe), and 5 different Europe arrival sites (Amsterdam, Frankfurt, Copenhagen, Brussels, Paris). After trying these 480 combinations, the “customer service” representative could only come up with one option from Minneapolis/St. Paul to Frankfurt. He would have to request a return flight from Frankfurt.
On the afternoon of August 4, 2011, more than three days later, I received a call from HawaiianMiles informing me that there were no seats available from Frankfurt to Minneapolis/St. Paul for my wife and me. I wasted another 1 hour and 27 minutes of my valuable time for nothing.
After wasting a week, more than 2 hours on the telephone to HawaiianMiles, and not having any luck with more than 480 travel possibilities, I gave up on HawaiianMiles. It was apparent to me that they would not/could not help me and I was forced to make alternative travel arrangements on another airline at an out-of-pocket cost of $2,169.
I filed a complaint with Hawaiian Airlines about their lousy customer service and my inability to use my miles on August 4, 2011. I did not receive a response until late on August 5, 2011.
On August 5, 2011, Eddy Mundo, from the Hawaiian Airlines corporate office called me to ask me what she could do to assist me. I stated that this offer was after the fact and that I was forced to make alternative travel arrangements. I expressed my great dissatisfaction with Hawaiian Airlines and HawaiianMiles.
She stated that since the merger of Northwest and Delta that Hawaiian Airlines was having problems with their partner and difficulties in fulfilling requests. No kidding. She then stated that she would request the telephone conversations I had with HawaiianMiles (for what reason, I do not know), review them, and get back to me. She further asked me what I wanted Hawaiian Airlines to do for me and my wife.
I gave Eddy’s question some thought and came up with a proposed resolution to my complaint. I submitted this proposal on August 6, 2011. On August 11, 2011, Hoyt Zia, Senior VP, General Counsel & Corp. Sec., rejected my offer and rejected any compromise. His response was flippant and offensive, and was indicative of the standard Hawaiian Airlines response to customer complaints.
Eddy never did get back to me. I had to call her on August 9, 2011 to determine the status. She claimed she had still not gotten copies of the telephone calls. She claimed she would get back to me by Friday, August 12, 2011. She then abruptly hung up on me. Very rude. Very unprofessional.
When I first filed my complaint with Hawaiian Airlines (August 4), I was promised that they would get back to me within 3 business days (August 9). They did not. When I followed up on this promised response, they then claimed that it would be another 5- 7 business days for a response. A subsequent email stated 30 days. It was apparent that they were just trying to blow me off.
Don’t fly on Hawaiian Airlines. Don’t join their HawaiianMiles program. Don’t use their credit cards. There are other, better alternatives.
My wife, and I, have been using Hawaiian Airlines and a Hawaiian Airlines/Bank of Hawaii credit card for the last four years to accumulate enough miles for two round trip tickets to Europe on Hawaiian’s partner airline - Delta.
We have accumulated more than 130,000 miles to date, which is more than enough (110,000 miles) for two round-trip tickets from the Mainland to Europe.
On July 28, 2011, I first called HawaiianMiles to make reservations for the subject tickets. This was only 307 days before the early end of our travel date range, and significantly after the 330-day period when airlines supposedly release their seats for mileage programs.
We tried to be flexible in our dates, departure sites, and arrival sites. In spite of this, HawaiianMiles was unable to arrange travel to and from any of the sites in the U.S. and Europe that we provided.
The woman I spoke to promised to get back to me in 72 hours to inform us whether any of our desired seats were released (she never called back). She also suggested that we try every day to see if the situation had changed. I wasted more than 22 minutes of my valuable time for nothing.
On July 29, 2011, I again called HawaiianMiles. The result was the same. Nothing available. I wasted another 24 minutes of my valuable time for nothing.
On August 1, 2001, I again called HawaiianMiles. We tried 8 different departure dates (May 30 – June 6, inclusive), 4 different Mainland departure sites (Seattle, Minneapolis/St. Paul, New York, Boston), 3 different return dates (19, 20, and 21 days after departure to Europe), and 5 different Europe arrival sites (Amsterdam, Frankfurt, Copenhagen, Brussels, Paris). After trying these 480 combinations, the “customer service” representative could only come up with one option from Minneapolis/St. Paul to Frankfurt. He would have to request a return flight from Frankfurt.
On the afternoon of August 4, 2011, more than three days later, I received a call from HawaiianMiles informing me that there were no seats available from Frankfurt to Minneapolis/St. Paul for my wife and me. I wasted another 1 hour and 27 minutes of my valuable time for nothing.
After wasting a week, more than 2 hours on the telephone to HawaiianMiles, and not having any luck with more than 480 travel possibilities, I gave up on HawaiianMiles. It was apparent to me that they would not/could not help me and I was forced to make alternative travel arrangements on another airline at an out-of-pocket cost of $2,169.
I filed a complaint with Hawaiian Airlines about their lousy customer service and my inability to use my miles on August 4, 2011. I did not receive a response until late on August 5, 2011.
On August 5, 2011, Eddy Mundo, from the Hawaiian Airlines corporate office called me to ask me what she could do to assist me. I stated that this offer was after the fact and that I was forced to make alternative travel arrangements. I expressed my great dissatisfaction with Hawaiian Airlines and HawaiianMiles.
She stated that since the merger of Northwest and Delta that Hawaiian Airlines was having problems with their partner and difficulties in fulfilling requests. No kidding. She then stated that she would request the telephone conversations I had with HawaiianMiles (for what reason, I do not know), review them, and get back to me. She further asked me what I wanted Hawaiian Airlines to do for me and my wife.
I gave Eddy’s question some thought and came up with a proposed resolution to my complaint. I submitted this proposal on August 6, 2011. On August 11, 2011, Hoyt Zia, Senior VP, General Counsel & Corp. Sec., rejected my offer and rejected any compromise. His response was flippant and offensive, and was indicative of the standard Hawaiian Airlines response to customer complaints.
Eddy never did get back to me. I had to call her on August 9, 2011 to determine the status. She claimed she had still not gotten copies of the telephone calls. She claimed she would get back to me by Friday, August 12, 2011. She then abruptly hung up on me. Very rude. Very unprofessional.
When I first filed my complaint with Hawaiian Airlines (August 4), I was promised that they would get back to me within 3 business days (August 9). They did not. When I followed up on this promised response, they then claimed that it would be another 5- 7 business days for a response. A subsequent email stated 30 days. It was apparent that they were just trying to blow me off.
Don’t fly on Hawaiian Airlines. Don’t join their HawaiianMiles program. Don’t use their credit cards. There are other, better alternatives.
Comments:
Posted by Ben There on 2011-08-11:
Trying to use airline miles from one carrier on anther airline can be very difficult. Hawaiian has no control over Delta's free seats. Have you tried to get a free ticket from a Hawaiian gateway city like LA, San Diego or Vegas?
Posted by At Your Service on 2011-08-11:
I thought the same thing BenThere. Would have liked to know what the OP proposal to Hawaiian Air was.
Posted by flyhi152 on 2012-01-03:
Even when you try to use Hawaiian Miles for an upgrade or a rewards flight you would have to do that at least a year in advance, otherwise it will be "sorry, nothing available, no matter on which day you want to fly" If you're good luck, they will make you an offer for twice as many miles as normal (for example 40,000 miles for a one way upgrade from PHX to HNL) That means: You would have to spend $ 40,000 in order to get the miles for this upgrade...
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