So in February I booked a one-way ticket from LAX to OGG for two at $400 on Hawaiian Airlines main cabin, through their website, in preparation for our honeymoon trip in September. I bought them in advance thinking that fares may go up later, and Hawaiian promised that main cabin tickets were fully refundable. I also moved 18,000 points to the Hawaiian account from Bilt, in anticipation for a return one-way ticket.

Their website flaunts this fact (that main cabin tickets are refundable) a lot.

“No change fees – Book now, change if you need to without a fee.”, the website says.

So it came time to cancel these flights. Our honenymoon plans changed.
I cannot cancel them online – I have to call.

I called.
A guy picks up, and says that the credit expires in 1 year. It expires on Feb 1, 2024.
I asked “so when I book my flight by January, does the flight also have to be by January, or can it be later?”
He fumbles around with the answer a bit, but I think the answer at the end is no.
“You can book another flight, then cancel it again, which will give you an extension”, tips the guy.
Sure.. except there’s no guarantee that the ticket price will be exactly the same. So either the new ticket price will be less, leading me to lose money, or the new ticket will be a bit more expensive, leading me to spend extra at Hawaiian for the difference just to save the original $400. Hawaiian stands to make money in both cases.

Also, it’s not $400 credited to one account. It’s $200 to me, and $200 to my wife, so even less flexible. (Although this is industry standard practice)

Also, I cannot make online reservations with the credits. My credits do not show up at all on my online account. The only way to use my credits is to call and make a reservation. And of course, Hawaiian charges an extra fee when making a phone reservation.

Also, good luck trying to catch more sophisticated flights that you can only see on the website with the sales rep. I can already picture the chaos: “You mean the 8am one?” “Yeah, 8am” “Ok, booked” “Is it the nonstop one?” “No, it’s the 2-stop one going through Honolulu and Maui” “No I want the nonstop one, can you change?” “Sorry sir this will be considered a new reservation, and we have a $15 charge for each phone reservation”

Lastly, my ability to use the credits hinges on me being able to remember their 10-digit reference number. If they gave me the wrong reference number, or if I call in January and they say “we don’t have any credits by that reference number”, I think that will be the end of that story and I will have no credits that I can use. Or in between going back and forth between their outsourced sales reps and their supervisors, the credits will go past the expiration date. There is no receipt, no email confirmation of my reference numbers, no nothing. I don’t even know whether I wrote the reference numbers correctly. I read the reference number back to the sale and he refused to confirm whether it was correct. He just repeated the last 4 digits.

So basically it’s not a refundable ticket. Once you buy a ticket and change your mind, that money is their hostage. They will keep it and nickel and dime you til running you dry.

I had been using mostly Southwest before and didn’t realize what saints Southwest is in handling their cancellations compared to Hawaiian.

I have a very sour taste after their technically-not-false-advertising-but-it-s and never use Hawaiian again and throw away the $400.