Hawaii-based Airlines - why can't I check in online?

I'm on a United itinerary to Asia tomorrow, OGG-HNL-NRT-XXX.

HA won't let me check in because I'm on an international itinerary. It's all UA, except for my OGG-HNL morning flight. HA has no documentary check requirement or reporting requirement, right?

Web support was useless.

Help me make sense of this. Is this just HA's typical inflexibleness and one size fits all model, or is there a real reason for it? I can't think of any.

-David

Don't think you can check in online for international itineraries which are solely on Hawaiian. I know when we have gone HNL to SYD we have had to check in at the airport, none of this new fangled online stuff.

You can try checking in using your eTicket # instead of the Airline reservation code. On my itinerary, the eTicket # is on the first page, in the upper left hand area, slightly under my name.

Sometimes that works for me when nothing else does, especially when your itinerary includes different airlines.

Don't think you can check in online for international itineraries which are solely on Hawaiian. I know when we have gone HNL to SYD we have had to check in at the airport, none of this new fangled online stuff.

Thanks, but as I said, only my interisland leg from Maui to HNL is on Hawaiian, the rest is all United metal, United flight numbers, United ticket.

But you are correct, even though you have to go through a draconian process in HNL (you can't leave the check-in area once you enter it, and you do passport check there, etc, etc), I was not able to check in online when I flew all HA itinerary OGG-HNL-MNL either.

But that's not the case this time. They are just stuck in their own stupid inflexible procedures as far as I can tell. I mean when you fly AA or UA and you fly LAX-SFO-SYD or SEA-ORD-LHR, do they stop you from doing online checkin? Of course not. You probably have a doc check at some point, but you can easily checkin for your domestic flights.

You can try checking in using your eTicket # instead of the Airline reservation code. On my itinerary, the eTicket # is on the first page, in the upper left hand area, slightly under my name.

Sometimes that works for me when nothing else does, especially when your itinerary includes different airlines.

Yeah, I had to use HA's PNR# and not my UA PNR#, and I also tried entering my e-ticket number. Still, web support would have been able to do that if it was possible.

-David

If it's a UA ticket, would .bomb at least allow you to check in for the HNL-onward segments?

If it's a UA ticket, would .bomb at least allow you to check in for the HNL-onward segments?

Yep, no problem there. Entered passport and china visa info and it prints out a doc check thing with both flights listed.

When I checked in at OGG this morning, HA agent gave me all 3 BPs. There was no line, so no problem this morning.

Thanks,
-David

Back in HNL. Waiting 2 hours for flight to Maui.

New "wiki wiki" buses at HNL are a huge improvement over the old ones. ^

-David