Originally Posted by
MSPeconomist
YMMV but I don't think a thirty minute schedule change is normally enough to get a full refund of a ticket unless MCT is violated.
The Contract of Carriage only provides for full refunds for changes of 90 minutes or more. You are permitted a free flight change for schedule changes of 60 minutes of more.
You're both right. I don't know why I put 30. Must have had a brain fart. Anyway, the change the OP experiences (almost 4 hours) is certainly more than enough to qualify for both being rebooked on another DL option (if available) or a full refund.
Delta won't rebook on the option you suggested in advance as there is an HA segment and they won't rebook on OALs for advanced schedule changes. OP can either accept the option provided by Delta (occasionally they can rebook on codeshare) or get a refund and purchase a ticket on another carrier.
The HA HNL-KOA flight has a DL codeshare on it so I imagine they would rebook the OP on it (SFO-HNL on DL and then HNL-KOA on HA with the DL codeshare) if desired, which is why I mentioned it.