SFOvacations

7/7 WN2827 diverted 2 hrs into flight back to HNL due to a hydraulic problem, must have been serious since it was only 2.5 hrs to destination. Flight flew out the next morning. It was booked on points ( ~$450 worth), Southwest is now refusing to reimburse the addition night of hotel and only crediting $300 credit for future flight. How can we get more.

dlaue

We only got $100 each last year when our LAX-HNL flight returned to OAK about an hour into the flight due to a "computer problem." We were on the ground ~2 hours in OAK, then continued to HNL, arriving in the wee hours of the morning with almost no taxies, ubers, or limos available. We were 3rd in the cab line and it was a 45 minute wait for the ride to Waikiki.
So, $300 is reasonable, based on our experience.

expert7700

No hotel despite a forced overnight in an expensive city due to a rare long diversion back?

The airline had 2+ hours to prepare accomodations, or a replacement flight. Their hawaii operations was supposedly designed that if a plane went mechanical, they would cancel intra island flights and fly an extra aircraft to the mainland.

I can't understand why they would say to pay for your own hotel. Have you contacted them via twitter to ask where you can send your receipts for consideration?

I recall reading that Southwest has paid for a flight full of rooms at Ala Moana hotel, shortly after they began Hawaii service but not much intra island.

Edit: Looks like this happened July 7 per flightaware. They reduced speed from 500knots to 400knots from the turnaround point on. Airline tech geek in me wonders if that was for fuel savings or part of a hydraulic failure protocol.

theFirstDave

Best guess is a tail wind on departure that turns into a headwind on the return. Flightaware speeds, AFAIK, are ground speed.

SFOvacations

It was a full flight and they didn't have blocks of rooms for everyone. Asked passengers to take care of their own accomoodation and submit for reimbursement. Now they are refusing to reimburse.

joshua362

Looks like they flew out and at the same altitude and speed as filed in the flight plan. Definitely had to be the headwind. Find it odd their cruising altitude did not change on the 180 degree return, it does with VFR flight.

Tanic

The airplane would have been under control of Oakland Center in the Central East Pacific Route System where the course reversal occurred. They could have accommodated a request from the crew not to change altitude and/or there was not other conflicting traffic at FL360.

m907

That sounds like a small claims case to me.

nsx

The claim would have been so much larger if the plane had crashed. OP was simply unlucky.

Stockjock

When SW cancelled a flight earlier this year, I tried to get them to reimburse my actual expenses but they would not. They did give me vouchers, which I might not be able to use.

The thing that saved me was putting the taxes on my Amex Platinum (flights bought with points). Even though the taxes were not much, because I put the actual out-of-pocket cost on the Amex Platinum, they reimbursed me for hotel, meals and similar. The cancellation had to be due to weather or mechanical issues, which it was (weather, in my case).

Of course, not everyone has an Amex Platinum, but they do offer some nice potential guarantees if things go wrong.

jjbiv

It's the rare airline who will reimburse a passenger for incidental expenses caused due to a flight cancelation for weather reasons. However, the OP's flight presumably was affected by a mechanical issue, for which the responsibility rests squarely on the airline's shoulders and Southwest should cover reasonable expenses for the OP in this case.

Allan38103

I suspect that FT readers don’t have all the relevant information needed to form an opinion and make an intelligent reply.

Also, airlines fly at altitudes that ATC assigns, not what FT readers think they should be.

m907

They promised to cover hotels and now they won't. If that's true, it's grounds for a case.

N830MH

Not good at all! They always have a mechanical problem. They unable to fly back to US Mainland. They couldn't do it. They couldn't get back home. They will be very disappointed. Airlines will pay hotel stay and extended the vacation time.

t60

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