We arrived late in Honolulu and so we booked
a connecting flight on Island Air the next morning at 11:45. When we got to the airport the flight was listed as on time. However, I overheard the gate agent talking about it being delayed. I asked and was told, "As far as we know it's on time." Well, at flight time they announced a one hr. delay with an update in an hour. After one hour I went up and asked what was going on and was told they were too busy closing out another flight to deal with it right then. Finally, they announced the flight had been cancelled after 90 minutes. We were able to get on the next flight but that still put us in the Maui over 3 hrs late costing us a day in the sun. They gave us 2 roundtrip ticket vouchers but they are good only on Island Air, not even their parent company Aloha Air. I asked for them just to refund our original ticket price of $110.00 but they wouldn't do that. The problem is the vouchers are non transferable and have to be used within a year and we aren't going back to HAwaii in the next year. Any suggestions?

It's always annoying to be delayed, but it's the math that troubles me here. 3hrs = 1 day? And if one who's concerned about maximizing sun time were overnighting in HNL, why oh why would that person not schedule a flight earlier than 11.45 to get to Maui??

Sorry, tph4, delays are part of flying. The compensation they offered -- free round-trip on their metal -- seems generous to me. Not their fault you can't use it. You could, certainly, should have been offered a refund, but only if you chose not to take the flight. (Do you really believe that you were entitled to a free flight, just because it was 3 hours late???)

I can't possibly imangine any airline being able to stay in business if it has three hour delays from time to time. I give them a week.

I suggest you live with it, it's part of flying. I don't see why they even gave you anything, most airlines certainly wouldn't.

I figured it would have been cheaper for them to refund our money for this flight then give us 4 new flights as this would cost them more if we could take them.

I agree 3 hours isn't a whole day but it was prime time to enjoy the beach and started the day off on a bad note. The reason we didn't take the earlier flight was we didn't get to the hotel until 11:30 pm and we wanted to get a good nights sleep. As it was we had to leave for the airport at 10:30 a.m.

You figured wrong...

Just to explain, it doesn't "cost" an airline any more, or less, to take you on 2 flights, 4 flights, or no flights at all. The costs of an airline (buying the plane, the fuel, the crew, etc, etc) are fixed when it determines it's schedule. Thereafter it's just a question of trying to get enough paying passengers to cover this, and hopefully a bit more. Only if your two free tickets had denied a paying passenger getting aboard (unlikely) would it actually cost them money.

Delays like this are just one of those things in a very complex business that succeeds most of the time in being punctual. The last time I had a delay like this the standard announcement was made, and then the gate agent quietly let it be known that the captain's small daughter had been involved in a road accident and he had gone straight home. Not a word of complaint was to be heard.

You refused an earlier flight and now you want them to refund you money because you didn't go on a flight that would have gotten you in earlier? How hard were they laughing at you?

Should've decided to take a day trip and explore another island. Are they transferrable?? MAybe you can sell them

Here is a reasonable accommodation for the situation:

No vouchers but allowing you no-charge no advance notice switching to different continuing and return flights subject to unsold seats, to enjoy more time at your destination, etc. Changing your booking class to Y will accomplish this.

Travel tips:
http://members.aol.com/ajaynejr/travel.htm


[This message has been edited by AllanJ (edited 06-24-2002).]

The coupon connection forum here is a great place to unload and possibly trade what may be otherwise worthless items. I know of at least one person that could use vouchers such as these...

JP