It’s almost a year since Hawaiian Airlines made a major transition to the Amadeus reservation system. Despite optimism for future improvements related to the popular industry standard system, Hawaiian Airlines and its passengers continue to grapple with issues related to not-so-recent upgrades. We had high hopes that by now all the major problems the airline encountered during the upgrade would have been resolved. But now we’re not so sure and can’t understand why Hawaiian Airlines, long after the upgrade, is so far behind other airlines to Hawaii in customer care technology.
This came to mind again yesterday when we ourselves encountered reservation issues and just this morning when we reviewed what others had reported to us (below).
BOH editors received an email regarding upcoming flight changes. That in itself wasn’t a problem, but the new flight time was much earlier and was no longer enough to connect from another of his 10 hour flights. I went to both Hawaiian’s app and website hoping to be able to select an alternative flight. It turned out that it was impossible.
The result was a lengthy phone call with the Hawaiian Airlines call center. In the end, we ended up canceling our reservation, and after confirmation, we immediately purchased replacement tickets at Southwest while waiting for our agent in Hawaii to (hopefully) process our credit card refund. . We have not received any confirmation of cancellation or pending refund.
As a side note, the only other Hawaii flight that worked was a $20 surcharge. However, the SW tickets he purchased cost $20 less each than his previous tickets. So the difference was $40 per person.
The airline industry is moving towards a functional self-service technology model.
We rather like being able to handle virtually everything online. As a result, we found that there was little need to call other Hawaii-centric airlines such as Alaska, Delta, Southwest, and United. The company’s system can handle almost everything online without contacting customer service.
The aftermath of Hawaiian Airlines’ reservation system upgrade.
The transition from industry-standard airline reservation product Saber to Amadeus in April 2023 faced significant challenges, including a major technical failure. Unlike anything we’ve seen or heard before, Hawaiian Airlines experienced an unexpected and complex technology meltdown during an upgrade that resulted in significant flight delays and disruptions to online reservations. Most of the issues have been resolved, but the aftermath is still a problem eight months later.
Many key features are still unavailable or pending resolution.
1. Reservations (paid) will continue to be suspended. Their website says:“Starting April 7, 2023, fare hold reservations will be temporarily unavailable as we upgrade our systems so we can provide a better experience for our customers.” Link for more information and I get a 404 page not found error.
2. Reservations cannot be changed online. The Hawaiian website says: “Please contact our reservations department. In the future, we plan to implement new and enhanced self-service flight changes on our website and app.” It hasn’t been updated since the upgrade last April.
Sasha’s recent comments today say: “Passengers can’t change their flight without calling the airline and waiting hours. Please add this easy option.”
3. Reservation cancellations are not accepted online. The website says, “Please call our reservations department. Cancellations cannot be made online.”
John A has this to say about this: “And with this upgraded system, it is 100% necessary to be able to cancel online or in the app. That’s 2000 hours of wasted time spent chatting, texting, and calling. If they want to continue to compete with Southwest, which offers an easy-to-use web/app experience, I’d happily book there instead. Ease of use in 2023 is real.”
4. There is no “wallet” system where you can save and retry your online credits. The use of advance travel credits online does not seem to have been implemented and customers will have to contact the airline’s call center.
5. Hawaiian Airlines’ previous airfare calendar is gone. To create a proper airfare calendar, I first switched to using Google Flights. Next, go to the Hawaiian Airlines website.
The first thing Ms. Rose warned us about was, “Are the fare calendars obsolete?” Brian S. subsequently commented on this “major disappointment,” adding, “I almost always use the fare calendar to plan my travel dates, but now it’s becoming a pain.”
6. The discontinuation of the Companion Fair offers on the website and their replacement with email-based discount codes has also raised concerns, and some customers, including us, are now seeing these offers as previously promised. They report that they have never received it.
Regular customer Lee expressed his dissatisfaction and said, “The companion fare offer is no longer visible on the website and will not be offered in the future. The system didn’t allow me to use the companion rate discount. I called 1-800 support and got no help. No one even answered the chat line. I filled out the complaint form. I filled it out and submitted it online. I got a response within a few days, but it wasn’t helpful. I’m really starting to wonder what the higher ups are thinking. I doubt they’re completely incompetent. I think this is beyond puzzling!”
We look forward to hearing about your experiences! Mahalo.
