It seems like every other time we fly ANYWHERE we have some major problems. This last time really cooked our goose. Please don’t think we only have problems with Hawaiian Air. They’re actually much better than most other airlines to the islands, which makes us upset to have to share this story.
The Facts
We were traveling with an 8 month old baby. We asked the employees at the ticket counter if we could be put next to an empty seat in order to use the child seat and save us the difficulty of holding our squirming baby on our laps. He said we’d have to inquire at the terminal in Honolulu.
We did this, and we were told that the plane was completely full due to Hawaiian Airline employees flying. We understood and checked our chair at the door. Once on the plane we noticed dozens of open seats. I stopped counting after I got to 20. It was too late to get our chair back, and we were stuck with the baby on our lap. 5 1/2 hours with an upset squirming baby that handles her baby chair with ease, was no picnic for us or our neighbors. It wouldn’t have taken much for the employees to put us in a row with an extra seat. (the back row was completely empty.) When we asked about trading seats, the flight attendant said that many of the seats that would work are upgrades. Really? They didn’t look that much better.
On top of this, every representative of Hawaiian Airlines on the ground were rude. I understand when you’re busy you can be short, but that’s no excuse when you’re in customer service. It’s unfortunate because almost every time we’ve flown with Hawaiian, everyone is so incredibly nice. That’s why we need to share this. There’s no hope for the other airlines, but this one can be fixed.
The good
Their new planes are great. The seats actually recline! I know, incredible. Also, the flight attendants were all very nice and helpful. The tv touchscreens built into the seats are nice, but you have to push each button 10-20 times sometimes to see anything happen. And you end up pushing hard, so the passenger in front of you feels like you’re a kid kicking the seat. Sorry!
