My worst travel experience, and what you can learn from it
As a seasoned traveler, I’ve had my share of delays, cancellations, and unexpected travel chaos. But my worst travel experience?
A five-hour flight that turned into a 26-hour nightmare — courtesy of Hawaiian Airlines.
I recently boarded a Hawaiian Air flight from Oakland to Honolulu. The flight time was expected to be just over 5 hours. I arrived in Honolulu 26 hours later on a different airline.
What caused the chaos: A storm over the island of Oahu led to the shutdown of the Honolulu airport. There were a few windows where flights could get in and out. However, it was inconsistent and unpredictable, leading to flights being diverted to other islands with no clear sense of when those flights would resume. The situation was not the fault of the airline, the flight crew, or the gate agents. However, the deplorable way we were treated and the incredibly poor decisions that were made are entirely the fault of Hawaiian Air.
To those of you in the Hawaiian Airlines Ohana who might be tempted to defend the airlines, none of this was the fault of the flight attendants, pilots, or gate crew. This was entirely the case of exceedingly poor management decisions.
You never know when you'll have an AWFUL travel experience, so pack prepared!
Here is the full story:
Our flight was scheduled to land on Oahu around noon. We boarded the plane around 7:30 am and took off as expected shortly after 8. We were unaware of any issue even as we began to descend. Then, to our surprise, we learned that we were landing in Kona, not Honolulu. We sat on the plane in the Kona airport for nearly six hours until we were allowed to de-plane at 5:30 pm Hawaii time…12 hours after we boarded the plane. Other than a meal and beverage service about 90 minutes into the flight, no other service was offered in the 12 hours we were on this plane.
We were unaware of what was happening besides the fact that the Honolulu airport was closed. We waited, expecting takeoff at any moment—though the crew likely knew it wasn’t happening. At one point, several passengers asked for a beverage service. The flight attendants would not take the carts out, telling us we were expected to take off at any time. Clearly, this was not the case when the Honolulu airport was still closed. At another point, one of the flight attendants said something about breaking open the snack boxes that are usually for sale. That did not happen. By this time, when they offered cups of water to the passengers, they only filled them 1/3 of the way full. I assume they were running low…but the beverage carts were still full.
Six hours. No food. Barely any water. Zero communication!
When we were finally allowed to de-plane, we emerged into absolute chaos. I stood in line for about 40 minutes to talk to the two gate agents trying to manage around five flights worth of frustrated, angry, and confused passengers. I asked to re-book the following morning. But the gate agents said that it would likely be just as tenuous, and they asked us to wait at the airport to see if a Honolulu flight could get a crew to Kona, as our crew had timed out. So I waited for three more hours. Meanwhile, I walked over to the Southwest terminal and noted that all was calm and orderly, AND their Honolulu flights were taking off. So I booked a ticket for the morning and a hotel for the night. The following day, I departed on time on Southwest Airlines and landed in Oahu around 9:30 am, 26 hours after I boarded the Hawaiian flight.
I was fortunate. I always travel with food, water, and carry-on luggage. Two lovely women sitting next to me were trapped at the Kona airport because one of them had essential medication in her checked bags–bags that Hawaiian Airlines refused to release. When she landed on Oahu at 4:30 in the morning, after sitting at the Kona airport for 15 hours after we landed, she was dismayed to realize that her checked bag had been left in Kona by the airline.
What this experience cost me:
$385 – Hotel (only a few options left, unless I wanted to pay triple for a five-star resort)
$120 – Cab fare (the Kona airport isn’t close to hotels)
$60 – Overpriced hotel dinner
$120 – Southwest ticket to escape the mess
Total: $685—plus lost time with family (priceless).
What Hawaiian Airlines did right: before the flight, they notified all passengers of potential disruptions and offered the chance to delay travel. This wasn't an option for people like me with a short travel time window.
What they did wrong: Since Hawaiian Airlines knew that there were potential catastrophic disruptions, they should have beefed up the flight crews in the airports where the planes were diverted and manned the gates of those airports to more effectively communicate with the thousands of people affected. Having backup flight crews in Honolulu makes no sense, given that the airport causing the issue was the Honolulu airport. Flight crews should have been ready to go in Kona (or anywhere flights were likely to be diverted) and prepared to jump in when the other flight crews timed out. Instead, passengers had to wait for the Honolulu airport to be clear enough to get the crews to Kona, then wait for another window to get passengers out.
And then of course, keeping passengers on a plane for 12 hours without food, very little water, and NO communication. Totally unacceptable. Most of us were very forgiving of the situation until nine or ten hours into the ordeal.
What You Should Learn from This:
Expect the unexpected. A five-hour flight can turn into a 26-hour ordeal. Even a 45-minute hop isn’t guaranteed.a
Know your rights. Airlines must compensate for cancellations—but if they don’t cancel, they owe you nothing.
Pack smart. Always carry medications, contacts, a toothbrush, and a change of clothes—no matter how short your flight.
Bring sustenance. A bottle of water and a snack can be the difference between comfort and misery.