Aloha Airlines/Aloha is Toast [Merged]

[Dave M]

Nor was it I, but there are now enough links to this thread that anyone who relies on TUG for travel info should be able to find it.

 

[mepiccolo]

Finally hung up on United Airlines after 1 hr 20 minutes. Then I called BankCard Center (First Hawaiian Bank) to dispute the charges for our May trip which we purchased in August 2007. Since they only hold records for 6 months they told me I would have to seek the credit directly from Aloha So for all of you with Aloha credit cards who booked your flights more than 6 months out, this is the wonderful customer service you will get. That card is being cut up immediately and we are going to pay off the balance less the charges for the flight we obviously never took (services not provided). So that's my response to them - YOU go talk to Aloha. It's not my fault First Hawaiian Bank only keeps records for 6 months. I have the records for the purchase and was more than willing to fax it to them. So when that balance goes unpaid and they try to affect our credit I can dispute it then to show it was services never provided. Come on First Hawaiian Bank...step it up. First Hawaiian Bank obviously is more connected to Aloha Airlines than a general consumer like me-get the damn record from them yourself.

 

[voyager1]

What an awful situation for everyone. In addition to the financial loss to everyone holding reservations and the destruction of your holiday plans there is other collateral damage. Tompalm was very thoughtful in taking the time to post the information from Aloha, especially considering that as a pilot on Aloha he is now out of a job. Good luck to all of you!

 

[Phill12]

After reading all these new post tonight I called airlines and no answering of phones!

I called United Airlines number and they did have a reservation from Aloha for us which was great. It wasn't non-stop and it was almost $400 more per person but we were ready when she said we need to pay the whole $2700 and I asked about the money from Aloha.

She checked and found Aloha sent our reservations but no money so we need to pay again and go after Aloha for our money.

We have twenty four hours to except our United flight but not going to happen most likely!

When I called Wells Fargo Visa acct the lady said right away your calling about Aloha Air. Turns out I was one of about 30 to call in last couple hours.

She was very nice and took all the information and said they will have to see what happens and will send me papers to sign in about three weeks.

If we get our money it would take a month or more so I guess I need to cancel Car/Luau/dinner cruise for May 23.

This was a graduation and 21 birthday present for our daughter so I will have to tell her its off too!

I guess I call II or the resort to let them know we won't be coming too!

What really ticks me off is I talk to Aloha this week and was promised there would be no problem and if something happened I would be told my new reservations and airline and none of this was true!:annoyed:

 

[GaryDouglas]

I had to scurry to change my flights from Aloha to UAL for our May flights. Technically, I made reservations on UAL and have to get my MR Visa account credited for my Aloha flights. I am within the 90 day limit on the purchase, so the Visa representive made it sound like it won't be a problem. We'll see. I'll finalize that tomorrow with Aloha or Visa or both. Also have to finalize the UAL flight. It's on hold until tomorrow midnight. I got the flights for $30 less than my original change from Aloha (which was already economical), so I'm money ahead. Wasn't expecting that. The UAL person said that they may not know for a couple days exactly how UAL will handle this situation. In the meantime, since I had an easy way out, I took it.

My greater concern is for the Aloha personnel. Beside losing their jobs, I assume this blows away their retirement plan, in one way or another. Hopefully it's not as bad as all that.

 

[LisaH]

Tompalm was very thoughtful in taking the time to post the information from Aloha, especially considering that as a pilot on Aloha he is now out of a job. Good luck to all of you!

Ditto! I'm so sorry to see Aloha go out of business. I always had great flights with Aloha, as late as a month ago. Sorry to see so many people losing their job especially in today's economic climate. It also teaches me a lesson not to accumulate too many points with any airline or hotel chain.

 

[glenn1000]

Worst case scenario- we are on Maui now and got our tickets through Cheap Tickets (and they weren't even cheap) that departed on ATA and was supposed to return on Aloha this Saturday. After nearly two hours on the phone with different people I understand that with Aloha up in smoke, ATA holds our return ticket responsibility. The first flight they have availability is eight days later then our original return. They suggested calling back in the morning. That's reassuring... :annoyed:

We could have originally booked an ATA return for less $ but we have had good Aloha experiences in the past so went with them. That was a big mistake!

 

[Phill12]

I had to scurry to change my flights from Aloha to UAL for our May flights. Technically, I made reservations on UAL and have to get my MR Visa account credited for my Aloha flights. I am within the 90 day limit on the purchase, so the Visa representive made it sound like it won't be a problem. We'll see. I'll finalize that tomorrow with Aloha or Visa or both. Also have to finalize the UAL flight. It's on hold until tomorrow midnight. I got the flights for $30 less than my original change from Aloha (which was already economical), so I'm money ahead. Wasn't expecting that. The UAL person said that they may not know for a couple days exactly how UAL will handle this situation. In the meantime, since I had an easy way out, I took it.

My greater concern is for the Aloha personnel. Beside losing their jobs, I assume this blows away their retirement plan, in one way or another. Hopefully it's not as bad as all that.

You are lucky,United is taking advantage of this problem now and trying to charge us more than $1200 more than Aloha tickets cost us for non-stop flight. They told us last night we have reservations for 24 hours but need to pay them and worry about Aloha money later and deal with Aloha on that.

Meaning is you pay us hostage fee and then get stiffed by Aloha.

There is no way we are paying out more than $4600 to fly to Hawaii.

After telling my wife today about all this she said this was our last trip to Hawaii. Not worth the money any more.

Going to call the II Travel now but expect to blown off by them.

I guess I will start calling and canceling our plans on Maui too!:annoyed:

 

[Kauai Kid]

Thanks to Mesa and GO's $1 interisland flights there is no Aloha passenger service after 3/31/08 and 1900 people will loose their jobs in addition to countless people having problems with tickets and refunds!

Fly Hawaiian interisland.

Sterling

 

[Phill12]

Has anyone been able to get through and talk to Aloha Air. I have tried for last seven hours and its just busy so either everyone is calling or phones off the hook!

I called II travel and was told I have to call Aloha. I asked about all their promises in case of problems with this airline when they booked us on it and was told I'm on my own if I can not reach Aloha.

Says alot for the (II) Travel dept!

 

[bevans]

My wife and I were scheduled to fly Oakland to Kona on May11, and Kona to Maui May17, both flights on Aloha. As soon as I heard of the cessation of service on Sunday night I booked with Hawaiian out of San Jose to Kona and Hawaiiian to Maui. I will be paying twice as much for the mainland to Hawaii flight and having to stop in Honolulu and change planes. I do not think any body should wait to see if they will get special tretment from United or Hawaiian because of the bankruptcy, get your flight now! I charged my tickets with Amex and put the charges in dispute this morning and received a suspension of charges as they "investigate". Does this mean I will get a permanent credit or be charged back at a later time? Has anybody gone down this road with their credit card company dealing with services lost because of bankrutcy?

I will surely miss the direct flights Aloha had to Hawaii and having owned a business for 25 years realize the pain caused to employees with a business failure. A job loss this size will surely be felt on the islands. I enjoyed flying Aloha and had nothing but good treatment from them and their employees.

Curt

 

[Lawlar]

Flying

Remember when flying was a wonderful experience???

The airplanes we have been flying on to Hawaii the last few years have had no leg room (they even removed a bathroom and standing area to put in more seats). The airlines have stopped offering food service (food use to be good on airlines). And the service is awful.

So how come the airlines can't make money when they are flying these planes with their passengers cramed into tiny spaces and they provide no conveniences????

If airfares go up, and the service remains awful, then owning a timeshare in Hawaii isn't going to be such a great thing.

 

[Denise L]

Worst case scenario- we are on Maui now and got our tickets through Cheap Tickets (and they weren't even cheap) that departed on ATA and was supposed to return on Aloha this Saturday. After nearly two hours on the phone with different people I understand that with Aloha up in smoke, ATA holds our return ticket responsibility. The first flight they have availability is eight days later then our original return. They suggested calling back in the morning. That's reassuring... :annoyed:

We could have originally booked an ATA return for less $ but we have had good Aloha experiences in the past so went with them. That was a big mistake!

Glenn, any luck today? I suppose worst case, you book an extra week on Maui and the kids have a good excuse to miss school? Sorry to hear about all the trouble, what a mess for all of you traveling . At least it's warm there. Maybe you could visit another island at the end of the week and get another flight out earlier? Not sure what I would have done if something like that happened to me last week. I hope it works out.

 

[tmartin1]

What to do?

Hmmm, I'm not quite sure what to do yet.

We are going to Hawaii June 14 - June 28. Fortunately, the only flight we're taking through Aloha is the return flight (from LIH to SAN). So, at least I know we're getting to Hawaii. I figure the worst case scenario is that we're stuck on Kauai a few extra days or have to leave a day or two early.

I bought our tickets at the end of February, so it doesn't look like I'll have a problem disputing the charges (I think).

So, do I jump in and dispute the charges immediately and book on Hawaiian (at an extra cost) to get home or do I wait a little while and see how this all flushes out? Since I only have to worry about getting home, my stress level about this whole situation isn't too bad, compared to if I was worrying how I was going to get to Hawaii.

I'd hate to book another flight on Hawaiian at a fairly significant extra cost and then we get a news report in the next few days that Aloha had some funding or buyer for the airlines and flights will resume. Since our trip is 3 months away, anything can happen.

I'll still sleep at night waiting to see what happens because staying in Hawaii for an extra few days or so is hardly the worst thing that can happen!

Theresa

 

[ricoba]

So much for the idea that airlines will continue to fly while they are in Chapter 11....

As the news person said this morning "Aloha to Aloha"....

I hope this works out OK for all you folks that have Aloha tickets.

Hopefully Hawaiian or another airline picks up the slack for you..

 

[thinze3]

Marriott Gives Helping Hand to Aloha Ticket Holders

http://kgmb9.com/main/content/view/5175/196/

 

[glenn1000]

Glenn, any luck today? I suppose worst case, you book an extra week on Maui and the kids have a good excuse to miss school? Sorry to hear about all the trouble, what a mess for all of you traveling . At least it's warm there. Maybe you could visit another island at the end of the week and get another flight out earlier? Not sure what I would have done if something like that happened to me last week. I hope it works out.

Today ATA told me that I need to call back tomorrow. That's what they said yesterday. At least they sound like they accept responsibility but I don't understand how they are going to all these extra people off the island on time. I have to work on Sunday, my wife on Monday and the kids are in high school- definitely not a time when we can take another week of vacation.

I'm going to put my head in the sand for now. We're doing the drive to Hana today. Last time we did it was 19 years ago when we swore we'd never do it again. Could be an interesting day overall- long drive with three kids in the back who don't want to go, parents stressed about lack of transportation home..

 

[Phill12]

Today ATA told me that I need to call back tomorrow. That's what they said yesterday. At least they sound like they accept responsibility but I don't understand how they are going to all these extra people off the island on time. I have to work on Sunday, my wife on Monday and the kids are in high school- definitely not a time when we can take another week of vacation.

I'm going to put my head in the sand for now. We're doing the drive to Hana today. Last time we did it was 19 years ago when we swore we'd never do it again. Could be an interesting day overall- long drive with three kids in the back who don't want to go, parents stressed about lack of transportation home..

After dealing with all this since 5 am today I was about to give up and cancel trip! I called United back again today and talk to a agent and he went over everything with me.

Our price had jumped to $843 per ticket During the time we were speaking he said the prices just went up again so United is taking advantage of this because many people with Aloha tickets were transfered to United.

I understand prices go up and down by the hour but in this case it wasn't going up as much on all the travel listings but just more for Aloha transfers. When I called Expedia they priced the same flight and price was no where near what they wanted to charge me so it was just for us transfers.

I went back to Expedia that we have used for years and the lady priced Oakland and Sacramento. She booked us out of Oakland May 23 on ATA with one stop in Honolulu and second flight to Maui.

Return is on ATA again and a non-stop and total cost for our three tickets was about $1650.00 total and this was about $1100 less than United was trying to get out of us and flight times cut in half.

Now I just hope I get my Aloha money back and these airlines don't fold!

 

[tmartin1]

Well, I started stressing out after all, so decided to look into other options.

Right now, I'm on hold with my Credit card company, so hopefully, I'm not out $1700 (4 one-way tickets from LIH to SAN).

I went ahead and booked tickets on US Airways (not my first choice, but I can't be picky) from Maui to San Diego on Tuesday (so we're staying 3 extra days). Saturday flights were insane, so by staying 3 extra days, we're saving major bucks. I think I'll try to get an interisland flight from LIH to OGG on Saturday, then rent a place in Maui for 3 nights.

I guess I'm taking a few extra days off from work and my daughter will miss the first few days of summer cheer practice. Oh well - at least I still have a job. I feel bad for the employees who are suddenly out of work.

Theresa

 

[Icarus]

After all this they said no and well speaking to me in said the prices just went up again so United is taking advantage of this because many people with Aloha tickets were transfered to United.

United isn't honoring Aloha tickets for standby or other travel?

ok, I just checked United's web site. I guess not.

http://www.united.com/page/article/0,6722,52609,00.html

Like most airlines, United has a complex pricing engine that prices tickets based on demand. If they sell the cheaper seats before you purchase yours, they can run out of available seats at the cheaper price.

Ticket prices can and do change by the minute with any airline.

-David

 

[mepiccolo]

We ended up finding that the cheapest flight we could take was through Alaska Airlines from LAX to Maui non-stop, with a return flight from Lihue, Kauai ($448.94 per ticket including taxes). We added one night at the front of our trip to fly out on Friday instead of Saturday which saved us $1,000 from what we had been looking at to pay for four tickets. We booked one night stay at the Blue Tile House in Paia for $189 and I'm actually looking forward to that-it looks lovely. We booked interisland flights on Island Air for $79 (including taxes) per person which was actually a dollar less than we had paid for Aloha tickets. While it looks like it will probably be a cold day in hell before we get the one ticket we purchased from Aloha last August for our May 08 trip, at least our other 3 tickets were purchased using frequent flier miles, so it could be worse. My boss flew home from Maui yesterday to Orange County and wasn't even aware about Aloha going out of business until his family landed and there were tv reporters talking to the passengers as they came off the flight, asking them how it felt to be the last flight to the mainland on Aloha. Gosh, one more day and he and his family would have been stuck. I'm so sorry for all of you who are in this predicament. I'm also very sorry for all the Aloha employees who lost their jobs-we loved flying Aloha Airlines and really hate to see it go like this. I hope Go/Mesa gets theirs for causing this hardship on the State of Hawaii and the thousands of vacationers it affects. :annoyed:

 

[tompalm]

In an earlier post, I said good luck to all of us. Good luck didn’t happen. My primary concern was for the passengers that needed to travel interisland or to the mainland in the next couple weeks. I knew that they could be stuck. The news tonight displayed lots of folks stranded and no seats available on other airlines. It was an incredibility sad day for a lot of people in Hawaii. Half of the employees at Aloha Airlines had worked there more than 20 years and their coworkers had become family. It was a great place to work and everyone loved coming to work and seeing each other. In the end, it was the fare war by GO, the rising fuel prices and the older interisland planes that use a lot of gas that did us in. In 2006, there were plans to get new planes, but when the fare wars happened, too much money was being lost and the new planes never happened.

This time Chapter 11 was different. The current owners had been trying to reorganize for the last two years. During the first week of March 2008, management told a group of pilots in ground school that the company was getting new planes, expanding with another company and that there would be something in the paper within two weeks. However, around March 15th, the other company backed out of the deal and the present owners gave up. When Aloha filed Chapter 11, there were four companies looking to invest. Everyone thought that one of the companies would show up on March 31st at the court hearing and we would continue ops until things were reorganized. However, it came as a big surprise to everyone when Aloha announced on March 30th that they were shutting down.

The news tonight reported that Aloha reservations received 8000 calls, or more than twice the average of 4000 per day. A lot of employees came in on their off day to help out, but that didn’t solve all the problems. I am disappointed that United Airlines (Aloha’s code share business partner) didn’t do more, or pick up the Aloha Air miles. Those miles had always been transferable before. I had over 100,000 miles and it looks like they are gone. I feel the pain for everyone that had those miles.

I am selling my house that we bought three years ago, downsizing and moving on. However, I am probably better off than 90% of the people that I work with. It is a very painful day for a lot of people. I hope that everyone is able to get their money back from their credit card companies and that they are able to complete their vacation plans this year.

My sister was supposed to visit this June, and she wanted to fly from Honolulu to the big island. I told her to put her plans on hold another year and not to come out this year. Everyone will need to reconsider their options. I recommend avoid flying interisland until after summer 2008. It will be very difficult for Hawaiian and GO to pick up the extra passengers in the near future. The news reported that Aloha flies 8000 passengers on a daily basis and that Hawaiian and GO will increase service for an additional 6000 seats. So, what are the other 2000 people suppose to do??? Maybe United will come in with a couple flights to help out. In any event, all flights will be very full. Don’t miss your connection, or you could have major problems. If you are angry, please be angry at GO or Mesa, they caused this mess. They still owe Hawaiian $80 million and have to face Aloha in court during October 2008. They are in serious trouble.

I think that I can speak for all the employees at Aloha when I say “Thank you to everyone for flying Aloha over the years”. It was the best eight years of my life. To all our friends, I hope that our paths will cross again.

Aloha, Tom Palmer, Captain Aloha Airlines

 

[tompalm]

I just remembered that the Super Ferry is starting service again on April 23rd. However, I would only use them as a last resort. They have been having a lot of problems.

 

[GrammyR]

Interisland flights

I called my credit card company as soon as I learned about the fiasco. They said that it would be no problem getting a refund. I then went online and booked a flight from Honolulu to Kona and back through Hawaiian Airlines. That took forever because the computer kept kicking it off. I finally got a confirmation though. The price was the same as it was a few weeks ago when I book through Aloha. I unfortunately chose Aloha because the times were better for our schedule. I did have to pay about $40 more for the same trip, but at this point, that doesn't seem too bad considering what others are finding out.

 

[Cathyb]

softball -- sorry and thank you for alerting us about II Travel and promises made by them