If you have a death in the family, don't look towards Hawaiian Airlines for a full refund
Monrovia resident Jane Wilkens, 48, was looking forward to a getaway to Hawaii's Big Island this coming April with her 77-year-old mom and one of her mom's friends. In August, she booked three first-class tickets to Kona on Hawaiian Airlines for $4,287.
But in September, Wilkens' mom underwent surgery for a back problem. Three days later, she unexpectedly died from a blood clot.
"It was horrible," Wilkens recalled. "She was my best friend. We were very close, and this was devastating to me."
After dealing with all the things that arise under such circumstances, Wilkens finally got around to canceling various travel arrangements. She contacted the Hilton Waikoloa Village resort, where she'd booked a suite for about $600 per night, and explained what had happened.
"Just like that, they canceled the reservation," Wilkens said.
She contacted Delta Air Lines, on which she'd booked a separate first-class trip for a "girls' weekend" in Maine after she and her mom returned from Hawaii. "They fully refunded the tickets, no questions asked," Wilkens said.
She contacted Hawaiian Airlines, which, like Delta, requested a copy of her mom's death certificate. About a month later, Wilkens received a letter from Paul Whitaker, Hawaiian Air's "resolution coordinator."
He said the airline would refund each of the three first-class tickets but would deduct a $75 "service fee" per ticket, or $225.
Whitaker wrote that Hawaiian Air understood that the death of Wilkens' mom was "an uncontrollable event," but nevertheless believed its fees were "fair and reasonable." He said the carrier now considered the case closed.
"I thought that was ridiculous," Wilkens told me. "I bought those tickets nine months in advance and canceled seven months in advance. It's not like they wouldn't have time to resell them.
"It wasn't the money," she added. "It was the principle."
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We all understand about the "service fee" for refunding the ticket, but given the advance warning and the exceptional circumstances involved, it would have been a bit of good PR for the airline to forgo the fee.
Use a bit of courtesy!
Comments
Posted by: Malcolm
Posted on: December 20, 2007 06:56 PM
I had a similar, though far less traumatic experience. I made a reservation, then called back within five minutes after realizing I had gotten some inadvertantly wrong information from a friend I was meeting. They wouldn't make a change without charging me the full change amount. Yes, my mistake, but it was literally five minutes. I told them "Aloha flies everywhere you do for the same prices. You realize you're losing me as a customer forever, right?" They wouldn't budge, and they did. I go to Hawaii every 2 years, too. What an idiotic way to run a business.