In the autumn of 2005 my mother Doris Riemann was diagnosed with what quickly became terminal cancer. I was ferrying her to treatments daily and sadly, at the same time, my father Russ was in an accelerating decline.
In October, Mom bought my family tickets to Hawaii, to a place in Kihei where we had spent quite a bit of time together. The dates were set for January 10, 2005. This was the final gift to my family from my mother.
Without getting into the overwhelmingly sad details, Dad died on November 15 and Mom died on January 6. While she was still lucid, Mom insisted that we should go to Hawaii on the 10th.
Obviously I was in no shape to take a "vacation" then, and I had called Hawaiian Vacations to change the reservations a week earlier when it was obvious that there was no telling when the inevitable would come. The woman I spoke to said that there was no problem, and that I could call back when things were settled and set a new date for the reservations. Apparently, according to an internal document, I was told I had to rebook within a year during this conversation. I wasn't in very good condition to catch the implication that I'd lose the tickets. At any rate I didn't draw the conclusion that what was eventually going to happen with Hawaiian Vacations would come to pass.
Later in the spring, after discussing the situation with my sisters, we decided that it would be good to spread their ashes off the coast of Kihei. We came up with dates in March of 2006.
I dutifully logged on to hawaiianvacations.com in April and saw that there were no flying dates uploaded for that period. So I called. I let them know the dates I wanted to book the flight. I was told that I should log on in a couple of months when the new dates were in the computer. I asked about my reservation number and was told that everything was fine, that there was a $50 fee for moving the tickets but that was all.
So in September I logged on to find the dates and they were up on the website and available. I called our accommodations (Hale Pau Hana) in Kihei and re-booked them. They were wonderful about it, and remembered my situation and added no surcharges.
Then I called Hawaiian Vacations.
I told my reservation specialist when I wanted to book the flight. She said I had to travel before January.
“Huh?”
I was somewhat tersely told that I had to book a time before January 6, 2006 or maybe give my tickets away because they expire after one year. "It's on all the literature."
I tried to explain (through my shock) that these tickets were a gift and that there was no accompanying literature. There was nothing on the pages of email I had about this policy.
"Can I speak to your supervisor?"
"She's been out for a couple of days, sick. But I've worked here five years and I've never seen her change one of these."
“So what would you do if you were me?”
“You need to travel before January 6, 2006 or sell your tickets.”
So I hung up the phone, basically having just been told that nobody there would ever give a shit about what I had been told in April, and that I could just sell (at a loss) the last gift from my mother, and that their policy was inflexible.
I made a few calls to some friends to see if anybody knew someone above “supervisor status” there, I was told that apparently someone at Hawaiian Vacations was going to get back to me, but two weeks then passed without a peep. I hear that three emails were launched to Hawaiian Vacations about my situation at that point with no response.
So I made my way to the Hawaiian Vacations building on Northern Lights to talk to a “supervisor.” I re-explained my situation in person, thinking that someone may have a little compassion.
I pointed out that they had not told me last spring that I wouldn’t be able to travel in March.
The supervisor pointed out that she had lost her mother last April and “It’s hard to sort all the things out . . .” but, no, I had to travel by January 6, 2006. “It’s because of our accounting. We have to clear all of this off.”
While I was sitting there, two people came in looking for the people who work upstairs, the Owners or Vice Presidents I guess. But they were off in Japan or somewhere. So there was no “going upstairs.”
Now it seems natural to me that they could give me a refund and I could buy new tickets. I mean, I just want to just go to Hawaii with my family to spread my parents’ ashes.
I wasn’t asking for an upgrade.
I wasn’t asking for free tickets.
I was just asking them to do the right thing. The thing that wasn’t a problem in three phone calls last spring.
Hell, I was even willing to buy an extra ticket on the spot for my son who would still be under age 2 when we travel.
But apparently the “Right Thing” is not something that falls within their mission statement or policies.
Well, I have some policies of my own.
First of all, when a company sets up policies like this that are inhumanely inflexible, someone should point them out. And in a way that will directly get their attention.
And when a company hires supervisors to turn down absolutely the most obviously human gesture of accommodating a situation like this, I want to be sure to issue a cautionary tale to anyone who will listen so nobody else will be dealt with in such a dismissive manner.
Kurt Riemann
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