Q&A
Q. Your tickets expire after one year. It's clearly stated on the contract. So what's the problem?
A. My tickets expire after one year. Not that it is on the Hawaiian Vacations vouchers I was given as the gift. Not that I was in any condition to understand exactly what I was told in January, but I thought that I had to "book " the flight. (This is the reason that companies with souls have exceptions for people in extraordinary circumstances, like deaths in the family . . .) I was certainly not reminded about the policy in April when I tried to book the 2006 flight. In April they told me to check back in a few months for the March flights, while looking at my reservations, telling me the extra re-booking fee, never mentioning I would lose the tickets. Besides, I never saw the contract, I only saw emails from Hawaiian Vacations about the reservations. I had to dig through my dead Mother's papers to find the "contract".
Q. Was the "One Year" policy on that?
A. I had to read it four times to find it. It's in a section about "Trans-Pacific flight". I assumed that meant Asia or Australia the first three times I read the contract, so I skipped it.
Nor could I find it anywhere on their website, not that it was something I ever thought to look for in the spring. I don't know if their website is changed yet or not.
Q. Why don't you just sell the tickets?
A. Like they have told me to in my last three conversations with them? Look, it was the last gift my Mother gave us. How would YOU feel about pawning the tickets and paying transfer fees and getting maybe half of what she put into it? Probably the same way I feel. I think this is someone else's problem, not mine. It's not like they never got the money, for crying out loud.
Q. Okay, what's your own company policy on family death?
A. For the twenty-plus years I have been in business I have always made it a policy to eliminate the debt or refund any credits. Families have enough to deal with. Someone just died, for God's sake. I've noticed there entire divisions of credit card companies that go after the estates of deceased individuals for owed money. I'd like to think I'm on a more compassionate path.
Q. Aren't you just trying to get free stuff from Hawaiian Vacations?
A. I never asked for anything that hasn't been paid for. I just wanted to go to Hawaii in March of 2006 to spread my parent's ashes in the Pacific, like Mom paid for, and like Hawaiian Vacations told me I could in April of 2005. Since then I've been treated like a scammer.
Q. How long have they had the money?
A. Over a year.
Q. Why didn't they ever offer an exchange?
A. Beats me. Lethargic inflexibility? You'll remember that the Titanic had the same problem.
Q. Do you hate Hawaiian Vacations?
A. It's just a company. And in this case, a company defined by it's policies. Policies that Suck.
Q. How many times have you talked to them?
A. Six. Twice in person.
Q. Don't you think that if Hawaiian Vacations started allowing people to change their trips because both their parents died and were told that they could go next year then they'd have to let EVERYBODY whose parents died and were told that they could go next year change their tickets?
A. Yes. It sounds like a fine, fine policy change. An excellent idea. They just haven't been open to it quite yet.
Q. How much money do they pay these people to act like this?
A. Just enough?
Q. What do you think of the people?
A. I'm sure they are regular people, proud of their kids and that they enjoy what they do. Everyone has pictures of their families in their cubicles. They seem normal. Until you ask them to deviate from policy.
Q. Do you think they ever have extended dates for anyone?
A. No. Like the reservation specialist said - in five years she's never seen anyone get an extension.
Q. What do you think of that?
A. Guess.
Q. Back in January when you called, did you think that Hawaiian Vacations was okay?
A. Back in January I thought I had a compassionate person on the phone who told me to call back when things were better and that the tickets were safe. It has since been explained to me that was not the case.
Q. What do you think it would take for them to change the flight date for someone?
A. Jesus, I don't know. I can't think of many worse circumstances that would also include wanting to travel.
Q. Do you think that the whole "accounting" excuse is bullshit?
A. Excellent question. Perhaps you should ask Hawaiian Vacations. For a company that gives away as many tickets as they do, they could probably find their way around this "accounting" problem. Probably by issuing new vouchers and reselling the old ones. Seeing as how it's not something they normally do, every "supervisor" might have their brain explode because of having to actually think again.
Q. Are they going to be pissed if they read this?
A. They have read this. And yes, I pissed off the entire company. That's too bad because this started essentially as a shot over the bow from a very unhappy ticketholder who felt that they should know about the real repurcussions of a bad policy. I deliberately hadn't told anyone except the person who passed it on to a former employee of Hawaiian Vacations. I just let them know through personal channels that it existed.
Then, of course, somehow everyone at Hawaiian Vacations read it. I guess they can't keep a secret. At least this one.
By the way - I took the site down voluntarily the first time when it looked like they were going to do the right thing. Nobody ever requested for me to take it down or questioned my experience.
Q. Do you think anyone has read this far?
A. Hard to tell. It's no fun reading about other people's problems.
Q. Is this site slanderous or libelous?
A. That is not my intention at all. Hawaiian Vacations actions stand on their own without any reinterpretation on my part. As Douglas Adams wrote, "Life is bad enough as it is without wanting to invent any more of it."
In order to prove slander or libel, you have to be able to prove that what was said or written about you was false. If the information is true, there is no slander or libel. Basically, nothing here is false. People did what they did. If their actions cast them in a bad light, then it certainly isn't my fault. I gave them every opportunity to act well.
And I am being quite public about asking for corrections. Of course I'm concerned about honesty, that's why I welcome such corrections. So far, there has been very little.
Simply put, everyone's actions speak for themselves. I'm just letting you know what I think about those actions. And that right is protected. God Bless America.
Q. Isn't this like fighting windmills?
A. Policies are set up to make life convenient for the company, not for us. Considering the vast sums they get from us, there better be some good customer service involved. Hawaiian Vacations has no Customer Service I can discern. Just reservations people and "supervisors." "Supervisors" who, from my very specific and recurring experience, only hover about to enforce rules, and not take changing circumstances into account. Everyone else in charge was on vacation or out of state spending Mom's money, I guess.
Q. Why don't you think you'll get much money for your tickets?
A. For nearly ten months I was under the clear assumption that there was no problem, because in each phone call I wasn't told about this policy, just to call back and make the reservations. So now I have to sell these tickets and God only knows if there are any flights available for whovever may buy them. I still have a problem with selling this particular gift, as you may notice. Maybe it has something to do with the deep pissed-off feeling that Hawaiian Vacations has diminished both the monetary and sentimental value of what was supposed to be a time for reflection.
Instead, it has turned into this. It's a losing battle with a corporation that so obviously values itself above me and my situation - i.e. doesn't give a shit and apparently hates me for pointing out how I feel to them. Thanks a lot, Hawaiian Vacations.
Q. What would it take to make the problem go away?
A. Pretty soon it's not going to be my problem. I'm going to have to sell the tickets and buy new ones at a loss.
Q. Then what happens to this website?
A. I pay a small sum to the ISP and it stays up for five years, a lone Beacon in the Dark if you will about my experience with Hawaiian Vacations.
Q. Bummer.
A. That wasn't a question, but yes, it'll be a bummer. But not for me.
Kurt Riemann
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