When an American Airlines flight to Honolulu was canceled on Christmas Eve, American Airlines thought outside of the box and displayed the Aloha Sprit rather than leave passengers stranded.
American Airlines Shows Aloha Spirit With Re-Route Of AA1859
After the midday Los Angeles – Honolulu flight was canceled, American Airlines could have just rebooked passengers for the next day. Instead, American Airlines put them on AA1859 from Maui and added a stop in Honolulu.
It is likely the new trip was quite crowded, though I would guess that no one was bumped (though some may have been downgraded from first class to economy class). With a negative COVID-19 required to avoid quarantine in Hawaii, it is likely that most passengers onboard tested negative.
An American Airlines spokesperson noted:
“American Airlines Flight 1859 from Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) to Kahului Airport (OGG) has a planned diversion to Daniel K. Inouye International Airport (HNL) to accommodate customers from another flight.”
Give yourself a little credit, American Airlines. It was actually a very nice gesture. Dare I’d say as a mainlander, a bit of Aloha Spirit:
Per Hawaiian statute (yes, its codified into law), the definition of Aloha Spirit includes five elements:
- “Akahai“, meaning kindness to be expressed with tenderness
- “Lōkahi“, meaning unity, to be expressed with harmony
- “ʻOluʻolu” meaning agreeable, to be expressed with pleasantness
- “Haʻahaʻa“, meaning humility, to be expressed with modesty
- “Ahonui“, meaning patience, to be expressed with perseverance
But perhaps the true holders of Aloha Spirit were the Maui-bound passengers onboard. The plane was operated by an Airbus A321 with a dense configuration onboard. The extra 90 minutes onboard must not have been fun.
Furthermore, the flight arrived at 11:00pm instead of 9:30pm. It isn’t clear if the rental car counters waited for all the delayed flight. Even if they did, it meant a very late arrival (not to mention missing any 11:00pm Christmas candlelight service).
But everyone made it to Hawaii safely.
CONCLUSION
In a fairly dark hour of aviation history, this is a feel-good story that should make us smile. Everyone made it to Hawaii. Christmas was saved.
(H/T: View from the Wing)
True it is/was a great story and PR for AA, having said that remember in order for that to have worked the total passenger load of the combined flights had to work in order to carry this off.
Whom ever the station manager is should get a huge “thank you”
maikaʻi hoʻokahi brah
Maui pax should have gotten some minor comp at least I would hope
nice gesture, but if i paid for a non stop flight to Maui, I should be compensated for the added inconvenience of a now one stop itinerary.