Hawaiian Air charged a $75 fee, per ticket, for processing the refunds after Jane Wilkens’ mom died of a blood clot and wasn’t able to take a planned vacation with her daughter and her friend, in essence, charging the late Mrs. Wilkens a fee for dying.
A Hawaiian Airlines spokesperson said the charge was, “a refund fee for processing the refund…There’s administration involved — paperwork, computer entries… The processing of the refund takes staff time that costs the company money.”
In contrast, the Hilton canceled their reservation without blinking, as did Delta for a separate trip to Maine. Hawaiian Air should be ashamed of itself for trying to profit off dead people. Since Jane charged it on her American Express, she was able to do a chargeback for the $225.
Airline descends to a new low: a death fee [LAT] (Thanks to Paul!)
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@hollerhither: aren’t you one of buran’s followers?
@num1skeptic: I’m a fanGIRL of being honest and keeping your word and not being a whiny crybaby.
What’s really sad is that people think that is offensive and unacceptable and that it’s OK to bitch and moan and whine til you get what you want.
@humperdinck: Um… it’s the DAUGHTER that signed the contract. Not the mother. As I’ve already pointed out, if the mother had purchased the tickets, the debt would be written off by the bank as a loss as debt is discharged when you die.
Good heavens, expecting people to live up to the obligations they enter into!?!? The sky is falling! OMG! The world is coming to an end!
must be easy to be a girl of your word when your on the consumerist 24/7
Wow, I almost don’t have anything to say. Almost.
HAL (Hawaiian Airlines) had a contract, sure. Terms of said contract involved processing fee for any changes. They were within their rights to charge the $75.
They were NOT within their rights charging it 3 times.
With all the facts (7 months notice, the cancellation is due to death, etc.) they should have been able to waive the fee as a courtesy.
To all those saying there’s too much potential abuse, there’s a really simple fix. Instead of verifying every single death (waaaaaaaaaaaay too much effort involved right) waive the fee and put the name into a database for the future. Anytime that name pops up on subsequent itineraries, it is red flagged and the customer is contacted to provide information.
As for what it costs Hawaiian (not Hawaii) Airlines to process the refund, chalk up the CSR’s comments to stupidity.
I do know this: Hawaiian Airlines has outsourced all of their reservations to the Philippines. Hawaiian Airlines has also just put in a $4.4 billion order for 24 Airbus aircraft. Not Boeing. Airbus.
@humperdinck: Why should we require that of companies when we don’t require it of consumers? Do you think the consumers are going to be loyal if and when it doesn’t suit their needs?
What about the rights of the owners of the companies to not lose money on people trying to take advantage of them?
@num1skeptic: OMG! I dare to voice my opinions! Therefore I apparently suck!
Excuse me, but everyone has the right to write in letters and ask for certain types of relief. It is entirely up to the businesses to decide how they react to those letters.
Companies that understand the value of long-term goodwill and public relations will see a situation involving a dead passenger as an isolated incidence and take care of their customer in order to get further business. Amex understood that, Hawaiian air decided that a $225 fee was worth offending a customer and potentially enormous amounts of potential bad publicity
I’m sure this lady will travel to Hawaii in the future, maybe not in a year (and therefore a credit voucher on their airline is worthless) but she will probably go, and I bet Hawaii air has no chance of getting her business.
This wasn’t a super-bargain shopper, this was a lady who bought 3 First Class tickets. Obviously a woman with the economic means to drop some cash.
@Murph1908: How may people die before using their plane tickets and seek refunds? I’m fine with your verification rule, but I doubt it would be much more of an administrative burden to ask the decedent’s estate to fax (or snail mail) a death certificate than it is to deny the claim. I mean… I can keep those people on the phone for a long time while I argue my case. Then, I can escalate the matter and take more of their time.
Or you can give me my $75 back because it’s the “right thing” to do (after you’ve viewed the death certificate, of course).
One last point…
I do understand that these companies are well within their rights to charge fees, deny refunds, and generally act like pricks.
What I don’t understand is why people wouldn’t rather do business with a company that makes an effort to maintain a positive relationship with its customers.
@erratapage: Now that is a good question. I think it’s a case of “they all suck equally so where are you going to go?”
@hollerhither: Whatever happened to practicing good business? I understand your position totally, and living up to one’s word is a good ideal to hold. I just don’t quite understand why you seem to have argued so fervently for your opinion.
Can’t you atleast admit that the other’s opinion that the fee should be waived because of this special circumstance is as valid as yours? You act as if it’s so onerous a request that one shouldn’t even consider it!
Haven’t you ever had a close family member die? As a customer service issue, and the morally right thing to do in my mind, is to ask for proof of death and waive the fee if it’s provided.
Yes, they are completely within their right to charge the fee. That doesn’t make them any less of a GIANT DICK for doing so though. Jesus, don’t you people have ANY empathy at all?
@crypticgeek: I don’t think there’s anything necessarily wrong with asking for a full refund due to a death. Some companies might be nice and give that full refund. Others won’t. I don’t even have much of a problem with telling other people “hey, this company doesn’t have any empathy because they won’t give full refunds when a trip has to be canceled due to death.” That might be information other people would like to know.
The problem with the situation here is that she ultimately went to Amex to get the refund. It just seems underhanded to me. Amex should not have been involved at all as there were nothing fraudulent about the charges. Once Amex was called to dispute a charge that is known to be valid, then I start to lose sympathy.
@crypticgeek: So we’re dicks for asking others to hold up to their promises? Wow. So we’re dicks if we do and dicks if we don’t.
I think there’s nothing wrong at all with ASKING, but it’s being an entitlement whore/bitch/insert-your-favorite-insult-here when you get told “no” that’s not acceptable.
Doesn’t make much sense to charge a refund fee since refunding would lower the gross profits of a business allowing for lower taxation.
Unless of course Hawaiian Air has a robot designing these fees because common sense tells you that causing additional grief on someone who’s already going through a tough period ain’t exactly good for customer retention.