Hawaiian Airlines Extends Travel Waiver for Maui Flights

As the island of Maui continues to assess the damage and start on the road to recovery from last week’s wildfires, Hawaii’s biggest airline is getting more flexible for its future travelers.

On Tuesday, Hawaiian Airlines extended that waiver for all guests traveling to Kahului to Dec. 15, 2023. The waiver allows those scheduled for Hawaiian Airlines flights to or from Kahului to reschedule their flight to new dates with no change fees and with all fare differences waived as long as the new ticket is in the same cabin.

Hawaiian is allowing those ticket holders to change their city to and from Kahului, Mona, Jilo, Honolulu, or Lihue.

If flyers rather cancel their flight, Hawaiian is allowing them to use the total unused value of the new ticket until it expires, which is one year from the original date of purchase. No change fees will be charged for doing that, though fare differences may apply.

And, for those who want to cancel and instead receive a refund, Hawaiian is allowing those requests to be made through its reservations department, or through an online form, as long as it’s done by Sept. 1. For those doing so online, Hawaiian is asking them to include the topic “refund” and the sub-topic “Maui Fire Travel Waiver” on the online form.

Hawaii has been discouraging all non-essential travel to West Maui since earlier this week and Governor Josh Green said in an emergency proclamation this week that the advisory will last until at least the end of August.

“Visitors largely heeded the call to leave Maui in the early days of this unprecedented disaster. In the weeks ahead, the collective resources and attention of the federal, state, and county government, the West Maui community, and the travel industry must be focused on the recovery of residents who lost loved ones, homes, their belongings, and businesses,” the Hawaii Tourism Authority said this week.

West Maui Hotels have also halted their bookings while they do what they can to aid in the recovery.