Passengers left waiting days for delayed flight: ‘We want to go home’

HONOLULU (KHNL/Gray News) - A Hawaiian Airlines flight from Las Vegas to Honolulu has been delayed for days, and passengers are wanting answers.

Hawaiian Airlines Flight 5 was scheduled to take off from Las Vegas on Wednesday evening.

But that flight has been delayed, canceled, and rescheduled multiple times.

“I just hope all of us get home safely,” said Nichole, a passenger. “We want to go home.”

She said the first delay for her, and her family was on Wednesday night. The flight got pushed from 6:30 p.m. to 8:45 p.m.

At around 10 p.m., passengers were notified their flight was rescheduled to Thursday morning.

Then on Thursday, another day of delays with the new flight being pushed back to Saturday.

“We’re all pretty unsure if this flight is even going to go, we’re not having a good time,” she said. “They also let us know if we were to go with another airline or they were to rebook us another way that we would be waiving any right to compensation.”

She added, “I’m about $1,000 out of pocket right now, as far as like money lost.”

According to Hawaiian Airlines, a baggage belt loader that made contact with the aircraft required an inspection. However, they were unable to complete an assessment before crewmembers exceeded their duty time.

Due to ongoing aircraft inspection, the flight was canceled.

Hawaiian said it provided guests with $20 food vouchers and hotel rooms through Saturday.

But Nichole said they had to check out of their room Friday morning.

“We asked the bell desk to just hold our luggage and see if they can hold it until tomorrow,” Nichole said. “So, luckily there’s a place for them, we have nine pieces of luggage.”

Hawaiian Airlines apologized if guests were offered shared rooms because of limited hotel availability. In addition, it said guests should contact its consumer affairs team to request reimbursement of any eligible personal expenses, including meals and transportation.

The airline said its team works to process refunds within four weeks.