How to Miss a Flight to Sacramento on Hawaiian Airlines

Not that bad to miss my flight to Sacramento on Hawaiian Airlines.

If you’re ever in a position to fly home to Sacramento on Hawaiian Airlines, there is one important thing you need to know. In fact, you need to know this if you are flying anywhere on Hawaiian Airlines. When it’s cold in Sacramento and you’re getting ready to take a long winter vacation in Hawaii, little is more delightful than receiving that colorful email. Hibiscus flowers. Ocean waves. You know, the email that says, It’s Time to Check In for your Flight to Hawaii!!

Except there is no stinking’ email anymore. I thought it was just an odd thing when I flew to Hawaii last November. Just one of those technology glitches. But it is not. As I discovered yesterday. You won’t believe what I did. First, I wrote on the calendar when I arrived in Kona last November the date of January 31: when I’d return home. Like I would forget, right? I would not forget when to go home. Because I know when I need to do it. It was today, Wednesday.

So on Monday, I threw away all my food so it wouldn’t rot in the refrigerator. I packaged food meals in separate Rubbermaid containers. That way, I would not generate any trash. I can wash the dishes. I even divided a bottle of wine into four glasses so I could throw away the bottle in Tuesday’s trash pick-up and be all ready to depart on Wednesday morning. This is how organized I can be. I think it’s an illness.

Also on Tuesday, I took apart our Weber gas grill and cleaned all the greasy bits of it. Discarded the drippings pan. Polished the grill. Slipped on the cover. Washed all of the laundry. Sat down at my computer on the lanai to check the status of my flight. Strange. No email. OK, I’ll go to the website. Yikes, my flight home to Sacramento on Hawaiian Airlines showed only a departing flight out of Honolulu. Why would that be? Where is my Kona to Honolulu . . . uh, oh . . . it slowly dawned on me. Because my reservations to fly to Sacramento on Hawaiian Airlines was Tuesday. That inter-island flight had already departed.

Has this ever happened to you? It has never happened to me. I have never missed a flight. Well, there was that coke-induced period in the 1970s, I guess. But OK, not for 45 years.  Hey, I have appointments to keep this week. Important stuff like hair, pedicures and several listing consultations.

I discovered a text option on the Hawaiian Airlines website and sent a text: Help! I’ve missed my flight! Within seconds, a Hawaiian Airlines employee texted back. They could change my flight to Wednesday, but it would cost a bit over $1,000. What? What is that insanity? After I picked myself up off my lanai Futura stone, I asked about another day. Yes, if I fly to Sacramento on Hawaiian Airlines this Friday, it’s only a $20 difference in fare, plus the $200 change fee.

Just so you know, the $200 change fee is only for travel in North America. Not to Hawaii. In Hawaii, one pays fare changes, too. And since they don’t send emails anymore, you’ll have to remember to come home. You know why they stopped sending emails? Because everybody knows they have a website. I’m not making that up; it came from their lips. They blast me all of the time with promotions. I am now unsubscribing from all emails because the important one I need is no longer an option.

It’s not so bad, actually, to get 2 more days in Hawaii. Is it? Yup, I’m looking at the bright side. I have an excuse to dine out for a couple of days, and there is still time to run down to the beach. It’s not like one has to change hotels when we bought our own house in Hawaii.