Stranded in Hawaii, no joke, help/ideas?

[Billfred]

Unfortunately, the Aviation and Transportation Security Act of 2001 had a provision to help here--but it expired in 2006. In the meantime, I suggest drafting an extremely well-defined plan to split up the team into smaller groups (each with a responsible adult at the helm) and get communicating with the district that this is about the only hope for getting the team back in the current situation. Rules are good, but this is a unique situation. (Even better is if you can actually get some seats, which would give you some leverage.) Either way, getting in line at Hawaiian might work.

Good luck!

[Vince lau]

I heard about Aloha Airlines folding this morning and was wondering about teams that went to the Hawaii regional. Hopefully you can get your school board to allow you to fly back in groups, each teach/mentor takes back a group of students. Wish there was more that I could do, but good luck and stay safe, hope you can find flights back soon

[ReaperGoat]

Unfortunately, it sounds like your best bet for now is to hang tight and wait until you hear from your district, unless you can manage to get the whole team on a single flight. The idea of trying to catch the ferry back to the mainland is definitely an option there, but of course that's probably going to depend entirely on how much it's going to set you back on the funds you currently have (which doesn't sound like much). Contacting the media to get your story out would really be a very good idea, and could possibly get you help the fastest, since airlines will be pretty willing to take the free publicity of helping out a team in need. You might also want to contact the Governer's office, and let her know about your plight. As supportive of FIRST as she is, I'm alomst certain she wouldn't want to hear that a team was stranded in her state without any help.

Best of luck getting home safely, if you can't get there quickly.

[Racer26]

Wow... This is one of those things I would have never even dreamed of happening. My thoughts is that when an airline declares bankruptcy, they should be required by law to stop selling tickets, and fly out any tickets that were already sold, thusly preventing such a situation from happening... however, its a little late for that. Its interesting though, that only one team is reporting this problem... I would have imagined there being more than just one team stranded because of this. My understanding was that the only inter-island airlines were Aloha and Hawaiian, and I can't imagine everyone else took Hawaiian.

EDIT: Oh right, Hawaii's governor is very FIRST supportive. Try getting in contact with her, she might be able to use her pull to make something happen. Anyone thinking a ride on a government aircraft?

[Shelbo]

You need to step outside your box to get the help you need...from the Hawaii FRC teams...
One of the FRC Hawaii teams needs to take up your cause. They can contact local church and civic groups (VFW, Ruritan, Rotary, etc.) about getting you better/cheaper accomodations in a church hall or another building with kitchen facilities. They can pull together and provide your meals while you wait this out. While you stay with your team as a chaperone, the Hawaiian mentors can approach the airlines directly, not via telephone. Someone should also contact the public relations department at the Navy Base.

No matter where you are stranded, an FRC team should always be nearby, to help out, and get the ball rolling for you. If none of the above pan out, reply back and I'll see what else I can pull together.

~Shelbo's Mom

[Shelbo]

How many students and adults? Where are you at right now? What is your current status? How can someone in Hawaii reach you?

~Shelbo's Mom

[Brian J. R.]

Just heard about this on the news, it said that if you have tickets to call your travel agent (assuming you have one) to swap tickets to Hawaiian Airlines. Don't know how much help this is if you need a group flight, just thought I'd put it out there.

[Shelbo]

I tried to email the local Hawaii VFW Posts but they bounced back. Call the main headquarters 808-946-7250. Tell them how long you have been stranded, how many are in your group and that you are low on funds. Be specific about what would help- food, stuff to freshen up, accomodations or a place to hang out, help arranging transportation, etc. If you don't ask for it, they won't know that you need it. Most Posts have funds set aside for emergencies. My local Post is #253 if you need a reference; 253 won't know me by name but they will know my Dad. Veterans live to help out and love to be needed!
~Shelbo's Mom aka Christine George, daughter of John Dawson, VFW Post #253

[Tazlikesrobots]

Wow! Sorry to hear that. This may be a good time to do Dean's homework and use the media exposure to get a flight back. Who knows....you might be flying back on a private jet!

Keep us posted on the developments.

[adengler]

Hey RAWC,
Contact us if you need transportation or a place to stay. We'll help you work it out.
Team 2090
808-375-9263

[ajisjesus]

Originally Posted by Shelbo

You need to step outside your box to get the help you need...from the Hawaii FRC teams...
One of the FRC Hawaii teams needs to take up your cause. They can contact local church and civic groups (VFW, Ruritan, Rotary, etc.) about getting you better/cheaper accomodations in a church hall or another building with kitchen facilities. They can pull together and provide your meals while you wait this out. While you stay with your team as a chaperone, the Hawaiian mentors can approach the airlines directly, not via telephone. Someone should also contact the public relations department at the Navy Base.

No matter where you are stranded, an FRC team should always be nearby, to help out, and get the ball rolling for you. If none of the above pan out, reply back and I'll see what else I can pull together.

~Shelbo's Mom

Aloha,

All of us here in Hawaii understand these teams situations very well, we've all had our getting stranded nightmares (missing flights due to over lapping, airlines stopping flights, etc...) if anyone needs help in the meanwhile and some of you are on a neighbor island such as the big island, (*hint hint wink wink* ) we would be more than happy to help out as much as possible. This is a very odd and complicated situation where you are in the right place... at the wrong time. Standing inline at Hawaiian may not be a bad idea while you wait for help from your district. Hawaiian is keeping $49.00 flights (inter island i think.. that may come in handy) until the 7th, and then it truly will be impossible for you to get home. ATA Airlines already has taken advantage of this situation and not in a good way, even before Aloha formally announced that they would no longer continue flights the price of their tickets jumped nearly four times the price over night. This is a serious problem that has not only affected these teams but is making it next to impossible to find our Hawaii teams that qualified for Atlanta (McKinely, Waialua, Waiakea, Honoka'a, etc...) to actually make it there. It is a very sad situation were many of our friends and family are losing their jobs and making an already bad economic situation worse. To save some money try to stay out of the cities or you will be in a very very bad situation in a very short period of time.

Yes, our governor is very much into FIRST and is very supportive of our teams and all that have come to our state for FIRST. I'm not sure that this situation has been brought to her attention, but now that us Hawaii teams know trust me someone will be on the phone.

I speak for all Hawaii teams when I say I hope you make it home safely and in a timely manner. If you cant make it home soon try to make the best of the situation and enjoy the sunshine just a little longer. Might help to ease the stress of being stranded just a bit. You helped to make this regional a success and I hope that despite this you return and not just for FIRST. Your all great people and it would be cool to meet you guys again.

If any team cant afford to sit by and wait for something to happen (which I'm sure is the case) PM me, my mother is extremely good at getting flights at reasonable prices, might be kinda tight now that airlines are jacking up prices though.

I wish you luck in what ever happens and hope that your team(s) return home safely

Mahalo,
-aj

[sanddrag]

Here's an update:

The only flights out of here to Southern California that you can buy are over $800. The school has agreed to let the students fly separately. The students and teacher arrived at the airport at 3 AM this morning. The ticket counter for Hawaiian Airlines opened at 4:15 AM. The people staffing the ticket counter were only called to come into work early at approximately 11 PM last night. They were given a three page poor quality photocopied guide of how to handle displaced Aloha passengers, and absolutely zero training. The numbers they were provided to key into their computer system didn't work at first. Sounds from behind the Hawaiian ticket counter consisted of "They can't do this to us" and "How do they expect us do accommodate all their displaced passengers?" Sounds from the terminal were mostly "Our flight has been canceled" and "everyone is booked" and "luckily we bought them on a credit card so there's some hope of getting our money back"

After more than an hour, the students and teacher were able to obtain standby passes. There are three planes to Los Angeles and two planes to San Diego today. All our crates will be going to Los Angeles. None of the students or teacher got onto the first flight out to Los Angeles. There were zero seats left. Based on this, getting six people on the four remaining flights doesn't seem likely. They have a place to stay for one more night. Hopefully they'll get on flights today. If not, I suppose they'll have to try again tomorrow.

Hawaiian cannot transfer our tickets to another airline (as they would do for overbooked passengers who get bumped) because this only got dumped on them by Aloha, and Hawaiian isn't making any money on shuffling Aloha's people around.

It is understandable that fierce competition can bring a company to its knees. But to ride out every last dollar and suspend flights virtually without warning and to not have a structured collapse system in place to me seems neither gracious nor professional.

Thank you all for the kind words and offers of help. We'll keep you posted and let you know if we need to call upon you.

UPDATE: Hooray! Four of the students got on a flight to LAX. 2 more people to go.

[Protronie]

Originally Posted by Tazlikesrobots

Wow! Sorry to hear that. This may be a good time to do Dean's homework and use the media exposure to get a flight back. Who knows....you might be flying back on a private jet!

Keep us posted on the developments.

There an excellent idea... contact some of the big cooperations and
see if they might be willing to let yous borrow the corp jet.

[explodingcan]

We almost had this situation yesterday. Our flight on aloha was on Monday March 31st. We had to call our travel agency and they said that our flight wasnt cancelled ut it was just close.

[ajisjesus]

Originally Posted by explodingcan

We almost had this situation yesterday. Our flight on aloha was on Monday March 31st. We had to call our travel agency and they said that our flight wasnt cancelled ut it was just close.

leave it to the big island teams to get the absolutly last flight home...