[Bwco]

We were flying from OGG to HNL on Hawaiian and then from HNL to EWR on Continental. We went to check via computer early in the day and Hawaiian had no record of our reservation. (The flight was a code share with Continental). Hawaiian told us to call Continental. Continental told us to call Hawaiian. I spoke to a supervisor at Hawaiian and they said that they could not help me even though I was flying on their airline. I finally called Orbitz, who I had made the reservation with, and after an hour on the phone, they assured us that we had valid reservations.

I did not trust Orbitz, so we went to the airport several hours early to check in. The best case scenario would be that we would check in, drop off our luggage and then grab some lunch before our flight. The worst case scenario, which happened, is that we would spend a lot of time trying to get on the plane.

When we got to the airport, Hawaiian stated that they did not have a reservation for us, inspite of Orbitz's assurances that we did. We had to go to United, located way on the other side of the airport. It was about 500 feet away. It was the end of our vacation and we both had a lot of luggage. My wife also has a very obvious handicap which makes it hard for her to carry things and even grip luggage. After spending an hour with United, and almost having to buy tickets, which I would have disputed anyway with my credit card company, we were able to get checked in for the 20 minute flight from Maui to Honolulu. However Hawaiian could not check us in for the Honolulu to Newark flight.

Hawaiian Airlines could check our luggage to Newark, but could not give us boarding passes for the Newark flight. Again we had to go to the other side of the terminal to United. United could not give us boarding passes, so we decided to try our luck with Continental in Honolulu. When we got to Honolulu, we spoke to a Continental Agent, who resolved the issue in about a minute.

I spent about 3 hours that day on the phone and at ticket counters with Orbitz, Hawaiian, Continental and United. Of course as soon as I got back to NJ, I filed a complaint about Hawaiian with the DOT.