Ata Crushed Us

[lampardcl]

The same thing happened to us on Christmas day. The airline we were due to fly to LAX with for our Disneyland trip went bankrupt so we were $3000 out of pocket! I phoned our credit card company (we needed to speak to the dispute department). We faxed our flight confirmation details to them, they sent us a form and we got our money back witin about 3 weeks. It was quite an easy process.
I hope you are able to book new flights.

Thankyou you have cheered me up today. I am now really hopeful we will be refunded like your family was. Is airline failures somthing that often happens in the USA?

 

[Danauk]

Thankyou you have cheered me up today. I am now really hopeful we will be refunded like your family was. Is airline failures somthing that often happens in the USA?

I'm not sure, the airline that this happend to with us was Max Jet. They were an American company but based here in the UK. When we phoned our credit card company up it did take us a while to get to the right department, just make sure you get through to the dispute department. Other departments told me getting my money back was not possible when I knew it was!!

 

[Where'sPiglet?]

Thankyou you have cheered me up today. I am now really hopeful we will be refunded like your family was. Is airline failures somthing that often happens in the USA?

This week, yes. Four airlines in four days is I think the current count. Aloha, ATA, Airbus, and something else.

It seems to be the smaller, budget airlines that are failing. I believe the government has bailed out the larger airlines (United, Delta...) more than once recently.

 

[TravelingJen24]

we need to book airline for Hawaii in Nov. but I think I'm going to wait a couple of days and see what pans out with all these airline issues. I looked at ATA the day before yesterday and were considering them. This is a real bummer and I'm sorry to all that have deal with these problems. At least Aloha gave a couple of weeks notice.

 

[DangerMouse]

we need to book airline for Hawaii in Nov. but I think I'm going to wait a couple of days and see what pans out with all these airline issues. I looked at ATA the day before yesterday and were considering them. This is a real bummer and I'm sorry to all that have deal with these problems. At least Aloha gave a couple of weeks notice.

I am considering myself extremely lucky. I booked airfare to Hawaii for my family just 3 days before ATA filed bankruptcy. I was leaning heavily toward flying with them because they had the best prices, but at the last minute US Air came through with a better deal.

Now I'm just praying that US Air stays afloat for the rest of the year.

 

[Kailua's Belle]

we need to book airline for Hawaii in Nov. but I think I'm going to wait a couple of days and see what pans out with all these airline issues. I looked at ATA the day before yesterday and were considering them. This is a real bummer and I'm sorry to all that have deal with these problems. At least Aloha gave a couple of weeks notice.

My advice would be to not wait too long. The Honolulu Advertiser reported yesterday that the loss of ATA and Aloha will cost the state approximately 500,000 visitors a year due to the loss of capacity coming in. Less capacity means higher ticket prices.

If you're in a location that Hawaiian Airlines flies in and out of, I would highly recommend them. They have gone above and beyond for Aloha customers. In addition to allowing Aloha customers stand-by seats on their flights, they also added an extra flight just for stranded Aloha customers and flew them to LA for no extra charge.

Anyway, I have flown Hawaiian many times to the mainland and they're a great airline! Good luck planning your trip to paradise, and feel free to pm me if you want any more info or recommendations.

 

[DisneySuiteFreak]

This week, yes. Four airlines in four days is I think the current count. Aloha, ATA, Airbus, and something else.

It seems to be the smaller, budget airlines that are failing. I believe the government has bailed out the larger airlines (United, Delta...) more than once recently.

I saw on CNN yesterday, it's 5 that have gone belly up: Aloha, ATA, Skybus, Champion Air, and Sun Country announced they will cease operations May 31. SAD!

 

[DisneySuiteFreak]

My advice would be to not wait too long. The Honolulu Advertiser reported yesterday that the loss of ATA and Aloha will cost the state approximately 500,000 visitors a year due to the loss of capacity coming in. Less capacity means higher ticket prices.

If you're in a location that Hawaiian Airlines flies in and out of, I would highly recommend them. They have gone above and beyond for Aloha customers. In addition to allowing Aloha customers stand-by seats on their flights, they also added an extra flight just for stranded Aloha customers and flew them to LA for no extra charge.

Anyway, I have flown Hawaiian many times to the mainland and they're a great airline! Good luck planning your trip to paradise, and feel free to pm me if you want any more info or recommendations.

I normally only fly Hawaiian if I can help it, but in researching fares for the next few months, round trip to LAS or LAX was coming back at $750 and up to over $1000. This was through August. That's ridiculous. The day before ATA went under I was getting quotes from Hawn for $400, next day, bam! $1000+ airfare to LAS. So I won't be flying them until they get more realistic with their pricing...or we get another low cost airline into the marketplace to force them to charge lower fares. Now Hawaiian is the monopoly. How ironic.

Howard Dicus the business reporter on KGMB9 news says that the mainland people will always have choices and competition for their dollars, but the people of Hawaii are going to be the ones eating it -- at least until another low cost carrier picks up the slack. Not to mention the trickle down effect on tourism that the loss of 500k -- some are reporting 700+k seats on ATA and Aloha -- this is going to have on our local economy.

 

[Albort]

This week, yes. Four airlines in four days is I think the current count. Aloha, ATA, Airbus, and something else.

It seems to be the smaller, budget airlines that are failing. I believe the government has bailed out the larger airlines (United, Delta...) more than once recently.

well, the smaller companies dont have much leverage since they dont exactly screw that many people over like if/when United or Delta cease operations, im sure like 30% of the flight cancelled would definately hurt the economic badly. Id say currently it only hurt like the 1-10% of the flights. maybe less.

Currently, a lot of the big companies have offered to bail them out. Some company has offered money for Aloha's Cargo Services as it has been said its like 60-80% of the exporting/importing of Hawaii.

ATA has tried a lot of things to try to keep alive but it just didnt work out. The US economy just isnt the same anymore.

US Airway just recieved the worst airline of the US. I would be careful with that airline. :\

 

[Lostgirlz]

I normally only fly Hawaiian if I can help it, but in researching fares for the next few months, round trip to LAS or LAX was coming back at $750 and up to over $1000. This was through August. That's ridiculous. The day before ATA went under I was getting quotes from Hawn for $400, next day, bam! $1000+ airfare to LAS. So I won't be flying them until they get more realistic with their pricing...or we get another low cost airline into the marketplace to force them to charge lower fares. Now Hawaiian is the monopoly. How ironic.

Howard Dicus the business reporter on KGMB9 news says that the mainland people will always have choices and competition for their dollars, but the people of Hawaii are going to be the ones eating it -- at least until another low cost carrier picks up the slack. Not to mention the trickle down effect on tourism that the loss of 500k -- some are reporting 700+k seats on ATA and Aloha -- this is going to have on our local economy.

GO air I have heard knocked Aloha out, but GO only does interisland which does not help us who are going mainland. I booked me, and my dd's flight into LAX last year for this oct on hawaiian. I hope there are NO more belly up's.

 

[samkj]

For those booked on ATA or any of the others, call the other airlines and explain the situation. Many are offering $100 standby fares and $200 confirmed seats for those affected by the cancellations.

 

[DisneySuiteFreak]

GO air I have heard knocked Aloha out, but GO only does interisland which does not help us who are going mainland. I booked me, and my dd's flight into LAX last year for this oct on hawaiian. I hope there are NO more belly up's.

Yes, Go did have a lot to do with Aloha's demise. Aloha should have jumped in on the lawsuit that Hawaiian won a lot sooner than they did. Their case is still pending against Go, but it's too late to help them now. If thay had been a party to the $80million judgement against Go, than perhaps GMAC financial would have been more open to continuing extending them credit until they could reorganize.
It's unfortunate because people who live here need more choices for travel especially to the mainland. Even when we still had ATA and Aloha, people from the mainland could often find cheap $299 or less R/T travel to Hawaii, but for us to fly the same route in reverse would be $400+ and worse during peak travel times. The airlines would often make up their shortfall by penalizing those who live here and don't have as many choices. (What are we going to do, swim?) So it's sad all the way around...

 

[DisneySuiteFreak]

Thankyou you have cheered me up today. I am now really hopeful we will be refunded like your family was. Is airline failures somthing that often happens in the USA?

No! But since 9/11, there have been a lot of airlines going through bankruptcy reorganization, and unfortunately because of the insane cost of Oil (which directly impacts jet fuel costs) most of the airlines' business plans that were made in the last year are obsolete. No one anticipated that oil would rise so much in such a short period of time, so they weren't prepared for it financially. Many airlines have been operating at the brink of bankruptcy or in bankruptcy, or had just emerged from bankruptcy reorganization since 9/11, and the rise in jet fuel costs just pushed them over the edge. W/ ATA, they lost a major government contract, and that was probably the only thing that kept them lucrative and able to meet their bottom line costs.

 

[Dis Ohana]

I just bought my tickets from Hawaiian for our annual trip to DL in December. With the news of Aloha and ATA going under and the general feeling of economic unrest here in the islands, I kind of wish we had waited on planning our trip this year.
My mom got stuck with an ATA ticket, she was able to file a claim for full compensation from her cc company since she had just made the purchase. I hope the rest of you are able to get your money back as well.

 

[Brady's Mom]

We had to do a charge back to our Credit Card about 2 years ago. We disputed a rather large charge (about $2000) because we felt the company had been dishonest with us and had fraudulent business practices. Our Credit card company was really great about it. We filed the official claim and it didn't seem very long before we had the charge reversed. We had used a "national" credit card (like Citi Cards or Chase) rather than a local bank credit card, so I don't know if that made a difference. Good luck with your dispute and good luck with your trip to DLR!!

 

[lampardcl]

13 days after ATA filed for bankruptcy our cc company has fully refunded us our money. Now i can go back to been excited with only 15 more sleeps until we leave for honolulu. Then on to DISNEYLAND

 

[DisneyMomma81]

That's great news ~ have a wonderful trip!

 

[Dis Ohana]

Good for you! Have a wonderful time in the islands and at Disneyland.

 

[davidsprincess]

I am really happy for you! Have fun on your trip.

 

[bumbershoot]

Oh I'm so glad for you!