Island Air (Honolulu) and all airlines serving Hawaii are facing the possibility that two approaching hurricanes (Hurricanes Iselle and Julio) could make landfall somewhere in the island chain tonight and tomorrow. The Big Island of Hawaii is under a hurricane warning. The rest of the island chain is under a tropical storm warning. The airline has issued this statement:

Thursday, August 7 afternoon flights serving Maui and Lanai have been cancelled. Flights servicing Kauaʻi on Thursday, August 7 will operate on a normal schedule.

All airline operations have been suspended on Friday, August 8.

The following are the final four Maui and Lana‘i 8/7 flights:
HNL – OGG: Flight 410 departing HNL 11:50 a.m.
OGG – HNL: Flight 411 departing OGG 1:02 p.m.
HNL – LNY: Flight 304 departing HNL 9:50 a.m.
LNY – HNL: Flight 303 departing LNY 10:50 a.m.

Normal flight schedule to resume Saturday, August 9, 2014.

Island Air advises its guests that the Hawaiian Islands may be subject to significant tropical storm conditions beginning Thursday evening, August 7 and extending through Monday evening, August 11. To check on time status please visit our Flight Status page.

Island Air will waive reservation change fees and differences in fares for guests who need to change their travel plans. The Reservations department will maintain extended hours of 6am – 10pm Thursday and Friday, returning to 7am to 6pm on Saturday. Guests who are ticketed for travel on Island Air from August 7, 2014 through August 12, 2014 will be permitted to change their flight without charge by contacting reservations at 1-800-652-6541. Changes must be made prior to the departure of originally scheduled flights.

Hawaiian Airlines is also waiving any fees for passengers to make changes.

Hawaiian Airlines has issued this statement:

Hurricane & Tropical Storm Update:

Due to the storm systems that are currently approaching the Hawaiian Islands, our Reservations Department is receiving an extremely high volume of calls – because of this, you may experience longer than normal wait times. We sincerely apologize for this inconvenience and thank you for your patience as we work to reduce the call queues.

Customers are advised to check HawaiianAirlines.com for the latest updates on scheduled flights.

Effective immediately, Hawaiian Airlines will waive reservation change fees and differences in fares for customers who need to change their travel plans because of Hurricane Iselle and Hurricane Julio.

Customers holding tickets for travel on Hawaiian Airlines flights on August 7 or August 8, 2014 will be permitted to change their reservation without charge provided that:

Ticket was issued on/before August 4, 2014

Affected flight(s) is/are scheduled for travel on August 7-8, 2014

Change must be made prior to departure time of originally scheduled flight and ticketed on/before August 12, 2014

Change may be made to new flights that begin on/before August 12, 2014

If you would like to change your reservation, you can do so by calling our Reservations Department at 1-800-367-5320 or you can also do it online at HawaiianAirlines.com by using our Change Flight option. Please note that if you change your reservation online, you will be required to pay the applicable change fee and fare difference, but may request a refund of the change fee and fare difference paid, provided that your change falls within the guidelines below. Upon approval, we will process your refund within 7 days to the form of payment used. Please submit your request for reimbursement via our Consumer Affairs Office.

Keep in mind that applicable difference in fare(s) will be waived provided that change is made to same class of service (i.e. Coach to Coach or First Class to First Class) and there is no change to origin and destination. Reroutes are permitted with waiver of change fee and will be subject to applicable fare difference. Extra Comfort or preferred seat charges may be refunded if the same seat is not available on the new flight or if flight is cancelled.

Normal refund rules will apply. There will be no waiver of any applicable cancellation fees for refundable tickets and no refunds permitted on non-refundable tickets related to this event.

All the best to our friends in Hawaii!

Map: NOAA.