A man who was kicked off a Hawaiian Airlines flight over an "invalid ticket" after he and his daughter boarded a flight to Maui took his anger to TikTok as a cautionary tale.
In a series of videos, now viewed millions of times, passenger Ryan DeMarre detailed his confusing experience with the airline on a flight from Seattle to Maui.
I got a ticket that was invalid. In the first video, DeMarre and his daughter were removed from the plane due to an invalid ticket.
He was told by flight attendants that he wouldn't be allowed back on the plane and that he didn't know why. The desk agent said that his daughter's bag would stay onboard and be waiting for her.
He said in a follow-up video that he was trying to be as calm as possible when he got up to the counter. My blood was boiling, but I tried to hold it together. The agent couldn't give me a straight answer as to why the ticket wasn't valid.
According to DeMarre, the agent "wasn't willing to accommodate anything" so he gave up and went to the Delta counter to book a same day flight to Maui. By the time he got to Maui, his rental car pickup window had stopped working, so he and his daughter took an ride.
"Hawaiian Airlines, I'm expecting a full refund for my and my daughter's flights, and I think you guys owe me an apology," he stated. I've reached out to you for help with this, but I haven't heard back from you. It was really disappointing in Hawaiian Airlines.
After three days and several million views of his initial TikTok videos, the airline contacted DeMarre and apologized, as well as providing a full refund for his Hawaiian Airlines and Delta tickets.
The situation went down due to a couple of mistakes that were made on their end. I'm happy with the outcome. He said in his latest TikTok that he thinks the right thing happened in the long run.
Hawaiian Airlines was listed as one of the top airlines in the world.
A representative from Hawaiian Airlines did not immediately respond to a question about the incident.
DeMarre's rocky journey is one of a rapidly growing number of passenger horror stories this summer, as labor- strapped airlines struggle against high demand, causing delays and cancellation, and causing issues with lost luggage and customer service assistance.