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Hawaiian Airlines passenger Ryan DeMarre was removed from a flight to Maui for an “invalid ticket.”
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Desk clerks were unable to provide him with any further information about what had happened, nor was there to meet him and his daughter quickly.
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DeMarre’s rocky journey is one of a rapidly growing number of passenger horror stories this summer.
A man who was kicked off a Hawaiian Airlines for an “invalid ticket” after boarding a flight to Maui with his daughter took his frustrations to TikTok as part of a viral cautionary tale.
In a series of videos, now viewed millions of times, passenger Ryan DeMarre describes his confusing experience with the airline, which occurred on a flight from Seattle to Maui on July 2.
“Kicked off with ‘invalid’ ticket. How do we get through TSA and into a place with an invalid ticket and a minor,” he wrote in the first video, which showed DeMarre and his daughter being removed from the plane.
Flight attendants sent him to the Hawaiian Airlines counter, where he was told he would not be allowed back on the plane and was given little information about the reason for the invalid ticket. Meanwhile, the desk clerk said his daughter’s bag would remain on board and wait for her in Maui.
“I went to the counter and tried to be as cool and calm as possible,” he said in a follow-up video about the incident. “My blood was boiling, but I was trying to keep it together. That’s kind of like the Idaho way. We were talking to the agent there, she couldn’t give me a clear answer as to why the ticket was invalid.”
According to DeMarre, the agent was “unwilling to accommodate anything,” so he eventually gave up and went to the Delta counter to book a same-day flight to Maui, which ended up costing $2,000. By the time he reached Maui, his rental car pickup window was gone, so he and his daughter took an Uber to their resort.
“Hawaiian Airlines, I expect a full refund for me and my daughter’s flights, plus our Uber, and I think you owe me an apology,” he said. “I have now contacted you to reconcile this and have not received any response from you. I am really disappointed with Hawaiian Airlines.”
Three days and several million views of its first TikTok videos later, the airline contacted DeMarre and apologized, as well as a full refund for his Hawaiian Airlines and Delta tickets, as well as his Uber ride.
“They admitted that there were a few mistakes made on their side which made the whole situation go down the way it did… I’m really happy with the way things turned out. I’m sorry it took so long , but in the end I think the right thing happened in the long run,” he said in his latest TikTok.
Hawaiian Airlines was recently ranked 17th in AirlineRating’s annual list of airlines in the world.
A Hawaiian Airlines representative did not immediately respond to Insider’s request for comment on the incident.
DeMarre’s rocky journey is one of a rapidly growing number of passenger horror stories this summer as labor-restricted airlines continue to struggle with high demand, causing delays and cancellations, and causing problems with lost luggage and customer service.
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