Just three short months after Delta first announced its plans to begin flying daily from Minneapolis – St. Paul (MSP) to Maui (OGG), the Atlanta-based airline has officially pulled its nonstop flights to the Hawaiian island from both Minneapolis and Atlanta (ATL).
The news was first reported on X by Adrian Waltz and later confirmed by Delta. Both nonstop flights are no longer available for sale on Delta's website.
Delta will continue to fly directly to Maui from its hub airports in Los Angeles (LAX), Salt Lake City (SLC), and Seattle (SEA), and if you're booked on one of the nonstop flights from Atlanta or Minneapolis, it's likely your booking will be rerouted through one of these cities in the coming days.
The news comes after wildfires broke out on the island of Maui in early August and were the deadliest in more than a century, with a death toll of 115 and counting as the recovery continues. The historic town of Lahaina was largely destroyed, while surrounding areas on the island's northwest coast including Napili, Kaanapali, and Kapalua were also damaged.
Even after local officials have called on travelers to return to Maui, travel demand to the Hawaiian island remains soft and Delta appears to be adjusting its flight schedule accordingly.
“As communities in Maui rebuild, Delta has made the decision to pause some of our planned growth to Maui Kahului Airport (OGG) for the upcoming fall and winter seasons. Delta will, however, maintain our presence consistent with what we’ve flown recently to reinforce the ongoing recovery efforts. Our hearts and thoughts are with everyone affected by the tragic wildfires. Delta remains in close contact with Hawaiian officials, and we intend to keep plans for future growth down the road.” A Delta spokesperson said in a statement to Thrifty Traveler on Saturday morning.
Delta will continue flying nonstop to Hawaii from both Atlanta and Minneapolis to Honolulu (HNL).
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Bottom Line
Amid wildfires and the ongoing recovery on the island of Maui, Delta has removed its nonstop flights for sale to the island from both Minneapolis – St. Paul (MSP) and Atlanta (ATL).
The new Minneapolis route to Maui was first announced back in June, and the change comes before its first flight was scheduled to start on Dec. 16. The service from Atlanta was a route that Delta had previously flown and it was also scheduled to restart service in November.
Lead photo courtesy of Chris Lundberg via Flickr
I think we should all get some kind of compensation. How do we find out if this will happen?
We had the non stop from MSP to OGG with Delta One. The new flight is First Class to SLC then Delta One to OGG. Do I get a refund for having to take a stop?
Delta did not even explain the change in the email, it just said something like “Congrats on your booking change.” This seems like pretty poor service. Am I entitled to any compensation?
I was booked on the non-stop service from MSP- Maui in March. My plan all along (prior to the Lahaina fires) was to go to the Big Island, we were just getting there via a deal to Maui when they first started selling the non-stop service. They let me change my flights to go to Kona instead and bypass Maui due to the added stop on their Maui service.
Yup, “had non stop MSP to OGG booked Jan to Feb 2024, which was booked the 1st day those flights became available .
An emailed came about 30 min ago, a receipt basically , Thanking me for my new booking,with now a stop in SLC. (Would have preferred Honolulu).
No explanation or reference to original booking or reason for change.
Our prayers are for all in Maui,and time /circumstances will tell if we will go .
Saw your post of changes after I got the email
Thanks for always keeping us updated.
We had the non stop from MSP to OGG. we spent a lot of money on that flight. And the new flight they gave me was the CHEAPEST flight. I got a refund and a direct flight to HNL. However only those of us that called got the refund. Pretty dishonest of Delta.
Can you tell me more about the refund / direct flight? Did you get a refund for OGG and then rebook HNL? Or did they give you a credit for your inconvenience? We switched to a nonstop to HNL too, but want to make sure we aren’t missing anything.