Maui wildfires: How American Airlines is helping

Since wildfires struck Maui, Hawaii, last week, the American Airlines team has been working to ensure the airline’s operation is supporting evacuation and relief efforts. America’s approach has focused on three areas:

Providing lift off the island

American typically operates four scheduled roundtrip flights per day in and out Kahului Airport (OGG) on Maui. After the wildfires struck, Americans added flights to and from the island and upgraded the size of aircraft for other planned flights to help evacuate as many individuals as possible.

Since the wildfires hit Aug. 9, American has operated 21 flights from OGG to the U.S. mainland (Dallas-Fort Worth, Los Angeles and Phoenix) to evacuate more than 4,200 customers from the island.

Delivering relief and supplies
The American team on the ground in Maui jumped into action to support members of their community and tourists who were impacted by the wildfires. The team provided blankets, pillows, onboard amenity kits, water, and other supplies to customers at the airport and throughout the island where community members evacuated.

In addition to stocking incoming aircraft with water, blankets, and amenity kits to distribute on the island, American is working with nonprofit organizations Feeding America and Baby 2 Baby to send shipments of critical supplies such as nonperishable food items, baby formula, diapers, feminine products and more to the island.

American is also supporting the Red Cross disaster relief efforts, and AAdvantage® members can earn 10 AAdvantage® bonus miles for every dollar donated with a minimum of $25 donation to the Red Cross.

Offering additional support and flexibility for our customers
The State of Hawaii is discouraging nonessential travel to Maui County and American is recommending the same. To provide additional flexibility to customers, American issued a travel alert, allowing customers whose travel is affected to rebook without fees, cancel or receive a refund.

For customers bringing essential supplies or other items to the island, we’re also waiving fees for the first and second pieces of checked luggage through Aug. 25.