- Hawaiian Airlines passenger Ryan DeMarre was removed from a flight to Maui because of an "invalid ticket."
- Desk agents weren't able to provide him further information as to what happened, nor quickly accommodate him and his daughter.
- 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 over 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 milions of times, passenger Ryan DeMarre detailed his confounding experience with the airline, which took place on a flight from Seattle to Maui on July 2.
"Kicked off with 'invalid' ticket. How do we get through TSA and on 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 directed him to the Hawaiian Airlines desk where he was told he would not be permitted back on the plane and given little information about the reason for the invalid ticket. Meanwhile, the desk agent said his daughter's bag would remain onboard and be waiting for her in Maui.
"I got up to the front counter, and was trying to be as cool and calm as I could be," he said in a follow-up video about the incident. "My blood was boiling, but I tried to hold it together, that's kind of like the Idaho way. We were discussing with the agent there, she couldn't seem to give me a straight answer as to why the ticket was invalid."
According to DeMarre, the agent "wasn't willing 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 round trip. By the time he reached Maui, his rental car pickup window had phased out, so he and his daughter took an Uber to their resort.
"Hawaiian Airlines, I'm expecting a full refund for mine and my daughter's flights, plus our Uber, and I think you guys owe me an apology," he said. "I've reached out to you now for getting this reconciled and I've got no response from you. Really disappointed in Hawaiian Airlines."
Three days and several million views of his initial TikTok videos later, the airline contacted DeMarre and apologized, as well as provided a full refund for his Hawaiian Airlines and Delta tickets, as well as his Uber ride.
"They admitted that there were a couple mistakes that were made on their end which caused the whole situation to go down like it did ... I'm really happy with the way things turned out. I'm sorry it took so long, but ultimately I think the right thing happened in the long run," he said in his latest TikTok.
Hawaiian Airlines was recently listed 17th in AirlineRating's annual list of top airlines in the world.
A representative from Hawaiian Airlines did not immediately respond to Insider's request to comment on the incident.
DeMarre's rocky journey is one of a rapidly growing number of passenger horror stories this summer, as labor-strapped airlines continue to struggle against high demand, prompting delays and cancellations, and causing issues with lost luggage and customer service assistance.