Hawaiian Airlines Got Hacked—Should You Worry About Your Next Flight?
So, Hawaiian Airlines just got hit by a cyber attack. Yeah, not exactly the news you want to hear when you’ve got a vacation booked. But here’s the thing—while it sounds scary, your actual flight is probably safe. Let me break it down for you.
What Actually Happened?
Turns out, some hackers managed to sneak into parts of Hawaiian Airlines’ systems. Not the good stuff, though—just some customer data. The airline caught it pretty quick, brought in the tech guys, and told the feds. They were clear about one thing: “No planes were at risk.” And the FAA backed that up, saying flights are running like normal.
Think of it like someone breaking into your car but only stealing the loose change in the cup holder—annoying, but the engine’s still fine.
But Wait—Can Hackers Crash Planes?
Okay, let’s be real here. The systems that actually keep planes in the air? They’re locked down tighter than Fort Knox. There’s a reason you’ve never heard of a hacker making a plane do loop-de-loops mid-flight. The FAA makes sure all the critical stuff—navigation, communications, you name it—lives on separate networks that are damn near impossible to touch.
That said, the websites and apps we use to book flights? Those can get messy. But even if your boarding pass app goes down, they’ve got old-school paper backups at the airport. Been there, done that—it’s slower, but you’ll still get where you’re going.
This Isn’t the First Rodeo
Remember SpiceJet last year? Their systems got locked up by ransomware, and flights got delayed for days. And get this—airlines get hacked twice as much as most other businesses. Military airports? Even worse. There’s some shady stuff going on with countries hacking each other’s airports these days.
Honestly, it’s kind of surprising this doesn’t happen more often.
Will Your Flight Get Cancelled?
Right now, Hawaiian says everything’s running on time. But here’s how these things can screw up your trip: if the systems that handle check-ins or baggage go down, things slow way down. Airlines have gotten better at switching to manual mode when this happens, though. It’s like when your computer crashes and you have to write everything by hand—painful, but you get the job done.
Protecting Yourself (Because the Airlines Aren’t Perfect)
First things first—change your frequent flyer password. Like, today. Hawaiian’s offering credit monitoring (standard after these messes), but you should keep an eye on your accounts anyway. And when you’re traveling? Public WiFi is basically hacker bait—either use your phone data or get a VPN. Seriously, it’s worth the five bucks a month.
The Real Problem Nobody’s Talking About
Here’s the kicker—airlines are basically floating databases of our personal info. Credit cards, passports, home addresses—you name it. The FAA’s making them install better security, and there’s this international hacker watch group for airlines now. But the bad guys keep getting smarter. It’s like that movie where the thief and the cop keep one-upping each other, except with way more at stake.
Bottom Line
Look, planes aren’t about to start falling out of the sky because of hackers. But this Hawaiian Airlines thing? It’s a wake-up call. The convenience of modern travel comes with risks, and we’ve all got to be a little smarter about how we fly. The airlines need to step up their game, sure—but so do we as passengers. Next time you’re booking a flight, maybe think twice before saving your credit card info, you know?
And hey—if nothing else, at least now you’ve got something interesting to talk about with the stranger next to you on your next flight.
Source: WSJ – US Business
