The collapse of ATA and Aloha Airlines left many unhappy stranded travelers in Hawaii last week. With virtually no notice, the two carriers shut down and those holding tickets were stuck with paying large amounts of money and/or waiting days to find a flight back to the mainland.

The airline business is a mess in general. Even supposedly well-run airlines can’t seem to make much money, and just about all airlines are in the unenviable position of having customers who feel unappreciated, underserved, and often ill-treated. The attitudes are so engrained that they can’t even see an opportunity to build goodwill and loyalty when it comes up and hits them in the face.

Here’s how. Each of the two big carriers would run an extra plane or two to/from Hawaii to the mainland and make a public offer to carry all of those stranded passengers for a nominal fee (perhaps the $100 normally charged for changed tickets), enroll each passenger in their frequent flier club and give them credit for their entire round trip flight to Hawaii (including the part actually flown on ATA or Aloha), as well as a $100 voucher good on their next trip to Hawaii within the next 12 months.

Would it cost some money upfront? Yes, but with the media attention given to this situation, the amount of PR and free advertising generated would more than make up for the actual costs borne by the airline. Not only that, but the goodwill generated amongst not only these passengers but the general flying public, not to mention the media and regulators, would be incredible. How often does one get the opportunity to come out a hero?

Instead, here’s what a spokesman for American Airlines said, as quoted in the Wall Street Journal on Tuesday, April 8, 2008:

“We didn’t have a code-share relationship of any kind with any of these airlines, so anything we do to offer people a discount is basically out of the ‘goodness of our hearts.’ ” Mr. (Tim) Wagner said. “Any discount we give is revenue lost, and we won’t be getting anything out of their bankruptcies. So in a $100-a-barrel oil environment, anything that any airline does is generous.”

Generous? How many people reading this actually thought American’s actions here were generous? In fact, this whole approach seems very short-sighted to me. But wait, maybe American didn’t have any planes available last week, because they were busy grounding a thousand or so flights to conduct maintenance checks. Their “generosity”  must have been taxed by all the ways the airline was helping the passengers stranded by the MD80 checks, right?

So United where were you? Hawaii has been a key market for you for decades. Instead of gloating about the fact that competitors who have been driving prices downwards (helping consumers) are now gone from your backyard, you could have been building goodwill and customer loyalty instead of more animosity.

Instead, both of you really missed the boat.