Getting back from Maui yesterday on Hawaiian Airlines was a colossal pain.
The good news, I suppose, is that the Hawaiian area was crowded with visitors. The bad news is that it had the feel of a crowd of desperate refugees, a likely deterrent to return visits. I know it will be for us.
It took, quite literally, about an hour of standing in line to check in and get our boarding passes. There didn’t appear to be any special circumstance they were dealing with. Hawaiian just seemed unprepared for the number of flights and passengers they now have out of Kahului.
No one was happy about the delay. One woman with a cart of bags and several small children in tow walked by, almost distraught, and let the world know what she thought.
“The only way out is suicide,” she said. She was neither happy nor joking.
Hawaiian Air personnel did little to deal with the issue. People arriving at the airport were confused about whether this huge long line snaking off to the side was their only entry point, and there was no-one from Hawaiian there to direct them. There weren’t even any apologies, “we sorry for the delay”, etc. Zip.
And when we finally had boarding passes in hand, then we had to go over and stand in the slow-moving security line. That took another 25 minutes or so. So we ended up standing in lines for 90 minutes in order to get on our 30-minute flight back to Honolulu.
We even overheard Hawaiian Air employees talking letting a friend with a 5 p.m. flight know that he should budget several hours to get through the mess.
I sent a tweat to Twitter as we exited: “This ranks as perhaps our worst airport experience ever. Thank you, Hawn Air! You’re #1!”
And then, once inside the busy terminal, we heard people complaining that there was no restaurant. A cart sold sandwiches and a Starbucks sold coffee, but not much else. And prices for a bottle of coke were double the real world. Is that a great way to send off or greet visitors? “Aloha, you’re captive in here, so prepare to be fleeced.”
Luckily, we had stopped at the Safeway near the airport and picked up a made-to-order sandwich, and we had leftover chips to finish. So we did a lot better than our fellow travelers.
So. It was an interesting trip to Maui. We had a great time catching up with old friends from Vancouver, and it was interesting to see the part of the island that we normally avoid. But the travel “overhead”, including the airport mess, took the shine off the experience. We’ll not likely be eager to repeat the process any time soon. Actually, it’s a lot easier to fly to the mainland and back.
It’s something interisland travel execs had better worry about.
Discover more from i L i n d
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
i flew on hawaiian from kahului to honolulu a couple of weeks ago (late january). there wasn’t much of a line at the check-in counter, but we did have to wait because there was some kind of drama going on. the line at the security gate was horrendous, so we sat on the side, hoping it would go down… and it never really did, so we got in line eventually. there was a restaurant inside, a sit-down place, where we ate chips and guacamole. at the restaurant, some people cut in front of us to be seated, which was not cool. the gate was busy, but nothing too bad.
sorry to hear that your airport experience was so crappy!
I had a similar experience this weekend, a horrible traffic jam that paralyzed Kalanianaole Highway through East Honolulu most of Saturday morning. No crash. It was just a crew changing street lights.
One day we all woke up and realized that we’re living in a Third World slum.
That was crazy, huh? My wife went in around 8 am and warned me about it, so I left a few minutes early around 10 am, but it had actually gotten worse—backed up all the way to Hawaii Kai. But, the tree team was already gone by the time I hit the freeway around 10:30.
We always buy a dozen Krispy Kreme donuts on our way to the airport in Kahului. Serious yum!
We have been to the neighbor islands (all except Niihau and Kahoolawe) so often that we won’t be visiting again for the next 10 years. Not even to the observatories on Mauna Kea.
Deja vu.
Back in the 80s we had the same experience in Kahului, except that when we were all milling around at the gate they announced that our flight had been cancelled. There was no announcement about what came next, and finally one member of our group went to a pay phone and called Hawaiian in Honolulu to get information.
It was bizarre.
Miss the superferry yet?
Yeah, but I hope the pols follow the rules from the beginning if they try to bring it back.
Well. since Hawaiian Airlines is doing so well financially, it must mean it is because of cut backs on personnel or out sourcing services. Not a good idea, for it is service that sells!
In the absence of major competition, that’s what can happen.
Doesn’t it make you want to go out and get a pilot’s license and your own airplane?!
I love the power of word of mouth. One negative experience can be re-told 100’s of times but the everyday positives…..just go on without a mention. Hell, MM this morning brought up a bad experience from nearly 30 years ago!! Jesus guys….live much?
I go in and out of here (Kahului) by plane eight or ten times a year and yours was an unusual experience. Most of the time, everything goes smoothly, but crowds do pile up a couple of times a day when several mainland flights depart at about the same time. I ALWAYS go on line to print my boarding pass before a flight, avoiding the necessity to check in. And I NEVER check a bag for the same reason. Flying in general has long since stopped being enjoyable, which is why I revert to Amtrak as soon as I hit the mainland, but in my experience Hawaiian does an excellent job most of the time.
I’ve had several experiences at Newark Airport, right down to the line snaking outside with no one to say what the line was for. There was more food inside, though. I’m sure your experience is replicated every day at many different airports. Flying is one of the greatest hassles now.
When there was a choice I chose Aloha for more caring service. Alas, no more.
And yes for Amtrack. I take the train out of Washington or Maryland, and on the New York end wheel my bag to my hotel nearby the station. It’s a pleasure, and if I’m lucky, I can score a potato knish from a street cart on the way to the hotel.
Ha ha ha, Ian!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/repwooley/4340544850/in/photostream/
Iceland is bankrupt.
Britain – take a good look – is in even more ice-cold cahoots with debt and its lethal ramifications than is already obvious in Greece, both governments owing more than 12 per cent of current GNP. California and Hawaii have this for a future, with nowhere to go.
You have no right, nor DNA, to go on assuming all sorts of perennial entitlements from Hawaiian Airlines on a bad day, or from the government or from the Chinese.
There was in place on Monday a custom-made fleet of at least 1,000 roadside sellers of just water bottles feeding off the stationary motorists here in 4-hour gridlock on the Brazilian 2-lane leading into Nitteroi north of Rio de Janeiro, indicating a norm.
Carry a tarp, some hydration, a good read and zero expectations.
It always amazes me how quickly people judge with out knowing the facts… I am commenting on the word “…we heard some people complaining there is no restaurant”…
Well, while one is being renovated to satisfy public thirst for QSR, there are still six other places to eat and drink… Sammy’s Beach Bar and Grill offering breakfast, lunch and dinner, Stinger ray’s offering lunch and dinner, 2 Starbucks offerings are not only limited to coffee but include large variety of pastries, salads, fresh fruits and yogurt parfaits… don’t forget the Hot Dog Cart and Snack Cart offer (besides hot dogs) large variety of freshly made sandwiches, salads, novelty foods etc… so next time before you make comments like this – why don’t you find out for your self… I wonder how much they paid for their Safeway sandwich – the airport pricing of sandwiches has been same since mid 2006 – can Safeway say that??
Thanks for your thoughtful comment. Well, as travelers, we look for aids. Signs, indicators of services, maps, a little assist, etc. Especially after a 90 minute slog through check-in and security, you don’t have a lot of energy to wander in an unfamiliar airport. I’m glad to hear that there are more options than are apparent to the naive traveler. Next time, we’ll know to keep pushing. About the sandwich–at Safeway, it was $5.45, made fresh.
Bring back the Superferry…. or go to and from Maui via Kapalua… Island Air.. Dash 8.