Aloha and welcome to Honolulu International Airport

HONOLULU, Hawaii – The Honolulu International Airport has a long history, first as the gateway from Asia into the United States. I remember the times when Singapore Airlines and many others had their regional hub in Honolulu meeting flights from across Asia and connecting to various US mainland destinations.

With these times long gone, and now that most airlines are able to easily provide nonstop services between most airports in the world, Honolulu is now the gateway into the US State of Hawaii and into the Aloha State’s tourism paradise.

After some minor improvements, not much has changed for Honolulu airport. The wide-open structure is still refreshing and different. It has an exotic feeling of a leisure paradise destination, and visitors arriving in Honolulu get the sense that they have entered one of the top tourism and travel destinations in the world as they are surrounded by the aroma of fresh, fragrant tropical flowers.

Parking has become quite a bit more expensive over the years, but even at US$15 a day, that’s still within reason. I always wondered about the high cost of transportation by taxi. Waikiki is really only around 18 minutes away, but it can take a while to get there, depending on whether or not there is traffic, making the cab ride fairly expensive. On average, the fare would run around US$43, closer to $50 with a 15% tip, but could even run as close as US$90 if you happen to arrive during rush hour. Of course, rental cars are readily available, and prices vary on those, from the economical to the luxury.

Interisland travel is handled almost completely by Hawaii-based Hawaiian Airlines, and rates have gone up 10-fold over the past couple of decades. I remember when you could buy a coupon book for US$250 containing 6 one-way fare tickets. Now, you can plan on around $90-$165 one-way, depending on which island you are flying to.

I checked into my United Airlines flight from Honolulu to Tokyo recently, and the United Airlines check-in was easy. Being a 1K flyer there was no line, and going through TSA PreClear was a 5-minute procedure to get through security and TSA. I was allowed to leave my shoes on, leave my computer in the bag, and it was fast and efficient.

Last-minute shopping for flower leis or pineapples is expensive compared to street prices, but this is what you get for not shopping early and relying on airport stores.
Starbucks, Burger King, an ice cream and pizza shop, and a restaurant all make the waiting time to board go by quickly.

I briefly visited the United Airlines Lounge. Of course, none of the US-based lounges these days are worth writing about. Even though the United Lounge in Honolulu is large and has nice comfortable furniture, when it comes to snacks, your choices are iced water, awful tasting coffee and espresso, and salty pretzels, and in the morning there is yogurt. You can get a drink from the bar, but you are expected to pay for your alcoholic beverage and leave a tip.

I guess I am too spoiled with lounges in Asia and the Middle East – the US simply puts cheap as the driving force of their customer experience agenda, instead of true customer service and repeat business, but, oh well.

All in all check-in was good, the atmosphere was nice, and boarding was efficient. For a hub in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, Honolulu International Airport works just fine.