Does the Honolulu Intl airport close overnight?
 

My sis is arriving at Honolulu airport at midnight and flying out again at 5am. She can't be bothered to clear customs so is contemplating spending the few hours in the airport. Does anyone know if they close the airport or if she'll be able to hangout without being thrown out. Many thanks.

I planned to do the same thing in December 2001. However, you could not get into the departures area where all the restaurants are unless you had a boarding pass for that day. I spent the five hours on a bench outside the terminal, where you could at least access the rest rooms. Not a pleasant experience. Plan B was to put my luggage in a locker and go to Waikiki to kill a few hours. However after September 11 there are no rental lockers. I assume that the situation is still the same at the Honolulu airport.

Where is sis coming from?And I am confused about 'clearing customs".

I looked at the website for the airport and could not find any information on opening or closing times. Take a look at www.state.hi.us/dot/airports/oahu/hnl/

You could also phone the visitor information center for the airport and ask.
Phone: (808) 836-6413 / 22 hours per day (4:00 a.m.-1:45 a.m.)

My assumption is that the airport is open 24 hours, given the late arrival and early departures of many flights.

Open all night, although the meagre tourist facilities become even moreso.

Can't be bothered to clear customs? Transit from Fiji to Canada or some such? Not sure if it's an option not to go through immigration.

Just to give the full picture, my sis will be flying via Honolulu from Sydney to Vancouver and has a few hours layover there. But since it's in the middle of the night she figures by the time she clears immigration, customs etc then it will be time to turn around and go back in, besides she's travelling on an Australian passport and they recommend 2-3 hours to clear all the queues etc. I checked out the website, sent an email to the airport but I'm worried that she'll be booted out of the airport if they close in the wee am hours. Thanks for all your feedback!

2-3 hours to clear customs at midnight in Honolulu??
Doesn't sound right.

There shouldn't be any significant wait to clear customs for a midnight arrival. Peak international arrival period doesn't begin until 6am, and tapers off by noon.

The airport is open all night, my son waited it out there at Christmas when he arrived too late to get a flight to Kauai.

If your sister is done with customs by 1AM but has a 5AM flight she has to re-chek in for, it does not make sense to go to a hotel.

There used to be a mini-hotel inside the terminal in the main lobby---showers and a private cubicle for sleeping just for occasions like this. But I think they may have closed down.