Approximately how long does it take to get from the Waikiki area on a Saturday afternoon to HNL? I have a 2:30pm flight and was planning to leave the hotel around 12:15 pm. Would this give me enough time during this time of day? I will have luggage to check etc. Thanks

You don't say what end of Waikiki you're staying at (it can make a difference of up to 10 minutes travel time) - but if your goal is to get to the airport by 1:00 p.m. you should have enough time.

Driving along Ala Moana Blvd. and then Nimitz highway will be the most congested - the worst is between Ala Moana Center and Ward Warehouse. Once you hit the freeway it will be open until the airport exit.

I'm staying at the Outrigger Waikiki- so I guess in the center part of Waikiki. Anyway, thanks-- yes I was looking to get there by 1pm.

I did this on Sunday (from Fort DeRussy area). I used the Waikiki hotel shuttle bus. For a 3:30pm flight they picked me up at 12:45-1:00pm. That was about right. By taxi would be slightly quicker but the traffic can be unexpectedly awful, so I wouldn't cut it too close.

Also at the airport... you need to go thru agricultural clearance for luggage to be checked, then print boarding pass at kiosk, then check bags, and on Hawaiian Air anyways had to walk a LONG way to the gate, and thru one more agricultural clearance for carry-on bags.

Miramar:

Leaving Waikiki at 12:15 to catch a 2:30 flight is risky. And if you've got to return a rental car, too -- egad.

If you are flying from Honolulu, to the mainland, the airlines all tell you to be at the airport at least 2 hours prior to departure...that would be 12:30 for your 2:30 flight.

You'll be one of _hundreds_ of passengers taking afternoon flights out -- and yes, people _do_ miss their flights because of delays at the ag inspection station, the ticket counter, etc.

Allow yourself plenty of time...then sit at the airport, relax, have a drink or a bite to eat, and people watch until your flight is called. 8-)

I'd appreciate some help too! I have a 7:50 AM Flight from HNL to KOA.
How long will it take to get to HNL from the Moana Surfrider at that hour, and how far ahead of time should we arrive for this interisland flight?

Many thanks!

For inter-island flights, plan to be there not less than one hour prior to departure to allow time for all the security stuffs.

From Moana Surfrider to HNL, the drive time is about 30 minutes...but add 20 minutes if you have to return a car and take the rental car shuttle to the inter-island terminal.

My arrival was a Saturday afternoon (Pro Bowl weekend as it turned out). It took ~1 hour 15 mins. to get from the airport to my hotel using the Waikiki hotel shuttle bus. Both the freeway and the main street into town was a virtual parking lot.

I happened upon this thread and thought I'd ask for a bit more info. United changed our flight time to HNL leaving us about 55 minutes to catch our Aloha Airlines flight to the Big Island. We have to pick up our luggage in HNL and then get to the check-in for Aloha. I looked at the map of the airport and blanched. What route would you recommend through the airport to get from United's baggage claim to Aloha's desk? These two are partners, but we had to ticket separately because the UA ticket was on FF miles. Please advise! This will be on a Monday afternoon.

I would allow a lot of time to catch ANY flight out of Honolulu. The procedures there are tormentingly slow. However, it's not that bad. There is a pretty good cafeteria in the airport, once you get past the security, and one great feature is that the airport has the most comfortable seats of any airport in which I've ever been. You can really rest your fanny.

If it takes as long to get your baggage as it did when I landed at HNL, it may be a very tight connection. Not sure if weekdays are less busy than weekends, but it took about 40 min to claim luggage on a Saturday afternoon by the time they got a the carousel started-- and to make it more complex they were using two separate carousels for each arriving flight. Perhaps a local will answer with any tips as to how busy it is likely to be and quick ways to move back to the check in area.

Schildc1- Even on separate tickets are you sure you can't get your luggage checked through?

Honolulu is a gorgeous airport with lots of open space and open air corridors, but *LONG* distances between various gates, check in and out areas, etc. not to mention the extra step of produce inspection station for luggage (for leaving Hawaii, not sure if that applies inter island for arrivals).

Thanks for the responses! We're going to try to guilt United into helping us with this somehow since they were the ones who changed the flight times on us and make a comfortable cushion of time into a mad dash. Aloha is a partner of theirs too, so we're hoping they would hold the flight a bit if one of us runs to their desk. This sounds like something out of a movie, a riduculous one. We'll see what UA can do for us.

We have had NO trouble checking our luggage through to our final destination through HNL to and fro other islands in Hawaii. This has been true even with separate reservations and when the two arilines do not "code share." Just be sure to have a copy of your itinerary on BOTH segments of your trip when you check in and you should be fine and able to avoid baggage claim (and security AGAIN) in HNL. Have a great trip!

Yet again(as in another post) you have given me good news! Many thanks for sending this info. along. Not having to claim bags in HNL would be great! Do you suggest our taking the interterminal shuttle or just running to Aloha's check-in area?

So we called United this morning about checking our bags through from Chicago to Kona, even though we will fly to HNL on United and to Kona on Aloha. They told us that because we didn't book through United all the way to Kona, they "couldn't take responsibility" for checking our bags to Kona. That's cooperation between code-sharers? Too bad for us that United changed their flight times,too, making the exchange time so tight. Thanks again, United! Small wonder they are going bankrupt! Helping us check our bags wouldn't even cost them anything since liability should still be with Aloha. So now we will see what the latter can do for us. I would guess it's almost a surety that we will miss our original flight which will also goof up our res. for a car in Kona. If our destinations didn't give us so much pleasure, we would think twice about travelling. But we muddle on...

Any chance you could make do with a 22" roller suitcase & 1 personal item so you could carry on?

We both considered trying to pare down to just carry-on. The problem is that just one pair of my husband's shoes seems to fill up half a bag. However, persistence won the day for us. We called United later in the day and actually got a sympathetic person to help us. She re-booked us on an earlier flight, so we'll have three hours of cushion time in HNL, as well as telling us that they would indeed tag our bags through to Kona. Relief!!! This was after calls to United, Aloha and back. I guess the message is don't give up until you absolutely have to. Thanks to everyone for your care and assistance to us!