Hawaii-based Airlines - HA required gate check for rollaboard ...

Boarding HA at OAK for a flight to HNL, we were required to gate-check our very ordinary, very common-sized rollaboards.
No problem - but when we got on board, there was plenty of room in the overhead bins and luggage larger than ours was being carried on all around us. An annoyance, but still not a problem - except that the bags were not returned to us at the gate upon arrival, they were sent to HA's regular baggage claim in the inter-island terminal, outside the sterile area. We were on a tight connection to KOA, and had decided to pack lightly, carrying the bags so they would be on the inter-island flight with us.
So we waited at baggage claim, and waited, and waited, etc. Almost an hour later, the bags arrived. And then, we had to go thru security again.
We were able to get on a later flight, but what a hassle.

Is this SOP for HA? Do they not know how to return gate-checked bags at the gate? An hour for the bags to plop onto the carousel?

Not normal in my experience. Their TransPac equipment has a shortage of overhead space given the seating capacity, but I always carryon a 22 inch roller and a nested briefcase.

You can run into problems if you board late but typically they gate check once you have found that there is no ovhd space.

It is very important to have status for early boarding in my experience so that you can be sure that your carryon will get in an ovhd given their cabin config.

Perry

I don't see it as normal practice either, however I don't fly to OAK.

My experience has been that only the late boarders that cannot find overhead space are asked to gate check their luggage.

According to Hawaiian's website their size restriction for carry on baggage is:
Your carry on baggage should be no more than 45 linear inches, or 9"x14"x22" (L+W+H), and weight no more than 25 pounds.

I have noticed that folks bringing on board 24" rollerboards and 22" ones with things stuffed into the outside zippered pockets have trouble fitting them into the overhead bins.

That said, I have seen a lot of changes recently in transpac travel on Hawaiian and things may differ tomorrow.

Their TransPac equipment has a shortage of overhead space given the seating capacity, but I always carryon a 22 inch roller and a nested briefcase.


It's not just the seating capacity. The design of the HA 767 bins is terrible for rollaboards. Same problem with UA's 767 (at least for the domestic ones I've been on) If even a 21" would fit wheels in on the sides, there would be alot less issues.