chx1975

Move aside SYD, CDG, LHR -- HNL takes the crown for the worst airport I've ever had the bad luck to visit. Here's a copy of the email I sent to the airport:

I arrived from Melbourne at 6am and left on a WestJet flight at 3:30pm. So I wanted to take a bus to Waikiki and back. Here are the things that went wrong:

1) You can't buy a bus ticket (or a bunch of them) with a credit card.

2) You can't get coins necessary for the bus ticket either because the coin exchange machine is out of order.

3) Even if it wasn't, the ATM next to it dispenses $20 bills which the coin exchange machine does not accept.

4) And there is no bus map to be had.

5) You can't take luggage with you on the bus so using a baggage storage facility is almost mandatory.

6) There is no baggage storage facility you can walk to, visitor center recommended calling a specific one, allegedly one that is contracted with the airport.

7) They ask for $20 for a suitcase for six or so hours. That's outrageously expensive. That's more than the daily price in New York or Hong Kong or any airport I can think of.

8) By 1:30pm the visitor information booth is closed. The airport information you can call refuses to call the luggage storage.

9) The must-be-called-over-the-phone luggage storage facility is not wired into the courtesy phone system.

10) If you somehow manage to make the phone call to the luggage storage -- remember, you don't have coins! -- you get an attendant on the phone who speaks so accented English I can't understand a word. Remember, this is an international airport so it is quite possible many people will have an even poorer understanding than me especially over a ...... paid phone ( I got a 8/9 score for listening comprehension on my IELTS exam and I live in Vancouver for more than five years now. I understand English just fine, thanks much). If the WestJet agent didn't make a call on her personal phone, I have no idea what would've happened.

747FC

I'd say Venice, Italy is in the running for worst aiport. No free luggage carts on international arrival. No coin change machines that were working to acquire coin euro needed for machine. Nowhere else to get change. Long, long lines through immigration control, and not one palm tree in sight!

Sorry about you bad baggage experience. It would have been nice to have a more customer-service-friendly airport to have welcomed you to Hawaii. Hopefully, someone from the Governor's office reads FT!

WRCSolberg

1-5 aren't the fault of the airport, rather the transit authority. All of your issues would have been solved by springing for a rental car rather than trying to pinch pennies, and the ensuing heartache.

(You can afford to fly to Australia but you can't cough up $30 for a rental car?)

JerryFF

I hope you enjoy the rest of your trip.

To be honest, it would not have occurred to me to rent a car for such a short time and for such a short trip in a new city.

UA Fan

I once had a similar transit and went to Pearl Harbor. Took a taxi.

What is wrong with SYD? I did not notice anything unusual. First time hearing about it.

DanTravels

As far as I can see, none of chx1975's complaints have anything to do with anything under HNL's control.

The closest one is lack of baggage lockers, but post-9/11, it's rare to find airports in the US that do have any kind of baggage lockers.

Since there are baggage recheck counters immediately after customs, before going streetside, I wouldn't expect someone between flights to have huge bags with them.

TheBus is run by the city and county (totally separate from the airport which is run by the state) and does allow baggage that fits on your lap or under your seat. Backpacks, shoulderbags, and even reasonable rollaboards have never been a problem for me.

There are also hotel shuttle buses on the lower level which go to Waikiki for less than the cost of a taxi.

As a general rule, ATMs in the US spit out $20 bills. It's extremely rare to find one that dispenses anything else.

I presume the HART rail system currently under development will take credit cards...?

WRCSolberg

Well, if I demanded the convenience and accommodation that the OP does, riding public transportation probably wouldn't be my first choice either.

I've ridden The Bus before, I didn't think it was substandard. Then again, I wasn't expecting a chauffeured limousine experience either.

DanTravels

I haven't ridden it much in recent years, but during the couple years I lived in Honolulu, it was named best transit system in the US - for the second time. I've heard of cutbacks in routes or frequency, but I think the airport route is still pretty solid. I'm looking forward to trying out the rail system when the time comes, though.

IWantASgrBaby

If you think that is the worst airport then you have just not flown very much. Try some airports with 1 flight a day out of them and then try complaining.

Who doesn't travel with at least a few hundred dollars in cash? I know when I travel I always carry a minimum off 100 and only use it for an emergency.

ILuvParis

No way that an airport that has a Honolulu Cookie Company shop can be the worst.

DanTravels

To be fair, chx1975 had just flown in from MEL, and might have been carrying AUD, expecting to change a little to USD on arrival. I can't recall whether there are any landside forex facilities at HNL... maybe one somewhere in the main terminal check-in lobby? (I can't be too critical of someone wanting to change currency on arrival, as I often do the same.)

And even then, do you carry singles? Quarters? TheBus fare is $2.50 or something, I think, and ATMs give $20 bills. I believe there's a little shop in the main terminal check-in lobby that sells pineapples and stuff, but I can't think of other ways to break a $20, other than asking passers-by if they have change.

WRCSolberg

Or a conveniently placed Kona Brewing Company that's right next to the Admirals Club.

travelinmanS

SYD, like PEK, is basically 2 separate airports with no easy way to get between the two terminals airside. HNL is a much better airport than SYD IMHO.

UA Fan

Did not know that. Never had to take an intl-dom connection there. The old BOM airport was like that as well.

DanTravels

Far too many airports are still like that. FUK has a bus between the international and domestic terminals... which are on opposite sides of the runway, so even though it's probably airside, it.still takes a while! And in the US, going landside to get between terminals, especially when transitioning from international to domestic or vice versa, is all too often still the norm. LAX, JFK, EWR, ORD... places like AMS (or even HNL) seem so enlightened in comparison.