Originally Posted by
CenterWaters
Isn't 2 hours too little time to clear U.S. Customs at HNL and connect to LAX flight?
(not to mention the possibility of weather or other issues)
I haven't been to HNL in a while, but last time I was there, it took almost 90 minutes
to clear immigration/customs. 70 of those minutes were waiting in line before I even
got to hand over my passport. Another 20 minutes to find my bag and head out the door.
How long does it take to walk from the customs exit to the mainland US flight gates?
If the inbound flight arrives on-time, but customs/immigration causes long delays,
does Hawaiian Airlines rebook pasengers on the next available flight? If no available
flight until the next day, do they provide hotel?
Thanks!
I arrived from SYD on HA this morning connecting on HA to SFO - 3 hour window to clear customs etc....
I was first off the Airbus that must have been at the most distant gate and made a quick pace to immigration. Very few signs so it's a little confusing. You actually go outside for awhile! As I was outside a JAL flight was arriving by bus so they probably got ahead of most SYD PAX. I had 5 people ahead of me at immigration but got thru quickly. My guess is the lines built up pretty quickly so I can see an hour or more wait.
As you come out of Customs there are signs that point to Mainland US flights. What they don't say is that they are NOT HA mainland flights so I schlepped all the way down to Mainland departures only to have to schlep all the way back to the HA terminal. SIgnage could be better.
Having said that I was sitting in the Premier lounge after going thru security within an hour.