After a nice 3 days touring the island of Oahu with our tour group, it was time to leave the beaches and streets of Waikiki for the big island of Hawaii. Waikiki is one place that I will go back to some day for sure, I loved it! We boarded the bus the HNL around 7am. Our tour guide gave us some info on HNL and I learned that the reef runway is long enough for a space shuttle landing! Anyway we arrived at the Inter-island terminal and checked in quickly while some Aloha reps. Took the bags for our group and checked them in. We went through security with no problems and I wondered around the Inter-island terminal(It was 8:30am, our flight left at 10:20am) I noticed many HA 717's and AQ 737-200's along with one 737NG bound for Orange County, CA. Those 737NG’s look great with winglets! I walked back to gate 49 to find my mom first in line for boarding (it was open seating). N819AL pulled up to the gate at about 9:50am and they cleaned everything up on the aircraft and began boarding at 10am.

April 13th, 2004
Aloha Airlines Flight 246 HNL-ITO(Hilo)
Boeing 737-200 N819AL
Depart- 10:20am
Actual- 10:30am gate 49
Arrive- 11:15am
Actual- 11:16am gate 7
Seat 7F

I was the first one down the jetway and I was excited about the short inter-island flight. The cabin was cold and the blue leather seats looked pretty old(not torn, but classic). I sat down in 7F in the rather comfy seats. I sat next to my aunt who flew in on NW923 from MSP on Friday who isn’t exactly small. But hey, it was a short flight. Everyone was on board but we pushed pack about 10 minutes late. We waited behind a ANA 767-300, NW 747-400, and a Hawaiian 717. We held short of 8L for an arriving Island Air Dash-8 and then had a rolling takeoff on 8L. Those rolling t/o’s are great! The powerful 737 made a right turn after departure over the reef runway giving me a great shot. The wind blew us around until we reached our cruising altitude of about 10000. The f/a’s had already began drink service and I had mango passion juice which was really good. I was impressed by the AQ f/a’s with their ability to serve all the pax on the short flight while keeping a smile on their face’s. I played cards with my aunt while flying over the beautiful Lanai and Molokai until we began our descent into Hilo. It was overcast and raining in Hilo as we descended. We flew through the clouds and bumped down towards ITO. We were under the clouds and flying through rain and I still couldn’t see land. We were about 3000 feet up when I finally saw some land and we touched down on a wet runway shortly there after. I was surprised of the size of ITO, it was really small. We pulled up near an HA 717 and deplaned through a musty smelling jetway. It had been raining in Hilo for the past week and everything was soggy inside the terminal(it is an open air terminal) We walked down to the parking lot and got on the bus that would take us through Volcanoes NP and over to the Kona coast of the big island. While leaving, I noticed a Fedex MD-11 in little ITO! All in all I was impressed with my first inter-island flight.

After two days of beach going and shopping, it was time to leave for the island I wanted to visit most, Maui! The only downside was that we had to be in the lobby of the Royal Kona Resort at 4:15am!! I slept outside on our balcony at the hotel which was really nice right next to the ocean. That was really nice but not when I was awaken by my mom at 4am. I managed to stagger down to the lobby with a cup of coffee and then got on the bus to KOA. It was still dark outside when we checked in at the Aloha ticket counter and the security checkpoint still hadn’t been opened. I sat down and ate my little box breakfast while waiting. KOA is a neat little open air airport. I voted it my favorite out of all the airports I have been to. The joyful TSA opened the checkpoint at about 5:30am and I was the first to set the alarm off in KOA that day! I had a pair of shorts on that I hadn’t worn in a while and while I was wanded, the friendly TSA rep found a penny in my pocket. That was my first time stopped since I was in MCO last summer. Anyway our group walked over to gate 4B and I did some homework while waiting for our aircraft. I saw, and heard, a UPS 747-200 takeoff in front of my. It was awesome! Then our 737 pulled up on the tarmac and unloaded pax through the front and back of the aircraft. Shortly there after, it was time to board

April 15th, 2004
Aloha Airlines Flight 85 KOA-HNL
Boeing 737-200 N824AL
Depart- 7:00am
Actual- 6:54am gate 4B
Arrive- 7:40am
Actual- 7:24am gate 52
Seat 11F

I received my ticket stub back from the friendly gate agent and walked out on the tarmac and boarded through the front of the aircraft. I was one of the first on the plane and grabbed seat 11A, which would be my first ever emergency exit row seat!( I turned 15 in January) The leg room was grrrrrrrreat because there was no seat in front of me. Captain Diane came on and told us the weather and gate info in HNL. With everyone on board another full AQ flight, we taxied out and had another rolling takeoff. It was a little bumpy while climbing and the friendly AQ f/a’s still served everyone coffee or juice. By the time we reached cruising altitude, we began our descent into HNL. We came in parallel to the airport and made a sharp right turn over Pearl Harbor and lined up for 8L. I looked down into the water and spotted a submarine pulling into the harbor. Shortly after that, we were on the ground back in HNL. There were scattered showers in the area and the ramp was wet. We touched down about 15 minutes early and, surprise! No gate open for us! So we sat for about 15 minutes on the ramp of the inter-island terminal until we pulled up to gate 52. Our groupd didn’t have to deplane since the flight would continue as AQ62 to OGG. I went to the bathroom and then sat in 11A because the view of Maui was supposed to be better on the left side of the aircraft. About 10 minutes later, the other pax began to board.

Aloha Airlines Flight 62 HNL-OGG
Boeing 737-200 N824AL
Depart- 8:15am
Actual- 8:16am gate 52
Arrive- 8:50am
Actual- 8:45am gate 13
Seat 11A

My last AQ flight. Yet another full flight and I wanted to see how well the f/a’s did on this 20 minute flight. We taxied out on time for an 8L departure. We held short for a cargo 747(forgot which carrier) and then turned on to the active and waited for clearance. After about 30 seconds, we began our takeoff roll into the morning sunrise. I got a great view of Waikiki and Diamond Head on departure. At about that time, they f/a’s were up and about. The wind was blowing us side to side during climb until we were out over Molokai. I enjoyed my juice in my exit row seat and watched the great Hawaiian islands pass by under me. Well we were on our way down after a 30 second cruise. The winds picked up again and Captain Diane reported 25mph winds from the northeast(she could’ve just said hold on). We were blown from side to side as we descended into the valley. At one point, the left wing was swept up by a gust causing us to blow off course. We got back on for finals into OGG. Our right wheel touched down and about 4 seconds later the right side touched down. It was a nice sunny day in Maui and I was excited to be there. We taxied to gate 13 and while deplaning through the jetway, the friendly f/a’s were there handing out cream savers! Aloha gets my vote for the best flight attendants! We walked through the nice open air Kahului terminal down to the parking lot. No more Aloha. I highly recommend Aloha to anyone flying inter-island.