Originally Posted by
dhuey
I'm curious to know why you see this lounge as a place to "get out of the zoo" at OGG. This small airport does not seem anything like a zoo to me. In the airside part, it's a pleasant combination of open-air spaces (Hawaiian warmth and humidity) and and the standard AC zones. OGG isn't very busy these days. This lounge is way more crowded than OGG, generally. It amazes me that travelers try hard to get in there to get free access to the soda fountain, the taro-chips bin, and the views of the interior parking lot.
Apparently you haven't been there in the late afternoon/early evening on a day when HA flights are running late. We've had a bunch of those in the past year with runway work at HNL and general chaos.
Edited to add: when I do bypass it is when it's full of PP holders and the terminal is mellow. That's been a somewhat frequent occurrence too.