Quick question-- I'm flying on HA out of HNL and would like to visit the President's Club before takeoff. Is this possible due to the layout/security at HNL?

Yes. But its a good walk between the HA section of the airport and the PC club, probably 10-15 minutes. But I seem to remember that I walked from the PC club to HA gates without having to go thru security again. Edited to Add Map-Note PC club is opposite gates 12/13. Use the 2nd level map and it shows the connecting walkways.

http://www.hawaii.gov/dot/airports/i...inal%20map.pdf



[This message has been edited by Vulcan (edited 07-15-2003).]

I'm not sure of your destination, but I believe HA mainland and South Pacific flights depart from the main terminal just like everyone else. If that's the case you should have no problem visiting the Presidents Club, it's a pretty central location, just give yourself some extra time to walk if you leave out of the Ewa or Diamond Head concourses.

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Dave

No, that's not correct. All of Hawaiian's flights (including mainland and S. Pacific) now leave from the interisland terminal. I found that out trying to meet a friend coming in on a mainland HA last year (I was on AA and had to take the wiki wiki shuttle to the interisland terminal to find my friend).

If you walk from the interisland terminal to the PC area (and it is a long walk), and if you are carrying any bags, the bags do have to go through an x-ray inspection system (looking for improper agriculture transfers, I think). They have tables of confiscated fruit. If walking traffic is high, this can also slow you down. Only happens in this one direction, I think.

formeraa,
I wish this were the case, but it's not. Hawaiian has always had their mainland and S. Pacific flights depart and arrive from the main domestic terminal. The gates (gates 30-34 I think) are located on the third tier of the terminal.

What you might be getting confused with was that when passengers arrive from a HA flight, they are cattled over by the WikiWiki shuttle to be taken over to the interisland terminal. All of Hawaiian Airlines' baggage claims, however, are in the interisland terminal.

If you still don't believe me, go to http://www.ehawaiigov.org/hnlflights/ select Hawaiian Airlines for airlines and click departures (because arrivals doesn't give gate numbers). Also select domestic. You'll find all flight within gates 30-34, which according to the map with the link provided earlier are all in the domestic, main terminal of HNL.

By the way, if you are on a domestic flight or on an interisland flight, it's about the same walking distance either way... don't sweat it, you should have a lot of time to visit to President's Club.

Yes there is an agricultural station located between the interisland terminal and the main domestic terminal. They only scan for fruits, foods, etc. when you're walking from the interisland terminal to the main terminal.

Hope this helped.

Aloha

[This message has been edited by slippahs (edited 07-15-2003).]

I recently visited the CO Presidents Club in between 2 HA flights. (Mainly because I had a long layover and HA interisland segments were oversold, so there was no chance for standing-by for an earlier flight.)

I recommend that you take the WikiWiki shuttle (located up escaltors in the middle of HA's gates) over to the Continental gates. Give yourself at least 15-20 minutes to get from HA to CO; the shuttles are random and slow. I'd recommend against the walk because walking takes you out of the secure area (1x out, another time back in) which would add to the time ...and the walk is a decent one, so if you had bags and/or anything on more than very light clothing, you'll end up sweaty/tired at either end.

As far as Agricultural Inspection, thats patchy too. On 2 recent trips, the inspection guys weren't even around...I just went up and out to the WikiWiki shuttle. On other times when the inspectors were there, it was quick and easy: you run carryons through their x-ray and proceed through quickly.

All this said, I wouldn't venture over to the PC unless you had 90 minutes between connections to get there & back and enjoy your visit there.

Correction, as stated above by many others, you do not have to exit the secure area to walk from the interisland terminal to the domestic terminal or vice versa. You can proceed straight from the domestic terminal to the interisland terminal without going through any kinds of agricultural inspections or security checkpoints. Check the map linked above again. You'll see there is a direct walkway within the security areas between the interisland terminal and domestic terminal.

The WikiWiki shuttle can be a pain because it runs so infrequently. The walk is about a 10-15 minute walk depending on where you start off from.

http://www.flyertalk.com/travel/fttr...ML/000254.html

It's times like this I wish I could take my camera and create a HNL website... this would take away all the confusion.



[This message has been edited by slippahs (edited 07-15-2003).]

This is certainly true. Just make sure that you don't leave the secure area of either terminal into the baggaqe claim area. If you remain in the secure area, you can take either the Wiki Wiki shuttle, or walk between the main and inter-island terminals.

This is true, but note that the opposite is not true. If you go from the inter-island terminal to the main terminal, whether via the Wiki-Wiki shuttle or via foot, and you stay within the secure area, you will nonetheless need to pass though a USDA inspection station that will x-ray all of your carry-on baggage. There is no metal detector to walk through. As others have pointed out, the USDA inspection is to make sure that you're no transporting fruits, vegetables, or plants to the mainland, and is not for aviation security purposes.

This is ironic - doesn't Wiki Wiki mean "quick quick" in Hawaiian?

I can attest to the fact that you can indeed use the PC at HNL while waiting for a HA interisland flight. I did just that about three weeks ago (HNL/LIH) and it's a snap. The walk isn't bad at all (it took me about 10 minutes max - don't bother with the Wiki Wiki shuttle) and you only have to pass through security once, after checking in at the interisland terminal, so there's no problem there. There's an agricultural inspection station with X-ray that you have to go through (one way only - from the interisland terminal to the PC opposite gate 13 - you bypass it on the way back to the interisland terminal). Passing through that took me all of about 30 seconds. So use the PC and enjoy as I have many times - the folks there at the HNL PC are wonderful.