I am very ignorant of anything regarding Hawaii. I've been concentrating on just trying to get over there and back and thought the interisland stuff might not be too tough. Once again .... perhaps wrong.

I am going to be arriving either HNL or KOA and departing from one or the other. Still a bit up in the air.

I'll be staying on Kauai first and ending up on the Big Island.

I thought I'd see if I could get from KOA to Kauai if I don't arrive KOA until 9:55P. Thought I might need an overnight. Thinking it would be simplest, I just plugged the airstops into Orbitz and hit search. All the options routed me back to the mainland! Are they nuts?

I can see I'm going to need a lot more flyertalk help before this is over with! I'm off to search Hawaiian Air now that the shock has worn off.

Any suggestions, words of wisdom or wake-up-calls most welcome.

Sheila

i'll answer what i can, and leave the rest for my more knowledgeable fellows!

if you arrive in koa (or hnl, for that matter) at 9.55pm, you'll be overnighting here for sure.

you CAN get to kauai from koa without going to the mainland, but i'm pretty sure you'll have to go through hnl, although i haven't done that recently. try both the hawaiian and the aloha websites, also check islandair.

aloha

You won't get a flight within the islands at 9:55 PM. If you can do it, my suggestion would be to fly into HNL, where there are plenty of economical hotels to choose from for an overnight (assuming the HNL flight arrives at a similar time), then fly to Kuaui in the AM for your stay there, then on to Kona (you'll have to go through either HNL again or OGG (Maui) as there are no non-stops between the two. Then, fly back to the mainland from KOA.

it's hard to get anything at 22:00 on the big island.

no directs i can see from kailua-kona to kauai either on pacific wings or makulele. so it's a change through hnl, with aloha likely to be the lowest priced. i do aloha koa-hnl fairly often, and the pog is fantastic!

Including a taxi!

including a rental car. hows this one. On my recent vacation in hilo, I was told that Alamo in kona has a nasty habit of "closing" even when they know a flight is delayed with their customers on board. The agent in hilo said "one time Budget, avis and dollar split 40 walk up reservations when Alamo and national closed 6 min after the flight landed (it was delayed)."

anyone able to confirm this behavior?

i can't confirm it specifically, but i can confirm it generally.
'work ethic' isn't really something we have a surplus of on this island. (that isn't limited to alamo, and it's not limited to kona. doing business of any kind here is a real challenge)

you mean that they had he nerve to close at their posted closing time? how rude! have you considered that maybe the employees have lives and committments?

i have landed in iad (wash dc), sfo, ... after hours and the counter was closed. this did not cause me to impugn people's work ethic.

Folks, let me take this opportunity to remind you of Flyertalk's policies on being respectful of other people's posts. I've never had to close a thread on the Hawaii Airlines forum for uncivility. Let's not make this the first. I appreciate your prompt attention to this matter, and now, please continue the topic at hand.

-slippahs, Hawaii Airlines mod

I'm laughing (at nothing and no one in particular, and everything in general).

At this point, what is the topic anyay? Maybe we need a new post related to car rentals and such closing times. The same has been true in Kauai (I mean to say that car rental employees won't stick around all night when a plane is way delayed). And I've had the same experience at ONT recently. Very frustrating to be sure, but I'm not sure it is a Hawaii airline issue at all. Perhaps neither are the state's labor issues.

I AM a bit worried after following this thread. I've never been to Hawaii and only know what I've been told. I've heard that the nearest lodging to KOA for a night is about 8 - 9 miles away and that a taxi would be expensive. If the rental counters are closed, will I also have trouble getting a taxi? I can just see me at 10:30P KOA time (haven't figured out what time that is Eastern Daylight time yet) after leaving home about 4:30A EDT to catch a flight, with grouchy husband (because he couldn't smoke from Salt Lake City to Kona) and two grouchier kids in tow trying to find any ride to a place to sleep. I gather none of the hotels have shuttle services?

Aren't vacations fun? Any words of reassurance appreciated here!

Sheila

yep, there is no lodging near the airport. taxis are available as long as you don't get in at one in the morning or something. but hawai`i is a friendly place, so in wierd circumstances don't hesitate to ask someone to give you a lift.

your message implies that you will arrive with no hotel reservation. that may not be wise. also, without a car, how will you get to the volcano and other beautiful places?

while you're on daylight savings time, there is a six hour difference hst to edt. hst to est is five hours.

have a great vacation!

Thanks for your concern. I wouldn't dare arrive without a lodging reservation. I have one on hold and am still exploring my options. We'll only be there for one night, then on to Kauai the next day. (Need to start figuring out all the interisland stuff.)

We'll be on Kauai for a week, Maui a week, then back to the Big Island for a week. After the pain and expense of flying that far, I insisted on staying long enough to catch up on my sleep before reversing the trip.

Your post brought to mind an image of the four (or six, depending on what my teens decide) of us riding in the back of a friendly Hawaiian's pickup truck. After the day we'll have .... it might look pretty good.

So .... would it be cheaper to take a cab or hire a rental for the overnight if I stay eight or nine miles from the airport? I am still 10 months out, so I haven't started getting that specific with my research yet.

Thanks for all of the advice.

Sheila

sorry not to have recommendations for a short overnight in kailua-kona en famile. we're hicks from the far northern tip of the island, and think of kailua as that high-traffic city, south of the too-often-visited airport, where we go to shop as rarely as possible.

probably get the rental, but i really don't know on price. thrifty is said to have good prices for the rentals.

Heck, thats nothing. In Kauai they closed whole the airport after a UA red eye was cancelled and forced the passengers to sleep outside on the grass.