We will be arriving in Honolulu on NWA with a connection on Hawaiian Airlines. What is the best route to take in the airport from NWA gates getting to Hawaiian Airlines gates without leaving the Security area?

I think it's impossible. Hawaiian is in a different terminal.

Bruce

You can get detailed information at the Hawaii forum, but when deplaning the Hawaiian Air flight, follow the signs that will lead you to the WikiWiki shuttle that runs between terminals - if you exit security and take the wrong route, you can take the shuttle outside, but it will take alot longer and you will need to clear security again...make sure you follow the correct signs. The same is true for your inbound HNL flight - take the same shuttle to the interisland terminal to avoid clearing security there (you can check-in for HI once inside the terminal)

If you have any questions, ask a Hawaiian Air rep when deplaning your interisland flight to be directed to the terminal shuttle (or your mainland flight upon arriving)

If you have bags to claim at either point, you will need to exit the secure area and go to baggage claim, take the outdoor WikiWiki shuttle, and reclear security - so try to either avoid checking bags, or get them checked through to your final destination.

You will still need to clear the Agricultural Inspection, where your bags are X-Rayed for prohibited food/fruit - this checkpoint is right in front of the shuttle boarding lounge - and don't try to sneak any fruit, they're very good at finding it, even the small passionfruits we picked at the side of the road and planned to enjoy inflight

It's been many years, but I have connected between Hawaiian Airlines and Delta Air Lines. I notice another poster mentions a shuttle - I recall seeing that, but when I made the transfer I recall using a walkway between the terminals that kept me inside security.

I did have to clear the Agricultural checkpoint when entering the terminal used for Mainland USA flights. I believe NWA uses this same terminal as I recall seeing the other legacy carriers in that terminal with all of their flights to the US mainland.

I was able to check my luggage all the way through and it went through agricultural inspection at OGG before I could check it. Hawaiian airlines then interlined it to DL at HNL. As NWA and HA codeshare, I am certain they will be able to interline your luggage likewise. Not sure if you are using two tickets or one (I had two seperate tickets, one to HNL on HA, and my DL ticket), but provide your ticket, or both tickets if you are using two, and they will interline it to your final destination.

SDF_Traveler

I wholeheartedly agree about avoiding security at HNL however possible. The Interisland Terminal is indeed a separate building, but unlike at EWR or JFK, you can transfer between terminals while remaining in the secure area if you check your bags through so you don't have to claim them. Your airline should be able to check your bags through to your final destination without any problem if you give them both flight numbers and the destinations; we did this on our return from Kauai in 2003 (LIH to HNL on Hawaiian, then HNL to EWR to DCA on Continental). The WikiWiki bus that was mentioned before is the way to go. Since you are going TO Hawaii, you don't need to worry about the agriculture checkpoint on the way out there. Instead, simply take your carry-ons, follow the signs for the WikiWiki bus, and ride that to the Interisland Terminal.

On the way back, the process is a little different due to the agriculture thing. Once again, get your bags checked all the way through. When you board the flight on the other island, you will have to run your checked bag through the agriculture screening there and they will put a sticker on it. You do NOT run your carry-on baggage through the ag checkpoint, however. Instead, when you get to HNL you again follow the signs to the WikiWiki bus, and before you board the bus there is an ag checkpoint. They will put a sticker on your bag there. Just follow their instructions and you should be fine; they were much more courteous than the TSA (who in our experience were major-league pricks at HNL).

To give you a further incentive to stay inside security, consider this: When we went out there, we flew into HNL and spent two and a half days there before taking a 35-minute flight to Lihue. The wait to clear security at the Interisland Terminal was an hour and a half. There were a grand total of two checkpoints with two metal detectors each. Avoid it if at all possible!

Sorry to be a little off-topic, but if I understand this correctly, going to Hawaii there is no agriculture inspection, but leaving there is. To me, it would seem that is backwards as Hawaii wants to protect its products from being invaded by mainland pests, etc. Similar to the quarantine for dogs. What does the mainland want to protect coming from Hawaii?

IIRC, there is an agricultural inspection/declarations point for arriving flights in the baggage claim area. But it seems it operates differently than the outbound inspections. Don't know why or how it is different. I just remember that we had to fill out/sign a declarations form and hand it to an ag official when we entered the bag claim area.

The arrivals agricultural inspection is more of a random thing, while the outgoing inspection is for everyone.

Given it's certainly understandable for Hawaii to protect itself from inbound pests and non-native vegetation, I would expect the arrival inspection to be mandatory and the outbound to be random - or not at all.

I dont understand why they are so concerned about Pineapples and Mangos leaving the Islands when they should be more concerned about what people are bringing in.

Follow the signs to the Wiki-Wiki bus, up the escalator one level, it will take you right to the the interisland terminal, you will NOT have to go through security again.

If you walk, stay inside the terminal, again you will NOT have to go through security again.

Ag inspection is on the way off Island...

Have a great visit!!

You're right, and I forgot about this until you said it. My recollection is that about 45 minutes before landing in HNL, all of the airline's regular audio and video were cut off and they played a video from the State of Hawaii that welcomed you to the islands and talked briefly about the ag process. Then the stewardesses handed out declarations forms that were similar to the customs and immigration forms you fill in when you fly between the US and Mexico. I do not recall to whom we handed them, but I do recall that our bags were not inspected.

Perhaps the reason for the stricter outgoing inspection is that maybe Hawaii has native parasites that they want to prevent from spreading. It's similar to travel to Newfoundland by car. When you go TO Newfoundland, you just drive off the ferry and onto the Trans-Canada Highway, but when you LEAVE, they will hose off your car, including the underside, and ask you if you have any potatoes; also, if you are driving an RV, they may ask to look in the refrigerator. The reason is precisely what I said earlier--some sort of disease in the potatoes there that would devastate the rest of the provinces' potatoes if it spread.