Days 46- Honolulu Airlines I hate you!

I arrived into Honolulu airport Friday January 15th at 8:30 am. Slightly earlier than I had expected. I decided that since I had a layover until 2 pm for my flight to LAX Los Angelos, I might as well make the most of it, and head to the beach. The staff at the airport were very helpful and friendly and told me that for $2.25 I could jump on a bus that would take me to the beach at Waikiki. So, off I went for a nice afternoon to soak up some sun before heading to LA.
Time flew by and I realized that it was getting late by the time I had boarded the bus number 19 back to the airport.

SHIT! I can't miss my flight. I cant miss my flight! I thought as I wished the bus would drive faster. Then the bus driver pulled over and stopped the bus and got out. What the hell is he doing I thought? I waited for about 10 minutes listening to my newly purchased Sony MP3 player, until I finally questioned another passenger as to what the bus driver was doing.

"He is waiting for a another driver to switch shifts," the lady replied.

"Oh, ok, "I said, even though I was wondering how much longer this process would take.
I sat there listening to the new Britney Spears 1,2, 3 song and imagined the Honolulu Airlines jet flying into the distance without me and decided that it would be for my benefit to jump off the bus and make a run for the airport.

Drenched in sweat and panting to catch my breath, I ran from counter to counter trying to figure out which counter I was supposed to check in at. Flights to Mainland where the hell are you? After countless questions to different airport staff, I finally stumbled across the correct line and got checked in and went through customs seamlessly.
The flight boarded and I sat next to a friendly although obnoxious woman who was telling me her life story within the first 15 minutes we had met. I found it strange that we had been sitting on the plane without takeoff for such an extended period of time, until they announced that there were problems with the aircraft and we would need to get off and wait for a fix or possibly switch aircrafts.

FUCK! I hate Hawaiian Airlines! My friend Tom, I had met in Korea was supposed to be picking me up from the airport, but now I wouldn't have a ride because the flight was going to be delayed so much. The obnoxious lady let me borrow her phone and ring Tom to let him know the bad news.

We got off the plane and that is when the Hawaiian Airlines lies began. First it was a 2 hour delay, then a 4 hour delay, then a 6 hour delay! Not to mention, the airport had the air conditioner on high and I was literally freezing because I had not anticipated this. I decided that I would try to make the best of the shitty situation and go wait in the long line and complain in hopes of getting a food voucher.
Well, after about 30 minutes of waiting and listening to other passengers complain, I finally got what I had been waiting for.... A $20 FOOD VOUCHER! WOOOOO HOOO!

Although the flight attendant told me to hurry back by 915 to board the flight, I didn't really pay much attention to her warnings since they had been lying to me all day long. I mean how could I believe anyone that had been feeding me these lies of "take off" all day?

I literally ran through the long hallways of the '70s designed Honolulu Airport and finally made it to my place of haven... BURGER KING!

I don't normally eat junk food and I actually prefer salads to burgers, but since I had been waiting for hours and had the voucher, I decided to make it worth my while.

I looked at the menu as though it was a math equation, and did my best to get as much food as possible without leaving any credit left on the voucher. Now, this is where my trouble started! Triple patty whopper meal with french fries, veggie burger, and onion rings with a large drink!

"Can you please give me some mayonaise?" I asked the angry Burger King employee as she grabbed my voucher from my hand while glaring at me the whole time.

I took my massive plate of food over to the corner of the restaurant and slowly enjoyed some of my calorie packed grease fest. I was eating it slowly, thinking about how delicious the greasy burger was, when suddenly I felt like I should think about my flight.

Hmmmm, AAAHHH HAAA! I thought. I packed my food up into a bag and went over to the massage chairs underneath the flight schedule reader board. Honolulu to Los Angelos- DELAYED. Good! I thought. I wasn't late, and I could enjoy the greasy, sodium snacks I had purchased while getting a massage.

The time flew by and still the flight reader board hadn't changed. I started to freak out a bit because it was already 9:30 and the board hadn't changed to say "boarding" or "last call" like all of the other flights. But since it was already 7 hours delayed, I wasn't too worried. But I decided to call information and ask them if they had any new status updates.

"Hello, I am calling to see if you know anything about the flight to Los Angelos that was oringinally supposed to depart at 2pm?" I questioned the information worker.

"Ummm.... it looks like that flight has already departed," they answered casually.

"WHAT!?!?!??!" I screamed and dropped the phone, and ran to my terminal.

I literally sprinted through the airport wishing I hadn't eaten those last onion rings. I felt the grease bubbling in my stomach, as sweat droplets dripped down my forehead due to my high speed sprint to my terminal.

Upon arrival, I saw a couple I knew had been on the flight, but everyone else was gone.

"Oh my god, oh my god, did you guys miss the flight too?" I asked them.

They looked at my strangely and explained to me that the flight hadn't left yet, but I didn't believe them. They told me it was leaving at 11:30, but I found it strange there was not a single other person waiting in our terminal.

We went to an attendent and soon learned that indeed we had missed our flight! Tears, sad stories, lies, angry rants, and complaints filled the air until the three of us had been put up in a hotel for the night and been put on the flight to LA for the following morning. The Honolulu Airlines staff reluctantly gave us what we needed, but did it while making us feel like shit the whole time as well. I couldn't believe that after 7 hours of waiting, and no updated reader board, on top of no announcement, they were still going to rub it in our faces that everyone else had made the flight, and we were the only ones who didn't.

But, it worked out well for me! We ended up getting showers, TV, and good nights sleep before our flight out in the morning. I can't explain to you how nice that bed felt after my day from hell at Honolulu Airport! I will never forget you Ohana Hotel! BUT I really hope to forget you Hawaiian Airlines!!!