As if last week’s crippling Honolulu Airport power outage wasn’t enough, yesterday saw another complete debacle at Hawaii’s primary airport. That apparently as a result of an overheated laptop initially, followed by an even more dangerous situation, that in turn led to a complete closure of the main terminal. It took nearly seven hours for operations to return to normal following the breakdown. With good timing, we were lucky to have just missed this incident ourselves.
Operations returned to normal today, although that was anything but was the case yesterday. It started with frightening erroneous reports of an active shooter at a TSA check-point, which triggered untold chaos and the terminal being evacuated, which caused major flight delays for nearly three dozen flights across all airlines.
What happened first is that gun-like popping noise and smoke emanated from the overheated laptop computer at the security checkpoint. What happened next, however, is unbelievable. There were multiple reports that TSA officers shouted “fire” and “run, get out, there’s a fire.”
The rumors of a potential shooter spread wildly throughout the terminal. Whatever was said that caused it, there was a subsequent stampede of passengers wherein TSA said that some “breached the security checkpoint by running into the sterile area of the airport without being screened.” As a result, the entire terminal was evacuated.
Passengers who were initially scared became infuriated due to the lack of coordination and communication by airport employees. It took a long time for travelers to even be advised of what had caused the situation. Then all of the passengers were forced to wait outside until security could be reestablished and screening could begin again. After what seemed like an eternity, TSA tweeted “TSA checkpoints have reopened and have resumed screening passengers in Terminal 2 at the Daniel K Inouye Intl Airport. Passengers should check with their airline on flight status and gate information.” TSA lines were horrendous.
When things go well at HNL, it can be among the most pleasant of airports anywhere in our opinion. When something goes awry, however, it appears that HNL is completely inept at handling the situation.
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I was there! It was horrible-lack of communication and over 4 hours waiting on the sidewalk and street in front of the airport! Could not hear any announcements when they were finally made and no one told us when TSA opened again. Due to this debacle, my flight to ORD (departure 3:50 pm) finally arrived 12+ hours later than arrival time due to illegal flight crew twice and an unplanned stopover in SFO due to crew legalities. We were there for 2 1/2 hours and not allowed off the plane! And no one knew what was happening or what to do. TSA was standing around, and when we did go through after it reopened, they were putting people through so fast there was no way they were competently doing their jobs. I watched 2 police officers drive up and get a rifle out of the trunk of their car and go into the airport about 25 minutes after the screaming psgrs exodus and yelling ‘shooter’ and ‘run’. Completely no plan for an emergency!
Yet another example of how inept and worthless TSA is
I have to agree with you in this instance! They let people go through without any security checks and they just stood there while I watched people go through! And I wasn’t at the security checkpoint where the computer was!
WOW! So glad you missed the chaos. We will be coming through HNL later this year. Hoping for a good day at the airport. Will make certain our return flight is non stop from Maui :0) I agree with Mark S’s comment.
Hi Colleen.
We were glad too.
Thank you for your comments!
Aloha.
I’m wondering how Securitas “airport police” handled the incident as far as safety controlling people and returning things to normal? I know that the Sheriff’s Office is mainly responsible for airport safety, but all you ever see are armed security guards from Securitas.
I’ve always wondered how professional they are in a crisis. I suppose this will help the airport decide this and other factors related to crisis incidents at the airport.
People pay a ton of money for flights and have every right to travel safely AND be treated with a reasonable amount of VIP courtesy.
Sadly, what we largely see is TSA “agents” yelling at people about dumping out bottled water. I can head just fine. Leave the shouting for emergencies please.
HNL does appear to be in need of wide overhauling.
Looking for flight deals with Inited to Hawaii/
Yes, that is the true test of good management and leadership – when things are not going well. One wonders when the last security protocols were tested . . .