HNL’s long-promised transformation remains grounded, and travelers are reeling from the turbulence. While official press releases tout a world-class experience in the making, the reality on the ground tells a different story.
From limited food and amenities to full parking signs and aging infrastructure, Honolulu’s airport keeps buckling under pressure. Whether you’re arriving, departing, connecting interisland, or picking up family, the message is the same: the state’s primary airport is out of synch and out of room.
Despite years of upgrades, billions spent, and massive expenditures ahead, HNL still can’t get the basics right. And that’s not just us saying it. One Beat of Hawaii reader summed it up: “HNL is cracking under the pressure, and parking is just the latest casualty.” Others pointed to deeper issues, including mismanagement, poor design, and a lack of traveler-first planning. “Always ‘good e’ngh’ is alive and well at the Honolulu airport,” wrote Mark L.
We’ve covered HNL’s breakdowns before, including in Honolulu Airport’s Modernization Delays Leave Travelers Frustrated and Hawaii’s Airports Are a Mess—And That’s Exactly Why Some Love Them. This time, the lens is on the so-called “future” of HNL—and why, despite renderings and ribbon cuttings, the present still doesn’t match the promise.
Relief remains years away.
The state continues to promote its plans for a revitalized HNL, complete with cultural upgrades, expanded lounges, and terminal renovations. But beyond renderings and announcements, the actual pace of progress tells another story. One long-delayed project, a five-level garage next to the Hawaiian and Alaska Airlines terminal, is now finally moving forward. It promises 1,800 new stalls and direct terminal access… eventually.
Construction could take up to five years, and travelers hoping for smoother experiences in 2025 or 2026 are likely out of luck. Meanwhile, the state has begun highlighting future improvements to other terminals and concourses, including upgrades to Lobbies 5 through 8 and an eventual expansion to Diamond Head Concourse—but these too remain conceptual for now.
“If LaGuardia in NYC can simultaneously tear down an old terminal and build a brand-new award-winning terminal while maintaining air traffic, what is our excuse?” asked reader John. Another added, “We’re still studying while the rest of the world builds.”
It’s more than a parking problem.
While parking gets attention, travelers describe a broader dysfunction: scattered terminals, long walks, poor signage, limited food options, and no reliable transfer system. Compare that with other international airports that have signage explaining distance and walking time to gates—simple and inexpensive fixes. One reader put it bluntly, saying it’s “something the state should be embarrassed about.” Another shared how they were “abandoned at the wrong gate in a wheelchair,” adding there was “not much Aloha spirit.”
One traveler compared the experience to “musical chairs, but with cars—and no music.” They explained that “when the music stops, you’re left holding your luggage.”
Joyce K., a disabled visitor, added that “there was nothing available to help get my luggage from the car to the terminal,” while Daniel was even more direct: “They need a real modernization, not just patches.”
Alaska and Hawaii are still in three terminals, with no unification.
Despite well-established plans for consolidation, Hawaiian and Alaska Airlines still operate out of three separate terminals. That means scattered gates, long walks, and frequent confusion. The new premium lounge has been announced—see Massive Hawaiian Alaska Upgrade Sparks New Terminal Renaissance at Honolulu—and it’s expected to open in 2027.
As one reader put it, “They’re still putting up renderings while travelers are dragging bags across the street in the rain.” Another added, “Call Port of Seattle and ask for help—they’ve figured it out.”
Transportation to and from HNL remains stuck.
Even if the new garage is completed, travelers will continue to face serious challenges getting in and out of the airport.
Skyline rail, Honolulu’s delayed, barely used, and costly commuter train, may reach the airport area by late 2025. But it still won’t connect directly to any terminals. And it won’t serve Waikiki, Ko Olina, or most visitor accommodations. It’s a commuter system, but it’s no tourism solution. The original travel-friendly rail plan? Scrapped years ago.
Within the airport, the Wiki Wiki bus system remains the only way to move between terminals. It has both indoor and outdoor components. A dedicated people mover system was once envisioned, but now appears to have been just a dream, now permanently shelved.
Still no independent airport authority for Hawaii.
As one reader put it, “Until the corruption stops, Hawaii will never have a quality airport. The airport needs to be privatized and have someone responsible for making it the best for flyers and employees.”
Unlike many major U.S. airports, HNL is not run by an independent airport authority. Instead, it remains under direct state control through the Hawaii Department of Transportation. That structure means more bureaucracy, less flexibility, and slower response to infrastructure problems or traveler needs.
We’ve covered this before: the absence of a dedicated, professional airport authority continues to be a roadblock to real change. Without it, there’s little incentive—and often little ability—to act with the urgency or vision needed to deliver a truly world-class airport experience.
Tips for travelers navigating HNL now.
If you’re flying through HNL anytime soon, come prepared. Allow extra time. Don’t count on quick terminal transfers, open food options, or clear signs. If you’re connecting to a neighbor island, pack some patience. One new hurdle is the USDA inspection process, which BOH editors recently encountered as a surprise delay. The state has acknowledged the issue and says it’s working on improvements, but for now, it’s another bottleneck in an already strained system.
HNL isn’t a traveler-friendly airport right now. A little planning can save you from a lot of stress.
Vision without execution.
The vision for a reimagined HNL sounds great on paper: a unified terminal zone for Hawaiian and Alaska Airlines, modern amenities, improved transport, and a seamless experience for visitors.
But right now, it’s mostly talk.
“They keep doing studies and never build,” wrote reader Kim. “Rinse, repeat—over budget and off schedule, every time.”
Until that changes, the experience at Hawaii’s flagship airport will remain a frustrating mix of outdated infrastructure, scattered systems, and unmet expectations.
Let us know about your experience at HNL. Have you seen any signs of progress? Or do you think Hawaii’s busiest airport is still stuck on the runway?
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I tried…this Hoele came to the islands in 2006 with the best of intentions to create a world-class airport. I worked at it for 18 months but was voted off the island for trying to bring in experienced runway designers. Even though the civil engineering firm selected had an office in Honolulu for 40 years, they were not local enough to satisfy the powers that be. It’s as good as it’ll ever be. After seeing the dark side of Aloha, I’ve never been back.
Jane and I were recently in Honolulu. The airport is a third world mess – on a good day. HNL should simply copy Cancun vis a vis a quality tourist destination airport. HNL is an embarrassment. Btw, I have travelled to over 50 countries during my business career. Thus, I am my no means a rookie when it comes to airport qualities. For example, Charlotte is ten pounds in a five pound container. HNL is not worthy of that comparison.
Pipe dreams for expansion and greed. Stand gotta go.
Are you surprised? Hawai has been led by incompetent politicians for decades. The proof- the stadium, state capital, the rail, Lahaina, airport, prison system, state hospital, Waianae police station, DMV, turtle traffic bypass 15 year project, kakaako foreigner safe deposit boxes, worst potholes and high taxes. And our AG is spending our resources fighting Trump.
I just recently returned from Tokyo and Seoul where I flew into and out of Narita, Haneda and Gimpo international airports. I all cases i was amazed at how clean, well lit and organized all three were. They make any US airport look like they came from the stone age. And the food choices that all three provided made it difficult to decide. The different methods that each one has to get travelers to the city centers were wonderful and efficient. I guess that the US has the thought process of “too bad, accept what we give you because we’d rather give huge salaries to the directors than care for travelers “
Another, otherwise fine, article about corruption on the islands.
Please name names.
Unless we know who the ‘old boys’ are, we can’t make progress.
I live here. I pay taxes. I want responsible, responsive government. Let us know who these scofflaws are.
And please, stop braying about “the one-party” rule. You might want to visit ANY red state to see how the other party runs things.
I’ve worked at the airport for over 40 years… traveled all over the world so I’d like to give my take… first Sen Donna Morcado-Kim blocked the state from making it a private authority 1) Nan construction (who’s owner was indicted once before) is the only one sucking the airport dry 3) duty free doesn’t offer much in the restaurant and snack areas and 4) the mentality running and planning it the airport? Well look at our rail… nuff said!
I live in Miami now (arrived in 2002) and the comments about HNL are pretty much they same as what people say about MIA
Long distances, bad transportation, bad food, rude employees, terrible lounges, long wait and walk to immigration, dirty restrooms, small gates with not enough seating, incompetent government running the airport, not enough parking
Terrible first-world problems…
The state needs to put the money into our hawaii airport facilities instead of lining their own pockets. Everything is contracted and is the reason why repairs take ages and HMS monopolizes the food available in the terminals. Workers are forced to use outdated equipment that are in violation of OSHA but Hawaii airport authorities say they are “grandfathered in” which somehow makes it ok. A hot mess and a damn shame.
Hello,
Leaving comments is not my thing……that being said here it goes. I lived in HNL and worked @ the airport for more than 6 years(I moved to LAS 10 years after). The absolutely Biggest problem with the entire state of Hawaii is the mindset that is all too pervasive there. Most all projects and plans of improvement will follow the same path as a California speed rail project or many other pipe dreams that money is thrown at. Not….ever…gonna…happen. I don’t like saying it but Maui isn’t going to get rebuilt to what it was, but rest assured things will be rebuilt from the California wildfires…..but not like before. There Must be changes in local and state governments in Hawaii, going away from California type governing for any type of positive changes and future progress to occur. Once and if that’s possible will things improve, period.
My gripe with HNL, getting off an international flight at gate C8 and then walking nearly 3/4 mile to immigration. I wrote to Hawaiian Airlines and suggested they inform passengers about long walk and no bathrooms except at C8. Got a brush off response. Oh yeah, the one small trolley provided holding maybe 20 people on a flight holding nearly 300 passengers is a joke. Any international flight landing greater than gate C2 should be notified by the pilot of the walk. I mean we have to listen to multiple other announcements. Multiple times!!
Pride! The one thing missing from Daniel K Inouye International Airport is leadership! Leadership is proud of the job performed by their team. Compare our airport’s leadership page to other west coast airports. It is easy to see why our front door to the world is a dump. portofportland.com/Leadership
portseattle.org/about/leadership-team
hsan.org/Airport-Authority/Board-Members
ocair.com/about/administration/airport-governance/leadership/
skyharbor.com/about-phx/administration/department-directory/chad-makovsky/
Airport was poorly designed .no food courts just big empty space. Where did the 300 million dollars really go?
Comparing Hawaii to 3rd world countries is an insult to 3rd world countries. Very depressing and shocking flying from BNK (Thailand) to HNL, not only the crumbling infrastructure, but the very rude, condescending, local Hawaiian”officials”.
There are no non-stops between HNL and BKK
I have been to both airports several times between 2016 – 2024. HNL is not that bad. BKK has long walks from gate to customs and then to domestic flights as well. Food (unless at lounges) is similar- shopping in BKK is better. Comfort at gates is the same (poor) experience.
Neither airport is like Doha or Singapore. But nobody is planning on spending days at airports anyway
The airport still has painted signs on the floor telling you to keep your social distance of 6 feet, which is advice still from the pandemic. Nothing like a pandemic flashback when taking a vacation. It’s easy to paint over these signs, but it would probably take a study and years to do. Meanwhile, there are announcements regularly over the loudspeaker to keep your distance from other travelers to prevent catching a disease. Hawaii is stuck in pandemic contagion fear, and will take years to evolve past it — and it will probably require a study first, since nobody in power in Hawaii seems to know what to do without a study telling them.
In my 30 years of living on Oahu coming and going through the airport quite often professionally and personally very little if anything has changed. The facilities are lacking a variety of food and other Lounge options found in even the most modest but modern airports throughout the world. That often musty smell of the waiting areas with the occasional wiff of jet
exhaust is as fresh as the first day I smelled it . I think the airport symbolizes the level of infrastructure Improvement throughout the entire Island. I don’t live on Oahu full-time anymore. I left 5 years ago but I come back often and the wonderful thing, is the saddest thing that nothing changes, nothing improves. And I have been through the New York City LaGuardia Airport that was a total dump and is now a Marvel of air travel efficiency and beauty.
Typical of every major infrastructure project currently in work or in planning. Rail, airport, stadium. The last successful project was the H3 and that was still late and over budget.
I’ve never had any bad experiences at the Honolulu airport. I guess I’m so happy to be in Hawaii that I don’t see any problems when I land or when I depart. I’m not disabled so I can’t comment on what a disabled person experiences.
I recently returned from Japan on Japan Airlines. The plane docked at I believe an F gate and we needed to take the WikiWiki bus to Immigration.
We had to stand in the vehicle’s exhaust while waiting to board. Once on board, there was no recorded announcement in Japanese, only the driver talking in a scolding, condescending voice in English. I could see the confusion on our fellow passengers’ faces. No Aloha. What a first impression!
On another return trip, I actually called the HDOT office to complain about the lack of available restrooms from the farther out C gates. A security guard blocking access to one along the long walk to Immigration curtly advised that the airline should have told us to use one on board before deplaning. Where’s the Aloha?
I have traveled extensively and I’m struck whenever I return home how “Third World” HNL is.
I offer no solutions but please, get your act together!
The state can’t run anything right..it’s the good old boy business. Close the stadium, no funding or plans for a new one. Train to nowhere….explains itself. Etc….
So many good people not allowed to run anything. But…. somebody needs recognition for the freeway rescue trucks!! Mexico had that decades ago.
I’ve been here my whole life, and it goes on the same every year. The same people and agendas get voted in every year. Same o, same o….
It has been 25 years since I was in HNL. Sounds like I haven’t missed much. I love the fact that you can get mainland flights to the three other major islands without a HNL stop.
Being disabled and having a service dog is almost an insurmountable task-getting to and from the “animal check-in area” which is outside of security so after traveling from the mainland, it is necessary to get to this area, have all your paperwork, get your dog checked and then return to the main terminal and go back through security which of course requires your boarding pass & ID again plus you have to discard any water or other drinks you may have bought. And then you have to get to the interisland terminal in time for your flight to a neighboring island. It’s ridiculous that this office is outside of security and not somewhere within the airport itself. Such a task to get a flight from the Midwest to Honolulu to a neighboring island with enough of a layover for this process all before 4:00 p.m.
It’s not just Honolulu airport, but all Hawaiian airports. It all points to the corrupt government and political appointees with no education, skills, or experience to run an Airport. One only has to look at Seattle with its professionally run airport with billion dollar investments and results. Overseen by a Port Authority that is elected by the people. It is no wonder that Alaskan Airlines is moving Hawaiian’s valuable assets to Seattle where the airport is more supportive and the passengers are greeted with modern infrastructure.
Start at the top of HDOT and get rid of E Sniffen. Appoint someone who is qualified (educational and experience), has vision, and the exposure of world-class airports.
Nothing wrong with copying what works elsewhere. Stop the studies and reinventing the “wheel”.
HNL has alway been headache for me. The lack of world class lounges (and their location is just awful), the outdated gates with limited seating and lack of elevated food venues, which are mostly fast food and very expensive. I’ll be there at the end of June and have ordered my car to Waikiki. Let’s hop that goes smoothly.
But yes, a new and modernized HNL airport is years in the making if they can past the red tape and empty dreams and promises.
Finally, an accurate post on what a disaster HNL is. It is hands-down the worst major airport in the US. The elderly and disabled are discriminated by the lack of any form of transport in and among terminals, including obvious fixes such as moving walkways. Knowing that HNL is run by the corrupt state government doesn’t help travelers much. They simply don’t care enough to fix this problem, and are solely interested in tourist $$$.
yes…want to keep it magical. how do we structure an airport that welcomes visitors with the Hawaii magic and not the overwhelming space traveling model. keep it magical and accommadating at the same time. why do we want to be like the big cities? we are an island. how do we keep this precious magic? tourist will come to enjoy our culture, environment. they spend more time on their actual vacation than at the airport. why do we have to change so much to satisfy impatient, self-centered people?
This post is just another example of what the government has created in Hawaii. Mismanagment is always followed by hollow promises. If this airport ever reaches it’s true potential that will signal that this project is ten years late and billions of dollars short. In other words, the airport is great BUT the tourists no longer visit. Just too much regulation. Good visions, little knowledge on how to put it into practice. Aloha, Hawaii.
That and One-Party Rule, it’s like they (those in charge of Tourism, 90% of the States Revenue) don’t care. Initially in 1986 using Delta, pretty simple, all was between Gates 13-23, with the Lounge downstairs in the Garden if outbound. Switching in the mid-late ‘90’s to USAir, America West and American, in their iterations before the merger, they then introduced me the Wing that is Gates 26-34, as they went to Red-Eye Returns to LA and Phoenix, that was like Devils Island, no Food, no Drink, and even in First, they were prepared to turn the lights out, once in the air. What has become the Hawaiian Terminal on the west end, since Aloha went out, was initially very clean, short on Food choices, but by then using Hawaiian First in and out of Phoenix, pretty smooth, though spartan in the terminal. Lihue and Kahului, make Burbank and Long Beach look like Beverly Hills, again, the common denominator, they just don’t care, take the $, ‘the Haole’s will come anyway!
It’s embarrassing that a place as magical as Hawaii has one of the worst travel gateways in the country. Seems like it should be one of the best given the state’s reliance on air travel. Am I missing something?
We visit family in Honolulu every year, and HNL never changes. It’s disorganized, and the “aloha” disappears the minute you land. It is just disconnected and in desperate need of new management.
I came in on a red-eye from the mainland. Between the walk, the lack of signs, and zero food options open, it felt like I was in a time warp—rather than the “gateway to paradise.” What a dumb way to handle tourism.