The Hawaii Department of Transportation is warning travelers departing from Daniel K. Inouye International Airport to expect long TSA waits at HNL. Construction in Terminal 2 has shuttered half of the security lanes available in that area, though no estimate is available for their reopening.
Hawaii’s primary airport has been undergoing modernization projects for well over a decade now. How effective/useful they’ve been is debatable. That said, Hawaii DOT has at least been good about minimizing impacts to travelers, unlike the madness going on over in Kona. But now they’re causing major headaches by forcing the closure of nearly half the security checkpoints at the airport just before the busy summer travel begins.
Expect Long TSA Waits at HNL
Officials are warning travelers to expect long TSA waits at HNL. How long? Well, they’re saying you should arrive at the airport at least 3 hours ahead of your scheduled departure time because two of the security lanes in Terminal 2’s check-in lobby are closed for construction. Mind you, there’s only six checkpoints between Terminals 1 and 2, so a third of the airport’s entire screening capacity has been eliminated.
These two checkpoints are those located on the Ewa side of the Terminal 2 check-in lobby, while the two in the Diamond Head half of the lobby remain open.
In other words, the lanes that remain open are those between lobbies 7 & 8 and those between lobbies 6 & 7. The ones that are closed are the lanes between lobbies 4 & 5 and 5 & 6. In case you’re wondering, these are the airlines located in each of these lobbies:
- Lobby 4
- Air Canada
- Fiji Airways
- Hawaiian Airlines (Japan flights)
- Jetstar
- Korean Air
- Philippines Airlines
- Qantas Airways
- ZIPAIR
- Lobby 5
- Alaska Airlines
- Japan Airlines/JAL Airways
- Air Premia
- Lobby 6
- Air New Zealand
- Southwest Airlines (inter-island flights)
- WestJet
- Lobby 7
- American Airlines
- Delta Air Lines
- Southwest Airlines (trans-Pacific flights)
- Lobby 8
- ANA
- Asiana Airlines
- United Airlines
At a minimum, if you’re checking in in Lobbies 4 or 5, it means you’re going to have an appreciably farther walk to get to the security lane between 5 & 6. However, this walk would be the best-case scenario during the closure.
Airport-Wide Impacts
I’m flying an airline using Lobby 6, 7, or 8, or flying Hawaiian Airlines out of Terminal 1 – should I still Expect Long TSA Waits at HNL? In short, yes. You see, the two lanes that remain open in Terminal 2 aren’t sufficient to handle the number of travelers coming through the airport, especially during peak times. To help remedy the situation, travelers may be bussed from their check-in lobby over to Terminal 1 for security screening.
That means, yes, even those of you on domestic Hawaiian Air flights might see longer wait times. And if you’re thinking of walking from Terminal 2 to 1, you can try, but it’s FAR. It might be quicker than a bus ride, but it won’t be pleasant.
Then, those of you going through screening in Terminal 1 will have to pass through an agriculture checkpoint to traverse back to Terminal 2, which will absolutely add additional time. This checkpoint is between B and C gates.
Expect Long TSA Waits at HNL, Final Thoughts
I get it; having to expect long TSA waits at HNL sucks. Standing in line is AWFUL, but the alternative is you get through quickly and have nowhere to really hang out after that. After all, HNL has limited lounge options. Now, there are good lounges available in Honolulu, but none of them are available to Priority Pass members, as the only two are the awful IASS Lounge and Hawaiian’s Plumeria Lounge.
You know what the worst part of all this is? The communication. the Hawaii Department of Transportation didn’t give anyone a head’s up – they only announced it on Monday, April 15. Further, they don’t specify what the work is or how long it’ll take to complete. I suspect it’s the Terminal 2 Ticket Lobby Improvement project, but that’s just a guess.
Update: at around 5 am HST on 4/16, officials are no longer warning travelers to expect long TSA waits at HNL. No explanation was given.