Reread the subject line. This is not a normal trip report, as this turned out to be not exactly a normal trip.

It was a dark and stormy night...

Well, no. It wasn't night nor dark, but it was mostly cloudy with occasional rain showers. The place is Honolulu International Airport, nestled just west of Pearl Harbor on the south shore of the Hawaiian island of O'ahu.

Just before 9:00am local time on the 5th day of January in the year 2002, A champagne-colored Toyota Camry pulls up curbside at the interisland terminal. From it emerge two young men (myself and my brother), and their parents. The four make their way to the trunk and begin unloading bags.

After hugs and kisses goodbye, the young men enter the terminal building and locate the agriculture inspection machines through which their checked bags must be passed through before they can proceed to check in for their flight.

The young men are early, very early. Their flight, number 32, to the Southern California city of San Diego is not scheduled to depart until 2:45pm. However, they have chosen to arrive early in order to meet one of the younger man's (my brother's) high school friends during her layover while traveling from the town of Hilo on the Island of Hawaii, often known simply as the Big Island, to the California metropolis of Los Angeles.

The interisland check in line is quite long. There are two other lines, one for Los Angeles and one for Seattle, as both cities have extra-section flights on this particular morning. The two men select the shorter of the two lines, the one for Seattle. The agent does not question their early presence and simply checks in the men and their luggage for their San Diego flight. The two men note that they are given a new ticket jacket with the new company logo and a photograph of a 717. The previous ticket jacket featured a DC-10.

After checking in, the two head to the security checkpoint. The line is not terribly long. Their IDs and tickets are checked, bags with laptop computers removed are placed through the x-ray machine. Prior to putting the laptops through, they are asked to open the lids. The two pass through the metal detector, and are also checked by hand with a wand. The older man (me) has his laptop and shoes rubbed with small pads which are then placed in a machine for a quick analysis. There are no problems, and the two men depart the security area, 18 minutes after getting into the security line. The presence of two armed National Guard officers as well as "No Photography of the Security Area" signs are noted.

The two make their way to gate 59 in the interisland terminal, where they wait for the arriving Hawaiian Airlines Boeing 717-22A carrying the friend from Hilo. The aircraft arrives after a short wait, and passengers quickly begin to disembark. The friend arrives, and the three make their way up to the Wiki Wiki shuttle bus which will take them to the overseas terminal. The bus arrives and is quickly filled to capacity, then departs.

The next stop is theirs and the three disembark along with many other passengers. They make their way to gate 20 in the Central Concourse, where the Los Angeles-bound DC-10-10 is waiting. Boarding is delayed because of cleaning. Once the friend boards the flight, the two men head over to the airport barber shop for haircuts.

Shortly before 12:00 noon, the haircuts are finished and the older man uses his cell phone to call his parents, who have returned to the airport to drop off visiting family members who were also traveling that day, on a United Airlines flight to the City by the Bay, San Francisco. The parents are just dropping them off curbside at United, so the two head out of the airport. Departing the sterile area can now only be done by going downstairs to the baggage claim, it is no longer possible to stay on the upper level and go into the ticketing lobby. Just before the two reach the waiting car, the parents are forced to drive off and make a loop around the airport as they noticed the vehicle waiting behind them being asked to leave.

The two are picked up and head to Ba-Le, a nearby French-Vietnamese restaurant in order to partake in the mid-day meal. After a meal certainly cheaper and most likely tastier than those available within the airport terminal, it is approaching 1:00 and the two young men must return to the airport in order to ensure sufficient time to re-clear security and board their flight to San Diego.

Returning to the Hawaiian Airlines security checkpoint in the interisland terminal, they find the line to be much shorter. This time it is the younger man who is subjected to the additional laptop and shoe tests. Again they clear the area with no problems.

The two walk to the Ewa Concourse of the overseas terminal, to gate 28 where their Boeing 767-33A(ER), N580HA, named Kolea, awaits. An announcement is made that boarding will be delayed as the cleaning crew has not finished with the aircraft. Boarding proceeds in typical fashion, staring with preboarding first class passengers, HawaiianMiles Pualani members, and those passengers needing extra time or assistance to board. General boarding begins with rows 32 through 44, the aft economy class section of the aircraft. Several minutes later all remaining passengers are invited to board; it is at this time that the two men do so and take their seats at 31H and 31J.

When the aircraft appears ready to depart, the captain makes the announcement that there will be an additional delay before departure, as the ground crew had neglected to load sufficient potable water for the flight.

During the wait, the Air Canada flight from Vancouver, British Columbia arrives, being operated by Airbus A340-313X C-FYLD, painted with the titles and logos of the first six Star Alliance members.

At 3:30pm, 45 minutes behind the scheduled departure time, the aircraft begins its pushback from the gate. Once clear of the gate and holding position on the tarmac, the engines are started. But the aircraft does not begin its taxi, instead holding in position for several further minutes.

At 3:42pm, the captain makes an announcement, telling the passengers that a warning light came on in the cockpit when the engines were started, indicating that one of the aircraft's navigation systems was not functional. The aircraft taxis to gate 29, where maintenance personnel board the aircraft to check the problem.

During the wait, free headsets are passed out to the passengers to allow them to enjoy the audio entertainment during the delay.

At 4:13pm, another announcement from the captain, stating that the problem was still being worked on; they didn't have any new information to report.

4:33pm: The problem has been fixed; maintenance is signing off the paperwork on the problem.

4:38pm: The main boarding door is closed.

4:41pm: The aircraft pushes back from gate 29. The engines are started with no apparent difficulty and the aircraft begins its taxi to runway 22L.

4:51pm: During taxi, the captain tells the passengers that diagnostics indicated there were no problems with the navigation unit, only the indicator light. There are no problems with the aircraft.

4:56pm: The aircraft begins its takeoff roll on runway 22L.

5:00pm: The captain makes the announcement to the quickly-disappointed passengers that the problem has occurred again and the flight will have to return to Honolulu. The aircraft begins a series of turns, vectoring back to the airport.

5:09pm: The flight touches down in Honolulu on runway 26L.

5:17pm: The aircraft blocks in at gate 34, the furthest gate at the Ewa Concourse.

5:32pm: The captain announces that the decision has been made to swap aircraft. The passengers collect their belongings and depart the aircraft. The older man bids a silent farewell to Kolea, wishing her a speedy recovery.

In the jetway immediately outside the aircraft, two airline employees hand out "reboarding passes" to each passenger. Each pass is actually a Passenger Accommodation Kit, containing a discount certificate good towards a future Hawaiian Airlines flight, a 10 minute prepaid telephone card, a certificate for a free headset rental or premium (alcoholic) drink, along with a comment card and a note of apology from Bob Zoller, Chief Operating Officer of Hawaiian Airlines.

Due to the heightened security, the passengers are restricted to the departure lounges for gate 34 and the adjacent gate 33, at which their replacement aircraft will be brought. Snack mix containing pretzels and macadamia nuts are brought out, along with containers passion-orange-guava juice. The juice is the same as usually served on interisland flights. Vending machines with drinks and a variety of snacks are also available for those who wish to purchase a snack. The two men also observe a few people being allowed to the outside area at the entrance to gates 33 and 34 in order to smoke.

6:16pm: Boeing 767-33A(ER) N581HA, named Manu o Ku arrives at gate 33. The two men had earlier noticed the presence of this aircraft parked at a remote stand east of the Diamond Head Concourse. Ramp workers unload the cargo containers from Kolea (this may have been done earlier; the aircraft was not visible from where the men were waiting) and load them onto Manu o Ku. GateGourmet caterers move the in-flight meals between the aircraft.

Shortly before 6:50pm, boarding starts with the usual preboarding. No announcement of general boarding is made, but it quickly becomes obvious that everyone simply is lining up and boarding regardless. The younger man comments that these people are well-trained at lining up and boarding without much prompting, as this is the procedure used by both Hawaiian and Aloha for interisland flights.

At 7:18pm, Manu o Ku begins her pushback from gate 33. Taxi begins, again towards runway 22L. Due to the length of the delay, the flight attendants repeat the safety demonstration. Near the end of the runway, the aircraft holds on the taxiway for several minutes. At 7:34pm, the captain indicates that they are waiting for final numbers from the loading agent, and at 7:39pm the takeoff roll begins on runway 22L.

Finally, four and a half hours behind schedule, the full flight is on its way to San Diego. The captain states that the expect a smooth ride, most of the way, though some turbulence is expected about halfway through the flight. The inflight movie, Serendipity begins. Soon dinner is served. A choice of glazed chicken and ziti pasta are available. Both of the young men choose the chicken. The meal cart is followed quickly by the beverage cart. The younger man selects passion-oragne-guava juice, and is poured a cup from a carton on the cart. The older man opts for Sprite, and is given a cup filled with ice and a full can.

Cabin announcements are kept to a minimum, presumably to allow passengers to enjoy the movie or sleep, though the lights above the window are left on. The younger man watches the movie for a while, and later falls asleep. The older man, who often has difficulty sleeping in cars and airplanes, chooses instead to read a Star Trek: Deep Space Nine novel. After finishing the book, there is less than an hour left in the flight, and he further reclines the chair, pushes the headrest wings out, and closes his eyes but does not fall asleep.

A standard approach is flown, and at 2:30am, Pacific Standard Time, exactly 4.5 hours after the scheduled arrival time, the flight touches down in San Diego on runway 27. Rolling out to B8, the aircraft exits the runway and begins its taxi to gate 22.

Aside from the the heavy jet with her 264 passengers, 8 flight attendants, and 2 pilots, Lindbergh Field is quiet. Airliners sit parked for the night at virtually every gate and at many other locations throughout the airport, patiently waiting for dawn when passengers will arrive and they will start their day by leaving the southwestern corner of the continental United States for points north and east.

The aircraft parks and passengers gather their carry-on items and disembark. They pass from the airside to the ticket lobby, though some sort of gateway. The two young men observe another passenger backing up and crossing the wrong way; a mechanical voice orders him to stop and proceed back towards the ticketing lobby.

Just past the gateway, the two men meet the older man's roommate, who had planned to pick them up. Despite the length of the delay he came, much to the gratitude of the young men, who were spared the expense of a taxi or shuttle to the older man's apartment, or the effort of seeing if the airline would pay for the shuttle.

Baggage was slow in coming, presumably due to the very late hour there were less people unloading the bags than there usually would have been. But come it did, and eventually the three were able to leave the terminal and head for their parked car. By 4:00am, they were in the apartment and able to go to sleep.

But not for long, as the younger man was only halfway to his destination of Daytona Beach, Florida. At 7:00am, the two men were back in their car returning to Lindbergh Field. But that is another story, to be told another time by another man.

EPILOGUE:

In the days that followed, the older man reflected on his journey. He had heard some passengers considering whether they would choose to book with Hawaiian Airlines again, and others remarking that this was all some big test to see how much a human can endure.

As a computer science student, he knows that things sometimes just go wrong. Machines break, and procedures are in place to prevent those failures from exposing those who put their lives in the hands of the machines from being exposed to unnecessary risk. He feels that the members of the Hawaiian Airlines ohana (family) handled the situation very well, keeping passengers informed without being too bothersome or getting too technical.

He observed that the passengers were very patient and seemed understanding of the situation. Aside from the expected and audible sounds of disappointment when the first aircraft had to abort its flight and return to Honolulu, they seemed to be patient with the airline as the members of the Hawaiian Airlines ohana worked through the problem.

He looks forward to his next opportunity to join the Hawaiian Airlines ohana on a journey half way across the Pacific.

David / SAN