What time to leave Aulani for airport?

[nkereina]

Our flight home is on a Saturday at 4:15pm. We'll be driving ourselves and have to return the rental car at the airport. What time would you leave Aulani?

 

[LittleStinkerbelle]

We had a 3:15 p.m. flight home on a Friday and left Aulani shortly after 11 a.m. I'll give you some details on our experience. We drove to the airport, returned the rental car to Enterprise and rode the shuttle to the airport all by about noon. From there, it was another 60-90 minutes, IIRC, to get checked in, through security and to the gate (we were at one of the furthest gates, so a bit of a walk). There wasn't much of a wait for the Hawaiian Air kiosk to get checked in but the line to drop our checked luggage extended outside the building. Then from that line was the security line, which was one of the longer ones I've ever experienced (again extending out the building). Then there's the walk to the gate with a stop for the Agriculture inspection (just another quick run of your carry on through a screener). By the time we got to the gate we had a bit of time to grab something to eat, one last round in the shops, bathroom breaks, then boarding started around 2:30. I think we could've left a little bit later and still been fine but I wanted to leave a buffer and if I had to do it again I'd probably do the same timing. HTH

 

[nkereina]

@LittleStinkerbelle Thanks for the info! Definitely helps!

 

[alohamom]

I always give us a bit of extra time leaving from Honolulu because it can be a pretty busy place and like LittleStinkerBelle said you do have to go through an Agriculture check. We have breezed through with no one and then other times it is backed up and you honestly can never tell.

 

[skylynx]

Does anyone know if there is TSA pre-check service at HNL, and if so, if it really saves much time? We have TSA-pre and it usually works hugely in our favor on the mainland, but don't know whether to count on it making our comings and goings (we are island hopping) in Hawaii any quicker.

 

[PrincessMcG]

They definitely have pre check. We had a Friday 8pm flight and went through at about 530 and were the only ones there. The TSA team was literally waiting for people to come through. Got through in about 3 minutes!

 

[twodogs]

They definitely have pre check. We had a Friday 8pm flight and went through at about 530 and were the only ones there. The TSA team was literally waiting for people to come through. Got through in about 3 minutes!

Do you recall where in the airport the TSA pre-check gate was?

 

[Silver Queen]

First of all, I agree with Little Stinkerbelle's time frame. In our case, however, we had to go through the agricultural check before we brought our baggage over to our airline. Everything, both checked and carryon baggage was screened there.
We were TSA pre-check and, if I remember correctly, it was right next to the regular line. We got through very quickly for a 9:05 pm flight.

 

[PrincessMcG]

Do you recall where in the airport the TSA pre-check gate was?

We checked in at American which I feel like was in the middle and had to walk almost as far as we could go to the right.

 

[twodogs]

Thank you!

 

[nkereina]

@LittleStinkerbelle - did you run into any traffic between Aulani and the airport leaving around 11am on a Friday? Just curious. Thanks!

 

[LittleStinkerbelle]

@LittleStinkerbelle - did you run into any traffic between Aulani and the airport leaving around 11am on a Friday? Just curious. Thanks!

No, none at all! It was smooth sailing the whole way.

 

[Mamapapa]

We also headed home on Friday. We had a 3:30pm flight and left Aulani with our Hertz rental a little after noon. No traffic issues, got to the airport, dropped off the car and crossed street into terminal. I agree the TSA check point was one of the worst we've seen and to answer the question of a previous poster, there are three checkpoints in the terminal and we were at the one on far left which had TSA pre-check. Took us 95 minutes exactly to get through security, there was a line at pre-check too, but I'm guessing they were through in 10-15 minutes. We had no agricultural check, not sure how we skipped that. We did carry on only, two bags. We arrived at the gate around 2:10pm and boarding started around 2:50pm for United.

 

[LSUfan4444]

Honolulu TSA is a nightmare and they do have pre-check.

 

[twodogs]

Will having TSA Pre-check reliably reduce our wait time to something under 30 minutes? I have flown a lot and have never spent more than 10 minutes in Pre-check even in very busy airports. But, I just want to make sure HNL is not some exception.

 

[cleophus12]

Our flight was at 3:50 on a Sunday so traffic was not much of an issue. However, we left around 11 and went into Waikiki to have Hula Pie at Dukes before leaving. We had time to enjoy our pie and walk through an alley marketplace before taking the car back to Alamo. Car return was relatively simple and we were at the airport in plenty of time. The TSA line was a bit long but not awful. I was called rude by another person in the agricultural check line. When I got in line with my family it curved around the corner so I curved with it. She started a straight line and when I got in front of her from the curved line, she called me rude. Oh well. Everyone is unhappy when they have to leave Hawaii I guess. There was hardly anyone in the Pre check line. We were randomly selected for pre check and didn't even know it until after we had stood in line to be screened.

 

[USFBullsFan2819]

Our flight home is on a Saturday at 4:15pm. We'll be driving ourselves and have to return the rental car at the airport. What time would you leave Aulani?

I talked to the front desk a couple nights ago and the cast member told me they have been recommending guests to get to the airport at least 2.5 hours before their flight.

We leave tomorrow at 1 for our 4:30 flight.

 

[LSUfan4444]

Will having TSA Pre-check reliably reduce our wait time to something under 30 minutes? I have flown a lot and have never spent more than 10 minutes in Pre-check even in very busy airports. But, I just want to make sure HNL is not some exception.

Yes, it should. The line just to have your passport and boarding pass checked without pre-check was say anywhere from 50-100 people consistently. Pre check was never more than 5.

 

[quinnc19]

I read somewhere that if you're flying Hawaiian on an upgraded seat that you get complementary TSA Pre-check (I guess you can use those lines would be more accurate, as I'm sure you still have to go through a full screening). Can anyone confirm that?

 

[WebmasterKathy]

Just came through HNL last Thursday. Left Aulani around 11:00 am (at checkout time), stopped at Anna Miller's for lunch, then on to the airport for late afternoon flights. Some of us were on on American, some on Delta. Ticket counters are side by side, same TSA lines. First had to put bags (checked bags only) through the agriculture scanner, where they apply a sticker. There was no wait there at all. Then onto bag check and TSA. The PreCheck line was fast, only around 8-10 people deep. Regular TSA lines did not look too bad, maybe 20ish people in line?

I'd guess we needed only 30 minutes or less from car to the gate, but I'd plan to arrive at the airport a minimum of 2 hours before flight time to allow for unexpected delays. (We had plenty of time, so there was shopping and snacking involved on the way to the gate in my case.)

Traffic was not bad at that time, but it seems unpredictable in Honolulu so I would always allow extra time. And be sure to factor in a bit more if your rental return is one of the off-site companies.