We Flew Each Hawaii Airport. One Stood Aside

We fly by way of Hawaii airports on a regular basis, and never in any aspirational form of method. Living on Kauai and writing about Hawaii journey information means interisland flights are a part of regular life, generally stacked shut collectively, generally achieved drained and late, and all the time for causes that don’t have anything to do with trip.

After some time, Hawaii’s airports cease being fascinating locations. Things like structure, branding, or no matter language will get utilized by others to explain them, and also you begin being attentive to friction as a substitute, issues like noise, warmth, crowding, and the way rapidly a spot wears on you.

Moving by way of all 5 “major” Hawaii airports in fast succession in December, these variations turned laborious to disregard. One of them, nevertheless, broke the airport sample in ways in which nonetheless really feel extraordinary.

Hilo Airport feels totally different the second you stroll in.

Walking into Hilo Airport doesn’t really feel like coming into a system designed to course of you rapidly. In reality, it appears like a step again in time, and in an excellent method. Flights are arriving and departing, safety is working, and Hawaii guests and residents are transferring round, however the constructing itself doesn’t really feel tense, even on the holidays.

The noise stage is decrease, and the tempo feels slower, although nothing is definitely stopping. You are usually not instantly scanning for the place to take a seat or stand, which line you may be blocking, and that response occurs at Hilo even earlier than you consciously register why.

Waiting right here doesn’t really feel like one thing you’re imagined to endure.

The seating is the element folks discover first, not as a result of the chairs are stylish or new. They are giant, wooden with beneficiant Hawaiian floral cushioning, and forgiving, the sort you’ll be able to lean again into as a substitute of perching on the sting and ready for discomfort to push you up once more. The airport ground is superbly stored, with its unique wooden. It isn’t funky fluorescent inexperienced carpeting like Honolulu Airport.

Most airports really feel designed to make ready simply uncomfortable sufficient that you don’t linger. Hilo doesn’t try this, and you’ll sit there for a great whereas with out consistently shifting or clock-watching. That alone modifications how delays really feel. It’s truly a enjoyable place to hang around, and we are able to barely imagine we’re saying that a couple of Hawaii airport. It is exclusive in that method, too.

The bogs underline the identical priorities.

The bogs at Hilo are the element that actually makes you cease. And even {photograph} them. Granite counters, marble finishes, and supplies that really feel unique, high-quality, and everlasting stand out instantly.

That distinction is sharper in case you fly by way of Lihue repeatedly. LIH has seen years of upgrades and loads of cash, but the bogs there really feel drained, oddly low cost, and worn out, although they technically operate. They are a humiliation each time.

At Hilo, the bogs clearly ship a unique sign. Someone selected sturdiness over minimal requirements, and even when nobody can totally clarify how that occurred there and never elsewhere at every other Hawaii airport.

Security and baggage keep out of the best way.

Security at Hilo is normally small and uneventful, which is strictly the purpose. Typical waits are quick sufficient that you don’t construct your day round them or begin working timing situations in your head. We didn’t even trouble with the MyTSA app to verify wait instances. It was price noting that the safety employees appeared much less pressured, friendlier, and extra useful than at different Hawaii airports.

Baggage declare works the identical method. Bags come out rapidly, folks don’t stack up shoulder to shoulder, and you’re exterior earlier than irritation has time to ever set in, which is turning into more and more uncommon.

The different airports distinction with Hilo.

Honolulu works, but it surely works loudly and relentlessly. It is constructed haphazardly, but for quantity, and you’re feeling that stress in every single place, even on days when every part technically runs easily.

Maui feels compressed. Lines stack, ready areas shrink, and the expertise typically appears like it’s working exterior its consolation zone, particularly throughout busy instances. It is useful but by no means a spot to linger.

Kona divides folks. Some love the open-air arrival and departure and the nostalgia of strolling throughout the tarmac, and we largely really feel the identical method, besides when it is rather scorching, and the air isn’t transferring. Others simply need to calm down and sit after a protracted flight, and don’t actually get that possibility, besides for 2 new gates.

Hilo doesn’t ask you to commerce consolation for character. It merely allows you to arrive in a Hawaii type that’s each elegant and understated.

Lihue is small like Hilo, however feels darkish and gloomy after safety.

The draw back is actual.

Hilo’s largest weak point has lengthy been getting there within the first place. For years, mainland nonstops disappeared as United pulled out, and most service funneled by way of Honolulu or one other island, making even quick journeys extra difficult than they wanted to be.

That has began to vary in a significant method. Southwest is launching mainland nonstop flights to Hilo starting this 12 months, restoring direct service that many vacationers assumed was gone for good. We coated the implications of that shift in Hilo lastly will get mainland nonstops amid airline shakeup, as a result of this isn’t only a schedule tweak however an actual change in how Hilo matches into the Hawaii airline panorama.

At the identical time, nothing right here is assured. With Alaska Airlines buying Hawaiian, the longer-term form of mainland service to Hilo stays unsettled, and historical past nonetheless suggests warning moderately than optimism about Hilo’s future position.

For now, flying into Hilo will nonetheless largely imply weighing a nonstop towards a connection, aside from one flight that’s going to be well-liked. Whether that tradeoff is price it depends upon how a lot worth you place on what occurs after you land on the Big Island.

For some vacationers, the maths nonetheless works.

Hilo makes complete sense for Volcano journeys, Hilo stays, and for vacationers who care about how a visit begins as a lot as how rapidly it will get going. Rental vehicles are generally cheaper right here than in Kona, which may offset among the inconvenience of a connection.

Getting out of the airport is simple, getting on the street is simple, and you’re instantly proper in Hilo, and never dropped into congestion. That alone modifications how a Hawaii airport arrival feels.

Ken’s House of Pancakes, a private favourite, is simply minutes from the airport and has lengthy felt like a part of the Hilo arrival ritual, whether or not you deliberate it or not. It is the form of place you’ll be able to hit instantly after touchdown, earlier than you even get totally out of the airport mode. We additionally like stopping at close by Big Island Coffee Roasters.

This distinction will not be unintentional.

Hilo will not be higher as a result of it’s older or quieter. It is healthier as a result of it feels prefer it was constructed with the idea that individuals arrive drained and go away distracted, and that the house ought to work with guests in thoughts, as a substitute of towards it.

That assumption reveals up in every single place when you begin noticing it. After flying by way of all of Hawaii’s main airports once more, it turns into more durable to disregard how unusual that feels wherever else.

If you utilize Hilo Airport, what has been your expertise? We invite your feedback.

Photo Credits: © Beat of Hawaii at Hilo Airport.