Travelers repeatedly stranded on island outside international airport

By the time Jesse Ashmore buckled into his seat on a flight out of Hawaii earlier this month, the Alaska resident thought his travel troubles were over. He was only planning to stay on the island of Hawaii for a layover and spent the afternoon of Jan. 8 exploring the Big Island in a rental car. When he returned to Ellison Onizuka Kona International Airport (KOA) to catch a redeye flight on Alaska Airlines, Ashmore hit turbulence as early as the sidewalk, and his layover in Hawaii began devolving into an overnight fiasco.

Most of KOA’s facilities, including terminals 1 and 2 along with its 10 gates, are al fresco — with the exception of the security checkpoint, which Ashmore said was teeming with other travelers when he arrived to drop off the rental. “The security line was the longest I’ve ever seen at the airport,” he told SFGATE a few days later. 

A certified commercial pilot, Ashmore used his time in line to pull up the FAA’s Notice to Airmen to check KOA’s real-time status. He said the notice said that the airport’s runway was closing at 10:30 p.m. for ongoing construction. Since 2024, KOA’s sole runway has repeatedly closed as the Hawaii Department of Transportation, or HDOT, works on repairs and reconstruction. To allow workers onto the airfield, HDOT closes the runway every night, which means redeye flights are subject to a sharp cutoff for departures.

At first, Ashmore felt assured. His flight, Alaska Airlines Flight 256 to Anchorage, was originally scheduled for a 9:23 p.m. departure. But after boarding with his girlfriend and other passengers, the flight stalled on the tarmac. Passengers watched another flight take off instead. As 10:30 p.m. rolled around, Ashmore said the Alaska Airlines pilot informed them on the loudspeaker that they were returning to the gate and deboarding. They’d have to fly out in the morning.

Midnight was approaching, but before passengers could begin worrying about what to do next, Ashmore said the Alaska Airlines flight crew reassured them while taxiing to the gate that “everyone has been booked in a hotel.” Once in the terminal again, a queue formed at the counter for Alaska Airlines, but it quickly became clear that not everyone on the flight was going to sleep in a bed that night. 

Ashmore said the airline had not booked any rooms for passengers. “I suspect they deliberately said that to avoid a rush at the ticket counters,” he surmised. 

Passengers were then informed they needed to find one for themselves — in the middle of the night, nonetheless. Hospitality options are limited. KOA is on a remote coastline and the closest town, Kailua-Kona, is nearly 8 miles down a highway. Ashmore found a hotel that charged $1,000 for the night and saw other hotels in Hilo, but that was two hours away. No cab would drive them.

“You are really stuck,” he said. “There were about 40 of us remaining when everything was locked up and closed.”

Stranded outside the airport until dawn, Ashmore and his girlfriend inflated the kayaks they brought on their vacation to New Zealand. They turned them into makeshift mattresses to sleep on a grassy knoll. He saw other passengers, spanning all ages, sprawling out nearby to camp alongside their luggage. Then, the sprinklers turned on.

Since the runway rehabilitation began at KOA, travelers on a delayed or canceled redeye flight have shared similar stories about how they were forced to spend the night outside the airport and endure the elements. KOA was never designated as a shelter-in-place facility, but the open-air airport inadvertently has become one, especially as redeye flights leaving Hawaii are the new standard. It’s unclear how many times this has happened at KOA since 2024, but it’s clearly an ongoing issue.

“A guy on our flight said his three friends had the same thing happen to them,” Ashmore said, adding that it appeared the airline agents were unfazed by the situation. “It was very obvious that this was not their first rodeo. They had done this many times.”

Hawaii locals are also noticing KOA’s reputation for stranding travelers. CeRita Curtis, a Kailua-Kona-based Uber driver, told SFGATE on Monday that it was rampant over the holidays. “It was quite often … every couple of days,” she said. 

As Curtis drives a traveler back to KOA the morning after, she’s repeatedly heard how airlines are unhelpful and struggle to communicate. “It’s kind of like they’re just on their own to figure it out,” she said about the passengers.

Runway construction is expected to last until at least April. The cracks in the asphalt have also revealed a fissure between HDOT and the airlines for how they can collaborate to best accommodate people left behind in Hawaii with nowhere else to go.

How Alaska Airlines ‘fell short’

The runway at KOA closes nightly from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. unless HDOT deviates from the schedule. HDOT spokesperson Shelly Kunishige explained that on Jan. 8, the department delayed the runway closure by 30 minutes after a “checkpoint security boarding error” created delays for the final flights of the night. Alaska Airlines Flight 256 was the only one left behind. 

A spokesperson for Alaska Airlines explained that due to congestion at the gate area, the flight could not depart before the runway closed for nighttime construction.

“We continuously work with the airport to navigate the impacts to our operation, but in this situation, there was simply no solution that would have allowed the flight to depart that night,” the spokesperson wrote in an email. 

Cyrus Metcalf, another passenger on the flight, was befuddled by the decision to hold them back even though they were already boarded and ready to go. “It’s just dumb,” he said. “It really left me speechless that we were about to leave and then we could not. It was chaos.”

The airline said it either issued vouchers for hotel and transport or provided travelers with information for how to submit their expenses for reimbursement. Metcalf said the airline’s restitution was underwhelming. “All that Alaska gave me was a $20 meal voucher,” he said. 

The Alaska spokesperson said they “recognize that this experience fell well short of what guests expect from us, and we apologize for the inconvenience this situation caused.”

HDOT ‘does its best’

Airport operations fall under the Hawaii Department of Transportation. HDOT said it provides air carriers with advance notice of planned runway closures, but it’s apparent that the passenger safety net can unravel when an issue like a “checkpoint security boarding error” disrupts the schedule.

Since the runway project started, Kunishige said that HDOT “refined coordination” with the air carriers, including extending runway operating hours to allow delayed flights to depart if deemed feasible and safe. She shared examples of six “notable” schedule changes at KOA since Sept. 30, including the event on Jan. 8 and another delayed runway closure that occurred two days later.

“HDOT is fully aware when air carriers issue late night flight cancellations leaving passengers stranded,” Kunishige wrote in an email. 

When a flight is delayed or cancelled, the air carrier is responsible for connecting passengers with lodging or accommodations, per federal consumer protection rules. Kunishige said that HDOT “does its best” to assist the airline in placing passengers in local hotels. “Unfortunately, hotels may be fully occupied that evening, leaving some passengers without accommodations once leaving the secured area outside the terminal,” Kunishige wrote.

Travelers who are brought to airline ticket counters past the TSA checkpoint — like the dozens of passengers on Alaska Airlines Flight 256 — cannot go through security again after the airport closes for the night.

Proposals are underway for closing this loophole at KOA. Since 2020, HDOT has been developing a plan that would allow a hotel to operate on a concessionaire basis at KOA. Meanwhile, Kunishige said the ongoing KOA Master Plan update includes improvements for “passenger comfort and resilience during irregular operations.” Construction is expected to begin in late 2027.

Until then, if a traveler is flying out of KOA on a redeye, they should plan ahead and consider all of their options. “HDOT and KOA do not intend for travelers to sleep outside the terminal,” Kunishige said.

During the overnight earlier this month, Ashmore said he and the other stranded passengers had access to bathrooms and water fountains, but accommodations stopped there.

“We couldn’t go inside to get away from bugs,” he said. “There was no staff or onsite security either. I had to sleep on a kayak, whatever, I’m reasonably young and can deal with that. But there were families with kids and I’m pretty sure I saw an unaccompanied minor. It was kind of wild.”

After the sun rose on Jan. 9, Ashmore said that airport security arrived around 6 a.m. “They were really nice,” he recalled. “But they said we can’t have people sleeping here and there.”

SFGATE National Parks bureau chief Ashley Harrell contributed to this story.