The spring break traveling season is underway.
And for tourists visiting our islands, that means expect crowds and lines.
Some visitors had to wait three hours just to get their rental car at Honolulu Airport, and they weren’t too happy about it.
This isn’t how these folks imagined they’d spend the start of their Hawaiian vacation.
"It’s been about three hours of us waiting in the hot sun," said Daniel Wells of Mendocino, CA.
This is what the line looked like inside the Hertz check-in area.
"It took us an hour just to get from the door to the counter," said Ian Hamm of Seattle, WA.
"And we’ve been waiting in line for an hour. Finally they checked my brother in. But we still have to wait, they said 45 minutes, but the lady behind me said she was told 45 minutes and she’s been waiting for two hours," said Jay Henderson of Los Angeles, CA.
She and many of these other customers booked online through a third party.
"My brother had prepaid," said Henderson.
"Usually with Priceline and Hotwire it’s usually fast," said Wells.
And adding to their frustration — seeing the lot full of cars.
"Why can’t we get one of these cars?" asked Henderson.
"I think they should’ve upgraded everyone right away," said Wells.
Not everyone had to wait though.
This woman rented a Mustang, and is part of Hertz President’s Circle.
She was in and out in five minutes.
"I asked her what was going on and she said it was just Spring Break," said Polly Kruse of Denver, CO.
Spring break — it’s that time of the year again.
And here’s what it looked like in Waikiki.
Ben Kittleson and Jennifer Burleson from Albuquerque, NM are here on their honeymoon.
"Today’s been our first day and we expected it to be pretty crowded. And we were pretty surprised about the flights to the Big Island have been booked up through the weekend, and so we’re probably not going to get to do that this time around."
And to give you an idea of just how busy it is, here’s a look at hotel occupancy rates for Oahu and the rest of the state.
Oahu 83.6%
Maui 84.9%
Kauai 70.1%
Big Island 74.7%
Statewide 81.5%
Meanwhile, back at the airport…
"We’re here, it’s so cute," said Hamm.
"It was three hours, three hours total yup, but we got our car," said Henderson.
"We have a car now. We’re happy, and hoping we can beat traffic," said Hamm.
The local managers at Hertz told us they couldn’t speak on behalf of the company when we asked why customers had to wait so long.
And they referred us to the corporate office in New Jersey, and they haven’t gotten back to us yet.
See the original article at: KHON2 Local News
