Stranded airline passengers spent the night on the grass and sidewalks outside Hawaii’s Lihue Airport in an embarrassing incident last summer that remains a hot topic.
The decision to boot the passengers came after a late-night United flight 74 from Lihue to San Francisco was cancelled because of mechanical problems. But it was not the airline’s fault for the homeless passengers.
Instead, a state employee declared the airport closed. The employee refused to let passengers stay in the airport.
Passenger options were limited since hotels were booked to capacity.
State tourism officials worry that similar incidents could undo the benefits brought by the state’s $60 million tourism marketing campaign.
“It’s a terrible way to go about conducting business,” Rex Johnson, president and CEO of the Hawaii Tourism Authority, told MSNBC.
In this case, the airline ended up wearing the good guy’s hat. United’s staff offered passengers some pillows, blankets and even food from the plane.
Report by David Wilkening
