Airport questions

[JJSinPA]

Hello!!!
Two questions- has anyone rented at Alamo? Any advice on pickup and dropoff there? Is it walking distance? How much time should we budget for dropping off on departure day?
Second- we depart on Thanksgiving, 4:20 flight. What time should we arrive at the airport?

 

[buffettgirl]

Its less than a mile, you could walk, but it's easier to just take the shuttle. I'd give yourself about an hour to do drop off, sometimes they are slow over there. i'd absolutely give yourself 2 solid hours at the airport before your flight.

 

[OKW Lover]

You should take the bus to Alamo. I don't think there is a way to walk to the lot.

 

[TinkFan74]

The shuttles are quite frequent, so I would not consider walking. I would also highly recommend skipping the counter as this can save you a lot of time.

 

[cmph]

Most definitely take a shuttle. They run frequently. The walk there wouldn't be all that safe. Not speaking to the area being crime-infested or anything like that (although it's not exactly an elegant section of town), it's just that it's along busy roads and a highway. It would be pretty hard to do that with your luggage, and I wouldn't at all want to do that with luggage plus kids. In any case, to answer your question - it took all of 2min to drop our rental off there, and the shuttle was already there waiting.

I guess we had good luck with our departure, b/c there was no one in front of us for the produce screening, and only 2 people ahead of us in the security line. But they'll likely be short-staffed on Thanksgiving, so even if it's not full of people flying, it'll probably be slower than normal.

 

[buffettgirl]

not for nothing, but there are sidewalks the whole way, you're basically walking on one side street, then the main road, it's not a 'highway", (even though it's called Nimitz Highway), and you're in a business district with lots of cars and people everywhere. Much of honolulu proper isn't pretty. Doesn't mean it's a terrible area. You've got military housing right across the street as well.
I just mapped it. .9 of mile. I'd still take a shuttle, but there is no fear in walking it. If you know, you needed to stretch your legs after a 10 hours flight or something.

 

[twodogs]

I wrote about our not so great but not terrible Alamo experience in my TR. Here's the link. I think it's on the first page of the TR. http://www.disboards.com/threads/ma...imer-trip-report.3522920/page-3#post-56489511

 

[nkereina]

We just rented from Alamo yesterday. No reason to walk, especially with your luggage in tow. The shuttle was actually a bus so it fit everyone and came frequently. Drop off is not at the airport so they give you explicit directions on how to return it. As a side note, we had rented a midsize but they were out so they let us take anything in the full size row. Ended up with a Camaro convertible! So we have had a good experience with Alamo.

 

[JJSinPA]

The shuttles are quite frequent, so I would not consider walking. I would also highly recommend skipping the counter as this can save you a lot of time.

How do you skip the counter?

 

[Elima2015]

How do you skip the counter?

There are kiosks to the left as you enter the Alamo building from the shuttle. We used them and it was very fast. There was actually an attendant there who did it all for us and nobody in line in front of us. I also agree with taking the shuttle over. We only waited a couple minutes for a shuttle to arrive at HNL.

I would budget arriving at Alamo 3 hours before your flight. It took us very little time to drop off our car and the shuttle came within minutes, ride to the airport was fast. We also lucked out and had no line for the argiculture screen, baggage check-in and maybe 15 minutes in the security line. BUT there are so many opportunities for long lines to make things very stressful if you are short on time. In my opinion, worst case is you get through everything in 45 minutes and have 1.5 hours to get a bite to eat and relax.

 

[gerryAulaniCM]

Aulani Resort has their own Alamo kiosk. You can walk up and request daily rentals. Vehicles are available in the resort, pick up and drop off at site. There is a "Speedy Shuttle" that provides service to Aulani. Departing AM or PM?. Either way, Thanksgiving day is a holiday so traffic will be minimal. If you are driving I would allot at least one hour driving to airport (to be safe), and factor in time to return your rental and walking/shuttle back to terminal. If you rent from Aulani and drop off at the resort, I would check with valet on recommended times on returning to airport with the resort shuttle.

 

[TinkFan74]

How do you skip the counter?

When you rent online there is a skip the counter option after you check in online. You can enter your payment information, print your confirmation, then go straight to the rental cars after you get off the shuttle.

 

[CalifLynn]

Does anyone know if you can use the kiosks if you paid for your rental car as part of an Aulani package?