Officials apologizing to fliers who were booted from airport

HawaiiNewsNow Video » No aloha spirit for Denver couple, stranded passengers

Hawaii officials said Friday that a security guard’s decision this week to kick a group of stranded tourists out of an airport and into the stormy night was an embarrassment to the state.

When heavy rain canceled flights out of Kauai after midnight Tuesday, about 20 passengers were stuck at the airport.

The small airport in Lihue normally closes overnight, and the guard told the passengers — including a pregnant woman and a disabled man — that they needed to leave immediately.

"Everybody is flabbergasted that the security guard wouldn’t let them stay at the airport," said Department of Transportation spokes­man Dan Mei­sen­zahl. "He basically put them out on the curb in this terrible rainstorm."

The Hawaii Tourism Authority and Hawaiian Airlines have been trying to help state officials contact the kicked-out passengers so they could get personal apologies. The state’s lieutenant governor, Brian Schatz, managed to reach one couple by phone at their Littleton, Colo., home on Thursday.

"I said we’re sorry and we wanted to express our aloha," Schatz said of the 15-minute phone call. "There’s nothing that can be done to undo this mistake. I imagined myself and my wife being treated like this. I thought it was important to try to make it right."

Michael Young, who was on Kauai with his wife celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary, described the apology from Schatz as "heartfelt."

Young, 71, told The Associated Press the security guard had threatened to call police if the passengers didn’t leave. Young and his wife were among about 10 people who couldn’t get a hotel room. Other passengers managed to get rooms and rental cars, but many hotels were booked or inaccessible because of flooded roads.

The security guard works for Securitas, a company contracted by the state, and has been reassigned, Mei­sen­zahl said.