Hilo is not a major airport.
The 1st year I worked at HNL, Western Airlines had just started DC10 service.
At Christmas time we had an engine fail on takeoff. We only had a couple of DC10's so flying in a spare airplane was kind of hard. Due to it being Christmas there were no vacant hotel rooms.
The passengers got to spend at least 24 hours living on that airplane. They could get off the plane and walk around the airport and sleep wherever they could find space. Most chose to sleep on the airplane.
Having a 2 hour wait to get thru security is hardly the end of the world.
The 1st year I worked at HNL, Western Airlines had just started DC10 service.
At Christmas time we had an engine fail on takeoff. We only had a couple of DC10's so flying in a spare airplane was kind of hard. Due to it being Christmas there were no vacant hotel rooms.
The passengers got to spend at least 24 hours living on that airplane. They could get off the plane and walk around the airport and sleep wherever they could find space. Most chose to sleep on the airplane.
Having a 2 hour wait to get thru security is hardly the end of the world.