Airport waiting lot is useful -- if found

THE ISSUE Honolulu Airport has opened a parking lot where people can await a cell phone call to pick up arriving friends and relatives.

ISLAND hosts have been waiting for Honolulu Airport to join scores of mainland airports that began opening cell phone waiting lots three years ago, and the state finally has opened such a lot near the airport. People wanting to know where it is located should refer to a map on the airport's official Web site, but finding that site on the Internet might be as difficult for many as finding the waiting lot itself.

A cell phone waiting lot opened in 2004 at Los Angeles International and two more LAX waiting lots were added last year. By the middle of last year, nearly half of the 50 largest mainland airports had opened lots within five minutes or so of the terminal where people can wait for arriving friends and relatives to call them on their cell phones when they are ready to be picked up at the curb.

Drivers can wait in their cars at the Honolulu lot for free and up to an hour during operating hours from 5 a.m. to 10 p.m. Unattended cars will be towed away. State transportation officials say the lot, situated between the Delta and United cargo facilities along Aolele Street, can hold up to 40 cars.

People Googling the Honolulu Airport will find honoluluairport.com, a commercial site that has no information about the waiting lot. That information, including a map, is a few clicks into the airport's "official" homepage -- state.hi.us/dot/airports/index.htm -- found by searching "Honolulu International Airport," but how many people think to include "international" in their search?

Still, the waiting lot is a welcome addition to those who know about it and how to go about finding it.