Bathrooms at Honolulu International Airport

When I heard there was a power outage on Oahu last week and that thousands of people were stuck overnight at Honolulu International Airport, all I could think about was the bathrooms.

honolulu-airport-women

(Photo courtesy Flickr user bsktcase)

Yes, the bathrooms.

I was in Honolulu back in October, 2006 when an earthquake knocked out power to the island.  More than five thousand people got stuck at the airport back then too – and there was a big problem with the bathrooms.

Turns out that without electricity the airport’s newfangled automatic-flush toilets wouldn’t flush. And pretty much all the toilets at the airport had just recently been switched over to automatic flush.

You get the picture….

In 2006, it took a while to get the electricity turned back on at the airport, so the non-flushing toilets were a big problem. This time, the airport’s generators kicked in much sooner, so it seems that the bathrooms had to be shut down for just a short time.

Lesson learned? At the airport, use the can when you can…

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