Visitors either take a ferry there, or fly 30 minutes on an Aloha Island Air commuter plane that holds 37 passengers and makes 10 round-trips daily from Honolulu.

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Once the airports officially closed it was pretty much game over for even the savviest travelers, as there was no trick up your sleeve that could make a plane take you to a closed airport, and pretty much everything in the Northeast, from JFK and Newark and Philly down to Hartford was closed.

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Since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks there have been no incidents in which terrorists have successfully used sharp objects to take over a plane, which suggests the current policy of keeping even small knives off planes is working, committee members said.

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