=20 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- This article was sent to you by someone who found it on SF Gate. The original article can be found on SFGate.com here: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=3D/chronicle/archive/2003/03= /13/BA250487.DTL ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Thursday, March 13, 2003 (SF Chronicle) Paperwork glitch delays new airliner's flight/Honolulu-bound jet held 7 hou= rs at SFO Alan Gathright, Chronicle Staff Writer Hawaiian Airlines flunked the "Aloha" test Wednesday when a paperwork mix-up grounded a new jetliner for seven hours at San Francisco International Airport as 197 Honolulu-bound passengers grumbled about delayed vacations. "Somebody made a big mistake!" said a miffed Livermore flier who, like many passengers, was booked on competing airlines' afternoon flights. "If they can't do the paperwork, God knows what they're missing!" It was hardly the debut Hawaiian envisioned for its new $1 billion-plus fleet of 16 Boeing 767-300ERs. Converting to the fleet of fuel-efficient, wide- body jets is a daring move by the airline to cut costs by expanding business while other carriers retrench in the face of a stubborn economic slump. "Frustrating doesn't begin to say it," Hawaiian spokesman Keoni Wagner said before Flight 11 -- originally scheduled for an 8:40 a.m. departure -- finally took off at 4:05 p.m. The paper chase began Tuesday night when an airline auditor discovered that a separate company that leases the plane to Hawaiian had not obtained a permanent registration certificate from the Federal Aviation Administration in time to replace the temporary certificate that was being used to operate the plane, Wagner said. While it was unclear who had mishandled the registration -- the FAA or t= he aircraft owner -- all parties spent Wednesday scrambling to sort out the problem and replace the document, Wagner said. Meanwhile, during their long wait, passengers were given double meal vouchers, and 156 people were offered seats on other airlines. It was unknown how many people wound up on those other flights. Wagner said "it wouldn't surprise me in the least" if those travelers who stuck with the original flight were rewarded with free cocktails en route to their evening arrival. E-mail Alan Gathright at agathright@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx=20 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Copyright 2003 SF Chronicle