Flight attendant says she’ll never commute on Hawaiian again after going in for a ‘honi’ when the crew member only wanted her window shade up

Flight attendant Ayesha Fierce says she had one of those embarrassing moments that linger forever, and she turned it into a post on Instagram and TikTok that has drawn more than 846K views. Ayesha lives in Hawaii and commutes to LAX for her rotation with her carrier. For the first time, she flew out on Hawaiian Airlines, and for most of the journey, she said, everything was great.

As the flight descended, Ayesha ran into a misunderstanding so embarrassing that she wrote in the overlay of her post, “I will never commute on Hawaiian ever again.” She also warned viewers, “It’s Not What You Think.” She said the crew had treated her well throughout the flight.

“My flight attendant would come and check on me periodically. Super hospitable. Gave me a full bottle of water. The crew wrote me a thank-you note. It was great,” she said. As the plane began its descent, she had her headphones on and missed the announcements. When her flight attendant approached, she thought he was coming to say goodbye, and she was sure of it when he leaned in toward her.

The window shade mix-up

Cringing, Ayesha said, “So he leaned in, and I thought he was gonna give me some honis, you know, like, spreading the aloha. And so I went in to give him a honi on his cheek, you know, cheek to cheek. Like, say thank you, you know, thank you for the service.” A honi is a ceremonial greeting used “to share breath and honor another person,” according to Aloha Hawaii Vacations.

“Why was he just… Why was this man just trying to open up the window shade? Like, he wasn’t even trying. He just needed my window shade to be up,” she said. The realization left her mortified, she said. She jokingly declared, “And so that’s why I can never show my face again on Hawaiian Airlines. And I can never commute on them. I can’t. I ruined it.” Many commenters were amused and supportive.

One user joked, “When you thought he was throwing honis but he was throwing ‘shade’.” Another wrote, “Hahaha ive done this before! This what happens when we’re from Hawaii and we think everyone like honi us…wehhh.” Many others shared their own embarrassing stories.

A few days after the initial post, Ayesha shared an update answering questions and said she had identified her flight attendant. She said he handled the moment with grace: “He honi-ed me back, guys. He, like, played it off, was super nice, gave me a honi on the cheek.” Afterward, she said, he pulled away and went to deal with the window shade, which is what he had actually come to do.

Ayesha also said that commuting on her own airline often comes down to timing and terminal logistics. She said Hawaiian Airlines staff reached out to tell her the video had been circulating among their crews.

While she still needs some time to recover from the embarrassment, Ayesha said she will be back on the airline eventually. Her takeaway: “Lessons I’ve Learned moving forward is I wanna be travelling with my window shade up, cause I cannot take any more risks.”