Hawaiian Air has blamed the ignorance of a check-in supervisor at Honolulu Airport for the poor treatment of the American Samoan Governor Togiola Tulafono and his wife.
They were required to do their own check-in and were made to stand in line like ordinary passengers after a special process reserved for dignitaries was refused.
An airline spokesperson says there was nothing sinister in the way the couple was treated and was not a backlash for the governor's criticism of Hawaiian Air.
She says it was an unfortunate case of one of the supervisors not knowing the usual protocol.
