HONOLULU -- It was chaotic at Honolulu International Airport on Monday as Aloha Airlines unexpectedly canceled all flights to the mainland, stranding hundreds of passengers.

Hawaiian Airlines scrambled to handle extra passengers, but it was not enough.

Aloha Airlines did not want planes and crews stranded on the mainland when it ceased operations on Monday night. So instead, they stranded its passengers heading to the West Coast.

With Aloha's outbound flights to the mainland canceled, passengers were lining up at Hawaiian's ticket lines trying to get standby tickets. Hawaiian is adding flights. Hawaiian ticket workers began taking over Aloha's counter space.

"Hawaiian's trying to help us, but every minute flights are filling up. There's no flights until Wednesday, and $600 or $700 to San Diego," passenger Tracy Freed said.

Stranded passengers were on standby, but many had little hope of getting a flight anytime soon.

"Well, we're stranded. We have no way home, and we have no idea when we're going to get home," passenger Kristen Conte said. "We're looking for a place to stay, looking for a flight home that's not $4,000, and trying to figure out what we're going to do with the baby, and being in Hawaii for who knows how long."

"We have no idea what we're going to do. So, we're still kind of stranded," Christian Conte said.

The state brought uniformed and armed sheriffs in to keep order in case angry passengers became unruly.

Aloha Airlines agents were doing their jobs, stopping now and then to hug and cry on each other's shoulders.

A group of cheerleaders from San Diego, Calif., found themselves with no way home.

"I'm 15. My parents aren't here. I don't have any money. I don't have a place to stay. There's nothing for me to do," Christina Knoll said

"It's beautiful here and everything, but without parents, no more money, I have to go home. They said they're going to send my luggage without me. Nothing I can do but hang out," stranded cheerleader Mandy Moran said.

The group was in the islands for a competition. Now, some of them can't get home.

"Some of us don't have parents here, so it's hard to get flights. So, we'll probably be here for a week by ourselves," cheerleader Mikayla Freed said.

The stranded 15-year-old cheerleaders have an adult chaperone, but they do not know how long that will last. They may get split up because they are all on standby with different numbers in line.