Each day it becomes more and more clear to former Aloha Airlines employees that they really are out of work.

There's the termination letters that are arriving in the mail this week and the filing of unemployment claims.

But somehow the former Aloha employees hope in their hearts that they can hang on to their Aloha Airline identification badges.

"It is a big deal emotionally," said Trudy Tom, the customer service manager in Hilo who has been with Aloha since 1991. "The doors are locked and the badges are turned off and don't work. But there's still that little sense of hope. Our badges represented who we are."

The ID badges gave Aloha employees access to locked airport doors, let them on Aloha flights and told the world who they worked for.

Valerie Sugawa left her job as an Aloha flight attendant last year to raise her two children and remembers the day she surrendered her badge.

"My husband came with me when I had to turn in my badge," Sugawa said. "I teared up because it's so final, turning in your badge. I can totally relate."