Anyone use Hawaiian Airlines?
 

How did you like them?

I can do Delta comfort plus for about the same price as Hawaiian. Hawaiian price is for preferred seating on the way there and regular on the way back. But I don't know if the return flight is a big deal as I've never flown with HA before.

I have a long standing annoyance with Delta but I know that I like the comfort plus leg room. Legroom is an issue for me on flights longer than 4 hours, which Hawaii definitely is. If my knee is jammed in Delta economy leg room that long, it's so painful.

I've been told Hawaiian still believes in feeding passengers but I don't know if that's recent.

Thanks for any feedback!

They were still doing meals (with wine included) for free as of last May. It was the best flight I've ever been on. Highly recommend the airline, but that's from one experience.

After multiple trips to hawaii, I finally booked Hawaiian a couple of years ago. What a huge letdown. Perhaps their heyday has passed. Or maybe I had an off flight. The food was inedible, while boasting its bounty by a celebrity chef. This meant that we didn't really eat for 14 hours due to connections. I was looking forward to that meal. And there was no spirit of Aloha from the crew? Maybe it was a one off.

Would you say it was better or worse than delta, though? That's what I'm wondering- I'm not expecting an airline to be outstanding.

love love LOVE Hawaiian Airlines!

I wish they flew everywhere. They ARE outstanding in my experiences.

Great. I was hoping you'd respond, suze. I saw an old post of yours! Do you have any recent experience?

Nope, not real recent experience.

But I have flown them at least 5 times nonstop Seattle to Honolulu. What I liked was the feeling of already being in the islands the minute you get on the plane. Great flight crew, nice decor, island-related entertainment, decent free food and drink.

I have no idea if everything about them has changed in the past few years. Certainly too bad if that is true, because they rocked at the time I used them often.

Yes...I will not lie, the island related entertainment is a big selling point to me. It sounds more interesting that the same old delta programming at least :)

Have you written any trip reports for Honolulu, suze? Or read any you'd Rec? I'm trip planning on the fly- it looks like I'll be going in one month! So excited- that was my dream destination as a kid!

Haven't flown them in two years but the many times I have flown them they were excellent for an airline, friendly crew, nice Hawaiian music and videos playing while you board and waiting for takeoff, and they still served hot food (usually a choice of chicken or pasta).

Thanks, Jamie!

Nah I don't do trip reports ;-) but I am happy to share my highlights. I always stay right in Waikiki, don't rent a car, just get around on foot or with The Bus.

Do you have a hotel yet? Do you need suggestions there? Or things to do?

Seems silly but I found Hawaii one of the more challenging places to figure out and actually used some hard-copy guidebooks from the library!

www.gohawaii.com is a good website because you can pull it up by island and dates. It's good for events calendars.

Upon arrival pick up 101 Things to Do and Oahu Gold. These are tourist brochures you'll see in hotel lobbies and distribution boxes along the sidewalk. They are filled with good tips, maps, summaries of the various major sites and sights.

Even though it's been around 5 years since my last trip (I'm on a Mexico jag at the moment) I think some things would not have changed.

Like Iolani Palace tour, Chinatown, Foster Botanical Gardens and the Kuan Yin temple there, Doris Duke Shangri La Estate Tour, Honolulu Museum of Art (formerly Academy of Arts)... are things I have done and loved.

Things to do, food to EAT. Hotel is probably taken care of. Thanks!

Getting around by The Bus. Is there a tourist pass or something like that?

My only for sures so far are Pearl Harbor (if I can get a ticket) and the Museum of Art. And some good beach time. Have you done any snorkeling or hiking? I did not get the sense you were outdoorsy but may be wrong. Any advice on fun local boutiques? My grandmother had some great jewelry from Hawaii and I do love that kind of souvenir.


It's a stopover on the way to Japan. I couldn't resist! So it's not a splurge or hardcore sightseeing trip- I'll be going back- this is more of a sample the food and see a few sights and relax trip. The splurge is stopping in Hawaii to begin with;)

The Bus: I just paid per trip. I think there is a 4-day pass you can purchase but I didn't use it enough to make that worthwhile. A one-way fare is only $2.50.

No, no snorkeling or hiking your sense is correct, but I am very active. I seek out & do a lot of Zumba dance (at local places), go to the beach, read a book by the hotel pool, walk around a lot, try to find free Hawaiian music and dance shows around.

The parks at either end of Waikiki are gorgeous... Kapiolani at one end and Fort de Russy at the other.

Shopping:
Sand People
Nohea Gallery
Na Mea Hawai'i / Native Books

Food:
ME Korean BBQ
Ono Hawaiian
Rainbow DriveIn

Drinks:
Barefoot bar at Hale Koa
Beachfront patio in front of Duke's restaurant

All looks wonderful! Thanks so much, suze!

If it was my knee then I would definitely take the Delta comfort plus both ways. Seat pitch trumps food and music every time for me. I won't care if my FA smiles or not if I am suffering pain.

That "preferred seating" on HA, does that offer more legroom? Or is just a matter of getting a preferred location in economy - an aisle up front instead of a middle in the back. Same seat and seat pitch, just in a preferred location?

I see HA has Economy Comfort or Extra Comfort on their A330s but all the rest are just standard economy. If you have one of those, then good.

You might find that your return flight in regular economy on HA is a big deal because it will have 4 or 5 fewer inches of legroom (seat pitch) and a 1.5" narrower seat than any of the "Comfort" options on HA or DL.

That's why I'm asking about HA. I KNOW I can't do Delta economy. That doesn't mean I can't do any economy. My HA flight there would have extra legroom- my flight back would not.

Hm. Width is better on HI but sadly I think you may be correct about leg room. That is a long, long time to be in a plane with 30 inch seat pitch. Delta comfort is 34 I believe and HA comfort is a whopping 36. Which is SO TEMPTING. I'm not sure if it's worth the extra 200 bucks. I'm cheap but leg room is something I don't like to cheap out on.

It would be 31" or 32" in regular economy on either. 35" on DL or 36" on HA for comfort seats.

I would not be surprised if the Honolulu <-> Japan flights were 31" on ANA. The ANA 77W on LAX-NRT (for example) has 34" in economy and 38" in premium economy.

That 34' is what seatguru says. It does sound a bit generous.

Ana economy seems significantly more expensive. But I'm having trouble figuring out their fare rules so I may be wrong.

I'm short, so I'm no help determining leg room comfort. All my comments only had to do with overall atmosphere, service, ammenities generally speaking about the airline.

>>Ana economy seems significantly more expensive.

More expensive that what? What airlines and routing?

I brought up ANA because we have only been discussing your USA mainland - Hawaii return trip. If you have that as part of a trip to Japan then that means that you are planning a Honolulu - Tokyo return trip (your Japan itin has you arr/dep Tokyo).

So, what airline and seating do you have between HNL and NRT?

Am supposing that you are leaving from Seattle. In that case:
SEA-NRT-HNL is 9,537 mi
SEA-HNL-NRT-HNL-SEA is 12,992 mi

You would be spending an extra 6 or 7 hours in an airplane seat by going via Honolulu both ways to Japan.

>> I'm not sure if it's worth the extra 200 bucks.

suze, the OP is really asking if it is worth $200 more to fly HA instead of DL on a roundtrip to Hawaii.

oh, i had a typo, here it is corrected:

Am supposing that you are leaving from Seattle. In that case:
SEA-NRT-<b>SEA</b> is 9,537 mi
SEA-HNL-NRT-HNL-SEA is 12,992 mi

---

For that $200 the OP gets HA service vs DL service. Plus an extra 1" of seat pitch which, for a tall guy like me, isn't a big deal but it is worth something - let's say $15 each way (give or take $5).

As much as I loved all my HA experiences, I didn't pay more for them, and am not sure I would. At the time they were competitively priced plus excellent departure and arrival flight times.

I guess I am the only one that had a disappointing experience with Hawaiian Air. I had always read good things and for us they just didn't happen. I'm glad it worked out for others.

OH. I see where I've confused folks. Sorry!

So I'm taking Alaska from Walla Walla to HNL (Ihave credit on Alaska).

Either HA or Delta HNL-NRT round trip.

Then HA or Delta or (or United, but I despise United) to PDX.

Delta is originally around 500 HNL to NRT. However, I know I can't take Delta Economy on flights over 2-3 hours because of my knee. So in reality it's like 900 because comfort plus. Same price as HA if I did one way in regular economy and one leg in premium economy. To do Premium economy round trip for HNL, it's 100-200 more.

I keep leaning towards HA because their window seats are doubles not triples. Easier to get out and stretch and use the restroom on a long flight. That is generally not an issue- I try not to use plane bathrooms- but 6-8 hours will probably mean I want to get up and out occasionally.

I could do HA economy 200 dollars cheaper than delta comfort. Don't know if I want to. Ending a trip with my knee and foot screwed is fine, but I've learned it's a really poor idea to start a trip that way. But MAYBE could make that work if I sat in on the aisle.

I checked ANA between HNL and HNL and LAX and SEATAC, and they are about 500 more than any option.

Inititially I was going to fly LAX to Tokyo, but there isn't any financial advantage (in July) for me to do so, and in fact it's more of a hassle. I can't fly out of WW- I would need to fly out of Pasco, and I would be stuck at least one day in LA.

The extra plane time isn't an issue for me, really- because it is total time, yes, but it shortens my actual flights (I think). And it's the same price as flying SEA to Tokyo. And I've never been- I thought it would be intriguing to see both Pearl Harbor and Hiroshima Peace park on the same trip.

And I'm fairly sure I'm going to go with the Delta comfort option. I think I'd miss the legroom if I flew HA economy, it gives me two extra days in Japan, and it lands at 3 rather than 10pm. I generally prefer to not navigate a strange place in the dark. I was trying to talk myself into that, but I think not.

Thanks, everyone!

SEA->NRT 10hr 20m
HNL->NRT 8hr 20m
SEA->HNL 5hr 50m

Your longest flight, going through HNL, is only 2 hr shorter than the nonstop.

>>To do Premium economy round trip for HNL, it's 100-200 more.

That is worth it. You will be just as uncomfortable in HA economy as you would be on Delta. It is an 8 hour flight from NRT-HNL, so that $200 is worth it if you are getting the HA "Comfort" seats both ways. If it is only a $100 difference then it is a no-brainer.

Hm. So the question is whether or not I want to go to Hawaii. I really, really do, but perhaps that would be better go straight to Tokyo.

10h20min sounds like a long long time

Except now it's more expensive to go straight to Tokyo. Well, economy from mainland is roughly the same price as premium would be if I went through Hawaii.

Angst, angst, angst.

>>10h20min sounds like a long long time

It would be a long long time in regular economy as would 8hr 20m. But not in premium economy nonstop.

It all depends on the total cost of the trip in money and time. And you still have to get back to WW.

I'd skip Hawaii and concentrate on your Japan trip myself.

The thing is that getting back to WW from PDX is the cheapest/easiest part of the trip. Flying anywhere FROM WW is the PITA because flights from WW only go through SEA. Because going from WW to HNL is twelve hours in transit. Going from WW to Tokyo is probably 30 hours in transit.

ok, so take the Delta nonstops between PDX and NRT

Thanks for sticking with me, folks! Especially you, mrwunrfl. I went home to mess around on Ana's desktop site and found a fare LAX-Tokyo 600 dollars cheaper than the other mainland flights. It means skipping HNL and adding a week to Japan, so now I've got that to figure out. Yay!

That plan makes more sense to me... for this trip :-)

Yay? This just means that we have to re-plan your Japan itinerary. I see on the Asia forum that you have already started on that.

I do like flying on ANA to get a head start on a visit to Japan. Your flight to HND with the early AM arrival does provide some new options to explore, so, ok, yay!

Well when you DO decide to go to Hawaii (lol) use Hawaiian Air!

Coming late to the discussion...and FWIW... I like Hawaiian Airlines...a lot.