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

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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.