OK, AAFF, I trust you. However, at gate agent discretion, one MIGHT see families with large numbers of small kids (or kids traveling alone) preboarded (unofficially).

As for the First Class security line, I wish ALL airports had that. PHL doesn't-- and my li'l ol' homefield LGB sure doesn't. Still, they move really fast in both places. Thank goodness.

rj, got to agree with AA on this one. It used to be that the airlines would announce families with small children board first but most have stopped.

It pisses off frequent flyers and it was getting out of hand because parents were abusing the nicety. Does a mother with a nine and twelve year old really need special assistance?

Then, certain times a year like summer vacation June - August, it is mostly parents with kids.

Ever flown in and out of Orlando? If they boarded families with children, it would be a free for all.

Not saying it doesn't happen to you but most of the airlines have stopped announcing this.

You can go to the gate agent and ask nicely but it is usually up to their descretion.

Think about it, wouldn't you be pissed if you paid $1,200 for your seat in FC and mom, pop, and junior gets to board first because of a stroller?

Just my opinion.

Here was my main concern in posting this question.

We have our First Class tickets (using FF miles) booked on American West from Tampa to Phoenix then on Hawaiian Airlines into Honolulu.

Now I need to book Honolulu to Kauai and would like to have our bags checked all the way to Kauai so will get tickets from HNL to Kauai on Hawaiian Air.

I've alot about people standing in long lines waiting to board on the interisland flights. Sooooo... I was wondering if I bought First Class tickets, it would be less trouble and we could more easily move from our Phoenix-HNL flight over to the HNL Kauai flight at the airport.

We will then move on to BI, Maui, Molokai and Oahu over the rest of our 23 day trip I can hardly wait!!!!

It's really hard to say. As mentioned above I have done some inter-island flights with just a handfull of other people and at other times it was pretty full. On the HA flight I took from HNL to Molokai there weren't any first class seats availible. I guess if you want to be "safe" go ahead and do it, but don't expect much. And again, the planes are older than dirt. And like I mentioned above, my last HA flight kids boarded before 1st. That flight was to the mainland and sold out, I just don't know. Good luck.

GoTravel: Look, I don't doubt that seating families with small children isn't official policy; but whether it's a fair policy to First Class/Business Class pax or not, it HAPPENS.

And yeah, I was a bit put off at first when I saw the preboarding herd-- then I thought about it and decided that the extra few minutes to have GAs get the kids (who were all under 5 years of age) on board AND IN THEIR SEATS, out of the aisle(s), were worth my not feeling oh, so very special with the "FIRST" designation on my ticket. And I still managed to get on the plane quickly without being mooooooved along with the herds in Groups 1 through 5. I'm sure I'll be roughing it in Coach next time (I see JetBlue in my near future for the next several flights), so I appreciated the little bit of special treatment....

Nancy03 - Didn't realize you'd cause such a ruckuss did you? See, Kal goes off to Kauai and all H... breaks loose!!

Seriously, I flew FC on Northwest into HNL and then a separately issued Aloha economy ticket for the first interisland leg (mine was to Hilo). Northwest was nice enough to check the bags all the way to Hilo. Since Hawaiian will for you also, you will NOT have to clear security again in HNL, just take the Wiki Wiki to the Interisland terminal, proceed to the gate and wait in line. There are NO preassigned seats, and NO groups called. FC passengers AND Premiere Club board AT THE SAME TIME. Then persons in economy with special needs (they called out families with kids five and under) then the rest of the passengers. This scenario was identical at Hilo, again at HNL waiting for Kauai and in Lihue. Boarding process for both Aloha and Hawaiian was identical. If you don't want to but a FC ticket, just be sure to be in line 45 minutes ahead of boarding time. You could also join the Premiere Club for around $150 and board early on any Hawaiian flight for the next year. There were not any special FC screeing lines in Lihue - but there was NO wait when we were there.

Oh yes that's correct. I do remember flying interisland when everyone just got on at once with no pre-boarding. Everyone group was announced at the same time. Once when hubby & I were running late we literally walked right through and boarded the plane and no one even collected our boarding pass. Now that's spooky.

Nancy, back to square 1. The real problem with long lines at all airports is security. Nobody gets past that in any class. If you scroll back to my thread, I gave the most valuable hint to avoid the lines at check in counters in Hawaii= how to avoid them by using the Skycaps. On your first flite from Tampa check your bags thru direct to Kauai. That way you don't have to mess with luggage lines in route. Buy the CHEAPEST inter island fare, the inter island flites are only 20 minutes average and definitely not worth the cost of 1st class. On our inter island flites last week, only wheelchair peeps got on the flite first. If you have a ticket, you'll have a seat.HANG LOOSE and Aloha!!!

Sorry Deloris, but you're wrong about the security line. F or J or elite status does have special security lines. The major airlines set it up for their best customers at their major airports. As I stated before, AA has them at many airports and the way it works is that you enter a different line which by-passes the regular line and only blends once you are actually ready to go through security. It saved me a total of hours this year at LAX, ORD and JFK. Especially at LAX, where I've seen lines as long as 3 football fields long and I was able to get in one that was only about 10 minute wait before hitting security. At ORD it was never really bad but the F line was only 1 or 2 people deep, whereas the regular line as about 50 people deep. JFK seems to work ok, so sometimes it really did not matter which line you got into.

Even in the smallest airports FC always has its own security line. Of course it feeds into the same security but the line takes a fraction of the regular line.

Hey Go Travel and AA FF, what airports are you hanging out in? As a AAFF, I'd love to find your special lines, but THEY DO NOT EXIST IN HAWAII. 6 days ago, in Kona, EVERYONE went thru security in the same line and only wheelchair people got on the plane first.Same goes for Maui, LAX, John Wayne, Long Beach, Heathrow, Milan, etc. etc.
We were second, because of the suggestions I gave on my previous thread.Always be at any airport at least 1 1/2 hours ahead as security has been very thorough and slow, even in Hawaii!