Flyin’ Hawaiian in Coach on the A330 and 717 (Trip Report)

When Hawaiian invited me to its Global Media Day, my initial plan was to do a quick strike. I’d fly in on Sunday, do the media day on Monday, and then fly back on Tuesday morning. But then I decided that was stupid. Instead, I bought my wife a ticket and we went to Kaua’i for a couple days in advance. This, besides being a nice quick break, also allowed me to compare Hawaiian’s long haul and short haul products.

[Disclosure: Hawaiian paid for my flights between LA and Honolulu and hotel in Honolulu only.]

With my flights already taken care of, I went on to Hawaiian’s website and bought my wife a roundtrip to Honolulu for $529.06. Then I used 10,000 American miles each to fly roundtrip from Honolulu to Kaua’i on Hawaiian. At the time, my option was to build an illegal connection in Honolulu (arrive 1140a, depart 1225p) or wait a couple more hours. Since we had no bags to check, I opted for the illegal connection and hoped it would work out.

You might remember that the last time Hawaiian brought me out, I was upgraded to Extra Comfort going out and First Class coming back. That was great, but I wanted none of that this time. My goal was to try to coach experience the entire way, and that’s what I got.

My parents came into town to take care of the kids, so my dad drove us up to the airport. The traffic was worse than usual, and we pulled up about 50 minutes before departure. We were already checked in with boarding pass in hand so we went straight to security. Even though Pre Check was on the boarding pass, the line was closed. So we sat and waited.

Once through security, I thought I had walked into a different world. The work to renovate Terminal 2 appears to be largely complete, and it looks completely different. There are a bunch of local vendors, and while it’s somewhat overwhelming to see them all assaulting your senses, it gives off a much better vibe than before. But we had no time to enjoy. We kept walking to gate 28, a gate I remember using to fly on Pan Am many years before. They had already called our zone so we got in line and hopped onboard.

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October 16, 2015
Hawaiian 1 Lv Los Angeles 840a Arr Honolulu 1140a
Los Angeles (LAX): Gate 28, Runway 24L, Depart 3m Early
Honolulu (HNL): Gate 13, Runway 8L, Arrive 10m Early
N386HA, Airbus A330-243, Pualani colors, ~99% Full
Seat 36A, Coach
Flight Time 5h36m

We had two seats together on the side (it’s 2-4-2), but we were in the back cabin. After a slow boarding process, we found our seats and waited while others tried to swap seats since they weren’t sitting with their partners. We buttoned up a couple minutes early and were on our way.

Once we passed through the marine layer, it was time to start watching movies. Hawaiian may not charge for meals, but it does charge $7.99 to watch a movie. It’s a pretty hefty price. Still, we were going to pay it, if we could figure out how to get the system to work. It was not very touch-sensitive, so we both had to hit the screen pretty hard. I can’t imagine this is how it was designed, but it’s just an older, clunky system that needs help.

The flight attendants soon came through with breakfast. It was more substantial than last time with a cheese and egg disc, or that’s what I’d call it. There was good fruit and of course, a chocolate-covered macadamia nut.

Once food was done, the woman in front of my wife slammed her seat into full recline, and that sucked. She was hemmed in pretty tightly, but at least the screen tilted to make it viewable.

About halfway through, my wife and I both had to go to the bathroom, so she went in and I waited outside in the back of the airplane. When she opened the door, she pointed out that the wall appeared to be movable. It was for the handicap lav, but I had leaned in to look. Very shortly, a flight attendant showed up and said “what’s going on?” with a little laugh. She apparently thought we were trying to join the mile high club.

There was a mini-snack served as we got closer to the islands. We were given Maui onion potato chips and a Koloa Breeze rum punch (Koloa is a rum made in Kaua’i.)

Back at our seats, it was time to descend. We came down south between Maui and the Big Island before coming up and landing to the east. We were early despite the long flight time, but they parked us pretty far away, at gate 13 between the Central and Diamond Head Concourses. Knowing we had an illegal connection, I was a bit nervous, but we were off quickly and made it with time to spare.

The interisland gates are kind of strange in that there are a couple of big waiting areas, and then you have to pass down to a lower level to get to the actual gate where people line up. It’s not very spacious, but I guess it does the trick.

A beautiful 717 (formerly with Midwest) was at our gate, and everyone looked ready to board. We got in line and made our way on with everyone else.

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October 16, 2015
Hawaiian 203 Lv Honolulu 1225p Arr
Lihue 104p
Honolulu (HNL): Gate 57, Runway 8R, Depart 3m Late
Lihue (LIH): Gate 5, Runway 35, Arrive 4m Late
N493HA, Boeing 717-2BL, Pualani colors, ~99% Full
Seat 8F, Coach
Flight Time 22m

Hawaiian is nearing completion of its 717 retrofit to use slimline seats. This gives the airline an extra row onboard. And these seats were the exact same ones that Frontier just put in (minus the extra padding). We were on the 3 side this time, but we were way up in row 8. It’s so quiet up there.

I may not have had the tiny tray table when I flew Frontier, but I had it on this short flight. Legroom seemed perfectly good and the pre-reclining seat again felt comfortable. We pushed back a couple minutes late and then took off to the east. After a right-hand turn, the flight was almost halfway over.

As always, Hawaiian passed out water or POG juice. I took the POG and it fit just fine on my tiny tray table. After downing it, we were well into our descent. The Lihu’e Airport is right on the coast, and I couldn’t see much until we touched down.

This was my first time in Kaua’i and I really enjoyed it. But just two days later, it was time to go back to Honolulu to do some work. We arrived on the early side, and once again, there was no real Pre Check line. It was the usual “oh, if you have Pre Check you can leave your shoes on but that’s it” kind of thing.

At the gate, we found some seats and just waited. The airplane got in on time, but boarding was slow and chaotic. At one point, boarding stopped and we saw the fire department pull up outside the window. Two guys put on their full reflective gear, and we could only wonder what was happening. (Later, the pilot told us that the brakes were too hot after landing so they were ready if things got out of hand.)

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October 18, 2015
Hawaiian 172 Lv Lihue 302p Arr Honolulu 337p
Lihue (LIH): Gate 5, Runway 3, Depart 12m Late
Honolulu (HNL): Gate 58, Runway 8L, Arrive 7m Late
N491HA, Boeing 717-2BL, Pualani colors, ~99% Full
Seat 23B, Coach
Flight Time 20m

On this flight, we were on the two side, but we were back in row 23 just in front of the engines. The flight was packed, and we were late thanks to the brake problem, but none of the passengers seemed to care. Any delay is slightly aggravating, but at least the pilots explained the delay and apologized.

We took off and as you can see in the above video, immediately banked right to head back to Honolulu. It was certainly louder back in row 23, but it’s nothing like being in an MD-80. I can’t complain at all, and I just sat back and enjoyed my POG juice. The pilots expertly dodged clouds as we descended into Honolulu.

Once there, it was time for work (that’s when Hawaiian announced its flat bed seats). But it wasn’t long after that we had to head back home. This was the first time I could remember taking the morning flight back to LA, but we wanted to get home before the kids went to bed. I actually really like this flight time.

We checked in at the kiosks, got our boarding passes, and walked through a real, functioning Pre Check line. Huzzah. Hawaiian had arranged lounge access for everyone at Media Day. At this early hour, the new Business Class lounge wasn’t open, but we stopped in to the Premier Club to take a look. That took about a minute, and then we went to the gate.

It was pouring on-and-off that morning, so it’s a good thing the outdoor walkways are covered. Our gate, 26, was the first on the Ewa Concourse so it was a short walk. These gates have a very old-school look to them. The gate area was busy, and boarding began soon after we got there.

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October 20, 2015
Hawaiian 10 Lv Honolulu 750a Arr Los Angeles 430p
Honolulu (HNL): Gate 26, Runway 8R, Depart 5m Early
Los Angeles (LAX): Gate 27, Runway 25L, Arrive 12m Early
N378HA, Airbus A330-243, Pualani colors, ~85% Full
Seat 23J, Coach
Flight Time 5h8m

This time, our seats were further forward in row 23, in the middle cabin. We took our seats and realized that this flight wasn’t quite as full as the others. Several of the middle seats were empty.

We taxied out to the reef runway and took off right toward a big rainy sky. The pilots turned right to go out to sea and missed the rain entirely. We eventually got back on track and flew past Maui and the Big Island before going over the open ocean.

There were two things that stood out to me on this flight. First, the difference in noise in the middle cabin is dramatic compared to the aft cabin. It was much quieter and more comfortable. The second is that the IFE system was much newer. This airplane was only delivered in May and the upgrade was very noticeable. The only problem was that the person in front of me reclined halfway and the screen on this one did not tilt.

Breakfast was served and again we had an egg sandwich, but this time on a more substantial roll, and fruit. We were smarter with our movies this time around. My wife bought a movie (Aloha) and watched it. Once she was done, we just switched seats and I watched the same one. There’s no limit on how many times you can watch each movie.

The sky was as smooth as could be, and the time passed quickly. Once we got closer, we had another round of Maui onion chips and Koloa Breeze. We came in from the south and crossed over the coast around Huntington Beach before coming up and landing as usual at LAX.