This was supposed to be a nice and easy flight home from Honolulu after a great trip. I had been sitting on a ton of points from last October when Hawaiian canceled a couple flights impacting four people for whom we used miles, so my goal was to use those here. Unfortunately, between LA and Long Beach, the best I could do was 30,000 points for coach. I took it, but then I kept watching. Sure enough, the morning flight to LAX opened up a seat in First Class for 40,000 miles so I jumped on it quickly. I like the morning flight anyway, so this was not a sacrifice. It’s so much better to get home mid-afternoon.
If only that’s what happened.
I got to the airport about an hour before departure. They had us leaving from gate D2 in the old overseas Terminal 2. This is good since the checkpoint closest to Hawaiian’s main A gates does not have TSA Precheck anyway. The next checkpoint was closer. On the other hand, this was a bummer, because I wanted to see the new Mauka Concourse A gates which opened a couple years back.
I had no idea that First Class on Hawaiian includes access to the Premier Club, but I didn’t have time to stop. I got to gate D2 just as our airplane started boarding.
Hawaiian 10
September 10, 2024
From Honolulu
➤ Scheduled Departure: 755a
➤ Actual Departure: 815a, returned 838a, out again 1126a, returned 1157a, gave up
➤ From Gate: D2, returned to A12, moved to A6, returned to C3
➤ Wheels Up: don’t care
➤ From Runway: ??
To Los Angeles
➤ Wheels Down: a couple hours after I got back
➤ On Runway: ??
➤ Scheduled Arrival: 420p
➤ Actual Arrival: close to midnight
➤ At Gate: ??
Aircraft
➤ Type: Airbus A330-243
➤ Delivered: 2013, then 2017
➤ Registered: N374HA, then N361HA, then something else
➤ Livery: Maile Lei colors
Flight
➤ Cabin: First in Seat 2J
➤ Load: pretty full
➤ Flight Time: no matter
I took my seat in row 2, and I couldn’t help but notice that it was pretty tired.
Things were peeling in various areas, and even worse, it was dirty in all the crevices. The bandage on the floor, however, was a nice touch.
I settled in and was excited, because this airplane was equipped with Starlink wifi. It’s usable on the ground, so I turned off my mobile connection and surfed away while we waited. It was fast. Meanwhile, my seatmate apparently decided it was time to treat this airplane like her home.
I would have the pleasure of crawling over those any time I needed to get out.
We got close to departure time at 7:55am, and then the captain came on to tell us we’d be a little late because of some maintenance paperwork. We pushed back 20 minutes late, and then we sat there. I started getting a bad feeling as we kept waiting.
Sure enough, the captain came on with the bad news. Some part they had replaced was working fine but now they were getting some fault or warning light or something. (She didn’t give detail.) We were going back to the gate to fix it.
This was annoying, but what was more annoying is that our gate was taken. We were towed very slowly all the way around to gate A12 on the new Mauka concourse blocking in at 8:38am. We would wait there to find our fate.
After about half an hour, they told us it wasn’t going to be fixed soon, so they said they had a new airplane for us. We would all get off and head over to gate A6.
They told us they would have to service this airplane before we could leave. They didn’t give us any timeline, but I knew it was going to take awhile.
On the bright side, this gave me the opportunity to walk around the Mauka Concourse. It’s very nice with high ceilings, good lighting, and all that.
But, it is severely lacking in food options. There’s just a little Dunkin’ kiosk and then a “Mauka Market.”
You’d think the state would have done more when they built this.
I moseyed back over to A6. The update said we’d leave at 10:30am, but that was clearly not happening. We started boarding around that time, and we all took our same seats with the same crew. Sadly, there was no bandage available at my seat this time.
This A330 was one of the handful that hadn’t had Starlink installed yet. Damn. They are all now done, so this was just bad luck.
This was a newer airplane, but the seats still had that same grime in the cracks. And the back shell in front of me was scratched up with black marks.
Our captain came on and told us they were all ready up front but they were just waiting for cargo to finish up. This was around 11 when she said it, but I didn’t realize that cargo hadn’t even really started. It was several minutes later I saw them open the front cargo door and start loading pallets in the aircraft underneath me. Why did this take so long to start? I wish I knew.
We left the gate at 11:26am, and then we sat there for a bit. At first I didn’t think twice about it, but then it seemed like the throttles were being pushed forward a little, and we weren’t moving. Also, there was a light smell of burning oil or something like that.
The flight attendants didn’t know anything, but our captain eventually came on once again and apologized. Due to a “bad smell” we had to go back to the gate again. But guess what? We wouldn’t go back to A6. No, this time, we taxied under our own power all the way over to gate C3 where we blocked in at 11:57am, completing our tour de airport.
Nobody said if we were staying on the airplane or what at this point, but people were starting to get really angry, and vocally so. My seatmate was going to miss her connection to the east coast, so was her friend across the way. They were all on separate tickets, and they thought they had left enough buffer. They were wrong, and they were obviously not pleased.
One woman in a row behind started swearing angrily, fairly loudly. The entire First cabin began talking to each other. The woman with her husband and two small kids in the front row looked stunned. On the way out from LA, she had a rejected takeoff on the 7am departure. In the end, they didn’t leave until 1:30am for a dreaded westbound redeye. She just couldn’t believe this was happening to her again.
The updates started coming in on my phone. The new departure time would be 3:45pm with an arrival just before midnight. The groans were both loud and resigned as we once again trudged off the aircraft.
I had assumed that the delay this time was due to a crew change since they’d time out. Sure enough, I saw the pilots walking out of the airport while our new, third airplane sat at its gate waiting for someone to fly it.
I had no interest in waiting until 3:45pm to get in at midnight. I was already exhausted and pretty thirsty… I don’t believe they passed drinks around after the initial pre-departure drinks much earlier that morning. Coach probably had been given nothing.
I had some choices to make. I thought about waiting until the next day and starting again, but then, someone on my Cranky Concierge team noted that there were a couple First Class seats left on Hawaiian 2 leaving at 1:30pm. This was operated by the new 787, and it would get me back before 10pm. This wasn’t terrible, so I decided to try for it.
The app didn’t allow any changes, and I generally find the Hawaiian reservations team to not be very helpful in non-standard situations. I decided to try to find a gate agent, but when I got off the airplane, I didn’t see a single person working our gate. I’ll admit that this is when I texted a contact at Hawaiian to ask if he could move me over. I wasn’t asking for a special favor, because I know this should have been allowed for anyone in this situation. I just needed to find someone to actually make the change.
A few minutes later, he got back saying that I’d been switched, and I had seat 9L. I still wasn’t particularly interested in extending my day this long, but this seemed like the best possible plan at that time. Even better, the flight was at the gate right next door to where we were last dumped off.
After getting my boarding pass, I walked up just as First Class was boarding. Again.
Hawaiian 2
September 10, 2024
From Honolulu
➤ Scheduled Departure: 130p
➤ Actual Departure: 127p
➤ From Gate: C4
➤ Wheels Up: 145p
➤ From Runway: 8R
To Los Angeles
➤ Wheels Down: 916p
➤ On Runway: 24R
➤ Scheduled Arrival: 945p
➤ Actual Arrival: 923p
➤ At Gate: 208
Aircraft
➤ Type: Boeing 787-9
➤ Delivered: February 14, 2024
➤ Registered: N781HA, msn 66429
➤ Livery: Maile Lei colors
Flight
➤ Cabin: First in Seat 9J
➤ Load: ~99% Full
➤ Flight Time: 4h31m
After two beat-up A330s, the 787 was literally and figuratively a breath of fresh air. The entry with the wood floors and sidewall design is just beautiful.
The mood lighting was going in full force. I went over to my seat and took a look around.
The A330s still hand out tablets, but this 787 had a big screen staring at me.
They also had noise-canceling headphones which were ok but not what they should be. I just used my own.
After I took my seat, I just sat there staring and thinking how tired I was. Soon enough, it was time to push back, and we went 3 minutes early. I was not willing to breathe a sigh of relief until we got in the air, something that miraculously happened just a few minutes later.
We climbed out over the islands, and I reclined my seat a bit. The windows were dimmed by the flight attendants, but I undimmed mine, because it’s my window, damnit. At least they didn’t lock it.
There is no Starlink on this aircraft type yet, but I still wanted to get some work done. I opened up my computer and… crap. I had left my charger on the other airplane. Isn’t that just the cherry on top? (It was never found.)
The flight attendants came through with cold macadamia nuts and I had a mai tai which went down a little too easy.
Then it was time for food. We had moved from the original breakfast to lunch on this flight, so I opted for the coconut and lemongrass braised chicken which was pretty decent. The yuzu potato salad and kalo Hawaiian roll weren’t bad, but that was all I had. I skipped dessert.
Once finished, one of the flight attendants came through and unlocked my door so I could close it. I still don’t get the door thing. Here’s with the door open.
Here’s a really terrible picture with the door closed.
I still can’t see anyone either way unless they walk by, and then, as you see above, I can see everyone.
I leaned back and watched some movies. The selection of new releases wasn’t great, so I watched a few older mindless comedies. I also noticed that the butt padding isn’t great in this seat. Maybe it just needs to be broken in, or maybe it’ll be something that needs attention in the future.
At one point I went for a walk around the airplane. It is a very nice-looking plane in all classes. They did a good job designing this, and the flight attendants told me it’s a pleasure to work.
I stopped in the lav and was highly amused by the music/chirping birds being piped in. There was really a lot of thought put into this airplane. Alaska is inheriting something pretty impressive here.
About an hour out, the sky turned dark, but the stars had come out… at least, inside the aircraft.
I was getting restless. Finally, around a half hour out, it was time to descend. We came in from the north, and I was on the right, so it remained pitch black most of the initial descent. I just sat there watching the moving map and munching on the Honolulu Cookie Co. cookie they handed out.
Once over Oxnard, I saw some lights, and from there the LA Basin unfolded ahead of us. It wasn’t long before we touched down.
Unfortunately, Hawaiian has really gotten the shaft by being forced into the Midfield Concourse in the Bradley Terminal. It is a long walk through the concourse, down the stairs, under the taxiway, up the stairs, through the other concourse, and out toward baggage claim.
I got on the LAXit bus, so I could get to my rideshare, but it was crawling. It probably took us 20 minutes to get over to the lot. I poured myself into the car and only about 25 minutes later, I was finally home.
40 comments on “Hawaiian Needed Three Airplanes to Get Me Home (Trip Report)”
Now I’m wondering: did you check after getting home if your original flight ever left?
Jorg – It did. It was supposed to go at 3:45pm, but I think it was about a half hour later than that. It did get back eventually on that third airplane.
Guess it was a good business opportunity to sign customers on the spot !…
After that flight mess, I am guessing you will have more miles to burn as Hawaiian gives you frequent flyer points for all the delays.
Brian – Nope, I got no extra points on that.
The trip from Hell Brett…
I have a different experience from a delay in Hawaii. A few years ago, my wife and I were coming back from Honolulu to Dallas on American. I had used miles to upgrade both of us. We boarded, and we were just enjoying the preflight amenities, and then we realized it was well past departure time and nothing had happened.
Then the captain came on and said folks I’ve got some bad news. One of the engines has a problem and they have to take the plane out of service. So we’re going to be stuck here for the night.
They put all of us up at a hotel on Waikiki Beach. The whole plane. And rescheduled the flight for the next night.
We basically got a free extra night on Waikiki Beach. At a very nice hotel. I mean, if you had work or obligations, it would’ve sucked, but we did not. So we just enjoyed the extra day on American
Kinda sounds like Hawaiian has given up in light of being acquired by Alaska. One has to imagine that the attention of management is on updating resumes rather than dotting i’s and crossing t’s.
Any airline can have a couple of problems with aircraft pile up, but the dirty aircraft – that’s the real tell.
I’ve notice recently many HA A330 mechanicals at LAX. On the bright side I think terminal 6 is about finished with the remodel and HA probably will move back in.
No more LAWA LCC buses that late to take you directly to T1.5 for a short walk to LAX-it? Or did you have checked bags?
HkCaGu – Had I really been thinking, I could have done that. But I wasn’t thinking, and this woman getting off the jet bridge asked me if I knew how to get to American for her connection. So I just walked with her and showed her. (As bad as my day was, she had flown Melbourne – Sydney – Honolulu – Los Angeles and was then connecting to a redeye to Philly.
Brutal.)
I hope you gave her a card. That woman needs a travel agent!
Agreed. Without trying to push Cranky Concierge or suck up to Brett (no connection; I’m just a person who has used Cranky Concierge once or twice), there are definitely times when it’s worth using professional travel agents/advisors even if you (mostly) know what you’re doing. Flying halfway around the world in 4 stops is a perfect example of that.
I’m not as nearly much of an avgeek as many people here (don’t care about recognizing different plane models by sight), but I do enjoy casually planning & monitoring flights for myself and friends. Despite that, I’ve used Cranky Concierge in the past for more complicated intineraries, especially those involving international flights with different airlines & connections that weren’t on the same passenger record (i.e, “making my own connection” type trips where I pick my bag up from the baggage claim for airline A and immediately walk over and check it with Airline B that has never heard of Airline A).
Services like Cranky Concierge are great value for the peace of mind in situations like that, especially with “must get there on time” international itineraries (i.e., those for funerals/weddings/cruises/trips with tour guides), and the cost isn’t high when compared to a multistop transoceanic roundtrip ticket. I’d argue that many people who buy trip insurance would be well served by paying for professional travel planning/monitoring services as well (or, in some cases, even getting Cranky Concierge-style services INSTEAD of trip insurance, if funds really are that limited).
I have only had good experiences with Hawaiian…..I kinda wonder if the merger has adversely affected their service.
This was in September, before the merger.
Flying Hawaiian in and out of LAX using that Midfield Concourse just sucks – the amount of walking on top of the multiple escalators is just ridiculous.
The last couple of times I’ve flown Hawaiian between Honolulu and the mainland, I’ve been seriously underwhelmed by the lackluster condition of the airplanes. The same has been true for my flights on American. But I think there is an expectation of higher quality or a greater effort from a carrier that is supposed to represent the spirit of aloha and the allure of the islands.
I wonder if Hawaiian’s aircraft that serve Asia are as disappointing. I doubt it. I suspect that Asian customers are less willing to accept the shabby effort that seems to be the norm of mainland US carriers… forcing Hawaiian to make more of an effort on the other side of the islands.
Just a theory. Because, based on experience, Hawaiian is not the airline I would choose to fly to Japan or Polynesian.
MetroCity – There is no separate fleet that serves Asia. For example, the second airplane that broke on us last flew in from Incheon. So what I saw is what flies elsewhere too.
I will never fly Hawaiian again after they forced my 3 year old to sit by himself, despite other pax willing to switch. He cried the whole flight because he couldn’t see me. Hawaiian has the worst FAs and agents.
Hawaiian was unreasonable in not letting your family switch. That is child endangerment, and you should have sat there and let them try to call the police. When a family on American asked me to switch seats in 2008 (Los Angeles-Washington, D.C.), American had no problem with our dong so.
Okay hold on.
What airline is going to “force” a 3 year old to sit alone, if other pax are willing to switch? Guessing you left out some specific details, like someone being in an emergency exit row or part of the party being upgraded.
I fly more than 200 segments a year. The scenario you describe does not happen.
You do see flight attendants say they can’t make people switch. But telling people that they CANT switch? Doesn’t happen, not for a child that little.
Odd. As an FA for AmAir, I definitely get request to change ?seat(s) often. Do my best to acccomodate and help w/solution. But with the high pressure to push back for on time departure, it’s just not time efficient.
The most usual situation is one pax in a party will book premium economy or exit row. Then they request their child or travel partner be moved to one of the empty seats in their row.
When it’s explained that those are upgraded seats and not fair to those pax who pre booked their tix at higher fares ….its not often received well. Also, when a parent books a young child(happens more that you might believe) in a row or 2 behind and hopes to ask a pax to please trade so that they may fly w/their child? Many pax will of course accommodate as who wants to separate young children from parents?
Then we FA’s become very unpopular when we inform pax that that one must be 15 yrs or older, speak English and be ready, willing and able to assist in unlikely event of distress or emergency to sit in emergency exit row?????
Good report on Hawaiian Air and descriptions of planes you flew. The A330’s are being phased out at Am Air. They aren’t even training new hires on that fleet. Wonder if others are also or if A330 orders still being placed?
Did you reserve seats together when you booked your tickets?
This is a strange comment – and really requires some explanation! Gerald – can you please provide some more background on this….??? As you can see from other readers comments, it is hard to comprehend this happening.
Thank you!
“Why did this take so long to start?” Aloha, you are on Hawaiian time now!
Brett, do you think that Hawaiian will move to Alaska’s terminal @ LAX once they further into the integration process?
GS – I have to assume so. Terminal 6 has been under constant renovation for awhile, so now that it’s wrapping up, I would think they’d be able to consolidate there without cutting too much.
It depends a little on how many widebodies HA has at LAX at one time. AS has access to one of the widebody corner gate, 69A?, but the other, 68B? gets used by AC on a regular basis. So until Dec 31, 2027, when AC’s lease runs out they are probably a little short on widebody gates. I guess they could bring HA check in to T6 and run buses from the 64C bus gate to TBIT. That’s might be marginally better than the current walk. Maybe we will learn more on investor day in Dec.
I think we will see split ops between T5 & T6. AC does only 1 widebody in the winter (I think), but summertime I think theres a handful of 789s & A330s going to YYZ.
Not been impressed with Hawaiian. Phone service and chat service has been poor. Alaska has a lot to teach them. Crews on board have been generally not that interested in their jobs. The 787 is nice but given Hawaiian’s track record, I can’t wait for all those fake wooden slats at the entryway to be caked with dust. Give me a flight on United any day. At least until HA and AS have one frequent flyer program, will get more valuable credit on UA.
NedsKid – I think the call centers are the worst part of Hawaiian, all outsourced to a center in the Philippines. Alaska has already said that it firmly believes in its insourced model. Whether that means there will be a res center in the islands or if they just have calls go through the existing call centers on the mainland, this part of the experience will get much better.
Also, there may not be a single program yet, but you can transfer points between the two programs today: https://storefront.points.com/mileage-plan/en-US/exchange/lps?lpId=2053
Well this is deja vu! Hawaiian is the absolute worst with IROP handling! I had a very similar incident in Dec 2022 where we basically had to camp out all night on the floor of the gate area at HNL because of how poorly it was handled by them. The gate agents even called in the police to calm down the crowd after 12 hours of no communication, it got so bad. They make JetBlue’s poor IROP handling look heaven-sent by comparison.
“The yuzu potato salad and kalo Hawaiian roll weren’t bad, but that was all I had. I skipped dessert.”
On Hawaiian, wouldn’t they just call that a “kalo roll?”
Exactly, just like on Air India where the Indian food is simply “food”!
Based on your experience, the term “AirBUS” now has a whole new meaning. LOL
Okay hold on.
What airline is going to “force” a 3 year old to sit alone, if other pax are willing to switch? Guessing you left out some specific details, like someone being in an emergency exit row or part of the party being upgraded.
I fly more than 200 segments a year. The scenario you describe does not happen.
You do see flight attendants say they can’t make people switch. But telling people that they CANT switch? Doesn’t happen, not for a child that little.
That selfie…You look every bit as resigned to your fate as your story made us feel you were…lol…
Cranky flier case in point here.
Does Cirium have the data to track mechanical delays? It’d be fascinating to track by tail, fleet type, or airline.
I had presumed Hawaiian intended the 787s for fleet replacement while Alaska was thinking expansion out of Seattle, but perhaps replacement needs to be the priority.
Eric – Cirium should have this somewhere, but I’ve always used Anuvu for all my ops data. If we look by fleet, the 787 is the worst by far but maybe that was growing pains. I don’t think this is an A330 issue. Those aircraft are not that old. Alaska should be able to get those back into shape.
Hawaiian Airlines used to be a good, niche product on flights to and from the mainland. No longer. Planes are dirty. On time performance has slipped, and service underwhelming. Hopefully, the merger will raise HA’s standards back up. I’ve had far better experiences flying to Hawaii from the East Coast and back on American Airlines, via PHX or LAX, than flying HA direct. That’s saying something.
I call the Midfield Concourse in the Bradley Terminal. Honolulu West!