To celebrate Hawaiian’s official entry into oneworld, the airline decided to have a media event in Honolulu to unveil its new oneworld-liveried airplane, showcase some food, and set up some interviews. It’s been awhile since I last did an event with the airline so I decided to take them up on the quick two-day trip. Not only did I find my time on the ground useful, but the flights were as well. Today, let’s talk about the way out when an era came to an end.
[Hawaiian provided my travel at no cost to me]
I decided to sleep in a little and take the 10:05am from LAX to Honolulu for the flight out. Sure, I could have flown from Long Beach, but… and I know this sound ridiculous… I really wanted one last hot pocket. See, Hawaiian would officially switch from the free hot pocket to paid options two days later, on July 1. Hot pockets were only served on flights after 10am, so I got a little sentimental and made the choice. Besides, an A330 over an A321neo? Yes, please.
Since it wasn’t too early, I decided to take public transit for my first run through the LAX Metro Transit Center. I left home at about 7:30am and walked 20 minutes to the closest metro stop. I took the A (blue) line up to the C (green) line and found myself at the LAX Metro Transit Center only a little over an hour after I left home. This wasn’t bad at all. But then… I had to go down to the buses since the people mover still isn’t open.
The transit plaza is nice and open, even with a giant blow-up soccer ball temporarily in the middle. But then after waiting several minutes, we got on the bus and it took forever. By the time we crawled through back streets and the horseshoe, it was about half an hour. Had the train been open, it would have been less than 10 minutes with an easy walk from the first stop to Terminal 6. On the bright side, I sat next to some very nice ladies who were flying Air Canada for their first trip to Europe but were going to the Bradley Terminal since that’s where they figured all international flights were. I was able to save them a whole lot of wasted time by pointing them to Terminal 6.
Inside, the terminal was busy, but TSA Precheck was nearly empty. I then walked all the way back to gate 69A where it was a madhouse. There are a lot of widebodies rolling through this terminal, and there is nowhere near enough seating.
The addition of Hawaiian into Alaska’s operation has definitely squeezed things, and it does make me wonder if Alaska might prefer a split operation between the new, roomier T5 when it opens and some of T6. Just something to think about.
We had an eight minute delay posted, which I thought was oddly specific. But we started boarding when they said, and even though there was one line for Priority and groups A/B plus another for the rest, they told everyone to board using both lines to speed things up, I assume. As a very fancy and important Atmos Silver, I was able to board in group B. I know, you are all impressed. After they scanned my boarding pass, I had to turn into the hallway where they isolate international arrivals and wait in an impossibly long line to board, so this didn’t actually speed up anything. Eventually, I made it on the airplane.
Hawaiian 803
June 29, 2026
From Los Angeles
➤ Scheduled Departure: 1005a
➤ Actual Departure: 1023a
➤ From Gate: 69A
➤ Wheels Up: 1041a
➤ From Runway: 25R
To Honolulu
➤ Wheels Down: 107p
➤ On Runway: 8L
➤ Scheduled Arrival: 1258p
➤ Actual Arrival: 115p
➤ At Gate: A6
Aircraft
➤ Type: Airbus A330-243
➤ Delivered: April 27, 2012
➤ Registered: N386HA, msn 1302
➤ Livery: Maile Lei colors, “Heiheionākeiki”
Flight
➤ Cabin: Coach in Seat 18J
➤ Load: ~99% Full
➤ Flight Time: 5h26m
Our A330 was full of pinks and turquoises as always but yes, it looks a little tired. I really can’t wait until Alaska is able to put these airplanes through the announced retrofit. I still like flying them as a passenger, but they do need some love.
I went back to my seat which it turns out was in the Extra Comfort (or as Alaska calls it, Premium) section. I didn’t realize that before, but I don’t have long legs anyway. Still, always happy for a little extra room. And no, my upgrade to First did not come through. At last check I was something like number 25 or 27 on the list, so I never bothered to pay attention again.
We were all boarded up and ready to go, but we weren’t moving. The captain came on after a few minutes to tell us that we’d been ready for awhile, but due to taxiway construction just to the west of us causing congestion, we hadn’t been able to get pushback clearance. It took about another 10 minutes before we could finally start moving.
The good news is that taxi was short and we were airborne into the marine layer quickly after passing quite a colorful assortment of airlines at the Bradley Terminal.
I had started browsing the movie selection on the ground and had already fired up Young Frankenstein to start me off. At the same time, I pulled out my laptop and phone and connected to Starlink. I kind of hate Starlink, because now I can never go back to other airborne wifi options again. It’s just so fast.
The flight attendants came through with the snack cart, drinks, and yes, the hot pocket.
This time, it was the turkey focaccia one, and it was very tasty if not a little salty… since my tears kept flowing down on to the sandwich.
I get why these are going away, but I will miss them. I washed it down with the customary and complimentary-for-all Koloa rum punch, and then I sat back.
The flight attendants asked everyone to lower their windowshades, but as usual, I was defiant. I did lower it somewhat but not all the way. Yes I know it’s open ocean, but I can watch cloud formations all day long. Then, I broke the rules again. I briefly got on a Google Meet with someone at work who needed to talk. I mostly just listened and whispered when I had to speak, but I realized this was certainly no more disruptive than talking to a seatmate. Still, I know it’s not allowed, and this makes me a true rebel.
I was going to watch another movie, but instead I decided to catch up on some reading. They may not play Territorial Airwaves on the inflight entertainment system anymore, but I had the entire internet at my disposal. I put on some Hawaiian music (Kealiʻi Reichel, if you’re curious) to get into an aloha mindset and then cranked through some long articles I’d been meaning to read.
The flight attendants had walked through with water regularly, but then they stopped. Within an hour of landing, they handed out cookies from Honolulu Cookie Co and I asked if more water was coming. She said no, but she would bring me some. Sure enough, she did, and I was content.
We started our descent into Honolulu when a call went out for a doctor or nurse. Gulp. That’s never good news, but there would be no diversions at this point. We circled around and landed to the east with a quick taxi to the gate. That’s when the flight attendant asked us all to be seated because paramedics would meet the ill party at the gate… and it was a child.
Surprisingly, everyone listened and nobody moved into the aisle. The family got off first, and I could see a rash on the kid’s neck as he walked past us, sobbing. Poor kid. Once they were off, it was time for us to follow. I headed to the hotel where I had this view from the Outrigger Reef for a couple of nights.
I’ll cover the return where I tasted the new pre-order meals for the first time and had excellent service in a future post.
