Hawaiian Airlines

Flight from Honolulu to Maui and return. Flight was on an B717 which is a nice plane. Crew was very friendly and had a smile. Seating was better than on older 767. Juice was served shortly after take-off. They offered maps with sights of Maui for free. Baggage was soon on belt. Good job for a short flight like this.

Airbus 330 flight from Honolulu to Las Vegas. Aircraft had new AVOD but they charge for movies. Free dinner was served with rice beef and veggies. Crew came around with water and juice during flight. Flight on time and seating in the new aircraft is very good. Check in kiosk did not work so we had to do it with staff together.

Wife and I flew from Las Vegas to Kona Hawaii connecting both ways in Honolulu. The LAS-HON leg is on an Airbus with 2+4+2 seating in economy so my wife and I can sit together. Hawaiian doesn't jam the seats in economy together as much as some airlines. And for an extra $35 per passenger each way you can get a bulkhead or exit row seat with tons of legroom but to get this you have to do online check-in pretty darn close to 24 hours before your flight. You can actually call the airline and talk to a customer representative without waiting more than a few minutes. If you fly in the evening you get a free tasty although small real hot meal with veggies and meat salad and dessert. (The breakfast service is also free but not as nice as the dinner.) Also when I asked about wine the steward mentioned the half bottle (375 ml) of red as having pleased other passengers so my wife and I bought it for $16 and it was a nice pinot noir.

Arrived at Kona airport with Hawaiian taking us to connect on Oahu with united to California. Had first class tickets upgraded with United points. They tried to charge us for all our bags even though our ticket clearly stated our luggage was free. We asked for a supervisor who still refused to do anything. Finally agree but had delayed us so long we missed our flight. To add insult to injury they stuck us in economy on the next flight. Interesting to see they do not honor United premier or upgrades. Pretty unhappy with desk service!

LAX-HNL HNL-SFO in A330s. The planes were new and clean. Soft drinks and tea/coffee are free. You also get a free meal (poor to fair quality) with a free wine to accompany it. They nickel and dime you for everything else (baggage IFE (films etc.) preferred seating). Cabin crew was efficient but not overly friendly on the outbound flight and on the return flight one member was downright surly. He didn't even look at us when handing us drinks and ignored us when we asked questions. Also took inter-island flights HNL-ITO return in B717s. Good for short flights and you get a free juice or coffee. In summary Hawaiian are good for inter-island but avoid them for long-haul flights.

I hate overnight flights so I booked Business class for the Sydney Hawaii leg in the hope that the extra $1000 would provide a decent night's sleep. Wrong! While the seats do have a footrest and recline more than in economy there was little similarity between Hawaiian and other carriers business class seats Even the pillows were the small and inadequate and the amenities provided were very basic - no cute bag to keep as a souvenir. The cabin crew were excellent and the food served much better than economy but again there is no comparison between it and say the food served in Qantas premium economy. Our flight back to Sydney was back in economy and I was very happy with the experience though the "Hawaiian high tea" served towards the end of the flight was just a roll and a biscuit. Flights on all the sectors I flew were on time and had very professional and helpful cabin crew.

Flew Honolulu to Sydney in Economy. Got exit row seats row 33 with bulkhead in front. Plenty of leg room and no one in front putting their seat back. The only problem was that other people feel it is a through traffic area and use it to cross from one side of the plane to the other. I paid the $75 to have that space for me. I ended up no moving my legs and annoyed some people by doing so. The other thing is the flight attendant was going to move another passenger into the empty seat between myself and a travel friend as the other person was unhappy with her normal economy seat. I complained and reminded her that we had paid $75 for these seats and why should she get a free seat. There were empty rows of seats at the back of the plane that she could have moved her to. I got my way and she was not moved to the exit row seats. Food was good digeplayer was poor. Staff overall were ok. Did not show to much of an effect to make the trip enjoyable. But would fly with them again.

Seattle to Honolulu return in economy. Enhanced meal service with new breakfast box containing bread with cream cheese guava jelly dried fruit and a macadamia nut cookie. Return dinner teriyaki chicken with salad and cake for dessert. All this food plus a free mai tai on the way out and wine with dinner on the return on a domestic USA flight and free to boot? Unheard of nowadays but thank you Hawaiian for still being the only US carrier to offer free food on flights. Cabin crew generally friendly and sharing the aloha spirit. Be nice to the crew and they will be nice back to you. Cant wait for them to bring the A330 to Seattle!

Although I am Pualani Platinum and am generally looked after on Hawaiian I have two upgrade certificates which are virtually useless as my preferred flights are booked out and being able to secure any upgrade from within the allowed window of 7 days to 4 hours of the flight is impossible. I have travelled Business on several occasions between Sydney and Honolulu during 2011-12 and although there has been an introduction of new aircraft of late previous flights have been on old planes with tray tables faulty on two occasions. Seats are also not very comfortable in Business although are better than Economy where space between is very tight especially with tray table down and the seat in front reclined. On 6 September 2012 I did Honolulu-JFK on HA50 at least ending up in a pre-booked window seat in row 13. Overall it was very ordinary if adequate without anything terribly exciting. Arrival at JFK was good in what potentially is a nightmare airport.

Maui-Oakland/SF-Honolulu First Class. As always an extremely good experience due to the friendly staff good food and comfortable seating. Puts the legacy carriers to shame. Maui-Oakland on an older 767 and SF- Honolulu on the new A330. Both aircraft's have their pluses and minuses. Seats on the 767 are actually more comfortable when upright while the entertainment on the 330 is far superior in choices. Meal service is the same and was excellent on both flighst. Staff friendly and welcoming in short everything a cabin crew should be but rarely is these days especially to and from Hawaii.