Hawaiian Airlines

LAX-HNL-SYD-HNL-JFK. A330-200 on every route. Staff and front desk very helpful. FA's very nice. On flights to mainland you have to pay for IFE. On LAX-HNL leg they served a turkey sandwich and a brownie. Chose to upgrade to the cheeseburger for $12.99. Not a lot of leg room onboard but the seat wasn't too bad. Boarding was slick and organized. On flight to Sydney you were served a meal after takeoff and a light snack before landing-not really enough for a 10 hour flight. You also had to pay for IFE on New York flight which is a long route with no IFE. I would definitely fly Hawaiian if I was going from mainland US to Hawaii and definitely a better experience then when I flew United to Hawaii.

It feels like Hawaiian Airlines is becoming more like Delta and United with their very late flights. I've had my fair share of flights amongst the mentioned airlines. I never thought I'd even be comparing the three airlines. Third time in a row my flight is leaving more than an hour late. This last time Hawaiian boarded us then told us to get off because they needed to refuel. We were told we'd leave in two hours. Five hours later they board us again then tell us they still need to refuel. I forgot to mention they were kind enough to reimburse us with poor head sets.

HNL-FUK-HNL on 767. Excellent fare to/from Seoul when connecting in Fukuoka - almost half-price of non- stop. Average experience does not come close to Asiana. No in-seat entertainment no choice of meals and what was served was mediocre cabin attendants disappear for a long time very little communication from pilots. Of four possible aisle seats three have a box underneath that limits foot comfort-choose G to avoid box. In 3-seat middle section I was put with couple and their baby luckily well-behaved but 4 people in 3 seats not acceptable. On-time and smooth connection in Fukuoka to avoid customs. Overall acceptable but cabin service on 9-hour flight not up to standards of airlines based in Asia.

We flew from Sydney to Las Vegas via Hawaii and return. We decided to treat ourselves to First class both ways which ended up a little disappointing to say the least. The seats did not recline very far (about the same recline as Qantas economy) and the food going over was just plonked in front of us in one hit. At least the staff coming back had a better idea of serving food. I have food allergies (which I notified the airlines of when we booked) and they said they'll see what they can do - all I can say was I was hungry when I arrived except for the food I took with me! Also the inflight entertainment was the same on all four legs so I was wishing I had brought a good book with me. The positives were the staff were friendly drink service was great and they boarded us quickly.

We flew on 2 July 2012 9.20pm flight from Sydney to Honolulu on A330. Plane was half hour late arriving into Sydney which made about 1 hour late departing. Staff food seats were great. We then flew from Honolulu to Big Island on 11 July and returned to Hon on 14 July and then departed Honolulu on 15 July back to Sydney. Good service and friendly staff. 15 July flight home at 12.45pm was again late yet was not Hawaiian's fault. Overall would fly with them again no problem. Food was lovely and plenty of it. Entertainment units were good and purchase of movies if required was easy.

Flew on their new direct flight from Honolulu to New York (JFK) to celebrate the 4th of July. Very impressed with the speed of their boarding flight attendants were friendly and enough storage space. The seats of this Airbus were slightly wider than normal HAL planes so didn't feel like a packed sardine the seat itself slides forward as it reclines and there were folds on the headrest so you wouldn't end up on your neighbor's shoulder; it was quite comfortable to sit for the 10 hour haul. Free soda snack and meals (2) snacks for purchase alcoholic drinks for purchase premium meals for purchase. Surprised that you actually get 2 basic meals for free. Passed out free headsets and there were some video and audio for free but had to pay for others. Everyone has their own video monitor so very cool. USB input available. I kept falling asleep during the meal and drink service and they were very accommodating to bring it for me when I woke up. No regrets and will be returning in 6 months!

Check in at Kansai A/P (Japan) is dysfunctional. I had bought round trip tickets state side for travel from SFO to Kansai due to personal circumstances I ended up buying the trip in 2 segments (for the same day). The first from SFO to Honolulu with a connecting Hawaiian flight to Kansai with similar routing on the return. I was assured I would be able to route my baggage through from SFO to Kansai and visa versa (i.e. without having to pickup and recheck in Honolulu). The agents at SFO were able to do this but the Japanese agent at Kansai insisted that Hawaiian required all baggage picked up at Honolulu with passenger responsibility to recheck bags for continuation flight to SFO. Of course this created undue/unnecessary passenger burden! Bottom line Hawaiian needs to improve training of the Japanese agents they hire for check in at Kansai. I will never take Hawaiian for travel outside the states again!

ITO-OGG-ITO Weekend inter-island flight. It was an uneventful flight. Service from check-in to inflight was amazing. Its the only way to fly.

Flew from Honolulu to Maui on Hawaiian Airlines because of my executive platinum status on AA. With my status we thought that it would give us preferred boarding and no checked bag fees - wrong! I stepped into the "Premier" line to see if we could get on an earlier flight as we were at the airport ahead of schedule. The woman behind the counter rudely told me to get into the other line (no one behind me BTW) because my status on AA "didn't matter" to Hawaiian Airlines even though they were a codeshare partner. I stepped in the other line only to get right back to the same person five minutes later. I asked if we could standby for the earlier flight and she proceeded to charge us $50 per person. For a thirty minute flight with open seats? Decided against that and was rudely reminded that we would still have to pay baggage check fees because they didn't care about our status with AA. Her tone was so rude that I asked to speak to a supervisor who came out and proceeded to complain about AA. I will avoid Hawaiian Airlines at all costs and fly one of the other commuter airlines with better service and lower costs.

JFK-HNL roundtrip. The food on both flights were very good. There were drinks given throughout the flight and you were able to get a drink anytime throughout the flight. The FA's were nice and interacting with the passengers and were polite and were always cleaning the plane. The bathrooms were clean and FA's cleaned them frequently throughout the flight which is something you do not normally see. On the A330 there was plenty of legroom in the economy class. However the one drawback was when I was trying to confirm a seat on the plane the person on the phone was unhelpful and was unable to help my problem. On the flight you also had to pay for the in flight entertainment and they had a big selection of movies to choose from.