An extra legroom upgrade is a great offering for longer Hawaii flights.
Alaska Airlines today announced their long anticipated “Preferred Plus seating.” Here is how it works, starting today:
- Rows, 6, 16 and 17 only will have up to 8″ of additional legroom. Instead of the standard 31-32″ pitch, these seats feature 36-40″.
- Seats are available for purchase to all customers during the 24-hour check-in window. Mileage PlanMVP, Gold and Gold 75k members have had an opportunity to reserve them in advance.
- Cost to or from Hawaii will be approximately $50.
- Priority boarding and complementary alcoholic beverage are included.
- Customers can also buy first class upgrades when available during the same 24-hour check-in window.
You’ll now be able to have from 5 to 14 inches of extra leg room when flying either Hawaiian Airlines or Alaska Airlines. This following Alaska Air’s announcement that they will join in offering the added fee based legroom.
We recently flew Hawaiian Extra Comfort in both directions between Honolulu and JFK. Outbound we had Extra Confort seats with 5 extra inches of legroom, and those were a pleasant and a worthwhile upgrade. On the return we had row 11 which features 14 inches of extra legroom. Those were incredible with as much or more legroom than Hawaiian’s business class. Priority security line was not available at JFK, although it is a listed feature. Finally, some seats (in row 14) are not assigned until check-in.
Here’s how it works on both airlines:
Hawaiian Extra Comfort provides a group of seats in three areas of their Airbus A330s. These seats offers extra legroom, priority services and additional amenities. They can be purchased starting at the time of ticketing.
- 5-14″ of extra legroom depending on seat.
- Priority security line (Honolulu, Las Vegas, New York, Oakland, Portland, San Diego, San Francisco, and Seattle).
- Priority boarding.
- Personal electrical power outlet (not all seats).
- Complimentary “Unlimited TV & More” entertainment pack.
- Pillow and blanket
- Upgraded meal and amenity kit on international flights except Tahiti
Fees are $70 for US flights except New York as well as Papeete, $100 for New York and international flights.
2. Alaska Airlines.
Alaska will begin offering extra legroom seats in 2015. This is being done through charging for bulkhead and exit row seating rather than any reconfiguration. These seats will be available only as check-in upgrades to start with, but Alaska will likely migrate to selling them at the point of ticketing in the future.
- 7-9″ of extra legroom depending on seat.
- Priority boarding.
- Complementary alcoholic beverage.
Fees are $50 for flights to/from Hawaii.
Hi Marsha,
Alaska Airlines aisle armrests can move up and down on all of their Aircrafts to and from Hawaii…just ask a Flight Attendant for assistance. However, the aisle armrest must be down for takeoff and landing.
I still wish the aisle seat arm rest would move up and down to make it easier to get in and out of the seat ! Why are those arm rests fixed ?
and here is the rest of the story as Paul Harvey would say ! The seat, “design includes a comfortable yet slimmer seatback and bottom and a literature pocket located above the tray table,” said Joe Sprague, Alaska Airlines’ vice president of marketing. “The new seats add to a very special onboard experience that all of our customers flying Alaska’s new 737-900ERs will enjoy, including Boeing’s Sky Interior—with its improved lighting and sculpted overhead bins that create a more spacious cabin—onboard Wi-Fi, Starbucks coffee, premium Washington wines and delicious meals for purchase, as well as our renowned personal service.”
The seats are also lighter and are expected to save about 8,000 gallons of fuel annually per aircraft.
Hi Marsha,
Good to hear from you!
Yes these are the new seats that Alaska added, a story in addition to the selling of their extra legroom bulkhead and exit rows.
Aloha.
Here is the official version on the new seats – The seats will offer a six-way adjustable headrest, three inches of recline and an additional inch of legroom.
The additional leg room will not affect the airline’s seat pitch of 31-32″, but it will offer more room for your legs. “The extra inch we refer to is gained by Recaro’s clever design that effectively adds one more inch of room to your living space, without us moving the seats further apart,” Alaska spokes person confirmed to AirlineReporter.com. “Specific to pitch, our pitch will stay consistent with our current standard 31-32 inches.”
Just got back from an Alaskan San Jose to Maui flight – we had two electrical outlets per seat, nicely upholstered seats and head rests. Great surprises.