Flying to and from Hawaii can be incredible or it can be shear misery. But with flights typically over five hours in duration, when you aren’t happy, that is a heck of a long time to endure. Sure it’s what you make of it, but at the same time, travel stress is very real and sometimes unavoidable.
It is rare to hear candor from airline executives, but such was the case this week with United Airlines CEO Oscar Munoz. He told ABC News “frankly, by the time you sit on one of our aircraft … you’re just pissed at the world.” He went on, “what coffee or cookie I give you” does not change that experience. With regard to airlines’ shrinking the seats, he added, “I think we are nearing a point certainly that we can’t do that anymore.” Finally he said “it’s become so stressful, from when you leave, wherever you live, to get into traffic, to find a parking spot, to get through security.”
The issues are complex, with some being airline induced, while others are not. The problems we face as travelers to and from Hawaii include:
1. Traffic getting to and from airports both on the mainland and in Hawaii.
2 Parking congestion.
3. TSA. As stressful as security lines and checks are, add to that the uncertainty of how long it all might take. Not long ago we actually missed a flight from Lihue when the TSA line snaked in front of the airport and took nearly 90 minutes to clear. Seriously? On the next trip, it took less than 10 minutes. Grrr.
4. Airline personnel and passengers. Let’s face it, both consumers and airline employees can be on short fuses. This isn’t the elegant and relaxed atmosphere of a travel era gone by, and it can very quickly go from cordial to adversarial. We’ve seen the good and bad on both sides of the aisle. Airline passengers can be very difficult to please, and at the same time, employees often seem to have a chip on their shoulder. It can sometimes seem best to just be ignored.
5. Less space all the time. Here’s another harsh reality. Airlines across the board have done everything possible to reduce the amount of space passengers have on planes. They do that to increase profits while providing a better chance of reduced (or at least not increased) airfares. Less space comes with multiple forms of misery.
– Single aisle aircraft. The luxury of wide-body aircraft on flights to Hawaii is waning. More and more flights are on easy to fill, single aisle aircraft. Those planes were originally designed for short to medium distance flights. They’ve since been updated to fly up to 7 hours, and even longer duration narrow body planes are in the works.
– Lavatories. Those include bathrooms that have shrunk to the point where it is hard for even thin travelers to comfortably use them. Space has been reduced by up to 1/3 of what it was even a few years ago. Those smaller restrooms mean room for more passengers.
– Seats. Economy seating on planes continues to shrink with rows closer together and legroom reduced. That is often accomplished through new thin seats with clearly less padding and comfort. Seat recline is also fast disappearing in economy. Oh my.
6. Multiply the misery on long Hawaii flights. If you’re flight is one hour long, or perhaps even two, it feels easier to accept greater levels of discomfort. But with flights that span 2,500 to 5,000 miles between the mainland US and Hawaii, that can become unbearable. We bring our own inflatable seat cushions which also serve as back/neck support, and those help, to a degree.
In spite of all of this, the fact that you are going to Hawaii makes this more acceptable. Photos like the one above, whether it be where you are heading on vacation, or returning home, helps. What do you do to help manage travel stress and make your trip to Hawaii more enjoyable?
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I’ve flown to Hawaii in coach and its only 6.5 hrs? For misery, try flying to India with two back to back 10.5 hr flights (each way) or a nearly 16 hr flight if flying direct to NYC from Mumbai…then you’ll know misery. 🙂
We are very lucky to be able to fly Westjet from Vancouver to Oahu or Maui. We have always found the cabin crew to be pleasant, cheerful and helpful – which goes a long way to easing the discomfort of small seats etc. – food can be pre-ordered which is also helpful and unless there is turbulence during the flight the flight attendants are on hand for additional refreshments throughout the flight.
Same thing happened to us as well, twice on return flights on UAL. Very frustrating.
I drive to a flyaway (bus station), park, get on bus to airport. No airport driving for me. The bus driver knows the best route and drops me off in front of the airline. No long walk pulling suitcase. Go to tsa security and stand in line – nothing you can do! I really really like getting a meal on the plane to Hawaii. That relieved stress of just getting on the flight. One aisle planes to Hawaii sucks to say it bluntly. I really enjoyed the 2-5-2 since we usually are 2.
I flew from Florida to Hawaii 3 times last year to see my daughter who moved there. Yes, it was long and a bit uncomfortable at times. But let me tell you, I am beyond grateful that that days are gone when I would have had to spend months sailing the ocean blue to visit a child that left the nest. Not much more than 100 years ago that would have been pretty much an impossibility to even see your child again when they left for a new life overseas. Maybe the insanely rich could affford to sail but I’m sure that was no picnic. So, yes, I will endure my wait at TSA to keep me safe, a small economy seat, a tiny onboard flushing toilet with a wash bin, my peanuts and coke, and my 20 hour travel day to see my loved one and the beautiful state of Hawaii. The technology that has enabled the masses to travel the world in only hours for only hundreds of dollars and the fact that I was born into a small part of humanity that could actually afford those hundreds of dollars will never cease to amaze me and I will continue to be eternally grateful. And just maybe …someday…I will be able to afford to fly there in a more first class comfort. : )
I usually fly to Maui or Honolulu from LA, with Hawaiian. They usually use their big Airbus 330 for those routes. But just this past March, I flew Hawaiian direct to Kona on the smaller Airbus Neo. Though the plane was nice and new, the seats did not recline much, and the cushions did not offer much comfort or support. I felt the whole time I was being tortured. I will never fly that plane again for a 5+ hour flight. I think if there was a limit to how much an Airline can take away from passengers, Hawaiian has pushed it too far in the Airbus Neo.
Second try, first one was blocked by the Gum-Gum ad at the bottom of the page.
I know, I know, I know.
I remember when United crews would change into Aloha wear outbound from the west coast.
A 9-hour flight in a prop DC-6 was excruciating, but you could freely move about the cabin.
I don’t know how my mother managed twice a year to NYC on buying trips for the Liberty House.
Now? Audible and a large bag of trail mix saves the day.
Just returned from my 50th trip (so it seems!) from Oregon. Let me start off by saying I try to ONLY fly Hawaiian. Despite the comments made, the FAs in Hawaiian are great; they’re not there to entertain you (ugh, Southwest). They service when needed, put up with stupid passengers who think announcements and rules don’t pertain to them, and try to do their best on mediocre planes. Say mediocre because Hawn is making a potentially fatal decision to use the Neos A321 to the West Coast and that, my friends, will be their downfall. Single aisle, three lavs for Economy? Bleh. Still it beats UAL’s knees to your throat searing, Delta’s “We don’t like any of you” attitude, and Alaska’s attempt to be Hawaiian. Complain all you like, but face it – we’ll all still fly.
We’ve flown Hawaiian Airlines 3 times one the past 18 months from Phoenix and have never experienced anything like peo6have described. We will continue with Hawaiian and forgo anything less.
I typically fly to the Islands once year. I switched from United to Hawaiian a few years ago and have always found that the Hawaiian crews were top notch. I’ve never had a grumpy FA. Can’t say that on United.
Glad to hear reclining seats may be going away. When row spacing was several inches wider and planes were 1/3rd empty it sorta made sense. Now it’s just the rudest of intrusions on the person in the row behind you.
On a flight last year my tray table was out and the guy in-front of me threw his seat back pinning my chest in an uncomfortable position. I felt like I couldn’t breathe or speak. The steward had to come to my rescue. No wonder people freak out. It’s all on the airlines, a problem they created.
The first time I visited Hawaii it was on an MD L1011. Champagne was served during the entire flight as was an ‘almost’ restaurant meal. Flying was more elegant and perhaps more costly. Now airlines are the Greyhounds of the skies just moving the masses and collecting the fare.
Im almost at the point where its not worth the misery of flying. It will be better for the planet when that happens !
Last Sept/Oct I flew Hawaiian both ways between LAX and LIH. 3 flight attendants in coach … NONE of them ever smiled, and if you asked for something the air of resentment and the stink-eye were very scary. I heard one of them overtly complaining about the company and talking about moving to Alaska Airlines.
The flight back 1 out of 3 was moderately cheerful, the other 2 were the same girls as from the flight over. This and some other comfort factors really tainted my experience with Hawaiian Airlines. Guess I’ll just go back to American until I can use SW.
I’m flying out next week on Hawaiian Airlines’ new HNL to Boston flight. I’m in good old economy but I’ve purchased both the inflatable travelrest pillow (https://www.travelrest.net/products/travelrest-travel-pillow) and one of the sling foot rest straps. I’ll let you know how it turns out!
Really?
I write this from Hawaii and as someone who this week flew a United 777 and is scheduled to fly out on Sunday on a United 777….
Oscar Munoz, CEO of United, has no room to talk. What people are ‘pissed’ about is how United will nickle & dime you at every step of the way. Not allowing carry-on baggage without a charge? Move your economy seat up 2 rows to another cramp economy seat for $7. Charging $85 for the honor of walking onto their plane a little earlier.
What Oscar should do is stop blaming the other obstacles of travel like TSA, airports, etc and first focus on how terrible United treats it’s own customers as they are booking their flights!
I was an avid United flyer for many years due to my work travel. I no longer travel as much, except for pleasure. I am trying to use up all my United points so that I can forever forget about United…….
United left us stranded and scrambling and running from one end of the airport to the other in Chicago a few years back. That was our LAST United Flight. I used my miles for magazine subscriptions. Same with American. They left us (blue flu) in LA and we lost more than a day of our vaca and it screwed up our condo and auto rental to boot. No more American for us!!
That didn’t even factor in the lack of comfort.
I work hard to get a good price, use the companion fare when possible and then pop for the Upgrade to Premium or First Class if it comes up. We can usually at least get the Premium upgrade. I pack a few essential food items and buy a water in the airport so I have SOMETHING to drink/eat before they get to the food/bev service. That’s particularly helpful if you are in a midrow and in between Galleys. It can take awhile for them to get to you and you don’t want to be ‘hangrey’ on top of everything else. Then it’s just deep breaths and hope I don’t have a screaming kid or someone kicking the back of my seat all the way there. Try to embody the Aloha spirit for as long as I can.
I can understand the concerns. Back in November flew DAL to HNL, then back 8 days later. Did what I could prior to flight to make it tolerable (noise cancelling headphones, loaded movies on my Fire pad, book and food). It helped. I did fly economy on American. What also helped, was the flight crew, very easy going and helpful. (No I do not work for American)
Aloha,
Fly First Class!
Mahalo
That would be very nice if I could afford it. I can either afford to fly to a nice place first class and sleep on the beach. Or, cut back on the airfare by flying economy and stay at a nice place. Not everyone can afford first class.
Some people can’t afford to fly first class Baboose! What an ignorant thing to say in this time when airlines are doing nothing for there customers, but making their trips miserable. I remember when I used to Love to fly and when younger it was always economy. Which was fine because people were comfortable they were treated with kindness and dignity. They even got a decent hot meal it wasn’t much, but it was enough to satisfy. Now you’re crammed in these narrow horribly uncomfortable seats no meal you’re lucky to get a drink or a snack. Yes the employees aren’t at their best, but would you be when you know that you’re at work to just fend off the disgust and anger from the very uncomfortable customers. CEO’s and upper management don’t care they don’t have to deal with these disgruntle customers. They are just happy than pigs in kaka because they reap the rewards off the horribly uncomfortable customers and their employees. They of course fly only First Class not ever knowing what it’s like to suffer in their economy seating. Therefore saying “just fly first class aloha & mahalo” is just an ignorant thing to say because if we all could do that there wouldn’t be any economy only First Class and we all would be once again happy to travel
I do not foresee First Class in our future :0/ Was this a joke?
We recently flew to Hawaii on United. My wife has had more than one episode of deep vein blood clots, so we always pick our seats carefully so she can stretch out. This usually means an aisle seat on the right side of the plane. We carefully booked two seats on 777 aircraft in Row 40 where there are just two seats instead three. This would have worked great as she would have space where the missing seat is to stretch. On both flights, we discovered the seat configuration was changed and row 38 is the two seat configuration we booked. Our row 40 had three seats and she was in the middle. 🙁
For the flight out, we were lucky – lightly filled flight and no one in that 3rd seat so she could sit on the aisle. Yeah!
On the flight back – full flight. We had to pay $200 to upgrade seats as there was no way with her medical issues she could sit in the middle seat for 7 hours flying back to Denver.
We get it. Planes change. But when we explained this to the gate agent, our only option was to pay for better seats. We did not pick row 40 because it was our favorite row… we picked it because of the two seat configuration when we booked earlier in the year.
I would have hoped that United would have switched us to the two seat configuration, but understand that requires cooperation of the occupants in row 38. They should have at least offered to move her to an aisle seat at no charge, but the best we got was “pay for the tickets and complain later. You might get a credit.” Hardly what I would call accommodating for two people who were early for the flight, didn’t complain or get angry, and really needed some simple customer service.
This along with United’s 10 across seating on the 777 is just a horrible way to start and end a vacation to Hawaii.
Hoping that SouthWest brings the heat and maybe service, costs, and comfort might return one day.
Shame on United Airlines.
We always check seatguru.com for updated seating configuration. More than once we have found discrepancies between the airline’s seating map & actuality! Plus it offers additional info helpful to seat selection.
We were booked a couple of years ago on a 777. When we booked, the coach configuration was 2 x 5 x 2. When I received a message that the schedule had changed, I looked and the configuration was 3 x 4 x 3. It looked like aisles were now similar to a small RJ and the seats felt more narrow. The rows were a bit staggered. It felt cramped before and now is catastrophic.
In January, we flew “premium economy” on American on 777. I think it was 2 x 4 x 2. I walked backed to use a restroom and saw their “main cabin plus” which was 3 x 4 x 3 but at least looked like you had room to move your legs, but again the aisle was so narrow and the seats in “economy” looked like miniature seats.
Although the 737 the configuration that Southwest, 3 x 3 with 32 inch pitch, seems generous, I can’t believe I’m saying generous. When Southwest gets the roll out complete, the seating comfort will be the tipping point.
Although Southwest will have the airport, parking,TSA issues as others, the seating and generally better training and service execution is a big plus to Hawaii.
“…the fact that you are going to Hawaii makes this more acceptable.”
What if you’re flying home? Twice the misery.
I flew Hawaiian airlines over awhile back. No AC in our section. The lights didnt work etc. The stewards all eating lunch in galley. It was horrible until we landed.
Agreed on HAL. The Airbus equipment they used was very, very uncomfortable and I am an average size woman. The crew is mostly and I mean mostly kind, there’s always the single outlier. I have to get my head in a space that says “ommm”. Oh, and maybe a drink or two, LOL.