A good fit for some, but not for others. Our take on the Hawaiian Airlines Dreamliner now that flights are on sale starting next Spring.
A good fit for some, but not for others. Our take on the Hawaiian Airlines Dreamliner now that flights are on sale starting next Spring.
Love the A330 first class seats. Been flying them for many years with my wife. The aisle problem is minor and only requires a slight two-step maneuver to access the aisle. We also love the lie flat seats on the long flight from JFK to HNL.
We also find the food and service to be excellent.
Rob and Jeff,
“Hawaiian was unaware we would be onboard.”
I’m not sure it makes much difference if they know a certain celebrity or newsman is on board or not. However, they may well scan passenger lists against a list of “do not fly” persons, celebrities and newsmen like you two. They could well know even if you didn’t specifically tell them.
Aloha
During critical time for Maui tourism recovery (holidays) delta is more than happy to charge crazy prices. Economy seat 2500-3000. I hope they reconsider.
Yeah, that is the crazy world of modern algorithm driven airline pricing. Irrationally high prices during certain time periods of the pyear. I sometimes wonder if airlines ever have humans manually doublecheck the prices their algorithms want to charge during certain seasons on certain routes ? I highly doubt it. This kind of thing is highly confusing for repeat customers. You can beat it once you understand the patterns employed by the algorithm, but it takes a lot of time and almost daily observation.
Maybe BoH editors, as experts, can tell us more about what is causing these wide swings into irrational pricing seen on an increasing number of airlines these days?
Hi Alex.
Thanks.
In a word, dynamic pricing. The airlines are masters of it. It’s a cat and mouse game and it’s crazy-making. One of us was buying tickets from the east coast back to Hawaii just before the holidays. Ridiculous pricing, and it came down to an educated guess whether to pay the price or wait and hope it would go down. In the end, we paid, and the price continued on up up by an additional $700 one way. But it could just as easily have gone the other way.
Aloha.
“But it could just as easily have gone the other way.”
Yes, but we rarely hear the folks celebrating when prices go down. Human nature I suppose.
Aloha Beat of Hawai’i ~~~
I am ok with reviews on things, except, this is just the view of the person/persons doing it. I believe, it would be more attractive to hear about it from different sources ( people )
I am looking forward to flying the Dreamliner B787. I have flown the A330-200 direct to NYC many times and I like it very much. The only problems with that is those planes are getting older.
Personally, I wish we had the B747 service. That was the best airplane in my opinion on flights to Hawai’i. I did it on Northwest, United & TWA back in the days. All direct flights. But, we should be a bit more positive of the B787 and not be so critical.
Personally, aside from the plane, customer service, kind employees showing aloha is what I am more interested. Delta & Southwest need to add that concept to their list since they are losing it.
Also, I wish Hawaiian had service from HNL to Reno-Nevada.
Happy Fall Season 2023 Beat of Hawaii and thank you. You guys rock!
Hi Xavier.
Thank you! We have extensive experience as passengers on their A330 fleet. And we do plan jump on the Dreamliner and do reviews of both business and economy, although maybe not the first day.
Aloha.
I’m flying nonstop to Oahu from Newark, NJ in United’s Premium Plus seating later this fall. I’m hoping it’s as good as the reviews I’ve seen thus far. Their first class/Polaris didn’t impress me much considering the cost.
Hi Jennifer.
We’ll be reviewing both products in the weeks ahead. Having flown Polaris just a week ago from Hawaii, we did find it to be surprisingly good.
Aloha.
I’m very disappointed that Hawaiian has choosen not to include a premium section. Before the A330 planes departed from PDX, for a number of years, we would fly to SEA or LAX to catch a Hawaiian A330 plane to either fly first class or the 2 seat window/aisle Extra Comfort seats. Without a premium section on the 787, unless we are flying first class, we will be probably moving to Delta for this option. It’s too bad that Hawaiian who gave the west coast passagers the first chance at lie flat seats would lack the foresight to give it’s patrons a premium choice. I’ll miss flying on Hawaiian.
We are looking forward to trying the 787. I have booked tickets for the first flight from LAX – OGG on 5/15/24!
What I do not care for is the current HAL location at LAX. The Bradley Terminal is very nice indeed, but has a LONG walk to get to the gate. It seems even longer upon arrival back at LAX to get from the gate to baggage claim due to all the twists and turns you are forced to make.
It would be ideal for Hawaiian to fly either the A330 or the B787 from Long Beach!
Aloha Jim !
1000% agree with you about the Hawaiian terminal at LAX !
We’ve in the last couple of years have totally loved flying Hawaiian out of Long Beach.
Such a stress free,relaxed,enjoyable beginning to our trip.
To walk out on the tarmac to board the plane is another fun,awesome bonus. Though on a rainy day it would not be pleasant.
I’ve talked to numerous flight crews and they all told me they would trade out of a LAX flight to get a LGB flight.
You are right also that the runway length @ LGB could easily handle a A330 or 787.
Safe travels,
Aloha
,,
when are you going to start Brisbane Australia to Honolulu agin Please?
Marketing beautiful pictures of business class “suites” when the majority is traveling in the back feels almost deceptive. I will be interested once the economy class improves, and the opposite is the case here. 3-3-3 is a step back from an already dysmal economy section.
The 2-4-2 seating has more options and is a bit comfortable than 3-3-3. Another disappointment to the design of Hawaiian version of the Dreamliner.
With all due respect, also adopting “very standard” 3-3-3 is nothing to be excited about. I expect you to be better, especially when you are a very late adopter. Instead you keep focusing on the good of few over the good of the many.
My cabin experience with 3-3-3: Quarterly trips on JAL’s 787 between Tokyo and Helsinki: Crammed and quite a bit of engine noise. And so I’ve since mostly abandoned the dreamliner and switched back to Airbus. And I was on Boeing’s team Dreamliner for years, so that came completely unexpected for me.