Safety First, Comfort Last: New Norm On Hawaii Flights As Airlines Cancel

On Sunday, Alaska Airlines canceled 37% of its flights to and from Honolulu, 47% to and from Maui, and 45% to and from Kona. That according to FlightAware. United also canceled a significant number of Hawaii flights, albeit a lower percentage than Alaska. That is to ensure safety while both airlines’ Boeing 737 MAX 9 planes remain grounded.

Before the blowout, Alaska had prohibited that plane from Hawaii flights.

Airlines and federal regulators all take the safety of long overwater Hawaii flights very seriously. For that reason, the aircraft with the issue had been banned by Alaska from flying to Hawaii. That occurred after a problem indicated a possible pressurization issue on multiple flights.

With safety as the highest priority, Alaska preemptively stopped flying that particular 737 MAX 9 to Hawaii prior to the airworthiness directive ordering the grounding. According to the NTSB, the airline took that measure so that the plane “could return very quickly to an airport” should any further problems arise.

It isn’t known yet if there is any correlation between the prior pressurization warnings and the emergency door blowout that occurred on Friday. We learned Sunday that in that incident, the cockpit door burst open, the headset came off the first officer entirely, and the captain lost part of her headset. NTSB said that a checklist reference manual also exited the plane.

FAA rules on passenger safety and continued grounding of MAX 9.

Alaska had rapidly conducted its own inspections on at least 18 MAX 9 aircraft and believed they could return the plane to service sooner rather than later. However, regulators erred on the side of caution and passenger safety and did not permit that.

Airlines await news from regulators on exactly what comes next.

Alaska Airlines said Sunday it had received notice from the FAA that additional work might be required on those same aircraft. As a result, Alaska had to cancel at least 170 flights on Sunday, including those to and from Hawaii indicated above.

FAA will first approve a resolution for MAX 9 concerns.

Boeing will issue a special service bulletin related to the 737 MAX 9 issue. That will inform the multiple airlines who fly the MAX 9, including United and Alaska, on what work needs to be performed. This detailed technical document must first be approved by the FAA.

Are 737 MAX the safest planes in the sky?

After two crashes, multiple groundings, and a plethora of other problems, some have said that the MAX planes are now the most carefully scrutinized airliner ever built.

While safety thankfully takes top priority, airline comfort lags miserably.

The FAA, the NTSB, and the airlines, including Alaska and United, prioritize safety. As United says when performing their safety announcements, “While safety is our priority, service is our passion.”

Unfortunately, on Hawaii flights, comfort is not a concern.

While flying to Hawaii is often a thrilling experience, getting there, in economy, and to some degree even in business, is often the worst part of the trip. So what the heck is wrong?

While regulators are fixated on aspects of airline safety following the 737 MAX problem, there’s little concern about the potentially dangerous lack of passenger room on Hawaii flights.

Last summer, two senators urged the administration to review the safety of cramped airline seats. They asked the FAA to conduct new evacuation tests as well. While safety is the primary concern, seat size and comfort are critical to passenger comfort and perhaps safety as well.

The FAA said that previous tests to determine if seat size was related to safety found they were not impediments to evacuation. Others, including airline passenger advocates, call foul and want to see regulation on minimum seat size for evacuation and health concerns, including addressing concerns like deep vein thrombosis (DVT), exacerbated in cramped conditions.

Economy seating has shrunk tremendously over the years.

Since the 1980s, economy seats on airlines have shrunk up to 5 inches in pitch and two inches in width. Low-cost airlines (think Spirit) have gone so far as to reduce pitch two inches further than others.

Sitting in economy remains bearable for even the most discriminating traveler (like BOH editor Jeff), at least for a couple of hours. But when it becomes 5+ hours on flights to and from Hawaii, the narrow, rock-hard, 3-across seats become unfathomable. Economy seats lack much recline, and if they had more, you’d literally be in the lap of the person behind you. There’s just not enough room. On a recent United Airlines Hawaii flight, editors endured seat pitch (distance between the seat in front or behind) of just thirty inches.

Economy seats are scientifically designed and arranged to accommodate the greatest number of passengers possible. The limited legroom seats guarantee profit and discomfort all at once.

Gone are normal airline lavatories.

Airlines are installing what the industry euphemistically calls “compact” lavatories. As a result of deploying these torturously small restrooms, there’s enough room left over for airlines to add up to two more rows of seats in their narrow-body planes. Where possible, airlines are also retrofitting older planes with these.

Ubiquitous narrow-body Hawaii flights exacerbate discomfort.

Airlines now primarily fly Boeing 737 MAX and Airbus A321neo on most Hawaii routes. While some denser routes to Honolulu and Maui still see widebody planes, anyone who flies much to and from the islands knows these continue to wane. At present, narrow-body aircraft (A321neo) are already flying nonstop for 9+ hours (not to Hawaii thus far). Future narrow-body variants will ensure that even longer flights to Hawaii will use these profitable yet uncomfortable planes.

Do you think the airline industry is adequately pro-safety on Hawaii flights? And what about passenger comfort?