Awful legroom and embarrassing “food” on one hand. A lovely widebody plane, a unique solid Hawaii brand, and on-time performance on the other. Hawaiian Airlines economy review plus Extra Comfort.
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68 thoughts on “Review Of Hawaiian Airlines Economy + ExtraComfort on Wide-Body”
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The food, I would give a 6/10 but if you give 2/10 then SWA would be a negative number, unless you are partial to pretzels (they do throw pretzels at you twice on their long range trips to Hawai’i), United better. FAA states how many FAs are required and no airline I have seen uses more than required by the FAA, so for 260…it would be 5 flight attendants. SWA planes have 3. Seat pitch is accurate in numbers, however SWA has much narrower seats, so for me I overlap in width, especially with another broad shouldered person, Hawaiian A330 is 1-2″ wider (cmfrt/extra) than SWA seats. I am 6’1″, leg room is fine on both, width not OK on SWA, maybe Jeff is taller and not as broad. Body types matter for this.
I recently flew out of Ontario, CA on HA79. Sorry, I forget what type of craft it is, but it was 3/3 seating with a very narrow center aisle. I had a window seat. I must admit that I always pray the middle seat goes unoccupied these days, for obvious reason. It unfortunately was occupied. Ever since Hawaiian restored the Ontario route it’s been the airport of choice for me. I cannot bear going through LAX any more. The walk from the check-in counter to the boarding gate is over 1 mile I’ve been told. This is insane. Insane. Passengers are not warned in advance of this, a major problem, especially for small children and the elderly. My 71 year old companion nearly stroked out getting to the gate. (to be continued)
Continuing… The food was a meh sausage sandwich. My seat felt cramped. My knees touched the seat in front of me and I’m not tall. The width of the seats was the usual, and when you realize you are shoulder2shoulder/butt2butt physically touching a stranger for 6 hours, it’s not ok. I hate being treated like just another piece of cargo that is loaded onto the plane. I hate flying now. It has become so uncomfortable that I no longer want to travel by air. Something must be done and soon. I imagine the airlines adding an upper row so they can double capacity. This awful treatment to human beings has become INhuman. I want something to be done about this, but what? If you can’t afford 1st class you must fly as cargo. It is no longer OK.
Hawaiian Airlines has the worst leg room unless you pay extra.
Southwest has the best and most leg room without paying extra
John,
The seat pitch on Hawaiian Airlines Economy is 31 inches. The seat pitch on Southwest is 31 inches. Oh! I think that means they are THE Same. If you doubt me, check SeatGuru.com. However if you are talking about inter-island and not flights to the mainland or Canada, I will agree that Hawaiian may be less as some of the B-717s have a 29 inch seat pitch, others have 31 inches. On most inter-island flights I can deal with 29 inches. The longest inter-island flight is only about 52 minutes.
Jim,
That’s actually incorrect. While seat pitch on Southwest’s 737-700s is roughly 31 inches, the pitch is 32-33 inches on their -800s and MAX 8s. Since only the MAX and -800 jets fly to Hawaii, Southwest does have greater seat pitch than the Hawaiian offerings in that scenario.
Jordan D., thank you for the correction!
I’m 5’1″ and would not do long haul flights without booking an extra comfort seat. In the regular economy seat, it’s impossible to reach your under-seat bag if the person in front of you has their seat reclined.
Variations in charges for add-ons like extra comfort are seemingly arbitrary. I changed my flight by one day and they wanted to charge me an additional $180 when I’d already paid $170 for that one-way extra comfort seat.
To end on a positive note, flight personnel are gracious and professional.
Here is something that will only be relevant for those in the greater Los Angeles area. It is a video I did, comparing flying from Long Beach to Kahului vs Los Angeles to Kahului comparing the differences in Extra Comfort and Main Cabin. Of course, the same comparision will hold for flights to Honolulu as the equipment is the same, A320s out of Long Beach, A-330s from Los Angeles. I am not a professional videographer and it is not a revenue producer, just something to help educate.
youtu.be/NbnBUTf6-wA
Great article & comments. We visit Maui annually, most recently in October, and will be in Kauai for the holidays. We preferred Hawaiian, primarily for the 2-4-2 configuration. As a couple, we dislike the 3-seat configurations that are typical in economy and EC. One of us has to be in the middle and it’s miserable. The seat configuration plus good food and friendly flight attendants made it a no-brainer to fly Hawaiian. Sadly, have to agree the food has gone downhill dramatically and the flight attendants are less engaged (but still courteous). We’ll be considering other carriers from now on. Alaska & Delta are eager to compete, among others.
I’m a 6’ tall woman, and cannot fit comfortably in an economy seat
I had been in a bad car accident two days before leaving to come home when entering the airport I asked if I could pay for closer seating as I was black & blue, 2 black eyes and 3 broken ribs. The airport attendant told me absolute not, wouldn’t even consider me paying for something to help me get home more comfortable. I was in a middle of 4 seats and had such a hard time getting out of the seat a man had to help me. Because of this I am done with Hawaiian.
Hi Jeff and the gang.
Have you come across this before? To preface, we moved to Maui last fall and I fly back to SFO often. On a 2 pm flight on Hawaiian this past March from OGG to SFO, a flight attendant announced shortly after take-off that we must close our window blinds for those on computers, phones, etc. This was a first for me on any *daytime* flight. I closed mine half-way, but then the person in the aisle seat told me to close it all the way. That’s a first too, but as the flight attendant had ordered it, I complied. Normally, I’d politely point out that I’d already closed it half-way, & that I wanted the some natural light (it’s also a safety bonus on a plane). I’ve since just flown Alaska ’cause of the daylight. Thoughts? Thanks!
Hi Lauren.
Yes, we’ve seen that before on Hawaiian. We can’t remember if that is true on all their flights or not. When they bring the Dreamliners onboard, they’ll be controlling the dimming of all of the windows electronically, so that will be the end of that. For better or worse.
Aloha.
Completely agree with all
Of your Comments .
Hawaiian has Lots of
Work to Improve
Aloha, thank you for the information. We flew Seattle to Maui a few days ago in regular seats, nothing exciting there. We also noticed the flight attendants were less engaged, they’re probably worn out.
The food. Yikes! It has gone so far downhill. I couldn’t eat the bagel, or whatever with cheese and pork bacon. There are lots of people who don’t eat pork, so why would they serve it? Fortunately, I brought leftover veggie pizza.
Looking forward to your next article.
Lanell
Hi Lanell.
Thanks. We’re appreciate hearing from you. And this sanity check.
Aloha.
Aloha Beat of Hawaii!
I actually flew HA last week from HNL to SFO.
Everything was good on the A330, 1st class seats, because my Ohana are 6’5 and 6’10. (Yes, that’s tall)
It was all good until we landed.
I was taking my pillow with me.
The flight attendant from the other part of the plane was an older female. She grabbed the pillow, yelled at me that it belongs to her and cut my arm with her really long nails.
I was bleeding through my shirt.
Then I went to get a checked bag that was destroyed.
1st class cost each of us 1k.
Hawaiian won’t return my calls.
Anywhere else it’d be called assault.
Mahalo to you both.🌺
Hi Pam.
Thanks. We’re so sorry to hear about your experience! Have you contacted their executive office (call their Corp ofc to get there)? Please let us know how it turns out.
Aloha.
We love Hawaiian Airlines when going to the islands yearly. BUT we used to upgrade for about $100+ from LAX to the islands for Extra Comfort in previous years but this year, it was over $200. With a family of 4, that’s an upgrade for almost $1K just for one way. I might start looking at other airlines that offers a better deal for extra leg room.
BOH, Here is a question for you regarding the “upgrade Fee for the “Extra Comfort” seat:
The price of the Flight was more because Jeff waited till the last couple of Days to Book the Flight. Would it be an accurate assumption to say that if he had booked earlier to obtain the $129.00 Air Fare, that the Upgrade to “Extra Comfort” would also have been less expensive? I am only asking this in Fairness to Hawaiian Airlines. If you could find this out and let us all know, it would be “useful information” for us to have when booking in the future. I would find it incredible odd, that the “upgrade” would cost more than the actual “ticket price” for a regular economy seat if booked well in advance. Please let us know. Thanks for your help.
Hi Ed.
Great question. No. The upgrade fee would not have been less unfortunately.
Aloha.
As BOH said, the price of EC doesn’t fluctuate like the actual airfares do for a flight.
But the price for an EC is different depending on:
what airport you fly out of/into Hawaii,
where the seat is on the plane
and the time.
I was shocked that he had to pay $142.00 one way for an EC. From OAK or SFO I see the price varies from $45.00 to $95.00, again depending on departing airport, island arrival, seat map and schedule.
Hope this helps.
Aloha Jeff & Rob and all at BoH.
Just returned to Ireland from a trip to the Big Island Maui.
(Incidentally, the queue for the flight back to Los Angeles at Maui was horrendous- well over an hour!)
Because I’m traveling back to Europe from the Islands, I usually travel Extra Comfort on Hawaiian. As a six foot plus, I have always enjoyed and been very happy with Hawaiian and that extra space. The sandwich offered is a sandwich more than any of the other carriers. It’s nothing exceptional, but better than nothing. I prefer the seats on the A330 to the A331, but have experience both and the space is fine.
I still look forward to the time Hawaiian will fly direct from Europe on the 787’s Extra Comfort…
Keep well and all good wishes.
Hi Michael.
Our paths almost just crossed again on the BI. Hope they will again soon.
Aloha.
Any other long haul carriers offer much better complimentary meals than Hawaiian even tries to.
HA charges more for a one way ticket than half of a round trip. I prefer segment pricing like SW and Alaska. Usually a better deal.
BOH,
Jeff gave a less than stellar review of “Seating and comfort (ExtraComfort),” yet it was rated a 10. Seems like an 8 or 9 would have been more on target.
In the past, we flew from San Diego – a 3 1/2 hour drive (anything to avoid LAX). We flew Extra Comfort in a small 3-row section just behind First. It was pretty comfortable but just was not enough legroom.
When they started offering non-stop from Ontario, we jumped at it. Last year we took Extra Comfort – so underwhelming in a single-aisle plane. So this year we took first class. Which, in reality, was more like Extra Comfort with better service and a bit more legroom. I think, if we go 1st-class next trip, it will be from San Diego or, God forbid LAX – wide bodies are great.
Rod W take a look a flying out of Long Beach! Most of trips have been from LAX on the A 330 but I prefer flying from Long Beach due to less traffic, hassell, stress, and now the long trek to the gate at LAX. My wife does not like the A 321 from Long Beach but hates the trek at LAX. I think we should just flip a coin each trip to decide from where we depart.
Flew HA last Saturday night from Tahiti to Honolulu then Honolulu to Pdx and have to say, getting more disappointed by the minute. Paid 4 ways extra comfort seats as much as 100 $ each then had to change my return date so lost on my original seats, had to pay more money to get extra seats again. In fact, I don’t know how these seats can qualified for extra comfort when they are uncomfortable to begin with. I won’t even talk about the food. Been flying the same route for several years because I like the times but seriously looking at different companies where my money would go a long way.
Aloha Rob+Jeff So I bought extra comfort for our trip Oct 11-20 there and back. The seats going back were 160.00 ea. Was less than 125.00 going to Lihue. I prefer the comfort seats near the front. Don’t know why they are spaced in each section. The food has gotten really bad. I bring my own. Will give you a report on my flight experience when the event happens. Am gearing up for “the hike” at LAX on Tuesday. Cheers!!!
Hi Debra
Yes please let us know. Thanks and happy travels!
Aloha.
So sad to read about the status is meals …. Many years ago popular chefs designed meals for Hawaiian Airlines… it made for such s pleasant trip…
Thank you for this assessment. I’m in San Diego and visit at least every other year – sometimes annually.
With the completion for these flights, Southwest excluded, it might help to compare other airlines.
I’ve used Hawaiian once, but have used others and comparing offerings would be good.
I want to keep Hawaiian at the top of my list. My in-laws do, but I think an objective view of 5-6 hours in a captive machine should consider what it is we’re accomplishing. We step on a plane in (pick location) and step off in (pick Hawaiian destination).
Delta and Alaska offer foo alternatives.
I agree with the comment that the Hawaiian Extra Comfort Seat is very costly for more legroom. Perhaps Hawaiian does need to up its food service game for those in Extra Comfort Seats since they are paying considerably more. Maybe not First Class food but certainly more and better than what is given to the regular main cabin customers who don’t pay the surcharge of Extra Comfort.
We heartily agree about the low quality of the Hawaiian ‘meal’! My husband and I refer it disparagingly as a ‘hot pocket’ instead of an actual meal. It’s a joke.
Thank you BOH…actually Jeff. Finally someone with a big audience has made it official…Food & Beverage…2/10! That was very fair & Jeff hit the nail on it’s head. Thank You!!! We have voiced our opinion with HAL about the meals. We always bring our own & wish HAL would give us some discount instead.
Totally agree about calling the Philippines…so irritating when all they do is “read” what is written…no brain cells to think otherwise. (Sorry for that comment.)
Let’s hope your scoring will open HAL’s eyes. If not you…not sure if there is anyone else who can.
Several years ago when we first began regular travel to Hawaii, the Extra Comfort offered a few other items that were not standard in economy. One was the free IFE. If you wanted the IFE in Economy you could pay for it by seat number, i.e. 38E, and it would be turned on. Around late 2018 or early 2019 Hawaiian gave all those little perks of Extra Comfort to all Economy passengers so that the only perks were the extra legroom and an earlier boarding time. We have seen the food in the back slowly degrade from acceptable to “it keeps you from starving if you can choke it down.” We flew “first class” once to Honolulu and the choices and food quality were outstanding! We have never found the flight attendants to be anything but 10 of 10.
We flew Hawaiian Airlines last year for our daughter’s wedding. We opted for Extra Comfort on the way back from Honolulu to JFK; we paid $160 extra per seat. While we winced at the price, it was worth it for the extra leg room; and I’m only 5’7″. As for the food, I can’t even remember what I ate, but I didn’t complain about it to my husband. All in all our experience with HA was very good.
We have been travelling from Australia on HNL for a few years. Because of the distance we always select extra comfort. Besides the extra legroom there is not much else to brag about. The food was pretty ordinary and most unedible. On our return we had row 11, there is a bulkhead and a sign not to put your feet on the wall, which I might add was ignored by the passengers around us. If they had a foot rest in those seats it would be better.
We also paid extra comfort from HNL to LAS what a waste that was. Will consider NZ next time as they have sleep pods.
I have flown hawaiian once or twice a year since 1970s. In recent years service has gone down along with food quality. Don’t know where you found $300 tickets. Have hawaiian miles card that earns miles that are worthless. Alaska is just as bad. The days of a good experience flying are gone.
At 6’4”, I have to pay the extra “tall tax”, as I call it. It’s absolutely ridiculous. Airlines should set aside these seats with additional leg room for people (plus spouse) over 6 feet tall. I can’t risk being stuck in economy on any flight over 2 hours.
Wife & I fly to Kahului often and we whole heartedly prefer Alaska Airlines. Hawaiian is normally much more expensive with far worse service. They are consistently way more difficult to deal with. Alaska is a whole lot more friendly and much more affordable. Alaska also has more flight options which allows more flexibility to your scheduling.
Hi Mike, can you tell me where you fly from? Thanks.
I have flown several times in extra comfort on the 330. Definitly not business class! The legroom is okay if you have a bulkhead or exit seat. I won’t even fly the 321, for transpacific travel. Hawaiian continues on a downward slope and charging way too much.
Seat back screens never work for my husband who is 6’4″. He can never get the right angle without fully(?) reclining and totally slouching in his seat. Of course, then he has even Less legroom!
I Sooo prefer Alaska Air v Hawaiian. Hawaiian Air has a habit (for my last 3 flights with them in the last 16 months) to claim “system glitches” when not having TSA numbers registered, or sending e-mails about my flights (2) being cancelled (when they weren’t), and trying to resolve issues via their Chat is impossible. Eventually getting a rep on the phone only to get the excuse it was a “computer glitch, try again” is infuriating.
And your review about their food is absolutely spot on.Horrible..several fellow passengers were mocking it.
Direct non-stop flights from Sacramento to Maui, Kona or Kaua are currently limited to HA as the choice. Forget Hawaii…Caymen Island seems easier.
As a Pualani Platinum member my experience is a bit different. Extra comfort is complementary at check in. 80% of the time I get upgraded. 20% of the time I get upgraded to 1st class.
That being said 2 weeks ago spent over 10 hours in economy from Bos to Hnl. There really is no way to say it. It sucked. Like Jeff, I am 6 ft tall. Leg room is non existent.
As a HA credit card holder Jeff could have used his $10 credit to buy a beer or a Mai tai. Alcohol makes flights go faster.
You are always berating the call center. Filipinos are great people and do much of the work here in Hawaii. My experiences with them at call centers have been very good.
Another great article.
Hi Kelly.
Thanks for your many comments and happy travels!
Aloha.
Hi guys! Hope you’re doing well. Mahalo for all you do. So, I’m thinking HA only had three attendants because they can’t fill the positions? Re: extra comfort, it used to be $80. Period. I have DVT, so I need to be able to stretch my legs out, do stretches, etc. $80 extra is tolerable. $142 is insulting. Shame on them. And that bagel roll? I guess I’ll be packing my own lunch unless I use my points for first class. All of these changes are so disappointing, as I only fly Hawaiian (staying loyal). Mahalo.
Hi Claudia.
First, thank you so much for your comments over nearly five years! They did have the full number of flight attendants on the plane. And we too were in shock about the value proposition relative to the $142 extra legroom on the five-hour flight.
Aloha.
Actually the flight had to have had at least six flight attendants according to FAA regulations, which require one FA for every 50 passenger Seats or portion. In other words and aircraft with 100 seats must have 2 FA on board, while an aircraft with 102 is required to have 3. The number of passengers is not the determining factor it is seats. Hawaiian, nor any decent airline, would not take the chance of an aircraft departing with fewer than the required number of FAs on board. The FAA would come down way to hard on them. I did love a flight we had to Maui just when things began to crack open during the pandemic. An A-330 with 278 seats, only 63 passengers and 6 FAs on board!
I paid additional $200+ to sit in Extra Comfort each way from BOS to HNL and HNL to JFK.
Weight Watchers meals taste better than the sweet and sour sauce smothered frozen veg with white rice.
A shame about Hawaiian’s service. For years, we traveled exclusively on Hawaiian because of the superior experience. Even when we had to endure change of planes at HNL. Now they’re bettered by – gasp – Southwest? And upgraded economy is illusory?
Hawaiian airlines offers a chance to bid for a first-class upgrade if there is availability on your flight, I’ve been upgraded by offering a $260 bid, this is in addition to the cost of my already purchased economy ticket.
Hi. Thanks for your reviews. Have flown Hawaiian several times over the last year & agree the “food” is just terrible, even for free. $ 142 for comfort seats are a joke. No extra services for sure. Only redeeming quality is the service & reasonable price if purchased during their sales. I would be happy to pay for a better quality meal. Still great to go back to Hawaii though. Andy S
Hi Andy.
Enjoy your time in Hawaii! And thanks for the comments over the past nearly 13 years including this one on Hawaiian’s service. We really appreciate it.
Aloha.
For the amount of money you paid to get one more inch of legroom, and not much else, I would say that Hawaiian is either pulling a fast one on what “extra comfort” means to the unsuspecting traveler. Let’s face it, the seat is the same.exact.seat that you would sit in regular coach. I have never found the value of a “extra comfort” section to be all that its cracked up to be, and I only get it if I have enough status with the airline to “upgrade” me (like on American in the past when they did this model). A premium economy product to me is a revamp of the old Business Class section of a plane where you could get a more comfy seat for the same price as full fare coach. Let’ see if Hawaiian does better than that on its premium economy select.
I definitely buy EC seats on Hawaiian but I’ve noticed that now they are varying in costs depending on your route. The highest I’ve seen (from Bay Area) is $95. which I think is pushing it (before they were $80.00, so my jaw dropped when you said yours was $142, and I first thought you had meant roundtrip. But one way? No way.
That’s ridiculous especially compared to the extras they give on Delta.
I’ve seen $170 on my flights from Phoenix and they aren’t even the good EC seats.
thank you for your continued analysis of the flying cattle cars., it would appear that HA still is more interested in “packing them in” rather than promoting the Hawaiian Experience