I will shortly be flying First Class from LAX to HNL. First trip on Hawaiian for me. What equipment/service can I look forward to?

martin

Originally posted by martin:
I will shortly be flying First Class from LAX to HNL. First trip on Hawaiian for me. What equipment/service can I look forward to?

martin

They fly DC-10's. The service is "lively" with Hawaiian cuisine.

Planes are leased and maintained by American. The interiors have never been changed. Inflight entertainment is shown on one massive, fuzzy screen. Food features Hawaiian recipes (sometimes bizarre), while the old DC-10's break a lot (with concurrent delays). But, you won't be lonely, because the overbooks from coach are moved up when its full. The fun starts when that bunch figures out the drinks are free.

Thanks guys....I think!

martin

Just seen something that gives me some hope!

As posted in USA Today:
Zagat's Winners-
Top Airlines, premium
- Hawaiian
- Alaska
- Continental
- American
- United

Is this reliable?

martin

No.

PS: Martin, just fly the thing. They're old DC-10's from another airline, with roomy interiors, nice stews (although their mothers dress them funny), a primitive entertainment system, and food with strange names. They oversell Coach, and never sell First (no businesses in Hawaii, hence little business related travel), but the two meet when they have to find a place to put the Coach folks when they run out of chairs.

Hawaiian's DC-10s are older, as are the seats, but they are roomy and relatively comfortable. The food comes from Hawaii's top chefs, so if you're not into Hawaiian cuisine, you won't like it.

It is true the older plane means a simpler headset/music system and a single screen for the movie, but I never found it unwatchable. Some of the programming shown after the movie is made in Hawaii and really entertaining.

If you want a Hawaiian 'experience,' you will likely enjoy the flight immensely, from the food to the crew 'uniforms.' Aloha is a very real thing in Hawaii and the crew on Hawaiian flights almost always embody this spirit.

People in Hawaii are generally outgoing and gregarious, so it's not unusual for someone to see a cousin or other relative on the flight, get up from their seat and walk over to 'talk story' with the other person. It's true you rarely see this happen on Mainland flights, but it's not a bad thing.

It also appeared to me that most FC seats are filled with people who upgraded at the airport($250 one way space available), HA's elites, or non-rev airline employees. I've never seen any bad behavior in FC on HA.

Interisland is still a challenge for HA. It flies a very old fleet of DC-9's, and is just now taking delivery on a brand new fleet of 717's which will replace the old jets completely by the end of spring. HA's management is also searching for new widebodies to the Mainland, so the DC-10s won't be around much longer.

Martin : Take an " A " seat in First, on the noon flight.
Watch the sun glisten off the ocean water like diamonds.What a sight.
Old planes..whatever... HA is indeed a fine airline in F. I am sure you will be happy.

seeyou,

Sounds good, thankyou.

martin

Update: Hawaiian announced it will lease three brand new 767-300ER jets to begin replacing it's DC-10 fleet. The configuration planned is 18 First Class seats, 234 in coach. The new planes won't be in the fleet until September at the earliest. HA has more than a dozen DC-10s, so this is only the beginning of the replacement process.

Wonder how they will pay for them? My understanding is they don't always make their payments on the 10's. American has accomodated them because it's more cost efficient than parking them in the Desert.

Any idea on what route(s) those new 767s will be flying? I am considering flying HA for a Thanksgiving trip from PDX to HNL. Probably will be in coach, but it sounds like the DC-10s are doable. Also looking forward to the new 717s for my HNL-LIH jaunt--will the DC-9s be completely replaced, or just a portion of them?

The HNL newspapers quote HA management saying the whole interisland fleet will be replaced by "summer," so that should mean in time for Thanksgiving. The DC-9s are VERY old and HA can't wait to be done with them for cost reasons. I sincerely doubt there will be many HA 767s flying by the holiday though, so you should expect a DC-10.

There will be more room on the 10's. These were configured in another era, and nobody will spend the time and money required to add seats (and reduce pitch). This (tighter seating) will have been factored into the equation with the new 767 aircraft.

My sense s that Hawaiian has to dfo somthing nicer to compete....

I wonder what kind of seats will be in the new 767 in F.

Irregardless, it sounds like HA seats/service are preferable in F over every airline except TWA and CO?

252 on a B767-300ER! Very few airlines do that anymore. QF does for short haul domestic flights here in Australia, expect seat pitch to be sacrificed, especially in First.

I recently flew Aloha from Orange County to Honolulu. I was taken aback by the thought of going half way across the Pacific in a 737 but I guess its ok, the government doesn't seem to object. I was pleasantly surprieed by the price (introductory pricing) and the amount of room around the coach seat. There was definitely more room than you usually get in a 737. I've never flown Hawaiian across the Pacific, but from this thread it seems that their planes are old and tired. Well that certainly is not true of Aloha. All their trans-Pacific planes are vertually brand new.

The planes are older but they are comfortable. More comfortable in F than on AA or UA's Hawaiian cattle cars.

Entertainment was severly lacking. 1 movie off a central screen. Food was good, drinks were good. Ground service in SFO was a zoo, as it's done by US Air and I'd say (at the risk of getting flamed) the typical HA coach PAX is not your typical FF so the process was lengthy. However hidden away there is a F check in line which was very smooth. You can also now use the US lounge. Well, that's SF not LAX but overall the experience was good.

Had I known however the miles were not going toward EXP qualification I might not have done it. The lure was a discounted non-refundable F fare that AA couldn't or wouldn't match

Does anyone know what to expect of the red eye flight # 4 from HNL to LAX.

I am looking to know if they offer full meal service particularly.

Bringing back to the top hoping there is somebody that has been on this flight...

I've never flown on HA before but will be doing HNL-SAN on their 767-300s at the end of Nov, and am wondering if they're like or better than AA's service.

Thx.

I just did the SAN/HNL flight on HA; however, my flights were on a DC-10. The service out of SAN was pretty good although I didn't think it was as good as AA when I last flew to Hawaii 3 years ago out of LAX. The food wasn't too bad out of SAN; my husband didn't want an omelette so he had chicken breast (for breakfast?). However, the flight out of HNL was terrible. Service was lacking; the food was terrible--inedible salmon that was white with a pureed mush on top and jello with a thick, pasty cream on top.

Because of the great convenience of this flight for us, we will still take HA out of SAN as long as they offer it

Well I'm glad to hear that HA will have a first class section on their new planes.

There's nothing notable about HA's FC, other than what you'll miss -- the old 10's which are really old. They still have a single movie screen for everyone. When's the last time you saw that? If you are looking for CX quality -- forget it.

HA is notably a vacationers' airline. Most are looking for the cheapest fare to HNL, so the first class section is used as a safety valve for oversold coach. The pax are happy they're going to Hawaii.

In a way, I'm going to miss the old 10's. They're like old shoes, worn but comfortable.

Have a good trip.

Geee. And I'm paying full First Class fare for this?

Listen Guy, if the fare isn't coming out of your pocket, just sit back and relax. HA is no worse than its competition.

At least through SEA, HA has a screwy FC fare structure. The FC fare is usually about $1,800. But you can buy a coach ticket for say $400 and buy 30,000 miles for an upgrade at 2.5 cents a mile. Technically you can only buy 25,000 per ticket, but you can use your futile imagination for the balance. So the FC ticket costs only $1,150. I've never been refused the upgrade. As I said, HA's paxs are vacationers -- their only concern is price. So few opt to buy FC tickets or go through the machinations of snagging an upgrade. HA's not like NW which has a bunch of elites who dream of free FC tickets to HNL. So if it's coming out of your wallet, get a refund and save some cash.

BTW, you can upgrade at the airport for $250. I prefer an assured upgrade, especially since there are three of us. But if you're going alone, it's probably a good bet.

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by Guy Betsy:
I've never flown on HA before but will be doing HNL-SAN on their 767-300s at the end of Nov, and am wondering if they're like or better than AA's service.

Thx.</font>

Just flew SAN-HNL a few weeks ago, and it was superior to United for sure. The DC-10's everybody is complaining about are really not that bad. There are SEVEN 767's they're talking about going in to service from the 4th quarter of 2001 and the 2nd quarter of 2002. SAN route will be the last to see these I would think. They have 9 more on order to be phased in by the end of 2003.

Flight attendants are attentive and friendly compared to other airlines (ie after meal service they don't disappear for the rest of the flight, you can get up and get something to drink at the mini bar that they set up)
The aircraft may be old, but they are well kept. I flew in Coach, so couldn't tell you about F/C...check their web site to see what the meal choice is and movie etc. The Press Release section is also a place to keep your eyes open for updates.

[This message has been edited by Robt760 (edited 10-17-2001).]

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by Robt760:
SAN route will be the last to see these I would think. </font>

Actually, SAN is the first to get the 67's! Beginning November 15.

HA's First Class configuration will be 2-2-2 on the new 767-300ERs. Not good. Same configuration as was on the DC-10, but now on a smaller plane. Only improvement from the DC-10 will be the entertainment systems that will now be in each seat (the DC-10s have the old fashioned screen-on-the-wall)....but I think I'd still rather ride the roomy DC-10.

If I had to choose between HA or AA, I'd go with HA. In my opinion, HA has friendlier attendants that are more service oriented, and they serve better food. (AA's seat configuration on their 767s to Hawaii are just as tight as HA's: they have the same 2-2-2 configuration -- don't know if the pitch is any different.)

Continental, on the other hand, has a 2-1-2 configuration, with big comfy seats and footrests. The service is far superior to that of AA or HA to Hawaii. If you can afford it, they're the way to go.

[This message has been edited by anthonyanthony (edited 11-11-2001).]

Service is comparable to most domestics. Menus are unusual (Hawaiian dishes). There is almost no demand for First Class, and all traffic originates without feed (no hubs). They use package operators extensively, and sell upgrades at the gate, so your seatmates are mainly freebies, bought upgrades, non-revs, and overbooks from coach. Things can get exciting after that last bunch figures out the booze is free

Continental I'm sure is great. But doesn't it originate out of the hinterland. It can't be included in a comparison with HA which flies from the West Coast.

Actually CO flys a nice new B767-400 LAX-HNL (and also HNL-LAX) every single day.

MisterNice

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by MisterNice:
Actually CO flys a nice new B767-400 LAX-HNL (and also HNL-LAX) every single day.
</font>

With PTVs throughout coach. I wonder if Hawaiian will have'm.

Dear FT talkers,

How is Hawaiian First Class? How are the seats? How are the F/As? and how are the meals?

When I am reading through its website yesterday, I am surprised that Hawaiian AIr's Boeing 767-300ERs feature less legroom than the DC-10s being used now. ANyway, I am planning to fly SEA-HNL next month... I have two choices -- Hawaiian or Northwest...
I think Hawaiian will be the choice, but just want to be sure...

Carfield

Hawaiian from Seattle still uses DC-10's. There is plenty of room in first. There are no foot or leg rests. F/A's are fairly good, but they usually get lazy after the meal service. The meals are mediocre at best. We have used them for the past 4 years for our annual Maui vacation in February. Used to use Northwest or United. For our needs, Hawaiian is better. One other thing- in Seattle, Hawaiian uses Northwest employees for counter help and most of the time, they act as if they really hate being there. And the baggage service upon your return to Seattle will not impress you either. One benefit to the NW connection is that you can use the NW lounge (but they do not announce Hawaiian departures).

Is there a particular order in which they take F/C meal preferences on their mainland-HNL flights? Always from front to back, or are they like AA where it's front to back on eastbound flights and back to front on westbound flights?

Carfield,
we flew Hawaiian First Class from Seattle to Maui last month....it was a dream, repeat - Dream. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif I'm still deaming about it. Have a ball!

[This message has been edited by Jim&Martha (edited 04-11-2002).]

We are flying to ogg from smf in november. Any opinions as to whether to upgrade just my wife and she says she'll take the baby and i'll sit in coach or to buy an extra seat for the baby and both sit in coach. Is 1st class worth the 30,000 miles?

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by tph4:
We are flying to ogg from smf in november. Any opinions as to whether to upgrade just my wife and she says she'll take the baby and i'll sit in coach or to buy an extra seat for the baby and both sit in coach. Is 1st class worth the 30,000 miles?</font>

There is a prior thread on this... but it lacks detail on what you're asking for:

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/Forum25/HTML/000184.html

For F meal: http://www.hawaiianair.com/about/services/1stmeal2.asp
http://www.hawaiianair.com/about/services/1stmeal1.asp
Which IMHO is very "ono-licious" (delicious).

Service is also great. Best F service I've had on any airline! http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

I'd say why not use the 30,000 miles, especially if they're HA miles, which IMHO are worthless. Plus it's a trip to Hawai'i... and the baby might feel more comfortable in F.

------------------
Aloha! Hailing from paradise. www.gohawaii.com (http://www.gohawaii.com)

[This message has been edited by slippahs (edited 05-27-2003).]

We have booked First class tickets on American West (FL to Phoenix) then Hawaiian Air to HNL for next Sept using miles.

If anyone has flown this flight, can you tell me which seats should we try to get? I know that they all aren't equal. Some have more leg room or are away from the bathroom etc. Any knowledge would be helpful.

Thank you,

The lavs on HA's 763s are located in front of the partition (not part of the partition on some 767 models), therefore, there really isn't that much of a problem with lav smells IMHO in F.

Personally, I enjoy 1A http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

Of course, there are specific sides of the plane you'd probably want to sit on for scenery as you land into HNL... general notion is to sit on the right hand side of the plane as you land into HNL (depending on winds -- although as the flight makes its final bank into landing for HNL, A and B get more of a view of Pearl Harbor, etc.) seats H, J and on the left side, seats A, B departing from HNL.

More info on that: http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/Forum25/HTML/000187.html

Aloha

[This message has been edited by slippahs (edited Nov 24, 2003).]

FL&gt;PHX&gt;HNL. Whew! Good thing you're in first. You probably already know, HA's 767's are a 2-2-2 configuration in F. The seats are pretty tight in terms of width. The seats with more total space are definitely the bulkheads as you don't have anyone reclining in front of you. I don't think you compromise much in leg room in these planes.

I agree with slippahs about the bathroom. Part of the galley and the the space of the door you come through when you enter the aircraft are between you and the bathroom so I don't think it is much of an issue. Probably more of an issue in the bulkhead seats is the galley noise as the FA's prepare and serve drinks & the meal.

Going into HNL, I'd definitely suggest being on the H&J side of the aircraft, as you can get a stunning view of Oahua as you approach the island. They have a strange approach in HNL, which takes them all along the Waikiki coastline, do a hard bank to the right in, effectively, a 90-degree turn, and land at the airport. If you're in the window on the J side you get a spectacular view all the way in.

The reverse is true when you depart, sit on the A side, as you get the view of the HNL lights, but it goes by pretty quickly.
In my opinion, the seats to avoid are the middle seats. You're just kind of out there in the middle -- no real benefits to being there, unless you don't care about a view and just want to be on an aisle so that you can get up whenever you want to without disturbing anyone.

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by AZ Travels the World:
Going into HNL, I'd definitely suggest being on the H&J side of the aircraft, as you can get a stunning view of Oahua as you approach the island. They have a strange approach in HNL, which takes them all along the Waikiki coastline, do a hard bank to the right in, effectively, a 90-degree turn, and land at the airport. If you're in the window on the J side you get a spectacular view all the way in.
</font>

AZ,
This landing pattern depends on the winds. With Kona (southerly) winds, the planes will land in this fashion. However, on a mostly normal day with trade winds, the aircraft will fly over Honolulu, run paralell with the runway, go out towards Kapolei and then make a hard 180 degree turn for their final approach to line up with the runway. In addition, flights arriving after hours will use a runway running perpendicular to 8R.

Aloha

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by slippahs:
AZ,
This landing pattern depends on the winds. With Kona (southerly) winds, the planes will land in this fashion. However, on a mostly normal day with trade winds, the aircraft will fly over Honolulu, run paralell with the runway, go out towards Kapolei and then make a hard 180 degree turn for their final approach to line up with the runway. In addition, flights arriving after hours will use a runway running perpendicular to 8R.

Aloha</font>

Actually, the 180-degree turn you describe is exactly the approach I was talking about -- along the coast of Honolulu, swing out and do a 180 straight into the airport. I don't know why I said 90.

This must be the prevailing wind condition in mid-afternoon in HNL, as every one of my PHX-HNL flights on HA, which arrive in the 2-3 PM range, used this approach.

42# seatpitch, not as great at the 767 or 777 on competitors, but much better than the 757 on AA and UA. Let me know what to expect for meal service, drinks, attentivenes, etc., on this routing.

Hope that you dont end up on the aircrfat named A'..... The aircraft is ex LTU and has dark pleather seats in First and Economy Class... In addition the aircraft seems not to be to well taken care of and some of the side panels and window shades are broke. The inflight audio/video is sketchy at best on this aircraft!

However, if you luck out with a newer interior like "Maui" or somethng like that you will be very happy as they have the 777 type interior!

I know there is 42" pitch in first..... Is there a foot rest? We are traveling from SMF to HNL in the next few days, in rows 2 and 3.

I know there is 42" pitch in first..... Is there a foot rest? We are traveling from SMF to HNL in the next few days, in rows 2 and 3.
Yes there is, including lumbar too!

Again, it's night and day between HA's "new" aircraft and acquired ones...

aloha

On the new planes all the ammenities.

One the old 763's forget it. All bets are off inconsistant product.

aloha all, my son flew on H.A. 12 HNL/SFO on Dec.30th in first. he told me he thought the meal service was"different", in that they served from the back to the front. {he was in 1 B]is this standard on hawaiian?

aloha all, my son flew on H.A. 12 HNL/SFO on Dec.30th in first. he told me he thought the meal service was"different", in that they served from the back to the front. {he was in 1 B]is this standard on hawaiian?

Not totally certain about HA but many airlines claim to switch the serving direction on alternate flights. For example, on odd-numbered flights they may serve from front to back and on even-numbered ones from back to front. Or they may do it one way on Westbound flights and the opposite on Eastbound flights.
But the airlines are very inconsistent in this practice. 90% of the time they tend to serve from front to back regardless of flight direction or flight number.
The obvious reason for the different serving direction is to give folks in all parts of the cabin a crack at first choice of both entrees and early meal service.

Aloha everyone

I flew HA from LAX to HNL in F Class. I have to say, that it was not up to any standard i have found on other carriers flying the same route. Pitch is very small and not comfy at all. Food was ok, nothing to write home about and small by any standards that you can usually get on other airlines. The worst part on both directions where the flight attendants, very grumpy with a dont care attitude. They really fail from a to z. They dissapeared after the very late service and never get back. If i asked for something to drink they looked at me as i asked something very unusual. I will never fly HA again, it was absultely a waste of money. I always flew AA in First but only on the 763 and Continental. From my point of view, Hawaiian Airlines can go buncrupt any days, i will not miss them at all.
Greets
Alex

in may, we flew ha's f koa-hnl-ppt. the inter-island hop was kinda normal inter-island, pog or coffee:-). but the intl segment was as good as ua's f, our usual airline

imho ha is equal to or better than any other domestic carrier serving hawaii, based on my experience of having flown ha, ua, aa, dl, and co extensively in f for decades.

while i agree that ha's f seat config. leaves leg room to be desired, it isn't significantly worse than others. food service= the same. caliber and attitude of fa's= overall much better. baggage handling= superior. their product works for them. if you don't like it you needn't fly them. they are doing quite well from what i see, and, we just don't see that many complaints about them here on ft.

I fly HA regularly from SFOand SAN tp HNL and KOA. Pualani Gold on HA and Premier Exec. on UA. I find the HA product to be be just as good as other airlines I've flown from the Mainland to HI. Especially UA and NW. The flight and cabin crews I 've experienced have always been very ;friendly and helpful and I fly HA about 6 times a year from the mainland to HI.

I find the HA product to be be just as good as other airlines I've flown from the Mainland to HI.
This is the crux of the problem - there really is no premium service from the mainland US to Hawaii. :( And some of these flights are meaningfully long, e.g. ORD-HNL, ATL-HNL, EWR-HNL...

imho ha is equal to or better than any other domestic carrier serving hawaii, based on my experience of having flown ha, ua, aa, dl, and co extensively in f for decades.

while i agree that ha's f seat config. leaves leg room to be desired, it isn't significantly worse than others. food service= the same. caliber and attitude of fa's= overall much better. baggage handling= superior. their product works for them. if you don't like it you needn't fly them. they are doing quite well from what i see, and, we just don't see that many complaints about them here on ft.


I could not agree more. Sure, HA does not have the best seats, but the attitude of the flight attendants is much better than AA or CO's.

This is the crux of the problem - there really is no premium service from the mainland US to Hawaii. :( And some of these flights are meaningfully long, e.g. ORD-HNL, ATL-HNL, EWR-HNL...

I'm with you here. I used to always fly ORD-HNL / SFO-HNL / LAX-HNL and there really isn't any great premium service amongst any carriers I've been on.

Not sure how long this has been true, but when I asked HA today to cater 2 fruit plates for next week, reservationist and supervisor said that they can no longer make requests, and that their computer system no longer even has a place for them.

FYI.

The Mrs. reminds me that we were offered a fruit plate onboard as an option in May 2006, two months ago, and were not in June, and suggests that when the fa comes around, you might inquire as to whether one might be provided at the last minute. BTW, you'll be better off with a fruit plate than the current offerings. The trio of satays is not good. The entrees are so-so. Have Fun!

The Mrs. reminds me that we were offered a fruit plate onboard as an option in May 2006, two months ago, and were not in June, and suggests that when the fa comes around, you might inquire as to whether one might be provided at the last minute. BTW, you'll be better off with a fruit plate than the current offerings. The trio of satays is not good. The entrees are so-so. Have Fun!

One fruit plate is always catered in F. Never two. Therein, our request. They are still working on it (once I asked high enough up the food chain). Yes, the rest of their F food is, to us, between mediocre and indeble.

Anybody out there ever fly Hawaiian Air first class from the mainland before? I am booked for a trip to Hawaii from Seattle in December on Hawaiian and would like to what to expect in the areas of service and comfort. Any info would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

Welcome to Flyertalk, YYC-HNL. There is a Forum dedicated to Hawaii-Based Airlines (see Airline Forums). That is where I am going to redirect your thread. I know that our friendly Flyertalkers will be able to help answer your question.
Obscure2k
TravelBuzz Moderator

YYC-HNL, welcome to FlyerTalk!

Your post provided me the occasion to merge a number of threads related to across-the-ocean travel in HA First Class. I hope some of the previous answers will be helpful to you as well.

Aloha nui loa,

cblaisd
Co-Moderator,
Hawai`i-based Airlines forum

Anybody out there ever fly Hawaiian Air first class from the mainland before? I am booked for a trip to Hawaii from Seattle in December on Hawaiian and would like to what to expect in the areas of service and comfort. Any info would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

Flew SEA-HNL in Hawaiian First last month.

Expect a typical domestic F seat. Nothing to write home about compared to other F seats. Decent recline with a leg and foot rest. All F passengers receive a complimentary DigEplayer and generic noise canceling headphones for use aboard. Was offered champagne or OJ on boarding, asked for a mimosa and they were happy to mix them for us.

The meal is ok:

Warm Croissant with Seasonal Fruit Plate

If I did it again I'd skip the croissant.

Warm Biscuit with Ham and Scrambled Eggs Topped with Sausage Gravy

Thought this was pretty good.

Smoked Salmon with Mini Bagel and Cream Cheese

Smoked Salmon wasn't my cup of tea and the bagel wasn't the best.

Menu will probably be different come December.

Don't be surprised if the flight attendants disappear for an hour or more after the meal service is over. This is my biggest complaints of HA's F service.

Drink lots of Mai Tai's, and enjoy your flight!

Thanks for the info, we normally fly Air canada first class to HNL but for $2000.00 less we can fly SEA-HNL-LIH-OGG-HNL-SEA on HA first class. Plus I think that the AC 767-200 is a little outdated and has a smaller seat pitch than HA.

Thanks for the info, we normally fly Air canada first class to HNL but for $2000.00 less we can fly SEA-HNL-LIH-OGG-HNL-SEA on HA first class. Plus I think that the AC 767-200 is a little outdated and has a smaller seat pitch than HA.

Don't expect too much. I suspect your F experience will not be as nice as AC's. Granted, I have never flown AC so I don't know. As an F passenger, you'll also have use of the HA lounge in HNL. Don't expect much of that either if you've been in any other lounge. Sounds like you got a good deal saving some money. Enjoy our islands.