Trip Reports - BOS-EWR-HNL-KOA CO B/F (Long)

Here is my first trip report. It will be a work in progress.

BOS-EWR CO 341

05/20/2000

We awoke at 4:00AM and the first thing I did was fire up the computer to check on today’s flight status. The East Coast weather had been pretty bad lately, so I wanted to check on both of today’s flights. Our BOS-EWR flight was showing on time, but the EWR-HNL was showing a delay of 1 1/4 hrs. While I never like delays, I figured the extra time might come in handy. I am never comfortable with BOS-EWR flights arriving anywhere near on time until I am actually in EWR.

Ride to the airport was smooth and traffic was Very light. We found a spot on level 4 of the garage, right next to the walkway to Terminal A. Check-In was quick, I asked the agent to check the status of the EWR-HNL flight and she told me that it was still showing delayed. She handed us our boarding passes and we headed of to the line for Dunkin Donuts. I know that this is not the “Official Donut” of FT, but my wife LOVES their coffee.

Boarding commenced at 5:35 and we were the first two on board. We settled into seats 2E and 2F. I thought the seat felt a bit “Rocky”, so I stood up and found that I had sat on someone’s Cell Phone. Knowing full well the terror associated with losing ones Cell Phone, I grabbed my boarding pass so that I could turn the phone in at the gate. I figured that it had probably fallen out of the pocket of the person from the night before. Just as I was about to walk down the Jetway, I thought that it might be a good idea if I checked with the Flight Crew to see if any of them were missing their phones. Turns out that it was the F/C F/A’s phone. It had fallen out of her bag. She thanked me and told me that she would be extra nice to me.

The flight itself was uneventful. I had my morning glass of Coke (I like my caffeine and sugar cold and with bubbles) and my wife finished her Dunkin Donuts coffee.

The flight came in just a few gates away from the gate for the EWR-HNL flight. When I approached the podium at Gate 73, I was surprised to see that the flight was scheduled to be on time. I asked the gate agent if this was accurate and she told me that as far as she knew it was, but that she had not looked the flight up on the computer yet. The big P-Club at EWR is just across from Gate 74, so I figured that we could go in for about a half-hour and relax a little bit. As I was getting up to grab a Danish, I noticed that the flight was now showing a 9:00AM departure. This would mean that we would miss our connection to Kona. I went up to the counter and asked the agent to rebook us on a later flight from HNL-KOA. She looked up the flights and told me that the 2:00, 2:50 and 4:00 flights were all sold out, so she was rebooking us on the 5:00 flight. I told her that this was fine, I would just check with HA about one of the earlier flights when we got into HNL.

I grabbed a Danish and more Coke and sat down. I was seated for no more than 5 minutes when I was paged to the ticket counter. I knew this was not a good thing, so I grabbed our tickets and headed to the counter. I looked at the monitors and found that our flight was now scheduled to leave at 11:28AM! When I got to the podium, the agent told me that she had just noticed the latest delay and wanted to inform me. She also told me that our 5:00PM flight HNL-KOA was still good since we were scheduled to arrive in HNL at 3:40PM. She told me that operations had decided to use the in-bound HNL-EWR A/C for our flight and that it was due in to EWR at 10:38AM. I looked at her kinda funny and asked a somewhat rhetorical question: “They expect to turn a DC-10 in under an hour?” She just looked at me, shrugged her shoulders and said “Theoretically they can”. This told me that she agreed with me that the 11:28AM departure time was very optimistic.

So it’s 9:00AM and we are cooling our heels in the Gate 74 P-Club. Hopefully we will get out pretty close to the 11:28AM time. When we get into KOA, I file the second installment about my wife’s first experience with CO’s BusinessFirst!

I, too, am a fan of Dunkin Donuts cofee! Too bad they don't exist here in LA!

looking forward to more, thanks, nice first report!

Thanks CameraGuy...hope the rest is all good news!

Part Two

CO 15 EWR-HNL

Well, the 11:28 departure time turned out to be overly optimistic. We started boarding at about 11:30 and finally pushed back from the gate at 12:15PM. Boarding went as smoothly as one could hope. Even though the flight was delayed 4 hours, the passengers did not all storm the door at the start of the pre-board announcement.

We sat in seats 3A and 3B. I have been telling my wife since November that the B/F configuration on CO is awesome. She thought I was exaggerating. That is until she sat in the seat and discovered the electric foot rest and lumbar support. She was also amazed at the seat pitch. She begrudgingly admitted that the CO B/F product was far superior to the AA product of 3 years ago. Pre-Flight Drinks were offered (More Coke) and the amenity kits were handed out. The items included: Razor/Shaving Cream, EyeShades, Socks, HairBrush w/ Mirror, Mints, Lint Brush, EarPlugs and Tooth Brush/Toothpaste. They also passed out the menus and a little later took the meal orders.

Here is today’s menu:

To Begin:
Fruit Juices w/ Mimosa or Champagne
Fresh Fruit

Breakfast:
Smoked Salmon garnished with capers and onions
Bagels, Croissants, Muffins and Cinnamon Rolls

Main Course:
Scrambled Eggs in a Potato Basket
Sourdough French Toast
Wheaties w/ Raisins

I chose the Scrambled Eggs and my wife chose the French Toast.

We taxied out and waited in line for about 20 minutes before we were airborne. The climb out of EWR was quite bumpy, but once the leveled out at 31,000’, things smoothed right out. Just before the meal service, they started the first movie. We both chose the Andy Kaufman movie “Man on the Moon”. It was pretty good, but I found it sometimes as confusing as some of the man’s comedy. The other selections were The Beach, Play it to the Bone, RKO 281, Guys and Dolls And CO Vision.

The service started with a Hot Towel and Beverage Service followed by Breakfast. The Salmon was very tasty and the portion was actually bigger than the portion CO serves on their transcontinental flights. Cinnamon roll was warm and fresh and the eggs were very good. In addition, I got to finish my wife’s French Toast, which was also very good. I would rate this meal better than CO’s Transcon food and far superior to the AA food from 1997. The meal service was followed by another Hot Towel service. About 30 minutes after we finished Breakfast, the F/A’s came around with a basket of Chips and Candy.

About an hour after the first movie ended, the second selection started. This time, we both chose Kevin Spacey and Annette Bening in “American Beauty”. I have to admit that I just did not like this movie. I guess I will never be considered as an Oscar Voter. The other choices were The Cider House Rules, Bicentennial Man, A Bug’s Life, To Kill a Mockingbird and CO Vision. A little over half way through this feature, the F/A came out with the Ice Cream Sundae cart. This seemingly little feature is one of my favorite parts of flying Long Haul on CO. Both of us chose the Hot Fudge over Mangoes, mine was with Whipped Cream.

With about 3 and a half-hours left in the flight they started the first selections of movies again, but I decided to play solitaire on my Laptop. An hour later the F/A’s served Mixed Nuts with another Beverage service.

1 and one half-hours out of HNL, came a light meal service. This included a salad w/ Caesar Dressing and a choice of Chilled Tenderloin on a bed of lettuce or a Pasta Bowl w/ Grated Parmesan Cheese. This service was preceded and followed by a Hot Towel Service.

I cannot compare the service and amenities on this flight to those on Trans-Atlantic or Pacific Flights, but this flight had by far the best in-flight service I have ever enjoyed. The F/A’s were attentive without being overbearing and intrusive and were always professional and friendly. I have flown this route three other times and can say IMHO, CO has the best F/C service from the Mainland to Hawaii.

Next up:
HA 288 HNL-KOA
and
Hilton Waikoloa on the Big Island

Wonderful report, CameraGuy!

The service you described sounds rather like the TransAtlantic BF service I've had. Yes, it's better than the US TransCon, but I still have a hard time complaining about that service, either.

I stayed at the Waikoloa back in the summer of 1993, when it was still owned by Hyatt. It's a nice facility overall. My only complaints were the size (it's huge, which means that it takes a long time to get around it), and the distance from Kona (quite a drive). But it's quiet, and has some wonderful beaches.

Enjoy yourselves!

------------------
Michael

Part Three

HA 288 HNL-KOA (The Three Hour Tour)

We checked in with HA in HNL and I asked if CO Platinums were allowed to use the Pre-Board. The very nice ticket agent said no, but if I “Slid” him our Tix he could make an exception this time. For those of you unfamiliar with Hawaiian Air and Aloha Air, these airlines have open seating just like SWA. So on full flights, pre-boarding assures you that you get to sit together and overhead space. Boarding was smooth and we pushed back at 5:05PM. Short taxi to the runway and we were off. I skipped the fruit juice service and tried to get a tiny bit of sleep. Just then, the pilot comes on the intercom to announce that the plane has navigational problems and we are going to return to HNL.

Later on he told us the truth, we were closer to KOA at that time, but HA has no mechanics at KOA. So if the continued, the plane would have been forced to wait at KOA for a mechanic to be ferried over on the next flight. Hey figured it was better to inconvenience the one planeload of Pax vs two or three. We landed back at HNL and taxied to the gate. Mechanics were waiting for us and fixed the problem in less than 15 minutes. We started to taxi out, only to turn around. The problem had not been fixed! We switched planes and got on our way at about 7:00PM. Very quick flight and we landed at KOA at 7:30PM.

I went straight to the Rental Car Counter and picked up our Camero Convertible. Drove around to baggage claim, which is RIGHT next to the roadway, and picked up our bags. I stuffed our luggage into the car and we were on our way.

The Hilton Waikoloa is about 20 minutes from the Airport, but it is a straight shot up the main “Highway” on that side of the island. Check-in was very smooth. This property is HUGE and has a Disney style monorail or canal boats to take you around the property. We opted for the monorail and were in our room in about 10 minutes. The rooms here are pretty good size. Our room overlooks one of the open-air restaurants and the open-air pavilion. We ordered a quick dinner from room service and then crashed at about 10:30PM (Over 24 hrs after we had woken up). Today we are going to take the car and drive to the Volcano National Park. Tuesday and Thursday, I get to play Golf!! My wife loves lying on the beach and I love golfing. So a few times each trip, I spend the morning golfing and she spends the morning lying on the beach. Our only other time to the Big Island was for just two nights. We are really looking forward to spending the week here so that we can see the entire island.

Next up:
Sightseeing on the Big Island

Very nice report so far, CameraGuy. I was unaware that HA did not have preassigned seat assignments on the inter-island flights. I am eager to read about the rest of your trip and the flight home.

Part Four

Sightseeing

We headed out of the hotel and took a right onto Route 19. Our first stop was the Kekaha Kai State Park. The park is down an unfinished road and at the end of the road are two beaches. The first beach gets pretty crowded since it is the easier one to walk to. The second beach is quieter but is a little bit further away. We spent a little bit of time here enjoying the sunshine. For those of you who enjoy watching airplanes on approach, this is the beach for you. The beach is just down the road from the Kona airport and today the final approach was just above our heads. I watched a UA 747 and a few Aloha and Hawaiian Air flights come in.

Next stop was South Point. This was a bit disappointing. It is down a 12-mile road that needs some work. There is supposed to be a Green Sand Beach at the end of the road, but we could not find it.

From there we headed of to the Punalu’u Beach. This is a Black Sand Beach. This was a very pretty beach and is worth the short drive off of Route 11. The Black Sand is the same consistency as White Sand on the East Coast

Our Last and Best stop was the Volcano National Park. Cost is $10 per carload ad is well worth the money. We drove along Crater Rim Drive stopping at quite a few lookout points. We took a lot of pictures here. We also stopped at the Lava Tube. This tube is from one of the past eruptions and is now setup so that the public can hike through it. It’s a fairly easy hike and it’s pretty amazing to see the power that the volcano possesses. Words cannot describe what the scenery looks like here. The Lava formations are incredible. We then headed down Chain of Craters Road. This road used to circle around the base of the volcano along the coast. The eruptions since 1983 have since closed this road at the 20-mile marker. At this point you can park your car and hike to the point where the lava is flowing into the ocean. I asked a few of the people who had done the hike how long it was. The answer from all of them was 1 1/2 hours out and the same amount back. This did not look like an easy hike, so we decided to hike out about 500 yards to a point where I could get a good picture of the steam that was arising from where the Lava was meeting the ocean. We then headed back up to the top so that we could start back to the hotel.

We stopped at Bubba Gumps Shrimp in Kona for dinner. This was pretty good. Except for a slight problem with the pace (Which the manager addressed), we really enjoyed our meal. This is a chain that definitely lives off of popularity of the movie Forrest Gump, but the portions were very large and the food was quite good. After Salad, Appetizers and Dinner, neither of us had room for dessert.

Got back to the hotel around 10:30PM and crashed for the night.

Monday turned out to be a day of relaxation. We had spent a full day on the road Sunday, so my wife decided to lounge around the pool. I took the opportunity to play Golf at the Kings Course at Waikoloa. This course was not crowded at all, but was in great shape. I played pretty well and went back to the hotel a happy guy. We are going to spend the rest of the day simply relaxing and will eat dinner at the resort.

Next up:
More Sightseeing


[This message has been edited by CameraGuy (edited 05-22-2000).]

Part Five

Sightseeing

After relaxing on Monday, we headed out to the Northwest part of the island. This trip was not as crowded, but was as beautiful as the southeast portion of the island. Our first stop was the Lapakahi State Historical Park. This park is a site of an ancient Hawaiian Village. We looked around for a while and worked our way down to the ocean. There was a trail for hiking, but we decided to forgo the hike.

Next stop was the Kapa’a Beach Park, a quiet beach with a very nice place to eat a picnic lunch. From there we headed out to the Kamahameha I Birthsite State Monument. To get to the monument, you drive down to the municipal Airport at Upolu Point and then take a 15-minute drive over a VERY unfinished road. The Birthsite is kinda cool, but the drive would have been much easier in a 4WD vehicle.

The next stop on our adventure was to head out towards the Pololu Valley Overlook. The road reminded me of the road to Hana on Maui. It has a number of Hairpin turns and one way bridges. But the Overlook is worth the drive. This is quite a beautiful place. We decided to forgo the hike down to the ocean (Anyone sense a pattern here?) and instead took in the spectacular beauty from above. On the way back, we stopped at the Keokea Beach Park. This park is another quiet beach that has a nice view of the coastline.

Our last stop for Tuesday was the Waipi’a Valley Overlook. This is another scenic place with an incredible view of the coastline below. We headed back to the Hilton to get washed up for dinner at Roy’s Waikoloa Bar & Grill. Roy’s is a chain of restaurants owned by Roy Yamaguchi, Hawaii’s celebrity chef. While the meal and appetizer was pricey, the food was fantastic. Portions were pretty good sized. For dessert, we had the Chocolate Soufflé, Roy’s signature Dessert, OUT OF THIS WORLD! I would recommend Roy’s over any of the restaurants at the Hilton.

Wednesday was another day of relaxation. This time I played two rounds of Golf. I teed of at 10:20 and finished the second round at 4:05PM. 2 rounds of Golf in under 6 Hours. In the greater Boston Area, we sometimes play a single round in 6 hours. I was in heaven! Dinner was at Café Pesto, a local Italian eatery located in Kawaihae. Well worth the half-hour drive from the Hilton, this restaurant had very good Pizza at a reasonable price.

Thursday was the final day of sightseeing, so we decided to drive all the way around the Island. We stopped at Rainbow Falls in Hilo for a few pictures and then headed down to Issac Hale County Beach Park. This area is very remote, but features a pretty cool man-made ocean fed swimming pool. Down the road is a beach with a boat ramp. We took some pictures here of the waves crashing into the coastline.

Our last stop on the drive around the island was the Volcano Winery. This local winery is located about 3 miles from the entrance to Volcano National Park. They feature about 8 varieties of wines and allow the customers to taste each flavor in order to make a decision. Eight bottles of wine and two t-shirts later, we left. I now have the unenviable task of figuring out how to pack eight bottles of wine in our carry-on luggage. Dinner was at the Big Island Steakhouse, which is at the Kings Shops in Waikoloa. Another great restaurant! The Pupu Platter for two was large, but nothing in comparison to the Rack of Ribs!! I could not finish the entire rack, but they were delicous. This is another restaurant that I would recommend.

Next up:
KOA-OGG

Part Six

KOA-OGG
Renaissance Maui
Sightseeing

After a leisurely breakfast and a nice walk around the Hilton Waikoloa resort, we headed out o the Airport for our flight to Maui, HA 237. Check-in was a breeze. I asked the ticket agent if my status as a CO Platinum would allow me to pre-board. She said the officially the answer is no, but that she would let us pre-board anyway. Boarding was smooth and we settled into the first two seats in coach. The flight from KOA-OGG is a quick one. The F/A head down the aisle handing out fruit juice and then immediately go back down the aisle taking empties.

We headed to baggage claim to pick up our bags. By the time we got there, the bags were already coming out. I rounded up all of our bags and wheeled them out to the curb. My wife waited with the bags while I picked up the rental car. Pick-Up of the car went smoothly, and within 10 minutes we were headed down to the Renaissance in a Pontiac Sunbird Convertible. This car is not as sporty as the Camero, but it is much roomier. The drive from the airport to the hotel is only about 30 minutes.

Check-In was quick. I asked the clerk that since this was our fourth stay at the resort, could she upgrade us to an Ocean View Room. She checked the computer and told me that the first night was unavailable, but that she could move us to a “Great” room for the rest of the week. I thought this was fantastic, since the Marriott Reward specifically states that the room category is Garden View. The check-in clerk was all apologies about the first night being unavailable. I assured her that being upgraded for four of five nights was fine. One constant for all four of our stays here has been the friendliness of the staff. I have never encountered a rude employee here. The Renaissance in Maui is a small resort, but it is our favorite resort. No room here is more than a five-minute walk from the beach. The beach here is great for snorkeling; there is a reef just off of the beach.

We had dinner at Hana Gion, the Japanese Teppanyaki Steak House here at the resort. This is one of my favorite Japanese Steakhouses, and we were not disappointed. After Dinner we retired for the night so that we could get up at 3:00AM for the trip to the Haleakala Volcano to witness the Sunrise.

Sunrise over Haleakala is one of the sights/events in Maui that is not to be missed. Haleakala is an 11,000’ dormant volcano that offers a spectacular view of the sunrise. You can either drive yourself to the summit or take one of the many tours that are offered. Some of the most popular tours are the ones that offer a ride to the summit and allow you to ride a mountain bike to the bottom. We have never done this, but it looks like fun. Today’s sunrise was as spectacular as the other three we have witnessed. A large cloud cleared out just in time. I was able to take a few pictures as the sun climbed out of the clouds. If you do decide to take in this incredible sight, remember to dress WARM and bring a blanket or two. Even though this is Hawaii, it is pretty darn cold at 11,000 feet. Especially at 5:30AM.

We then had a quick breakfast and headed back to our room for a little nap. After we woke up, I spent the afternoon Golfing and my wife went shopping. I played pretty well (Not as well as on Monday) and I got to witness a Hole-In-One. I had been paired up with a Father and Son from LA and a Gentleman from San Francisco for today’s round and the father aced the ninth hole!

By the time I got back, we had been moved to a room with a perfect view of the ocean. I am looking forward to getting some pictures of the sunset.

Dinner was at a local Italian restaurant named Carelli’s. This restaurant is located in Kihei and is right on the water. Dinner at sunset is quite beautiful. The food was excellent, if not a tad pricey. We enjoyed a leisurely dinner and then headed back to the hotel. I am sure that we will eat here again on our next trip back to Maui.

Next Up:
More Sightseeing