azj

IMO the F seat on the 767 is more comfortable than the 330, when you consider the seatback angle. Otherwise, they're really not that different and the onboard service is the same. As a bonus, the recline on the 767, row 3 seats C and G is increased because those are the designated crew rest seats (on all but 2 planes).

Zacnlinc

Thanks and that was the general impression I was getting in regards to the seats recline as well. And lucky me, next week we're in 3 C/G on the outbound leg. Inbound is still open. Maybe I should move from the bulkhead seats now while I have a chance. Like my odds of getting an A/C with more room!!

psa1011

Thanks for the replies. Is there really so little slack in the A330 fleet (19 frames?) that OAK has to revert to a 767? Are there plans to upgaugue this once more once more arrive?

An an aside, I find the 330 to be better if for nothing else than the quiet in the cabin during flight.

azj

There are 2 planes that don't have this extra recline, as they never fly the international flights, so there's always a chance you'd get one of those planes for your trip (594 or 598). The legroom is still the same, it's just the recline that's more generous.

azj

At the moment, there actually IS extra slack in the 330 schedule, but that slack is being used for scheduled maintenance before the winter schedule starts. Also, currently Monday and Tuesdays are slow days because JFK isn't daily at the moment and those are the days ICN doesn't operate. In December the winter schedule starts with JFK resuming daily service, OGG-SFO going daily and BNE up gauging to the 330.

I haven't heard anything about OAK returning to the 330, though there are 2 more deliveries in the first half of 2015 and 1 at the end of the year. So... it's always possible.

italdesign

Any update on the divider between F and E+ from recent flights?

This looks awful (I'm commenting only on the divider).

iahphx

On my A330 flights to JFK, they didn't even drop the curtain, so there didn't seem to be any real division between the coach cabin and the first class cabin.

I was sitting in coach, but I did notice that the "extra comfort" seats in the first row of coach seemed to have more room than the FC seats! BTW, the first class seats looked terrible -- at least compared to every other int'l airline's widebody FC seat. Comparable to a USA domestic FC product. I personally would never pay much for extra legroom in an "extra comfort" seat (I'll happily take a UA economy plus seat for free as a UA elite, of course), but it's probably a much better value than the pitiful FC cabin (which I guess isn't in much demand because they only have 18 FC seats on the A330).

azj

The fleet is in various stages of fine tuning the "Extra Comfort" refit. Due to supply issues, some planes have had to go without the curtains/divider between F and Extra Comfort and the brown recovering of the seats in F. The $60-$100 premium for Extra Comfort is worth it, IMO, especially if you're not springing for F. Aside from the seat, which will be remedied in the future, HALs F (and is sold as Business internationally, with more elaborate service) is pretty decent. You have to remember that until the JFK flight, the domestic service was basically a 5 hour flight to the west coast. Comparatively, HAL's domestic F is on par with the competitors and maybe even exceeds and is often sold out on a daily basis. The JFK flight and international flights are another story. Given the fact HAL doesn't have a dedicated sub fleet for int'l flights, their cabins serve dual purpose and you get the same seat for both long and short flights. That's the nature of a small boutique carrier.

tdowl5757

Yes, I've had to endure that cabin so many times since the JFK/HNL service started I can't even begin to tell you. Oh the HORROR.

Heed the warning and never waste your miles for a FC award!!

asu-ua772

This...especially the last two sentences.

My hunch is once the A330-800s arrive (if not sooner), they'll have little choice but to create a "subfleet" of 330s with a lie-flat type premium cabin if they want to stay competitive in the int'l market. I would think that at 28 A330s (includes the 338s) + the remaining 767s, there would be sufficient mass for a subfleet to occur. The current F seat is sufficient for West Coast + Tahiti but lags big-time in the longhaul int'l flights (+ JFK)...I bet they're losing out on untapped revenue having to price the current F seats (sold as C) at steep discounts on the longhaul int'l flights.

iahphx

If that's all they're charging, you could certainly make a case for the Extra Comfort seats on a long flight like JFK-HNL. Personally, I'm not a huge fan of extra legroom because I find it only marginally useful -- as long as I have "normal" legroom. As I noted in the specific JFK-HNL thread, the problem with HA's regular A330 coach seats is that the seats recline too much, such that if the person in front of you reclines, you've basically got zero personal space unless you ALSO recline. If HA reduced that recline, regular economy would be fine.

I also noticed on HA's interisland fleet that some 717s seemed to have more legroom than others. Is that true? On our first interisland flight, the legroom was normal. On our second, it felt like we were suddenly flying Spirit. We could survive for the 50 minutes, but it seemed like we were being taking advantage of, given that HA is not a low-fare airline and its pax should not be squeezed in like cattle.

747FC

Not sure about interisland coach, as I get upgraded, but in F, there are one or two planes that have really a lot of legroom in 1AB

azj

I've actually never heard of anyone complaining that the seats recline TOO far. If someone reclines in front of me, I recline my seat. Boom... problem solved.

The 717 fleet has grown in the last few years, so there may be 3-4 planes flying around with slightly different configurations. I wouldn't be surprised if the entire 717 fleet gets a complete refurbishing in the near future, to at the very least, create consistency.

N830MH

Can we see A330 to PHX? Can they have reconsider again? I think the 767-300 had to go soon. Long overdue..It's time to retired the entire 767-300.

iahphx

Unless I'm actually sleeping, I don't like my seat to be deeply reclined. And I find it uncomfortable to work or watch TV. But on the HA A330, you have little choice if the person in front of you puts their seat all the way back. Their head is then essentially in your lap, and it's even difficult to focus on the IPE screen when it's only a couple of inches from your eyes.