Live Trip Report TP run to Hawaii
Jul 23, 2015, 10:42 am
#18
Original Poster
Join Date: Jul 2014
Location: London
Programs: BA Gold
Posts: 62
CCR
Slightly late update.. Arrived late in HNL Tuesday night, have been battling with the WiFi since!
Really enjoyed our CCR experience. We arrived around 7:30 having used fast track security south. The airport at this point was really quiet in comparison to the day before.
We ate breakfast in the dining area, and found the service to be good. Our waitress was very proactive in offering more drinks and toast etc. I did however here a customer sat in the area outside of the dining area have to ask for somebody to take his order.
After breakfast we moved to the terrace area. There was only one other person sat there, and while we were asked if we needed anything by another waiter. Overall very impressed. The food was good - a big step up from the FLounge, and the toilets were clean. Here are some pics:
The menu:
We had salmon and scrambled egg, and the kippers. Both delicious - we had almost polished them off before remembered to take a picture!
LHR - LAX to follow...
Really enjoyed our CCR experience. We arrived around 7:30 having used fast track security south. The airport at this point was really quiet in comparison to the day before.
We ate breakfast in the dining area, and found the service to be good. Our waitress was very proactive in offering more drinks and toast etc. I did however here a customer sat in the area outside of the dining area have to ask for somebody to take his order.
After breakfast we moved to the terrace area. There was only one other person sat there, and while we were asked if we needed anything by another waiter. Overall very impressed. The food was good - a big step up from the FLounge, and the toilets were clean. Here are some pics:
The menu:
We had salmon and scrambled egg, and the kippers. Both delicious - we had almost polished them off before remembered to take a picture!
LHR - LAX to follow...
Jul 23, 2015, 11:13 am
#19
Original Poster
Join Date: Jul 2014
Location: London
Programs: BA Gold
Posts: 62
LHR - LAX A380 F part 1
We left CCR around 1hr before take off, we went to C64 and by the time we got there they just started priority boarding. This is a bit of a free for all, as lots of non priority people had started queuing. Word of advice, everybody waits by the line which says priority, however, they allow you to use any of the four lanes when priority boarding commences... position yourself by lane 4 and you'll be straight through.
First has its own entrance. We were greeted and escorted to our seats (3E and F). We had been uncertain whether to go for 1A/J or a middle pair. We were glad we went for the middle pair as the row 1s would have been too far away to communicate.
We were offered a glass of champagne prior to take off, 9:30am is never too early for champagne!
We were able to put hang our stuff up in our little cupboard, change into our PJs, even the carry on bag went in the cupboard. Such handy storage space. There is a little storage bin by your arm rest for all important bits you need to put in there. It was so calm and relaxed, while behind the curtain hundreds of people were fighting over overhead storage.
One thing to note, in the middle seats, there are no overhead lockers - this makes the cabin seem much bigger, but might be a bit annoying if you've gone a bit wild in the duty free shops and can't fit it all in your cupboard.
Take off was smooth - cannot believe how much quieter the A380 cabin is. We were soon brought more champagne served with warm nuts
We were given a personal greeting by the CSD soon after, this appeared to be given in status order, we were second, after a GGL person. At the end of the flight we were given a further message from the exec club saying they hoped we enjoyed our flight, which nobody else received. Possibly because by this point we had mentioned that it was our first time in first. We were referred to by name throughout the flight whenever we received service.
First has its own entrance. We were greeted and escorted to our seats (3E and F). We had been uncertain whether to go for 1A/J or a middle pair. We were glad we went for the middle pair as the row 1s would have been too far away to communicate.
We were offered a glass of champagne prior to take off, 9:30am is never too early for champagne!
We were able to put hang our stuff up in our little cupboard, change into our PJs, even the carry on bag went in the cupboard. Such handy storage space. There is a little storage bin by your arm rest for all important bits you need to put in there. It was so calm and relaxed, while behind the curtain hundreds of people were fighting over overhead storage.
One thing to note, in the middle seats, there are no overhead lockers - this makes the cabin seem much bigger, but might be a bit annoying if you've gone a bit wild in the duty free shops and can't fit it all in your cupboard.
Take off was smooth - cannot believe how much quieter the A380 cabin is. We were soon brought more champagne served with warm nuts
We were given a personal greeting by the CSD soon after, this appeared to be given in status order, we were second, after a GGL person. At the end of the flight we were given a further message from the exec club saying they hoped we enjoyed our flight, which nobody else received. Possibly because by this point we had mentioned that it was our first time in first. We were referred to by name throughout the flight whenever we received service.
Jul 23, 2015, 11:47 am
#20
Original Poster
Join Date: Jul 2014
Location: London
Programs: BA Gold
Posts: 62
LHR - LAX A380 F part 2
The food... Our food orders were taken not long after take off, and we were asked if we'd like to eat straight away. As we'd not long ago had breakfast we said we'd wait until around 12pm, about an hour or so's time.
The rest of the cabin seemed to eat straight away and then started to request their beds be made up after. About 4 hours into the flight we were the only ones not sleeping. We were determined we weren't going to miss a second of our experience in first, and our plan was that if we can stay awake the whole journey, by the time we arrive at the hotel we can sleep straight away and adjust quickly to the new time zone. This plan did work, but made for a fairly uncomfortable flight from LAX to HNL.
The menu:
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/membe...1311-image.jpg
We ended up drinking champagne throughout, so didn't get to sample any wines. We had intended to move onto wine, but the crew were so good at keeping our glasses topped up, we never had a chance.
Our food:
We both went for the soup and salad to start
I had the sea bass which was delicious, in particular, the crab was very tasty.
Mr Cazziebee had the beef. He likes it well done, which was what he got (without being asked) so he was happy with that
For desert we had lemon sponge with ice cream, and chocolate cheese cake
Both of which were exquisite. We finished with a coffee, and the box of chocolates were left with us for a little while... dangerous!
Later I had a bacon roll and a key lime pie which I forgot to take a picture of, but was amazing. The bacon roll was fairly average.
Service was extremely attentive throughout, even though they were probably wishing we'd just go to sleep like everybody else!
We were given a bottle of water water. I'm not sure whether we would have been allowed to use the club kitchen, or indeed where it was, but that would have been handy for getting some soft drinks later on in the flight.
We watched a movie or two, our second food order was taken about 2 hours before landing.
Landing was a little bumpy as fairly windy at LAX. I missed being able to see out of the window a little. The image on my flight path was a little worrying!
The rest of the cabin seemed to eat straight away and then started to request their beds be made up after. About 4 hours into the flight we were the only ones not sleeping. We were determined we weren't going to miss a second of our experience in first, and our plan was that if we can stay awake the whole journey, by the time we arrive at the hotel we can sleep straight away and adjust quickly to the new time zone. This plan did work, but made for a fairly uncomfortable flight from LAX to HNL.
The menu:
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/membe...1311-image.jpg
We ended up drinking champagne throughout, so didn't get to sample any wines. We had intended to move onto wine, but the crew were so good at keeping our glasses topped up, we never had a chance.
Our food:
We both went for the soup and salad to start
I had the sea bass which was delicious, in particular, the crab was very tasty.
Mr Cazziebee had the beef. He likes it well done, which was what he got (without being asked) so he was happy with that
For desert we had lemon sponge with ice cream, and chocolate cheese cake
Both of which were exquisite. We finished with a coffee, and the box of chocolates were left with us for a little while... dangerous!
Later I had a bacon roll and a key lime pie which I forgot to take a picture of, but was amazing. The bacon roll was fairly average.
Service was extremely attentive throughout, even though they were probably wishing we'd just go to sleep like everybody else!
We were given a bottle of water water. I'm not sure whether we would have been allowed to use the club kitchen, or indeed where it was, but that would have been handy for getting some soft drinks later on in the flight.
We watched a movie or two, our second food order was taken about 2 hours before landing.
Landing was a little bumpy as fairly windy at LAX. I missed being able to see out of the window a little. The image on my flight path was a little worrying!
Jul 23, 2015, 11:50 am
#21
Original Poster
Join Date: Jul 2014
Location: London
Programs: BA Gold
Posts: 62
LHR - LAX A380 F part 3
This is going to be various other pics I got of the interior of the plane.. I will upload these later as have to get ready to leave for OGG..
The tiny toilet
The stairs to the UD which aren't in use:
The tiny toilet
The stairs to the UD which aren't in use:
Last edited by Cazziebee; Jul 23, 2015 at 12:13 pm
Jul 23, 2015, 12:01 pm
#23
Original Poster
Join Date: Jul 2014
Location: London
Programs: BA Gold
Posts: 62
Honolulu - The Hilton Hawaiian Village
The hotel is HUGE. The room is large we had a sea view which was beautiful early mornings watching the sun rise. There are lots of shops and restaurants on site, so no need to actually venture out if you choose not to, but it is fairly expensive. We only had one whole day here so we wanted to fit in pearl harbour, some shopping and some time on the beach before dinner.
The beach at 6am - about 1 hour before it starts getting busy
We left for pearl harbour around 9am. The traffic was starting to build up at this time, and a taxi cost around $40 to get there.
Word of advice - Pearl harbour opens at 7am. The Arizona tour is a timed tour, by 9:30, the earliest slot was at 2:30pm (too late for us). By the time we left at 12:30 there were no more slots for that day so aim to arrive early.
We chose to look round the aviation museum which was a short bus ride away. We also had a go on the fighter plane simulator (I was rubbish). This museum cost $25pp. There was a ticket for all exhibitions which was $65pp and would take around 7 hours to do.
We then went to the outlet mall - lots of bargains here, and shuttles back to Waikiki for $10 one way or $15 return.
The beach at the hotel was VERY busy, and quite stony.
Glad to have experienced Honolulu, but glad we followed advice given on here to visit another island too as would be quite hectic to spend an entire week here.
If you do stay at this hotel, there is a more expensive tower - Ali tower, which has an exclusive rooftop pool area. (We didn't stay here, but stayed at rainbow tower) our room has a good view of this area and by 6am there were already half a dozen towels down on the sunbeds!
The beach at 6am - about 1 hour before it starts getting busy
We left for pearl harbour around 9am. The traffic was starting to build up at this time, and a taxi cost around $40 to get there.
Word of advice - Pearl harbour opens at 7am. The Arizona tour is a timed tour, by 9:30, the earliest slot was at 2:30pm (too late for us). By the time we left at 12:30 there were no more slots for that day so aim to arrive early.
We chose to look round the aviation museum which was a short bus ride away. We also had a go on the fighter plane simulator (I was rubbish). This museum cost $25pp. There was a ticket for all exhibitions which was $65pp and would take around 7 hours to do.
We then went to the outlet mall - lots of bargains here, and shuttles back to Waikiki for $10 one way or $15 return.
The beach at the hotel was VERY busy, and quite stony.
Glad to have experienced Honolulu, but glad we followed advice given on here to visit another island too as would be quite hectic to spend an entire week here.
If you do stay at this hotel, there is a more expensive tower - Ali tower, which has an exclusive rooftop pool area. (We didn't stay here, but stayed at rainbow tower) our room has a good view of this area and by 6am there were already half a dozen towels down on the sunbeds!
Last edited by Cazziebee; Jul 23, 2015 at 12:16 pm
Jul 23, 2015, 1:03 pm
#24
Original Poster
Join Date: Jul 2014
Location: London
Programs: BA Gold
Posts: 62
LAX - HNL
Unfortunately I didn't get any pics of this flight as was pretty much in a state of semi consciousness.
LAX was pretty busy, we took the route for ESTA travellers who had entered the US on the same passport previously it was all done electronically and quickly... Until, we were then all funnelled into one line for two desks which probably did the same check as would have been done had we not used the e-desk. Since we had 4hrs to kill this didn't bother us, but there were some pretty frustrated people.
We arrived in T3 and departed from T4. As we were passing baggage reclaim we decided to make sure our bags weren't going round but had been transferred on to our next flight since they had been checked through to HNL. Lucky we did as sure enough there they were. Apparently you have to recheck them in at flight transfers. I'd like to hope of we hadn't checked they would somehow have made it to our plane.
The queue for security was long and the staff a little rude. By the time we got through we only had an hour and a half to kill in the admirals lounge which was not particularly exciting although the staff here were very polite and helpful.
Our flight was only delayed by 10 mins which is pretty good going, but after 24hrs of travelling it seemed to take forever. The crew were much more relaxed than BA, they were out of their seats right til the last minute before take off and landing, eating crisps and chatting. They were very friendly and sympathetic to the fact we weren't at our best. We didn't have any food so can't comment on this. We were sat in row 1, the seat was pretty similar to CE with more legroom for the rows behind. A film was shown, avengers I think, followed by a chat show which you could plug into the audio for.
Getting out at HNL was extremely quick and painless. Just one livestock declaration which was completed on board and submitted by the crew so once bags were collected we could walk straight out of the airport and get a taxi
LAX was pretty busy, we took the route for ESTA travellers who had entered the US on the same passport previously it was all done electronically and quickly... Until, we were then all funnelled into one line for two desks which probably did the same check as would have been done had we not used the e-desk. Since we had 4hrs to kill this didn't bother us, but there were some pretty frustrated people.
We arrived in T3 and departed from T4. As we were passing baggage reclaim we decided to make sure our bags weren't going round but had been transferred on to our next flight since they had been checked through to HNL. Lucky we did as sure enough there they were. Apparently you have to recheck them in at flight transfers. I'd like to hope of we hadn't checked they would somehow have made it to our plane.
The queue for security was long and the staff a little rude. By the time we got through we only had an hour and a half to kill in the admirals lounge which was not particularly exciting although the staff here were very polite and helpful.
Our flight was only delayed by 10 mins which is pretty good going, but after 24hrs of travelling it seemed to take forever. The crew were much more relaxed than BA, they were out of their seats right til the last minute before take off and landing, eating crisps and chatting. They were very friendly and sympathetic to the fact we weren't at our best. We didn't have any food so can't comment on this. We were sat in row 1, the seat was pretty similar to CE with more legroom for the rows behind. A film was shown, avengers I think, followed by a chat show which you could plug into the audio for.
Getting out at HNL was extremely quick and painless. Just one livestock declaration which was completed on board and submitted by the crew so once bags were collected we could walk straight out of the airport and get a taxi
Jul 23, 2015, 9:32 pm
#25
Join Date: Oct 2009
Posts: 351
Nice TR but couldn't resist commenting on your comment about exiting HNL. Even though Hawaii is 5+hrs from the mainland (and pacific ocean all the way) its still part of the good ol US of A so since you cleared immigration in LAX it's basically domestic flight although a fairly long one :-)
Jul 23, 2015, 10:56 pm
#26
Original Poster
Join Date: Jul 2014
Location: London
Programs: BA Gold
Posts: 62
HNL - OGG
Last update before I enjoy a few days holiday...
Flew earlier today on the 11:00 Hawaiian Airlines 767 to OGG.
Arrived at HNL around 9:15. There is very little info regarding check in, bag drop etc but eventually figured it out.
We used the machine to check in, dropped our bags off then headed for security. We were travelling first so had a priority queue which was pretty short. I had somehow become TSA pre checked which meant I could have used a shorter queue and didn't have to remove my shoes. Not sure how I managed this.
We were past security by 9:30 and headed for the Hawaiian lounge. After going to the wrong one.. the one for international flights on the 3rd floor, we found our way back to the correct lounge, right by where we had come through security. The lounge was nicely furnished. Only soft drinks and hot drinks available (no alcohol). Soft drinks were on tap, so no sneaking off with a bottle of water, and the only food on offer was the snack pictured below. Actually it was rather tasty, think Doritos meets Bombay mix.
The flight departed on time. First boarding started about 20 mins prior to general boarding. The seats in F were extremely comfortable and had all kinds of options for reclining, and a footrest. The aircraft had a 2-2-2 layout. There were small screens on each side and a massive screen in the middle, although nothing was shown on these after the safety announcement. Our drink orders were taken prior to take off, so as soon as the seatbelt light went off (for about 5 mins) our drinks were brought to us, accompanied by... another packet of the Bombay Doritos.
Loads of legroom
The flight was about 40 mins in total, just enough time to finish the drink before landing. OGG was incredibly relaxed, straight off the plane to baggage collection and off to the hotel. Such a contrast with Honolulu
Flew earlier today on the 11:00 Hawaiian Airlines 767 to OGG.
Arrived at HNL around 9:15. There is very little info regarding check in, bag drop etc but eventually figured it out.
We used the machine to check in, dropped our bags off then headed for security. We were travelling first so had a priority queue which was pretty short. I had somehow become TSA pre checked which meant I could have used a shorter queue and didn't have to remove my shoes. Not sure how I managed this.
We were past security by 9:30 and headed for the Hawaiian lounge. After going to the wrong one.. the one for international flights on the 3rd floor, we found our way back to the correct lounge, right by where we had come through security. The lounge was nicely furnished. Only soft drinks and hot drinks available (no alcohol). Soft drinks were on tap, so no sneaking off with a bottle of water, and the only food on offer was the snack pictured below. Actually it was rather tasty, think Doritos meets Bombay mix.
The flight departed on time. First boarding started about 20 mins prior to general boarding. The seats in F were extremely comfortable and had all kinds of options for reclining, and a footrest. The aircraft had a 2-2-2 layout. There were small screens on each side and a massive screen in the middle, although nothing was shown on these after the safety announcement. Our drink orders were taken prior to take off, so as soon as the seatbelt light went off (for about 5 mins) our drinks were brought to us, accompanied by... another packet of the Bombay Doritos.
Loads of legroom
The flight was about 40 mins in total, just enough time to finish the drink before landing. OGG was incredibly relaxed, straight off the plane to baggage collection and off to the hotel. Such a contrast with Honolulu
Last edited by Cazziebee; Jul 23, 2015 at 11:08 pm
Jul 24, 2015, 2:23 am
#27
Join Date: Feb 2015
Programs: BA Gold, IHG
Posts: 88
Looks like you're maybe in building 11 or 10 at Hotel Wailea? Those are too similar to my own pictures from April! Enjoy your holiday and thanks for the TR!
Jul 24, 2015, 4:04 am
#30
Join Date: Jan 2005
Programs: BA Gold, several other less interesting cards...
Posts: 3,712
Thanks for the TR - reliving some memories! We usually stay in Paia which is definitely worth a visit. Maui is fantastic! HNL is a bit of a zoo thouch especially Waikiki although we greatly enjoyed Pearl Harbour.
You've got me thinking of the next trip!!
You've got me thinking of the next trip!!