OP here. Sorry to start such a controversial thread. Let's try to keep in on topic rather than discussing airline crashes.

Let me say that I'm very happy with AS (that's why I switched to AS Gold this year after 7 years as DL Plat). Imo, the AS planes to Hawaii are superior to NW's 753s in terms of seating, food, and service. Definitely true for F, and for most Y seats as well (except perhaps row 40 on the 753). I really like flying AS to Hawaii, I can accept that freakishly strong headwinds are uncommon, and I'm not upset about the bag loss (the handling was poor, but hey, it's Hawaii).

What I really worry about: Are the 737s capable of safely handling the flights to Hawaii under these circumstances? I realize that other airlines don't send planes with tons of excess fuel, but I can't help but thinking that a NW 753 would have flown this particular trip with a much greater margin. What would AS have done, for instance, if the headwinds had averaged 120 instead of 86 mph?

We were first off the plane, and at that point the agent was blissfully unaware of what was about to hit her. She responded to my inquiry about the missing bags from Seattle by referring me to carousel 2 ("they'll come out over there in a minute").