I recently flew in F on HA from OAK to OGG (and back) via HNL. This was my first time flying HA. All of my previous trips to Hawaii had been on UA from SFO in both F and Y.

My overall impression of HA was positive. The vast majority of the staff on the ground and in the air were friendly and helpful. You didn't get the sense of gumpiness that you do sometimes at UA. That being said, there still some suburb crews on UA.

As for the HA F product, I was on a 763 in both directions. I thought that that seat was roomy and comfortable. The handheld IFE player was decent but I'm sure that the seatback version on the 330 is better. The food was mixed. The outbound meal consisted of a muffin, small fruit plate, rice with mini bits of chicken and a salmon omelet, followed by a slate piece of carrot cake. There was no choice or options. Simply put, it was tasteless and gross and the various food totally mismatched... no where near what a F meal should be, including the pathetic meals that UA serves these days. Did their celebratory chef really come up with this concoction? I've seen a lot bad airline meals in my many travels, and unfortunatley this had at to be in the top 10%.

The return dinner was much better. The short ribs, cheese plate and pasta were tasty and followed by a nice choclate cherry dessert. The wine was overflowing.

The service was attentive and nice, but don't expect a huge difference from UA (i.e. such as you would see on an Asian carrier.) On the whole, I'd fly HA again especially if I could get an F price that was significantly lower than UA (in my case, the F price from OAK to OGG was about $700 lower than UA.)