FlyerTalk Forums - View Single Post - Row 4 is now premium seating?
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Old Dec 26, 2013, 9:33 pm
  #4  
HA/UA_Flyer
 
Join Date: May 2008
Location: LIH, HNL, LAS, Bay Area
Programs: HA Pualani Platinum, National EC Executive, UA & AAdvantage
Posts: 178
Yep, row 4 is now preferred seating. You can pay up $10 at check-in. What I would like to know is how HA is going to address passengers who are wheelchair bound/disabled that row 4 used to be reserved for. Let's say that a group of passengers ponies up the $10 each and takes the seats at check-in, then the gate agent notices some wheelchair bound passengers who have been assigned seats in row 22. Does he/she ask one of the row 4 passengers to give up their seats to accommodate the wheelchair passenger knowing they have already paid the $10? Basically what I am getting at is this has too many variables and is bound to lead to some awkward/uncomfortable customer service situations at the gate for gate agents and FA's to handle.

HA should have left row 4 handicapped/disabled like before. Before "preferred seating" you could only get row 4 seating at the gate by the gate agent because he/she is supposed to see how many wheelchair/disabled passengers there are before boarding time when the seats can be assigned to them or assigned to anyone else after all (if any) wheelchair/disabled passengers are assigned seats.


Regarding row 5...HA has 7 Boeing 717 aircraft that they acquired over the years after the initial order from Boeing back in 1999. These 7 aircraft came from other airlines and included either a forward lavatory next the to 1L door and/or an extra large galley next to the 1R door. The galley/lavs protrude into the F cabin where row 1 is usually placed in the other HA 717's. When HA acquired these 7 aircraft, they didn't remove the galley/lavs nor change the Y seats and some F seats to HA standard (HA just chose to put HA seatcovers on the seats instead). To compensate, the Y cabin was shrunk by 1 row (5 seats). HA chose to eliminate row 5 in these aircraft. That is why most HA 717's (the original ordered ones) have 123 seats total and the 7 later-acquired 717's have 118 seats (Take a look at the HA webpage on the corporate info page).

The seats on these 7 aircraft are again, not HA standard. They are bulkier than the standard HA 717 seat, thus they do have tighter pitch. Although, I noticed that these seats are softer and more cushiony than the HA standard 717 seat.

I believe the ship numbers for these 7 aircraft are: N483HA, N488HA, N489HA, N490HA, N491HA, N492HA and N493HA. Of course the dead giveaway for these aircraft are the missing row 5, but also just simply look for the forward lavatory and/or extra large galley as soon as you step aboard.

Personally, I prefer the original HA 717's over the 7 oddball ones because the seating is not as tight in Y. I believe the 7 aircraft came from both Qantas Link and Mexicana Click which themselves were originally from Midwest Express.
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