Good to know (3.5 months later). I'll be flying OAK-HNL in 3 weeks to attend a conference, and ATA was about half the price of UA (my preferred airline)... I wanted UA but it was hard to justify spending twice the money, coming from a research grant, just so I can get miles. (Too bad, though! )

It sounds like the flight will be fine, although I'll miss my E+ seating... regular Economy gets rather uncomfortable on a flight of 5+ hours.

Now if only I can figure out how to upgrade to Business for cheap or free... (yeah, right.)