MRLIMO

I really miss those entertainment/information centers, especially the gate arrival aspects. A telephone was also included as part of their system! Personal phone calls with the swipe of your credit card.

The reason they are no more. The company that provided and serviced them went out of business.

Djlawman

Well--the flight out to Vegas was great. Boarded early, and took my first class seat in a seemingly brand-new Airbus 320. No wear visible on the seats or carpets anywhere, so I think this jet was very new. Great leather seats with plenty of comfort. Timely departure, with beverage service before takeoff. A good breakfast service, preceded by hot towels. First course of a nice fruit plate, including lots of kiwis and strawberries. Three choices for breakfast. Don't remember the others, but I had nice cheese crepes with some great Southwestern chorizo sausage. Attentive, but not intrusive, FAs. Saw a good movie, Notting Hill, which I hadn't seen in the theaters. Plenty of room to spread out my laptop and do a little work. Only small complaint was the long time it took for our luggage to arrive once we got to Las Vegas. Overall, though, a very good flight with excellent service by America West. Got my mileage credit on BA though, since I don't fly HP very often, and am unlikely to fly them much in the future (although this is my second flight on them this year. Took them from ABQ to PHX earlier this year.)

jyatlantic

Is HP first class still bearable almost seven years later?

enviroian

It's not bad, but it's nowhere like it used to be in these circa '99 posts. Today on that sfo-phx flight you'll be lucky to get a bag of gold nut mix, tops. There are certainly not three entree choices either anymore on flights > 3 hours. Only two, and unless HP locks a new deal with Hot Pockets, expect to see the same two (pastrami sandwich or chix caesar salad) for a long time.

Service ranges in F from very good to excellent, and have never been dissapointed. Watch out for their 752 and 733 aircraft unless you like flashbacks and watching hair follicles grow of the person in front of you. There are free drinks a flowin' and good IFE.

Catering wise it's probably one of the worst out there. Service and IFE wise it's probably the other way around. Take your pick

Ian

Xcheckme

Could not agree with you more - specially considering the alternative (i.e. coach seat).

LAX1K to AmWest

I think HP's and US's product are pretty similiar. Of course, the food is now pretty disappointing in F. I think this is one area, they can really improve. Not certain what they can do.

As always noted, HP's F is nothing to make it stand out..

sfo_jfk_flyer

First is ALWAYS better than coach.
Even if the food isn't so great in First, it's better than coach (since there is NO food.)! Compared to NW, HP isn't so bad, at least there is IFE and movies. Food on NW isn't much better than HP, IMHO.

MRLIMO

It's not love, but it's not bad.

cpmairtight

NOT ALWAYS: Had a PHX-PHL leg, where seatmate dumped preflight hot coffee in my lap very very upsetting . . . I sat on a blanket for 5.5hours

SFO 1K

Would there be a meal on LAS-ORD noontime departure in F? The HP website doesn't even show LAS-ORD as a meal flight yet the block time is 4 hours. Also, is there any snack service on ORD-LAS leaving after 9PM? Again, block time over 3 hours - so - something?

PHLDividends

I doubt it on the 9 pm flight - I had a PHL to PHX to ANC (yikes!) flight in F - the PHX-ANC left just after 8 pm and thus was not a meal flight, despite being nearly six hours long. We got bags of snack mix and liquor.

GotCalcio4

LAS-ORD should be a meal flight. On the departure after 9 PM you'll get a nice bag of HP snack mix and that's about it. No such thing as a "snack" service (as you would imagine on other carriers like AA, UA, or CO) on HP. It's a meal or bag of snack mix.

SFO 1K

Thanks GotCalcio4. Much appreciated! ^

TransWorldOne

I don't know... a coach seat isn't all that bad compared to a First Class seat on an America West 757.

PHLDividends

Greyhound looks somewhat attractive compared to some of HP's FC seats.