freeupgrade

I flew AA 5 DFW-HNL in January in F.

Warning: This is a bit of a rant...

Some comments:

1. The entree choices were pathetic: salmon or pasta shells.

2. No individual IFE for 8 hour flight. Please don't tell me "to bring my own".

3. The pre-arrival "snack" of 3 crackers, 1/2 an apple, and some gross looking cheese was really embarassing. I truly felt sorry for the FAs having to present this.

4. I was really surprised there were no cookies or mints offered on this flight.

There really was a long time during the flight where there was no food available at all (and yes - I went to the galley and asked).

AA - you can do a lot better on this flight.

demkr

My only gripe, honestly with the flight and service was the lack of IFE and/or personal entertainment devices that we would get on transcon flights. On the return leg they give a warm breakfast dish so it did have an int'l feel to it.

Now, I flew ORD-HNL on Monday and it was pretty much the same. One big problem though: NO in-flight movie because of a technical glitch. I agree, the flight is too long to not have either the personal devices or the int'l 763 "on AA" IFE. Try going through it without even something to watch on the screens.

JDiver

If you want to really have a moment, try pricing AA SMF-DFW-HNL vs. AS SMF-SEA-HNL. In F especially. So, guess what our next flight to HNL is? Alaskan Amber, here I come.

HNL

Send AA a copy of your AS ticket.

JDiver

TicketS, actually. I may indeed do that.

As for the entertainment, I may take portable pulp-based imprinted interleaved entertainment devices (abbreviated "Book") or my iPod and Kindle (most likely).

bniu

the fact that AA has intl equipment to HNL out of DFW and ORD is a big reason why I prefer AA over UA and the fact that it's actually quite easy to redeem AA miles keeps me around. As much as I like UA's F service (it's not that bad...), I am NOT impressed by UA's MP frequent unavailability of award redemption.

and to the OP, just go get yourself an iPad and you won't have to care about IFE anymore. For just $800 or so, you have something that is far better than AA's PED devices and you get to have your content on it and you can use it on any flight and take it with you. Add in a pair of Bose QC3 headphones, and you've got yourself the ultimate portable IFE system.

Bishope2

I understand the food provided on AA flights to Hawaii from either ORD or DFW is not of international portions or maybe even quality. With that said, when everyone flies first we are getting an a somewhat international style seat. 58 to 60 inches of pitch and a lie flat seat (yes, it is at an angle). Would IFE be great? Yes it would. I myself don't understand why they don't provide IFE's on such a long flight. A while back one explanation given was that a outside contractor provided the units and AA didn't want to pay for these players on a non profitable flight.

I pay for a coach ticket, redeem miles for the upgrade and of course the $150
fee each way for the luxury of using my miles. I know what I am paying for even before I fly. As long as I get my seat, I am happy. If I get a descent meal, service, video service, etc I am real happy. Like someone said, once you arrive you will forget about your flights.

Think about this. AA could get rid of the 767-300's out of DFW/ORD and use them on international routes that make money. They could then make us all connect thru LAX or SFO and fly on a 757 to Hawaii. Would they do this? I don't believe so. As previously mentioned, they wouldn't because of the frequent flyers located in those areas.

KD5MDK

Whenever people say that cargo makes a route profitable, I have to ask "Then why doesn't UPS fly a DC-10 in and make even MORE money?"

FrmAEattendant

Not that much of surprise to me...course just even show them the AS SMF-OGG or HA SMF-HNL costs...

Course AA has pretty much shafted SMF. Can't understand why they won't do flights to ORD or even LAX on AE...

davesam12

Ditto. We fly AA to HNL and OGG because they keep the 763's on the route from DFW and ORD. The pitch and lie flat seats ---That's the draw for us. We want the points also and use points when we can for an award tix, but certainly often have to $$ the F/J fare also. So, I know the whole plane can't be non-rev. Surely some runs make a profit??? It's always been a low revenue route. Imagine it is for most airlines? IFE to Hawaii? Yeah, we have moaned about that since they rolled out the new 763 cabins -- and it has been discussed here a lot. They are just not gonna load IFE for that trip even at 8+ hours. We give up! lol. So, we bring our own or just watch the overhead flicks. The food and service. Well, again it will never be the same as International Flagship Service. But, imho -- and from some who has flown this route in F/J for several years now. The food and service has improved the last couple years. And so much depends on the crew working up front -- they make or break an 8 hour flight experience. So, if AA ever takes the 763 off the route -- we might check out a competitor - but until then it's AA all the way. . .

aaupgrade

Didn't you already post this in post #2?

I agree with others, fly AS. I fly from WAS to HNL yearly, and not only is F notably less expensive, but with a stopover in SEA on the return much more relaxing. Now I have friends in SEA so that is a plus. But with WAS-HNL AA F fares in excess of about $3000 and AS F fares around half of that, one can easily afford a nice hotel room at SEA and still come way ahead. An added plus is you still receive AA FF elite bonus, COS bonus and 1.5 x EQP for your AS flights.

A few years ago I could fly AA in F ex-BWI for $1300-1400 rt. The low ex-BWI F fares evaporated a couple years ago. Fares have recently gone up too. I paid $1400 ex-DCA on AS a few months ago and now they are around $1600. A few months ago AA was $1900 and is now $3100.

And heck with sending AA anything. I don't care if they know. Leave the extra seats for the upgraders and those who choose (unwisely IMO) to use miles for award tickets on this route; although now with the higher prices it makes a LOT more sense. But for many low mileage travelers who save up miles for years do so for their ultimate Hawaii vacation, and for those folks I am sure it is worth it. But for the majority of us FTers it probably is not. Actually upgrading with miles on this route is even bad. Coming from the right coast, ticket $800-900 plus $300 copay plus 30000 miles vs $1400 the choice was a no brainer (a few months back). Now that prices have gone up a bit the choice is $1700 which still makes sense for me, but using 30000 miles for a $500-600 price difference may be worth it to others. Now one can debate the worthiness of using SWUs on this route.

Generally F tickets across the board, and to a lesser extent J class, have been skyrocketing relative to economy class. Prices for AONEn and ACIRnn tickets have been going through the roof. This is not unique to AA, as it is happening with other carriers too. *A first class RTW product just went up and ex-US now costs $15-20K whereas 2 years ago you could get these for just under $10K. AS F has gone up, but not exponentially like the majors.

Just my 2¢.

Added: My current F RTW (AONE3) which was purchased April 2009 cost $6600, so there is no way I will pay AA $3000 for a rt to HNL. So I think AA will start having more non-revs up front with their current prices. JMHO

demkr

A couple posts up I posted pics of food service on ORD-HNL this Monday, great food & has int'l "ting" to it with portion sizes, (although on second thought I would have chosen the pasta entree).

Also, we had absolutely *ZERO* entertainment, yes, that means not even in-flight movie, due to a glitch...made for a very long and grinding flight even in F.

beckoa

Not to mention BR access in SEA... and if you haven't tried Johny Love Aloha Vodka... mmm (they also serve Kona Longboard Island Lager on-board)

And if you want... they do have the Digeplayer XT on this route too: http://www.alaskaair.com/digeplayer

TrojanHorse

Yeah but USC FB does not play at those locations

I just bought the family revenue tix from the east coast to Hawaii and feel already like I got used and abused b/c I have to come back thru LAX on a 757and I only paid just under $500 each and still feel like it was a rip off



I used VIP's to get into F so no additional coin which is about the only good thing about this

MAH4546

I'll take AA's "subpar" service and international seating configuration over the high-density, Hawaii-configured widebody planes United sends over any day of the week.

And while the BusinessFirst service on CO might be great, you can't use your elite domestic upgrades for it. And you can't use your elite upgrades to go to First on Delta or US Airways either.