Sad part is...... The "CO" route VS U*S route would probably get you on the beach faster 80% of the Time. Due to U*S poor equipment on these routes!

I hate to say it, but the service in First and the seats on the 757 are why I was never excited about this new addition. I have always thought it was a bad idea and would prefer to just stick with HA or NW (I fly to LIH each year first going through SEA). I can't stand the seats in the 757's and actually flew to TPA the other day and drove to Orlando where I needed to be so that I wouldn't have to fly in a 757, even in first.

I am very shocked and dissapointed about the whole state of the airline right now and this is just another one of those moves that adds to my feelings.

As of recently, they've integrated some 737s into their schedule. I saw one of them parked at gate 14 a few nights ago at HNL.

Thanks for the post. I considered HP LAS-PHX-HNL-KOA on Jan 1 but went the UA route with a F upgrade certificate. Boy am I glad that I did so. I am sure that US will get it right eventually, but in the meanwhile UA 767 (UA 757 aren't as nice as their 767s) to HI is the way to go.

Spoke w/ a AWA rep on the phone and she seemed to think that it would take considerable time to get anotehr type of plane on this route due to the overwater items needed to fly this place. Said that it took 12-18 mos for AWA to get the 752's ready for the Hawaii flight? Is US Airbus not fitted for this type of overwater travel?

If not seems at least a year away. I dont know much about this so it seemed plausible to me. Anyone else have a better thought to add?


Ken in Phx

You would have to inform CO that they need to schedule a 777 EWR-HNL and not the 764 they've scheduled since day 1 on the route. You would NEVER see a CO 777 on a flight to HNL nor an A330. Suggest reading more on all of the informative airline websites and passing on your thoughts. I'm not being insensitive here, your post is not sensible and you should empower yourself with knowledge if you love the airline business.
CO 777s (like US 330s) are for high-yield business routes i.e., NOT Hawaii. UAs 777s (high density) are the perfect solution.

People, Hawaii (and LAS and FLA, and PHX) are predominantly LEISURE destinations. US has the worst fleet selection for flights to Hawaii of any carrier. The 75s cannot do it, the 330s have too much F. The only option is the 762s which are deployed on 2nd tier Europe routes. Hawaii was a dumb decision by US and they're getting what they deserve here. Anyone who books US Airways to Hawaii from here out is gambling and sometime the dice doesn't roll your way. UAs 777s, 763s, AAs 763s, 752s, COs 764s, NWs 753s and DC 10s are far more reliable options.

I wish US luck (had great service with them yesterday, BTW) but when you make stupid decisions re: route startups, you will pay the price down the line.

Once you land in Hawaii it all you forget about the service...
 

Hey Everyone,

You all have very valid points about the lousy US F service to Hawaii. I dont blame you guys at all...however I must admit that Hawaii is maybe one of few destinations where you could ride in Y,the cargo hold,or be strapped to the wing with one of those awesome wafer-thin blue US blankets and an Oxygen mask and still forget about the experience once you land and settle into HNL.

In 2004 I somehow (very likely by the will of God) was able to book 2 Y award tix (wanted F but told it is impossible..do they not issure F awards to Hawaii?) to HNL on UA for my honeymoon on exactly the dates we needed..only a few months in advance.

As for the flying really crammed us into crappy seats, gave us pretty lousy service and repeatedly laughed in our faces when we asked for any special honeymoon favors (couldnt even get E+ as a US3). I was kinda frustrated with them and the travel experience but wow once we got there I COMPLETELY forgot about the airtravel!!!

As I said before your points are absolutely valid and US should shoot for a quality product...but I think they are banking on the fact that for most people Hawaii is such an awsome experience that they figure they can skimp on F completely and get away with it

Just my take...take care God Bless and happy frequent flying

Sorry for the bad experience, sounds horrible. I'm going to OGG in April and am very excited about it. Of course for me it's free so I could care less how comfortable the seats are. :)

The weight problem is being resolved. Yes it is just a matter of filing different paperwork and from what I read in our employee newsletter, they are doing that as we speak. The flight does not take weight restrictions all the time, I've seen it go out completely full many times. Yes the cargo does make a lot of money, but still having to bump many passengers is not good.

I'm hoping they will remodel the interiors of the 757 cabins to make them more modern like the Airbus. However I have no idea what the plans are for that. They did say remodeling would be done as it was needed....it sure is needed on those planes! I flew FC a couple of times on the 757 and found the seats just fine....except for when I was trying to sleep and my pillow kept falling in between the seat and the wall....that was a pain.

Is there a chance you could link us to the About US employee newsletter? Just Plane News used to do it all the time, but the latest issue hasn't been seen up there :(

According to the justplanenews.com website they had some server issues, and are working to fix them. They also apologized for not sending out the newsletter and updates via email. All will be fixed, so no worries mate! :D

This issue made the Arizona Republic today
 

Article on the front of the business section of today's Arizona Republic (with a photo and lead-in near the top of page one of the paper):

This issue covered in today's Arizona Republic
 

Article on the front of the business section of today's Arizona Republic (with a photo and lead-in near the top of page one of the paper):

From the article :

"The number of involuntarily bumped passengers totaled 57 of about 11,100 passengers, he said. He said the most on a single flight was 12 and that happened once. "This isn't an everyday occurrence," spokesman Phil Gee said."

Doesn't that contradict your experience? If his numbers are correct, it's not that big of a deal. If your numbers are right, people would be insane to book w/ US.
Either way, 757 with highest MTOW is the best plane to Hawaii from an operator's POV. Not having the paperwork in place prior to route starup is inexcusable.

You're out of your mind. You'd backtrack to EWR from PHX to fly to HNL?? If you're in the mood for backtracking, you should probably take CO's Houston-HNL flight. I think that has BusinessFirst service.

Definitely. I laughed out loud when I read that. The pilot announced on my flight that 50 passengers were being re-accommodated on that day alone. The check-in agent said that it had happened almost every day the flight had been running (a little over 2 weeks at that point). The agent also said that reservations had been trying to contact people in advance to reschedule them but that given varying weather conditions they never had much of a feel for what the situation would be on a given day.

I think the line they're drawing here is the number that are "involuntarily bumped," which means they could not or would not accept a re-routing, so their re-accommodation was "involuntary." Those who accept a re-routing when the airline calls them in advance, very likely presented as though they don't really have a choice in the matter given the situation, or at the ticket counter on the day of departure in exchange for some compensation would not be counted in that number. They probably don't even know how many people, in total, have been inconvenienced but clearly it is way more than 57.

F#%king spin doctors!
I really wish you'd write the paper and expose this "politician-type" bullsh!t. This double-talk is pathetic. You know how refreshing it is to hear an exec step up and say "We screwed up here, bigtime!" Bad move US! You should have got all the paperwork in place, cleaned up the old 757s, and started OGG, KOA, and HNL just prior to US Thanksgiving 2006!!!

The 57 mentioned in the article were the involuntary bumped pax. Who didn't voluntarily give up their seats and had to be IDBd. No doubt many others accepted the alternate transportation and vouchers (hence, VDB).

I wouldn't look at the number 57 as the true measure of incompetence here.

I willing to bet you on this...

We both leave PHX to HNL.....

You can fly HP Nonstop

I will fly CO VIA EWR......

I will be on the beach faster than you. (80% of the time) due to poor equipment on this route.

Also from the article:

The airline has encountered headwinds of as many as 68 knots over the Pacific, vs. a more normal range of 40 to 45 knots.

The more permanent solution involves Boeing. US Airways has filed paperwork with the company to request an upgrade for the three 757s to the maximum weight limit of 250,000 pounds. It doesn't involve work on the planes, Seymour said, but is still costly.


It really came out to bad luck more than insufficient planning. Either way when Boeing certifies the 757 for the heavier weight than these problems will be a thing of the past.

Hmmm....planes with weight issues...an inferior F product.....telephone agents at HP (US) that had no clue as to how to go about upgrading this US1 for an upcoming trip to HNL....
Guess what gang? I gave up and booked E+ on UA. I'll take their 777 through ORD over this nonsense any day....

I flew first on United about three years ago and think they would rival US from what it sounds. We had no pre-flight drink, the seating seemed only marginally better than E+ and the food was a joke. It was of course a 757 so there was nothing in the way of IFE. Hawaii is a vacation destination obviously...the airlines I've been on to get there try to get as many people in and spend as little on them as possible to reflect that.

With all of the comments that have been posted above, why in the world would anyone pay a premium price for the F product described above? If I am going to expend dollars for a premium service, I want something at least remotely worth it. I know of at least one legacy carrier that would meet this requirement and this is the one I would book for front of the plane travel.

Well by all means keep the identity of that carrier a secret for crying out loud!

Presumably CO?

Well by all means keep the identity of that carrier a secret for crying out loud!

I am sorry about being mysterious. I try not to push one airline versus another. Yes, it is CO, but to be truthful. I don't fly anything other than US and CO, so I do not know about other's first class offerings. I have not flown NW F in several years but it was deteriorating even back then. However, I do fly F and pay for it and I don't do it on US. It is strictly a value thing.

UA 757's do have IFE. Was it malfunctioning that day???

A reality check here, folks --

First, the level of First Class service to Hawaii sucks and will continue to suck. It's simply not a priority for the new airline. I wish that wasn't true, but it is. If you somehow have a choice which airline to fly FC to Hawaii on, I'd choose someone else.

Second, the weight issue is obviously unfortunate. I understand that it is mostly a "paperwork" matter, and will be resolved in February. After that, there should not be this kind of ridiculous bumping. I haven't heard a good explanation for why the paperwork wasn't done before launch. I guess the winter headwinds (the time they blow) have been stronger than usual. Still, this strikes me as a screw-up, and I think US should simply apologize for the mistake.

Third, I think future month customers can book with confidence on these flights. I'll be very surprised if these troubles continue once the paperwork issue is resolved. Despite the name calling here, HP's management is very responsive to operational issues and they usually get their act together quickly (if they have a weakness, it is in PREVENTING the operational issues from arising in the first place, like in this instance).

Fourth, a lot of the service to Hawaii is now on narrowbodied aircraft and the service is pretty crummy. Earlier this year, I flew UA on my Dividend Miles points and it was fairly disasterous. Outbound, UA's 757 was massively overbooked and my confirmed seat assignments had mysteriously disappeared from my record. It was pure chaos at SFO, and I wasn't sure whether my entire family would actually make the flight. At the last minute, we all got on-board, but we weren't able to all sit together.

On my return, UA's HNL airport agents did not understand a change made to my reservation by US's rez agents and wanted to assess me a several hundred dollar change fee that I was not liable for. It took more than 2 hours of hassle and phone calls to get them to follow the rules. We barely made the flight.

So travel is sometimes fraught will unexpected and "stupid" trouble. My guess is, that at the end of the day, US's new service will prove to be a useful if utilitarian way to get to Paradise. Give 'em a couple months to get the bugs out.

This is not new territory for HP, they served Hawaii back in the 80's with widebodies (747, I believe). They should have foreseen these "glitches" ahead of time.

The weight wasn't an issue with the 747, though. Being a quad-engine jet, it's not subject to ETOPS restrictions (the T being "twin"). The issues with the 747 were its poor fuel economy and low loads. I doubt they had to bump anyone from those flights ever.

I hope they use some of the new 757's there trying to get from ata for this rout.

All Continental service to Hawai'i is BusinessFirst seating with modified BusinessFirst Cabin service, e.g. no amenity kit and no cheese course. I have taken both IAH-HNL and EWR-HNL - and it is well worth the extra out of yoru way trip. Less out of the way if you take IAH-HNL.

-Vincent

Ahh..can you point out the times that you would beat me to HNL? I dont see how its possible 10% of tthe time let alone 80%. Because I dont know what you are offering, but I'll take that bet. We will go 5x's to Hawaii and I will get there faster than you atleast 2x's on HP/US.

Whats our bet? Free stay at the Princeville ? Hyatt Poipu?

US Airways certainly needs to clean up this problem. But my experience from the last 35 years is to avoid EWR and PHL for connections. If I have to fly through these cities I try to have at least 2 - 3 hours for the connection. Over the past 20 years Houston has been good for connecting, but if I am flying from Phoenix I would like the nonstop because of the value of my time.

The beautiful truth about UA's FC service to Hawaii (on a 777 from ORD):

Hot towels
Drinks flowing from boarding until right before landing
Linen tablecloths, real glasses and real silverware (except knives, which were gray plastic)
Liqueurs with dessert
Multi-course meals
Hot fudge sundae assembled in front of you
Salads assembled in front of you
Deli plate before landing
Final food served: warm chocolate chip cookie with a glass of milk, just before landing
Red Carpet Club at HNL

I am RUINED after this flight as flying in coach or on an inferior product would be such a letdown; absolutely wonderful!

Thank you, UA!

From personal experience, that is a very hard flight to get reward seats on. Obviously, if you could, it would be insane to fly the America West flights.

I got about 9,800 Preferred miles for that wonderful UA flight and the return, all for about $600-something. Not worth it to burn miles for a ticket that cheap, considering how many miles I got.

Anyone know which/how many of th e75s have ETOPS certification? Was a bit of a trip to see them in HNL last week.

All of America West 757's with the exception of the Terrible Teens

913
914
915

Are NOT ETOPS Certified

Great to know! IIRC, 913 and 914 are regular America West livery, 915 is Nevada/Battle Born.