tonywestsider

So, as an alternative, do you want to try UA from EWR-HNL on a 767-300ER instead? You can compare these seats on HA with UA's Barkeloungers in F...

edgewood49

you know if you got a CO 767 300ER would be nice, not withstanding that my post is simply with all the hoopla that HA put out, and the price point that they are using for FC it does not seem to be delivering. Now I am spoiled flying inter nation with "other" carriers ! And frankly from the west coast I am perfectly happy with AS especially with their new birds. Really nice especially with the new seats!.

Hey it's only an opinion and nothing personal

3Cforme

CO had no 767-300ERs at the time of the merger. All UA 767-300ERs are of United origin. CO had 764s and 762s. United flew a lot of domestic config aircraft (even 777s), not international business, to Hawaii.

tonywestsider

All is forgiven edgewood49! No worries.

Hopefully, HA will invest in different F seating, but it seems to me, only if their competition is providing improvements. So far, not many carriers to HNL provide the F "lie-flat seats" that many FTers boast about.

edgewood49

that I will agree with as the flight from the east coast is long.

Hokulea

N389HA, Keali'iokonaikalewa, delivered today, June 20, Toulouse to Los Angeles. This makes the fourth and final A330 put into service this year.

russmeyergirl

Agreed. Also the seats are very hard.

Hokulea

Oh well, good for San Diego. Just hope that flight 1 actually gets to Honolulu before flight 3 when we go.

I suppose this is only relevant to folks who fly LAX-HNL.

So, I was waiting for this to happen. Today, 6/23, Flight 1 is seriously delayed (over 4 hours), waiting for Flight 4 to arrive. Flight 1 was scheduled to leave at 8:40 am, but, as I write this, is tentatively scheduled to leave at 12:45 pm. This seems optimistic as Flight 4 reached the gate at 11:36 am. A 1 hour turn around is awful quick.

Meanwhile, Flight 3 to HNL went out on schedule at approx. 10:40 and should arrive in HNL on time.

Last year, when flights 3 and 4 were added for the summer, 1, 2, 3, and 4 were all designated as A330 flights. Flight 2 arrives every evening around 10:30 pm. Typically, Flight 4 would turn to become Flight 1 each morning with about a 2 hour turnover. Not that unusual for most other flights throughout the system. Flight 2 of the previous night would have a 12 hour layover and depart as Flight 3 the next day. However, in the event of a Flight 4 delay, they would often swap identically configured aircraft (A330s) and send ex-Flight 2 out as Flight 1. Often this swap would be enough to keep both Flights 1 and 3 on time, or at least minimize a delay for one of the flights (i.e., Flight 3).

However now, since Flights 4 and 1 have been designated as 767s, we have a situation with 2 flights scheduled LAX-HNL 2 hours apart, with a much greater probability of delay for the earlier flight, since there is only a 2 hour turnaround for the Flight 1 aircraft, whereas there's a 12 hour turnaround for the Flight 3 aircraft. Evidently its not as easy to swap aircraft between Flights 1 and 3 because of the different seating configurations.

Bottom line: HAL has a high on time arrival record. And, most flights operate with only a 2-3 hour turnaround, and do just fine. Still, it seems that there's less risk of a delay if you book Flight 3 instead of Flight 1.

Just to add one more unique factor to today's situation: Yesterday N389HA joined the fleet as evening Flight 9 to HNL, leaving the inbound Flight 10 aircraft, 386, behind. This morning 386 left LAX as Flight 8001 to HNL (I assume deadheading) in order to position one more A330 at the hub to begin servicing San Diego today. I wonder if the folks stuck in LAX knew that this plane left LAX while they've been stuck in the airport for an extra 4 or 5 hours.

Maybe HAL tried to accommodate some Flight 1 folks on Flight 3, or even route them through Maui on Flight 33 (new 767 service which also went off on time), but considering summer passenger loads I doubt there were very many seats available.

Hokulea

Flight 1 left the gate at 1:16 pm and is estimated to arrive at HNL at 4:07 pm, almost 5 hours late. Flight 3 is estimated to arrive at 1:24 pm.

comesatime

We were on flight 16 HNL-SAN on June 30. I was seated in 12J which would have been a great seat except I couldn't seem to get the seat to recline and lock into place. I wasn't trying to fully recline, just push it back a little. The seat *would* recline, but then would spring back. I couldn't figure out if it was broken or if the guy behind me was pushing it back. After awhile, I just gave up and sat straight upright for the entire flight which was less than optimal. Was it me (failing at getting a seat to recline - am I that lame?) or was the seat truly broken? Or maybe the guy behind me wasn't very nice? I talked to him about it and he seemed ok but I still think that it was odd that a seat on a new plane wouldn't work.

And I guess since this was a new plane on that route it would explain the reason that the pilot slammed on the brakes after we landed and took the plane to the very end of the runway - right up to the red lights. That was exciting.

Hokulea

12J certainly should recline. Did you ask a flight attendant for assistance? BTW, courtesy of data.flight24.com, your aircraft was N383HA, Hanaiakamalama, 1.3 yrs. old. You'd think the new planes wouldn't have glitches, but we've also had problems with the IFE units for our seats in both directions on the Airbus.

As for San Diego, it's always a thrill landing in San Diego, isn't it?

Change of subject: regarding my previous LA-HNL message. Flight 1 had another 5 hour + delay on 6/27. Also, the new LA to Maui flight, 33, also a 767, had a massive time delay the other day. Does anyone know if this is typical of the HAL 767 fleet, or were these just flukes? I really don't want to spend $300 just to switch from a 9:00 am to 10:30 am flight.

formeraa

Uh no, that's pretty much par for the course in SAN! They should have moved that airport years ago.

edgewood49

Just so you know on approach you "aim" for the 3K marker which should give anyone sufficient time to slow the roll down to turn safely of the runway. AB reversing system is European ! No comment !

Should not have had to "calm on the brakes"

azj

Hokulea -

Mx issues happen at every airline on planes new and old. I wouldn't spend $$$ to change flights, purely based on equipment because 2 flights had delays. The 330 is not immune to mx issues. Just go with it and enjoy your flight.

jperman

Does anyone knoW if row 13 is good. Wife and I are booked in row 13 on HA51 from JFK-HNL and I have seen differing seating charts between HA, seat guru and seat expert. I want to make sure it's not limited recline / bad seat choice given the length of th flight