Which Flight to Choose?
 

I will be flying from the East Coast to Hawaii on Frequent Flyer miles. I can choose one of these two flights:

First Class on Continental on their direct flight from Hou to Hnl on a 767-400.

Or

First Class on Northwest on their direct flight from Minn. to HNL on a Airbus 330-300.

I have checked out Seat Guru and know that Northwest seats do recline more than Continental, and that they have movies on Demand (Pause etc.). Continental say's that they have games and airshows. Not sure what the difference would be. Northwest has the 176 degrees of recline and 60 pitch. Continetal has a 55 pitch. I thought that I read that Continental has the best product for Hawaii.

What do you think?

Depending where and when you are departing from the NW 330 through MSP is very good. If you departing from EWR then CO is the only way to go. Most people say that the CO service is about as good as it gets for domestic FC service to Hawai'i.

You should also Check out this Thread:

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=774597

If you're flying through either of these airports during the winter months (sounds like you are), I'd take the CO flight out of HOU, rather than through MSP, only b/c of the weather risk.

I'd hate to lose a day or so of my Hawaiian vacation sitting in the MSP airport watching it snow/sleet.

Even if I had to fly coach from HOU.

(we got stuck (literally) in the MDW terminal last winter for 36 hours b/c of weather and won't risk that one again if we can avoid it)

Welcome to flytertalk stulaurie!

Having recently endured a 3 hr. snow-related delay in ORD, I strongly agree with taking the more southerly connection on CO.

Additionally, from my experience, the food is MUCH better on CO.

Thanks for the advice. I had not even thought about weather. We will be flying in February, and out of Boston.

In that case, weather is going to be your problem from the get-go. Book from EWR (CO has better inflight service) and plan on taking the train from BOS to EWR Amtrak Station as a backup in case of WX in Boston.

Adding flights from BOS to IAH is risky as that flight could have a problem, or your routing might need to connect in EWR first anyway - adding even more risk.

Be proactive - I had a flight scheduled from IAH to EWR one year when IAH was threatened by a hurricane. As soon as it became even remotely possible the flight might have a problem, I switched to EWR before that flight become sold out.

I would fly NW through MSP to HNL on the A330. The A330 has the lie flat seats in FC and it is superior to CO's FC from HOU to HNL. The FAs probably are not going to be as friendly as on CO but the lie flat seats are worth it.

Weather is going to be a problem no matter what if you are leaving from the Northeast, so I would go through MSP.

Yabbut....

If the weather is bad in the NE in Boston.....he's "stuck" at home.

Not in some terminal in the midwest.

Trust me.....it's miserable.

A lot of people are commenting on weather. Unlike ORD, DEN, or other northern hubs, Northwest's MSP and DTW are actually VERY good at handling snow situations. This is confirmed over on the NW forum. Believe me. It could be snowing and that MSP-HNL flight will take off on time if the concern is a wx delay.

I agree. ORD never handles the weather well but for some reason MSP has it's stuff together. I flew through there on Wednesday on the A330 and there was snow on the ground and it was about 5 degrees out. The flight took off on time for a NW flight (i.e. about 15-20 minutes late) but we still arrived at HNL on time. I have yet to fly on a NW flight that did not sit at the gate for at least 10-15 minutes after departure even in the middle of summer.

RE: CO or NW to Hawai'i?
 

Having taken both airlines......numerous times......I now only travel to Hawai'i on CO. Why? Check the following address for a comparison of both configurations: http://www.seatguru.com

With this information you will notice that CO has the finest domestic seating opportunities, with 3/4 flat seats. As a choice I make when I fly, seats are Number One, and Number 2 is the type of aircraft. It doesn't matter if it's a 757 with flat seats....I won't fly in a clostrophobic, elongated tube! The 767 isn't the 747, but it'll do nicely for my flights over 6+ hours.

I'm also having some trouble deciding on which carrier to HNL from the NYC area. My preferred departure date is Feb 1, but CO's nonstop doesn't have any BF seats for that day, and neither does the NW MSP-HNL...ugh! So, the options are DL (which I haven't heard many great things about), or leaving a day earlier.

If I leave on Jan 31, CO EWR-HNL, EWR-IAH-HNL, and NW NYC-MSP-HNL are all available. ^ But the direct EWR-HNL is twice as expensive as the IAH connection or NW flight.

Thoughts? If I have to connect, would DL, CO through IAH, or NW through MSP be the best choice?

Thanks!

Hi not sure im on the right forum.
looking to fly HNL to YYC and wondering who has the best biz class, looks like CO is the fave but wndering if thats only to hou and midwest.
thanks

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