DSC02632 by coolian03, on FlickrMy grandparents' Alaska Airlines 738 going to SEA. Interestingly enough, this is N563AS, the first plane to be painted into the new livery!
DSC02633 by coolian03, on FlickrAA A321 heading to LAX
DSC02639 by coolian03, on FlickrTransair, a cargo airline in Hawaii. This particular bird started its life in 1987 with China Airlines and was converted to a freighter in 2014.
DSC02641 by coolian03, on FlickrWP Q400 going to HNL. Sorry, it was the best shot I could get.
DSC02640 by coolian03, on FlickrVX A320, "legally high", going to LAX. The gate agent for this flight was unusually cheerful, which is a good thing these days.
DSC02645 by coolian03, on FlickrHA 717 going to some other Hawaiian island. Again, best picture I could get. I flew this bird on my previous vacation from HNL-LIH on 12/22/16 and LIH-OGG on 1/1/17.
DSC02648 by coolian03, on FlickrUA 738 heading to SFO. Ho hum. They had the 753 on this route just 2 short years ago.
DSC02652 by coolian03, on FlickrAA 772 traveling to DFW that evening. I saw it land at OGG, but was at the car return so I couldn't get a picture of it.
DSC02654 by coolian03, on FlickrAnother AA bird, a 763, going to DFW even later that evening. I apologize for the dirty window, those were sadly commonplace.
DSC02653 by coolian03, on FlickrA wonderfully retro Hawaiian Air cargo sign.
Around 2 pm, our chariot arrived from SEA, N370HA. I had flown on her before from SEA to OGG on 7/30/15 and OGG to SEA on 1/1/17.
DSC02646 by coolian03, on FlickrWe boarded from gate 23 in group 4, passing those wonderful lie-flat seats. I took my seat in 25J. Here's what the cabin looked like.
DSC02660 by coolian03, on FlickrThere was a small child sitting in front of me, maybe around 7 years old, but he wasn't an annoyance. He watched the IFE for the whole flight, and didn't even recline his seat. My 6'2" frame thanks him!
DSC02661 by coolian03, on FlickrLegroom was tight, about 1 1/2 inches between my knee and the seat. The cabin looked just ok. Not ancient by any means, but not brand new.
Boarding was completed about 10 minutes after I got on, which was very quick. The flight attendants played the safety video, and a short video talking about all of HA's positives, like free meals and the only airline dedicated for people visiting and living in Hawaii. There was no wait to take off, and the takeoff was quick, getting off the ground in about 5,000 feet. We were over Maui for about 30 seconds, and then over the Pacific. About 10 minutes after takeoff, I bought the TV and movies package for $8. (Boo, for not giving us good, free IFE!) The selection was ok, but I wish it was free, since the TV shows are 7 months old and the movies are at least 2 years old. There was a malfunction with it, though, as videos wouldn't load, and passengers were complaining. So, about 30 minutes into the flight, they restarted the system, which took 10 minutes, and it worked perfectly thus far.
DSC02667 by coolian03, on FlickrThe moving map, which was free, and scrolled through the map, and different statistics like miles traveled and time to arrival.
You may have noticed that there were mood lights which became more dramatic the darker it became. They weren't as good as those on the BSI, but they were nice. The flight progressed smoothly, with a BOB service, and beverage service. (I bought a large bag of Pau Hana snack mix to take home, since it's really good, and got Passion Orange Guava juice.) The flight attendants were really sweet, and the pilots kept us informed saying that they were flying faster to make up for the half hour delay, and they made our flight only 15 minutes late upon arrival in SEA. According to Flightaware, our altitude was 41,000 feet and our speed was 521 mph. After the two services, I watched some episodes of the Big Bang Theory and listened to music on my phone. Around 3 hours into the flight, dinner was served. Stir fry chicken, carrots, broccoli, and rice, and salad with Italian dressing and a chocolate cookie. And yes, that's a Shutterfly coupon that they have. Subtly placed advertisement, amirite?
DSC02672 by coolian03, on FlickrThe chicken was bland and the veggies were soggy. The rice, salad, and cookie were decent though. I still ate all the food, the complaints notwithstanding. I think that my complaints notwithstanding, the meal was ok for airplane food, and that I'll miss it when/if HA eliminates it. The flight went on, and about 30 minutes after dinner, the sun set, very quickly and not very dramatically. This was about as good as it got.
DSC02673 by coolian03, on FlickrThe next hour of the flight was uneventful, with two water services. I went back to visit the lav, and it was uninteresting and your basic airplane bathroom. Something worth mentioning is that the A330 galley is HUGE. Like 3 times the size of one on a 737. Anyways, here's a picture of the cabin when it's dark.
DSC02676 by coolian03, on FlickrAbout a quarter of the passengers bought the entertainment package, and most of the rest of them just put on the moving map, from what I saw. Descent began in total darkness about 20 minutes from arrival off the coast of Washington and Oregon. Our descent brought us over southwest Washington and Tacoma, and according to Flightaware, we arrived at 11:22 pm, 16 minutes behind schedule, with a rough landing on Runway 34R, and heavy braking. We taxied for about 8 minutes, and I saw an OO CRJ-700 subbing in due to crew shortages, which was cool. The airport was unusually busy considering the time. We parked at gate S12, next to another HA A332 from HNL that beat us by 2 hours, and a BR 77W from TPE, as well as a NK A319 going to BWI, at what I can only assume was a CUTE gate. We took the train to our baggage claim, and our bags were off the carousel by 11:40. We left the airport at midnight, and got home at 2 am.
Overall, here's my rating of the flight. Thank you for reading my trip report, and I hope you enjoyed it!
On-time: 8/10
Boarding: 9/10
Crew: 10/10
Seat: 7/10
IFE: 5/10
Food: 7/10
81% rating overall
