After years of waiting, the A330-200 is finally in Infinite Flight. The question now is, “What route and what airline do I do my first flight of it with?” I had several in my mind, but one that stood out to me was Hawaiian’s non-stop service from Oakland to Honolulu. While currently operated by the A321neo, the route has seen the type in the past and is set to switch over to it permanently later this year as OAK positions itself to customers as a more convenient (and to airlines as a cheaper due to slot constraints in San Fran) alternative to SFO that’s still reasonably close to San Francisco proper. Having seen this flight departing with the A330-200 more than once during my time in the Bay Area, I chose to do OAK-HNL with Hawaiian. Hope y’all enjoy!
Server: Solo
Airline: Hawaiian Airlines
Aircraft: Airbus A330-200
Origin: Oakland San Francisco Bay Airport, Oakland, California (OAK)
Destination: Daniel K. Inouye International Airport, Honolulu, Hawaii (HNL)
Flight Number: HA847
Route: KOAK-PHNL
Seat: 37J (Economy)
Time En Route: 5 Hours 17 Minutes
Getting our first look at our aircraft after clearing security as the Sun comes up over the Bay. Our aircraft for this flight is a 12.2-year-old A330-200 registered as N399HA and named “Kūmau” (“Permanence”). Although heavy metal is a common sight in Oakland courtesy of FedEx and UPS, it’s still somewhat unusual to see a widebody aircraft at OAK’s passenger terminal operating a regularly-scheduled flight.
Pushing back from Gate 8C. We’re pretty impressed from the outset by Hawaiian’s A330 economy seating. Since they’re a smaller airline with a smaller route network than the Big 3 legacy carriers, Hawaiian Airlines has been able to provide comparatively more attention to detail to passenger comfort outside of its premium cabins, and our aircraft reflects that.
Taxiing out of the main passenger ramp with OAK Tower and a taxiing JetSuiteX ERJ-140 going to Burbank in the background. Meanwhile, we’re watching Hawaiian’s pre-flight safety video on the IFE screen in front of us.
Getting airborne from Runway 30 at OAK. There’s still enough humidity in the air to form a few flickers of vapor over the outboard leading edge of the wing, but it’s not nearly as spectacular as Bay Area takeoffs can get. We’re one of several flights to Honolulu this morning, of which all but ours are departing from SFO or SJC.
Climbing over South San Francisco with the antenna farm on San Bruno Mountain, Mount Sutro and the eponymous Tower, Golden Gate Park, Downtown San Francisco, the Bay Bridge and the Golden Gate Bridge, and Treasure Island visible. We’re lucky Karl isn’t sticking around over the Bay this morning, otherwise our view would be decidedly blander.
Headed west to Hawaii at 34,000 feet, just shy of a couple hours out of Oakland. We’ve just been served a breakfast of pork sausage and hashbrowns with a side of fresh fruit, and it looks tasty! The cabins service has been the best we’ve had on a domestic U.S. flight, being the kind usually only seen in premium economy and up on American, Delta, and United, and even then only consistently in premium economy on the latter two.
Final descent into Oahu near the town of Wainmālo Beach. After a bit over 5 hours of flying, we’re having to part with Pualani for a little while. It’s not going to be easy, not after this flight.
Morning arrival in Honolulu as the Trent 700s go into reverse, pitching us forward in our seats before slowing down. We’re officially in Hawaii!
We’ve a got a bit of a protracted taxi to our gate this morning, due to several flights exiting the ramp directly ahead of us after we turned off the runway. This gives us time to get a good look at Oahu’s mountains rising in the distance and a bit more time to enjoy these outstanding economy seats.
Deplaned at Gate A1 while our aircraft is prepared to return to SFO in a little while as HA812. Our reaction to the flight can be summed up with one word: Wow. Hawaiian Airlines has the best economy service of any American carrier, hands-down. The food was above what we expected, the seats were comfortable and modern, the selection on the IFE system was up-to-date and the system itself was easy to use, and the service was, as mentioned before, business class-tier. While not luxurious, Hawaiian’s A330 economy class is varying degrees ahead of of the competition and, if one is flying in economy to Hawaii from the U.S., easily the best choice. Definitely something we’ll return to!
