This post is quite delayed but I’ve finally gotten around to writing the last of my Hawaii posts. I’m still working on the Hyatt Maui review but in the meantime, here’s the review of Hawaiian’s new Business/First Class onboard their A330 from Honolulu to Brisbane.
For this flight, I wanted to try get an aisle seat as the cabin is in a 2-2-2 configuration but they were already taken so I settled for 3A. The advantage of having a window on this flight was that I got a pretty nice view when departing Honolulu.
Hawaiian Airlines A330
Boarding commenced right on time and they commenced Priority boarding straight after passengers needing assistance. One thing I like with U.S airlines (yes, there’s something to like about American carriers) is the fact that they will actually enforce Priority boarding and it’s sort of efficient.
Hawaiian Airlines New Business Class
At first glance the seats look awfully thin and you’re not wrong, they’re quite thin. When you arrive at your seat you’ll find your duvet, pillow which attaches to the headrest, small amenity kit and a larger pillow used for sleeping. The seat doesn’t have too much storage so it’s best to just keep your essentials with you and keep other objects in the overhead bins. One thing to point out is that the cabin crew use the bins in Business, usually in the centre bins so you’ll want to get your bags up there sooner rather than later as there was a lack of space.
Hawaiian Airlines New Business Class
Even though the seats look very thin they’re actually fairly comfortable. The new seats can be made into a flatbed at 180-degrees so this is a massive improvement over the old recliner seats which were terrible.
Hawaiian Airlines New Business Class
One thing quite a few people commented on was the footwell and it being too small. I honestly found it more than sufficient and didn’t have a problem with it. One interesting thing is that there’s a net for storing things in the footwell which I thought is quite a strange place to store objects.
Hawaiian Airlines New Business Class
The space underneath it however was great for storing things like headphones or cameras.
Hawaiian Airlines New Business Class
The seats are really quite great for customers flying together as a couple and for a solo passenger, the privacy was ok. There’s a privacy shield which can be raised after take-off.
Hawaiian Airlines New Business Class
Each seat has a USB power outlet and below it are the lighting controls and crew alert button. There’s also a power point located at the bottom of the seat.
USB Power
Above the USB power is the controls for your seat. Instead of having traditional buttons, the seats use a scroll wheel which I really liked.
Seat position slider
Once settled in my seat, the friendly crew came around to each passenger welcoming them onboard, handing out the menu and offering a pre-departure beverage which was either a Mai Tai or Orange, Guava and Passionfruit drink, I chose the latter. The drink was quite refreshing and not too sweet which was nice.
Hawaiian Airlines Welcome Beverage
Here’s the menu for the flight:
Menu
Shortly after takeoff the cabin crew came around to set the tables and hand out the In flight entertainment device which is an IPad Pro. If you’re at a window seat, you’ll find a small circle looking thing in the centre console and you’ll need to push down on it hard to bring out the stand for the IPad.
IPad Stand
The amount of entertainment options on the device was quite disappointing and there really wasn’t much to choose from if you’re wanting new releases or tv series. I will give them a plus for having new technology though as the IPad has a really big and bright display.
To begin the meal service, I started with some warm Macadamia nuts and a glass of Coke.
Macadamia Nuts and Coke
Following the nuts and drink, I had the Lobster Bisque which was really quite lovely. It was packed with flavour and really creamy, It maybe one of the best dishes I’ve had on a plane.
Lobster Bisque
Next dish was the Heart of Baby Romaine Salad with Prosciutto which was well…Interesting. The Prosciutto was quite nice but I didn’t get the ‘salad’ concept and found that a bit odd.
Heart of Baby Romaine Salad with Prosciutto
And for the main dish I had the braised beef shortribs which were quite chewy but had some nice flavour.
Braised Beef Shortribs
And to finish the meal service, I had the Pear pie which was really nice and a good size, not too small, not too big.
Pear Pie
After eating and watching a few shows, I decided to sleep and got around 5 hours of sleep which I was pretty happy with. Once I wake up I usually find it near impossible to go back to sleep so I decided to watch some downloaded Netflix on my phone and chose to watch Narcos.
When we were about 1 hour and a half out from Brisbane, the cabin lighting was brightened with mood lighting and the arrival meal service started to begin.
Hawaiian Airlines New Business/First
The arrival meal was a grilled teriyaki and pineapple sandwich with fresh fruit.
Grilled Teriyaki and Pineapple sandwich with Fresh Fruit
We arrived into Brisbane on time shortly after but were stuck at the gate for around 15 minutes as the crew had to spray the cabin with insecticide which is required by the department of agriculture in Australia.
Overall I had a fantastic flight on Hawaiian and would recommend them if going to Hawaii or even the U.S mainland.
