Introduction
It’s wedding season, and an old buddy of mine decided to have a destination wedding in Maui (which is preferable to the more touristy Oahu, but you really can’t go wrong with either.) I had booked this Hawaiian Airlines one-way flight using 12K Virgin America points per person from my Membership Rewards transfer. It would have been 20K RT, but we are flying back on Alaska using their companion pass.
Decision to upgrade to Extra Comfort
When it was time to pick my seats, HA gave me an option to pay $75 to upgrade to “extra comfort.” Usually I would turn this down, but I realized this was a 6 hour flight and 5 hours is when I start to really consider paying for an upgrade. Here are the listed benefits of the upgrade:
Extra Comfort Benefits
- Extra legroom
- Zone 2 priority boarding
- Complimentary entertainment pack
- In-seat A/C power plug
- Pillow and blanket for use in-flight
I think the only thing I care about is the extra legroom and possibly the entertainment pack. A week before my flight, I did some research online and found that row 11 was the best and it was available for my flight. Thus, I took the plunge and paid for the upgrade. I rationalized it because I had gotten a great deal on the flight with only 12K VX points.
(pic courtesy of seatguru.com)
Food
There was an option to buy snacks, which made no sense since they are the only major US airline that serves free food. However, the free food (cheese pasta) was so bad that you may want to buy a snack after all.
Technology
There is no wifi, but there were power ports (I’m not sure if coach has them.) The free entertainment consisted of watching movies from the 80’s like “Independence Day 4” and “2001 A Space Odyssey.” You have to pay for newer movies.
Conclusion
I’m not sure if it was my seat (which didn’t recline btw) or if it’s been a while since I’ve sat in 6 hours of coach class, but my behind was sore near the end of the flight. I had to use both my pillow and blanket as a seat cushion. Would I do it again? To be honest, I don’t know since I can’t compare it with the misery in coach. I probably would pay the $75 again to sit in my row 11 due to the legroom. The people behind me in rows 12 and 13 seemed a bit cramped. I’d bring my own entertainment next time though.
Pictures
Weird that the seat doesn’t recline. I keep telling myself I should go visit Hawaii but being in the Midwest it’s a fairly long flight and most of the nicer seats are not real great. Sad really.
Maybe my seat was just broken, who knows. I flew Delta from CVG to SLC to HNL once way back in the day; wasn’t that aweful.
whoa why didn’t your seat recline? I’d be upset if I paid extra and it didn’t even have that basic feature.
You know what, I was gonna let it slide, but after reading your comment, I’m at least gonna shoot them a letter to see if I can get any compensation.
nice!
vinh, did you ever hear back or find out if it reclined or not? im thinking about booking the same seat in extra comfort. i dont mind the extra cost but if it doesnt recline that’s not going to fly well with the wife. let me know!
No, they never responded to my complaint. I’d just deal with it in coach if I were to do it again.