Halloween, Hawaii and holiday celebrations - the Hawaii section THIS SECTION COMPLETED 1/13 - Page 4 - PassPorter - A Community of Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and General Travel Forums
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I knew instantly where the sausage was having grown up with sausage patties. Loved them as a kid and teen, not so much now. Sorry about the lack of hot meals, individual screens, etc. We've only every done 2 to 4 hour flights and just know not to expect those things, but on an 8 hour flight I think these would be a part of the flight.
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I knew instantly where the sausage was having grown up with sausage patties. Loved them as a kid and teen, not so much now. Sorry about the lack of hot meals, individual screens, etc. We've only every done 2 to 4 hour flights and just know not to expect those things, but on an 8 hour flight I think these would be a part of the flight.
I certainly know not to expect them on shorter flights, but as you say, for a longer flight like this, I really thought things would be different... sadly not.
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Let's see - other than SOME Delta flights and Jet Blue (I think) - I can't think of an airline that has seatback consoles on their planes. Southwest has NONE - and you can use your laptop or tablet to watch TV at $8.00 a flight. They also don't have plugs - so when your battery dies, that's it. Better have brought entertainment with you. Food on an internal flight at all is an exception now - and many airlines charge you to eat that food (most of which is crackers and carbs without protein at all). As Lauri mentioned - the new idea is to cram more people into the same space making things even more uncomfortable for them. Welcome to US airlines... making you pay a bunch for a horrid flight and even more horrid service. If you don't like it - you can pay an arm, a leg and your first born for first class - if the airline offers 1st class.
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I don't have anything to add that others haven't already said about the US airlines! Flying Virgin America from LAX to Orlando was such a revelation! I've never flown a cross country flight with video screens at the seats. Don't expect any LAX to Hawaii flights to have video screens either, as I have yet to experience one!
Can't wait to hear about your first impressions arriving in Honolulu!
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All this talk about the horrid flight conditions is not encouraging me to fly to Hawaii, that's for sure. It really is a sad state of affairs! The only saving grace is that you did have a lot of leg room. We usually just fly 3 hours to Orlando, and it's been quite a few years since I was on a longer flight to the west coast.
Let's see - other than SOME Delta flights and Jet Blue (I think) - I can't think of an airline that has seatback consoles on their planes. Southwest has NONE - and you can use your laptop or tablet to watch TV at $8.00 a flight. They also don't have plugs - so when your battery dies, that's it. Better have brought entertainment with you. Food on an internal flight at all is an exception now - and many airlines charge you to eat that food (most of which is crackers and carbs without protein at all). As Lauri mentioned - the new idea is to cram more people into the same space making things even more uncomfortable for them. Welcome to US airlines... making you pay a bunch for a horrid flight and even more horrid service. If you don't like it - you can pay an arm, a leg and your first born for first class - if the airline offers 1st class.
Interesting to know about Delta, as that was one of the options to get to Hawaii, but I remember their planes being the same as American (then again, the last time we flew with them was 2006, so things may have changed since, but I worked on the theory they probably wouldn't have done...)
While we're on the subject, first class on American and Hawaiian (for the inter island trips we took) was a joke! Where were the seats that convert into beds that lie flat? That's what I think of when I think of first class from the transatlantic operators. I did look at first class for our flights to and from Hawaii, but the prices were horrific - about what you'd pay for the transatlantic flights, yet what you got on board was nowhere near as good. I'm so glad we didn't waste our money on first class on those flights, as we'd have been very sorely disappointed.
I don't have anything to add that others haven't already said about the US airlines! Flying Virgin America from LAX to Orlando was such a revelation! I've never flown a cross country flight with video screens at the seats. Don't expect any LAX to Hawaii flights to have video screens either, as I have yet to experience one!
Let's hope then that Virgin America start flights out to Hawaii at some point, as it sounds like flying with them would be our best bet...
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Can't wait to hear about your first impressions arriving in Honolulu!
All this talk about the horrid flight conditions is not encouraging me to fly to Hawaii, that's for sure. It really is a sad state of affairs! The only saving grace is that you did have a lot of leg room. We usually just fly 3 hours to Orlando, and it's been quite a few years since I was on a longer flight to the west coast.
I guess the only thing I can say is that you could break the flight up, by saying getting out to somewhere on the west coast, then at least it's only five hours from there.
I have to be honest, we hated the flight there and back, but if it helps, it was worth it for what we got when we reached Hawaii, as it's an amazing destination. I certainly wouldn't want you to be put off from visiting, but I think if you want to go, you need to be prepared for what you're likely to encounter on board and how long it will take.
If it helps, we've said we will be going back to Hawaii, we loved it so much, so the flights didn't put us off... and we genuinely said that this would be a once in a lifetime trip, so that hopefully shows you how much we loved the place.
Monday 4 November – part three: Hawaii looks amazing!
I nodded off to sleep, and actually a fairly deep sleep for me on a plane, which I think shows how exhausted I was, but luckily enough, something woke up, and I got to see us leave the continental USA behind, as we flew over the California coast somewhere near Santa Barbara.
It was about now that it struck me that we were now flying further west than I’d ever been in my life. My limit has been California to date – San Diego, San Francisco, Los Angeles etc. Now we really were going a lot further and on a real adventure!
Once again, it really brings it home to you how big the world is, as by then, we still had a five hour flight ahead of us, and all of it would now be over the sea. Almost as soon as we’d started to fly over the sea, the fasten seatbelts sign came on, although we noticed, as had happened earlier in the flight, that everyone seemed to ignore it.
We were a bit confused by this, as here’s another huge difference between UK and USA airlines. You do that on a UK airline flight, and the chances are a) you’ll be told to sit down, and if you continue to disobey the crew, they’ll probably tell you that they’ll land the aircraft and have you arrested Obviously if there’s a sick child or some other desperate need, they wouldn’t be that tough, but here this was just adults getting up to use the restrooms, and sometimes just standing up and walking around.
In fairness though, the captain only puts the seatbelt sign on when he or she really needs to – usually, unless it’s really bad turbulence for no more than five or 10 minutes, not hours on end as happened on this flight. We concluded they did it for ease, as if anyone did injure themselves while not wearing a seatbelt, then it wouldn’t be American’s fault. It was the only reason we could think of to have it on for so long with absolutely no reason.
After an hour of the seatbelt sign being on, and barely any turbulence, I’d had enough, and asked a crew member what the situation was, as I didn’t want to break any rules, but equally I did need the restroom, and I knew I couldn’t last indefinitely. She told me that basically they’re there to warn people to not ignore the sign, and that’s all they do.
That reassured me, and once the opening episode of the Blacklist had finished showing (we watched it in the UK, but it was so good, we watched it again), I braved it and went to the restrooms, although I did apologise to the crew member. I think I was the only person to do that, but I don’t like breaking the rules.
I had another little sleep, then we had our sandwiches that we’d bought at Dallas earlier, as I figured that we wouldn’t be able to take them into Hawaii. We knew we had to fill in a declaration about what we were bringing into the state, and I figured this would focus on fruit and vegetables, and as both our sandwiches had salad in them, better safe than sorry.
As we came into land, I kept desperately looking out for any sign of land, but we were not in luck, as the pilot informed us that Maui was to our left, and we were on the right.
Then finally we caught a glimpse of Oahu…
… before it went back into the clouds again.
Then the clouds lifted again, and we were presented with the most amazing vista. As well as the green and lush mountains that have become so familiar in various films and TV shows, there was Honolulu sprawling beneath us…
We could see Waikiki…
… and look how beautiful and blue that water is!
We think this must be Pearl Harbour.
Isn’t it just the most amazing sight?
Then one of the stewardesses told me to stop using my electronic device so there are no more photos as we came into land. However, the second we were on the ground, everyone turned their cell phones on, so my camera went back on too..
I just love the fact that the airport is surrounded by these beautiful green mountains….
The last time we flew with United (Newark to Orlando) we had a great plane with individual tv screens and a variety of entertainment options!
Oh W-O-W, Hawaii looks amazing!!! Those few pictures alone make me want to jump aboard a plane right this second - and yes, I'd probably even fly with a US airline to get THERE!!!
The last time we flew with United (Newark to Orlando) we had a great plane with individual tv screens and a variety of entertainment options!
Oh wow, from the sounds of it, you really lucked out with that!
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Oh W-O-W, Hawaii looks amazing!!! Those few pictures alone make me want to jump aboard a plane right this second - and yes, I'd probably even fly with a US airline to get THERE!!!
That's why I was saying I wouldn't want to put anyone off with the journey we had to get there, because Hawaii was 110% worth it - it truly is an amazing place and a real island paradise.
How nice to see the beautiful blue of the ocean as you land! I know you were landing in a big city, but I still didn't expect the harbor areas to be so built-up and ugly. The man-made inlets and docks go on and on and on! It's probably nicer on the ground and I'm sure people pay a fortune to live in those high-rise condos. I can't get over the crazy situation with the seat-belt sign. I'm another rule-follower and if I'm told to buckle my belt, I assume it's for my own safety and do so! The sign is lit just so people will pay attention to the sign??
How nice to see the beautiful blue of the ocean as you land! I know you were landing in a big city, but I still didn't expect the harbor areas to be so built-up and ugly. The man-made inlets and docks go on and on and on! It's probably nicer on the ground and I'm sure people pay a fortune to live in those high-rise condos.
Well, I'm not giving too much away to say that we weren't impressed with Waikiki from the ground, and we did end up driving around some of those built up harbour areas and they weren't much better from the ground either. Still, Aulani was 1000 times better than Honolulu and that's the main thing - plus O'ahu has some other beautiful areas as well.
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I can't get over the crazy situation with the seat-belt sign. I'm another rule-follower and if I'm told to buckle my belt, I assume it's for my own safety and do so! The sign is lit just so people will pay attention to the sign??
Goodness knows what was going on there - I found the whole thing bizarre.
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Sorry about the lack of hot meals, individual screens, etc. We've only every done 2 to 4 hour flights and just know not to expect those things, but on an 8 hour flight I think these would be a part of the flight. 
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Obviously if there’s a sick child or some other desperate need, they wouldn’t be that tough, but here this was just adults getting up to use the restrooms, and sometimes just standing up and walking around. 
We concluded they did it for ease, as if anyone did injure themselves while not wearing a seatbelt, then it wouldn’t be American’s fault. It was the only reason we could think of to have it on for so long with absolutely no reason. 
so there are no more photos as we came into land. However, the second we were on the ground, everyone turned their cell phones on, so my camera went back on too.. 
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