Review: Hawaiian Airlines Business Class Boeing 787 (HNL-LAX)

For the next segment of the return portion of our winter trip to Tokyo & Niseko, I flew Hawaiian Airlines’ Boeing 787-9 business class on the 4hr40min flight from Honolulu (HNL) to Los Angeles (LAX).

I was excited about this flight, as the Dreamliner is a new addition to Hawaiian’s fleet, and it opens up some interesting opportunities, especially with Alaska having acquired Hawaiian. Down the line, the plan is for these airplanes to be based in Seattle (SEA), and operate as part of Alaska’s new international gateway.

This product is marketed as the Leihōkū Suites, and let me start by acknowledging that you could refer to this as first class, or business class, or whatever you’d like. Hawaiian markets the product as first class, but given that the plane will also eventually operate long haul international flights, it’s really a business class product, for all practical purposes.

Hawaiian’s 787 business class is an awesome experience. I love how the airline has comfortable business class suites with doors, and excellent tech. Hawaiian’s soft product is also nicely themed, with so many touches reminding you that you’re flying to or from Hawaii. I also find Hawaiian’s crews to be very friendly.

I’d say the only downsides to the experience are that there’s no Wi-Fi, but that should be changing eventually. I can’t wait to see how Hawaiian’s 787 strategy evolves over time, especially with Alaska’s acquisition.

How I booked my Hawaiian Airlines business class ticket

Revenue premium cabin fares to and from Hawaii are often quite reasonable. In this case, I booked the following flight in business class for $800.75:

3/11 HA2 Honolulu to Los Angeles departing 12:40PM arriving 8:50PM

As a point of comparison, I could’ve redeemed 80,000 HawaiianMiles for the same ticket, but in this case, I figured paying cash was the better value, especially since I had an Alaska travel credit to use.

Hawaiian Airlines business class lounge & boarding

Hawaiian Airlines business class passengers traveling to the mainland receive access to the Plumeria Lounge. I didn’t bother visiting the lounge this time around (though I’ve reviewed it in the past), because it’s really quite bad — it’s usually super crowded, with a very limited selection of food and drinks. The carrier’s new flagship lounge can’t open soon enough.

Fortunately, Honolulu’s Daniel K. Inouye International Airport is a pleasant place to hang out even without lounge access. I love how much of the airport is open air, making for great plane spotting opportunities. There’s also plenty of indoor seating, which is air conditioned.

I mostly hung around the gate area, and watched as the Hawaiian 787 that I’d be flying arrived at the gate from Phoenix (PHX). I was flying on the one-year-old 787-9 with the registration code N781HA, which is the carrier’s second Dreamliner.

My flight was departing from gate C3, with boarding scheduled for 11:55AM, 45 minutes before departure. That’s exactly when boarding started, with premium passengers being invited to board first.

Hawaiian Airlines 787 business class cabin & seats

I boarded through the second set of doors, where I was greeted by the friendly crew, and pointed left to the business class cabin. Before even entering the cabin, I admired the Koa wood-inspired paneling. How fun!

Hawaiian Airlines’ 787s have 34 business class seats, spread across nine rows, in a 1-2-1 configuration, with all seats having direct aisle access, fully flat beds, and privacy doors.

Specifically, the airline has selected the Adient Ascent seat. Qatar Airways was the launch customer for this product, on its Boeing 787-9s. Hawaiian is the second airline to introduce this, but it’s also the new business class product you’ll soon find on both American and United. So that’s kind of funny.

The Adient Ascent seat is customizable for airlines, between herringbone and reverse herringbone layouts. In the case of Hawaiian, the airline opted for reverse herringbone seats along the windows, and herringbone seats along the center of the aircraft. This means that all seats face in the direction of the windows.

Those traveling with others may like to select a pair of center seats. These herringbone seats are better than reverse herringbone seats if you’re traveling with someone, since you are seated closer to one another. But if you’re traveling alone, worry not, as there’s a full privacy partition that can be raised.

Meanwhile those traveling alone, or those who just value being able to gaze out the window (not that there’s much in the way of views over the Pacific, though the departure and approach can be beautiful!), may prefer one of the window seats.

I assigned myself seat 9A, the window seat on the left side in the last row of business class. Each business class seat has 45″ of pitch, 21″ of width, and an 18″ high definition touchscreen monitor.

At the window seats, I’d say that this feels like a pretty standard reverse herringbone product.

As far as features go, next to the seat you’ll find a counter space, along with a storage compartment, which also has a mirror. The storage compartment has a hook where you can keep headphones, but there’s not all that much storage space beyond that. When it comes to charging, the seat has an AC and USB-A power outlet, plus wireless charging, which can be used by vertically placing your phone in a “holder.” Unfortunately there’s no USB-C outlet.

Seat functions can be controlled via a panel to the side of the seat. There’s also a handheld controller, but I find it to be unnecessary, given that the monitor is also touchscreen.

Interestingly, the tray table folds out from underneath the entertain monitor, and I found it to be quite easy to use.

The Dreamliner cabin features a huge amount of privacy. Even without using the privacy doors, you won’t really see anyone else.

But there are also doors, which can easily be opened or closed, for added privacy during the flight.

As is standard for seats configured like this, there’s a footwell to the side of seat where you place your feet when the seat reclines. I found this one to be roughly average as far as reverse herringbone seats go, and I had no issues getting comfortable.

The one other thing worth mentioning is that Hawaiian’s 787s don’t have individual air nozzles, which is disappointing for a US carrier. On the plus side, I found that the cabin was kept quite cold throughout the flight, so that wasn’t an issue at all.

All-in-all, this is a great product. I’m a fan of the Adient Ascent seat, and rank it roughly fifth among business class seats. I really like Hawaiian’s cabin finishes, so the airline gets high marks for that. What a lovely product, especially when you consider that Hawaiian beat both American and United to introducing this as its business class.

Hawaiian Airlines business class amenities

So, what were amenities like on this flight? It’s important to remember that this was just a Hawaii to West Coast mainland flight, so it’s not treated the same as an international long haul flight. Waiting at each seat were a pillow and blanket, which I found to be decent. It wasn’t up to your typical international business class bedding, but was above average by domestic standards.

There were also a pair of decent quality headphones waiting at each seat, but given that Hawaiian also has bluetooth audio, that’s not really necessary.

There weren’t amenity kits or any other noteworthy amenities. However, during boarding, the crew came around with pre-departure drinks, in proper glassware. The choices were sparkling wine, a mai tai, POG (passion, orange, guava), or water. I chose the mai tai, which hit the spot.

Hawaiian Airlines 787 business class entertainment

Hawaiian’s 787s have crisp 18″ monitors in business class, with audio and video on demand. I’d say the selection was fine, but nothing too exciting. There were roughly 50 movies and 60 TV shows, with some of the shows having multiple episodes.

I ended up watching some cute Hawaii-based TV shows, which I enjoyed (and no, not Hawaii Five-0, hah).

Unfortunately Hawaiian’s 787s don’t yet have Wi-Fi. However, the expectation is that the jets will be getting Starlink Wi-Fi in the not too distant future, since that’s available on most of Hawaiian’s fleet.

Hawaiian Airlines 787 departure from Honolulu

As someone who loves airline boarding music, I adore how Hawaiian plays local music during boarding, and even has videos on the screens about this. Ugh, I was so bummed to not be spending any time in Hawaii on this trip, because it’s one of my favorite places in the world.

At 12:30PM, the main cabin door closed, well ahead of schedule, with a full business class cabin. The lead flight attendant made her welcome aboard announcement, on behalf of the nine Honolulu-based flight attendants.

A moment later, the captain was on the PA to advise us of our flight time of 4hr40min, and our anticipated on-time arrival into Los Angeles. Interestingly, it was then another 20 minutes until we actually pushed back, with no update from the captain as to what was going on.

We did eventually push back at 12:50PM, at which point the (cute) safety video was screened.

We ended up starting our taxi at 1PM, and from there, we had a long but fast taxi out to runway 8R, also known as the Reef Runway.

There’s something special about taxiing to the Reef Runway, given how close it is to the water.

We ended up taking off at 1:10PM…

As normal, an 8R departure meant some breathtaking views on the climb out. However, we didn’t see land for long, as we soon started our journey over the Pacific.

The seatbelt sign stayed on for roughly 35 minutes, until we reached our cruising altitude. At that point the captain was back on the PA, to inform us that we were at our cruising altitude of 37,000 feet. She also mentioned that we’d be landing into the east in Los Angeles, which is unusual for that time in the evening.

Hawaiian Airlines business class meal service

On this flight, a meal was served after takeoff. Menus had been passed out on the ground, and you can find the food and drink selection below. Meal orders were also taken before takeoff.

Service was very quick to get started after takeoff, which I was grateful for, since I was looking forward to getting some sleep. Tablecloths were distributed just 10 minutes after takeoff, and drinks were served 15 minutes after that. There was no use of carts, but rather flight attendants delivered all service items from the galley, which I find to be a nice touch.

To drink, I ordered the Old Fashioned pre-made cocktail from On The Rocks, and that came with the carrier’s signature macadamia nuts. Yum and yum.

Around 45 minutes after takeoff, the meal was served. With the exception of dessert, everything was on a single tray. There were two choices of main courses, and I selected the garlic mushroom and vegetable fried noodles with cucumber kimchi. That was served with a side of smoked mushroom dip with toast points, and a warmed Hawaiian taro roll.

The meal wasn’t anything memorable, but it was tasty, and I appreciated the cute Hawaiian touches, like the taro roll. The noodle dish was a little more interesting-tasting than it might look, as it had a kick to it. To drink, I had a glass of chardonnay.

Once the main course was cleared, I had the dessert, which was a scrumptious mango mousse soufflé crunch, and I had a cup of coffee to go along with it.

I thought it was a solid meal, and I liked the cute Hawaiian service elements, from the macadamia nuts, to the taro roll.

Hawaiian Airlines 787 business class lavatory

Hawaiian’s 787s have two business class lavatories — one is located at the front left of the cabin, and the other is located at the back right of the cabin. The lavatories are pretty typical for the Dreamliner, with the only unique features being a cute floral arrangement, plus Hawaiian music that plays when the doors are locked (which is always fun).

Hawaiian Airlines 787 business class bed

Once settled in back at my seat, we had around 3hr30min remaining to Los Angeles.

It had been a long day already, and I’d be taking yet another redeye upon landing, so I decided to get some rest. I reclined my seat into the fully flat position, made my bed, and closed the door.

I’d say the Adient Ascent seat is roughly average in terms of bed comfort, as far as reverse herringbone seats go. It’s perfectly comfortable, but it doesn’t feel as spacious as the Collins Aerospace Elements product, for example.

As a side sleeper, I found it was best to sleep facing left, since there’s a bit of a cutout by the fuselage. However, when facing right, it felt tighter, since there wasn’t space for my bent knees.

One thing I love about Hawaiian’s Dreamliners is how there are stars on the ceiling. I know this seems like such a dumb gimmick, but it really makes me smile every time, and for whatever reason, puts me at ease.

I managed to get nearly 2.5 hours of sleep, and woke up with just over an hour remaining to Los Angeles.

At this point I was treated to a gorgeous sunset. No matter how many flights I take, a sunrise or sunset from a plane never gets old.

Prior to arrival, the crew did another round of drinks. I ordered a cup of coffee, and that was served with a delicious cookie from Honolulu.

Hawaiian Airlines business class service

The flight attendants on this sector were excellent. I’ve found Hawaiian crews to consistently provide great service, and this flight was no exception. I find they’re warm, hospitable, and informal, and perfectly exemplify island hospitality.

While this was a Honolulu-based crew, I find that Hawaiian’s mainland crews are really good as well. In that sense, Alaska and Hawaiian are a great match, since they both have above average employees, if you ask me.

Hawaiian Airlines 787 arrival in Los Angeles

Before I knew it, we were preparing for our approach to Los Angeles. At 8:30PM local time, the captain was on the PA to inform us that we’d be landing at 9:05PM. That’s right around the time that we started our descent, and five minutes later, the seatbelt sign was turned on.

While we did indeed land from west to east, that didn’t mean our approach was very direct. We made landfall near San Luis Obispo, then flew out over the Pacific again near Santa Barbara, before eventually turning east toward LAX.

We ended up touching down on runway 6L at 9:05PM. From there, we had a lengthy taxi to our arrival gate at Tom Bradley International Terminal, specifically, in the Midfield Satellite Concourse, where we pulled in at 9:15PM. That was around 25 minutes behind schedule.

I bid farewell to the crew, and rushed over to Terminal 2, where my Delta A321neo redeye to Fort Lauderdale (FLL) would be departing from.

Bottom line

I had a pleasant flight in Hawaiian’s 787 business class. Hawaiian offers comfortable business class suites, friendly service, and pretty good food, drinks, and amenities. I can’t wait for these planes to get Starlink Wi-Fi, as that will really take the experience to the next level. I can’t wait to see what Alaska Air Group has planned for these Dreamliners in the long run.

Perhaps what’s most interesting about the experience is that these Adient Ascent seats are the same that you’ll soon find on American and United, as that’s the new product that both carriers are introducing.

What do you make of Hawaiian’s 787 business class?