What is Extra Comfort?
As I mentioned in the introductory post, we’d booked regular economy, but were offered the option to upgrade to Extra Comfort during the check-in process. We paid $50 per person, but looking at the Hawaiian website it seems the prices have either increased dramatically, or we got an extra-good deal.
Hawaiian advertises a few different benefits of Extra Comfort, but many of them are route-specific. At a minimum, you’ll get:
- More legroom
- Priority boarding
- Personal electrical power outlet
On the A330, you’ll also get a “Complimentary ‘Unlimited TV & More’ entertainment pack,” but the North American routes don’t include headphones, so you’ll have to either bring your own or buy them on board. And on international flights to destinations other than Papeete, you’ll get an amenity kit.
So Hawaiian is basically offering a hybrid premium economy product — some of the benefits are better, but it’s the same seat as regular economy. It’s clearly working well for them, as they’ve gone from 40 Extra Comfort seats on the old product, to 68 on the reconfigured planes.
I will say that the mini-cabin looked much more tranquil, and if you can ensure seats in rows 11 or 12 it’s probably worth the price premium. Otherwise I’m not convinced.
Hawaiian’s Extra Comfort experience
After a fun morning of outrigger canoeing and sushi (the best, really), we headed to the airport. Even with PreCheck, the security queues in Maui can be outrageous, and it took about 20 minutes between arriving at the terminal and reaching our gate. We were still plenty early, as the crew hadn’t even boarded yet. We were expecting to have the same plane as our outbound trip, but were surprised to have the same crew as well. They recognized us from the outbound trip, so we spent a fun few minutes chatting in the gate area.
Hawaiian 34
Kahului (OGG) – Los Angeles (LAX)
Depart: 1:25PM
Arrive: 9:40PM
Duration: 5hr15min
Aircraft: Airbus A330
Seat: 14A (Extra Comfort)
Boarding was much more organized than in Los Angeles, and we quickly found our seats. The bulkhead wouldn’t have been our first choice, but that’s what happens when you upgrade at check-in.
Waiting at our seats were a pillow and day blanket, which were a nice and unexpected touch.
Row 14 is also equipped with the option for a baby bassinet, and there was plenty of legroom.
Individual IFE screens were embedded in the armrests, and has messaging reflecting Extra Comfort.
This designation matters, because only a portion of the entertainment selection is complimentary in regular economy.
Headphones, however, were not included. Josh, our business class flight attendant from the outbound, came back with headphones for us once the doors were shut. We thanked him and declined, but I thought that was a very kind gesture.
Mounted on the wall ahead of us was a screen displaying the airshow, which is the only IFE I need anyway. 😉
I will admit that I am thankfully out of practice with longhaul economy, which put me at a bit of a disadvantage, as the rest of the cabin had clearly flown Hawaiian economy before. As soon as we reached altitude, the flight attendants came through with the “Pau Hana” buy-on-board cart. And people went in! I’ve never seen a group of people so interested in procuring random packaged snack foods — we could have made a killing off of a pre-flight Costco trip.
So if you think you might want some Peanut M&Ms halfway through your flight, either bring your own, or be prepared to aggressively snatch them in the first trip of the cart. Goodness.
Shortly afterwards the crew came through with the drink cart. I asked for still water, and was left a full bottle of local water and a packet of snack mix.
Meals were delivered shortly afterwards — there wasn’t a choice of entree, but as many carriers don’t offer meals in the main cabin on Hawaii flights you can’t really complain about a lack of selection.
The meal consisted of a mixed-bean side salad, which was surprisingly good, and a shortbread-style cookie, accompanying a main dish of shoyu chicken with rice and veggies.
On balance the food was actually better than our first class meals on the outbound, even if the chicken dish was reminiscent of my elementary school lunches on Oahu.
Otherwise, it was a fairly uneventful flight. I had time to read a book (Molokai, for those interested in my poorly-organized traveler’s book club), and get a bit of work done. Nothing too exciting to report, which is I guess ideal for an economy flight. 😉
We landed in LA a bit early, but fortunately didn’t have to wait for a gate, and were to the curb waiting for an Uber less than ten minutes after landing. Super easy.
Bottom line
Let’s be honest — I am personally going to continue to try and structure my life such that a paid long-haul economy flight on a carrier where I can’t earn meaningful miles or leverage elite status is a rarity. So I probably won’t be experiencing Hawaiian’s Extra Comfort cabin again anytime soon.
But there are some small touches — like the meals — that make Hawaiian a nicer experience than you might see otherwise. So if you also find yourself in a similar situation, I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend Hawaiian, though I also wouldn’t pay a premium for it over other carriers.
I’m also not convinced that Extra Comfort is worth the prices Hawaiian is charging, at least not for the relatively short flights between Hawaii and California, but everyone values space differently.
Have you flown Hawaiian economy? How does Extra Comfort compare?
Omg I’m surprised at the complaints about extra comfort! I ALWAYS upgrade as I’m 6 ft tall. The seats themselves are no different, just the leg room. The bulkhead seats for me were great when four of us went to Maui for my birthday. We were allowed to put all our belongings in front of us on the floor so we could prop up our feet, the attendant said we paid for that space so...
Omg I’m surprised at the complaints about extra comfort! I ALWAYS upgrade as I’m 6 ft tall. The seats themselves are no different, just the leg room. The bulkhead seats for me were great when four of us went to Maui for my birthday. We were allowed to put all our belongings in front of us on the floor so we could prop up our feet, the attendant said we paid for that space so we could decline people using it as an aisle to walk through. You also have electric plugs and HDMI plugs to charge stuff. Worth the money to me
Was it worth the extra expense?
I just paid for the Extra Comfort in Row 11. We are leaving tomorrow for Oahu. Interested to see how it is. I think it will be better than in the mid or back of the plane. Excited!
After flying today from Sydney to Honolulu with Hiawian and paying extra for Premium
Comfort seats it became accutely clear to me the seats were exactly the same as the regular economy seats. We were in row 33 the centre four seats up against a bulkhead wall.
Adjacent to the toilets either side. NEVER AGAIN. Constantly woken up with the continual flow of people lining up to go and the noise just didn’t...
After flying today from Sydney to Honolulu with Hiawian and paying extra for Premium
Comfort seats it became accutely clear to me the seats were exactly the same as the regular economy seats. We were in row 33 the centre four seats up against a bulkhead wall.
Adjacent to the toilets either side. NEVER AGAIN. Constantly woken up with the continual flow of people lining up to go and the noise just didn’t stop. Not mention the dam wall was just enough distance away to be annoying because you couldn’t put your feet anywhere.
No special early seating call privaledges or check in. My daughter didn’t even get a breakfast
And the food was crap. Not impressed never fly with Hawaiian again.
The one thing I cannot seem to find any information about is honestly the most important thing to me. I have extra comfort / premium economy on Hawaiian. I've flown other extra comfort / premium economy products that are great in terms of leg room until the person still reclines fully in front of you. In past experiences, such as Virgin, I had premium and the leg room was awesome, however, ones the other person...
The one thing I cannot seem to find any information about is honestly the most important thing to me. I have extra comfort / premium economy on Hawaiian. I've flown other extra comfort / premium economy products that are great in terms of leg room until the person still reclines fully in front of you. In past experiences, such as Virgin, I had premium and the leg room was awesome, however, ones the other person in premium economy reclined fully in front of me, my legs still felt pinned in with only an inch or two (barely) to move my legs at all. Is Hawaiian the same way? If the person in premium reclines in front of me into my premium economy space, am I going to lose a lot of comfort space for my own movement, etc. This is what always concerns me and no one ever seems to mention this fact either so I've been very disappointed in premium products in the past due to this.
Wait...you went to school on Oahu? Where? And what year did you graduate?
I found extra comfort seating really worthwhile and frequently fly from SFO to OGG. It's $50 extra for a lot more room around me, and that alone is worth the price, especially since all carriers to Hawaii tend to be filled with a million kids making a lot of noise. Extra comfort is in the front, so you are at least a bit apart from everyone. It makes a huge difference to me and my...
I found extra comfort seating really worthwhile and frequently fly from SFO to OGG. It's $50 extra for a lot more room around me, and that alone is worth the price, especially since all carriers to Hawaii tend to be filled with a million kids making a lot of noise. Extra comfort is in the front, so you are at least a bit apart from everyone. It makes a huge difference to me and my spouse when we travel. Also, yes, it's more comfortable, but mainly, just more spacious.
Flew from SYD/HNL rtn in Y and was pleasantly surprised by the comfort of the seats and the service/food on the flights.
Being 6 ft I was concerned that the seating may see me cramped but had no troubles despite one flight being 100% full.
Flights turned out to be better than the last few flights in Y with either Qantas or Emirates (both on A380s).
Slept much better (even though marginally shorter flights) on Hawaiian. Pleasantly surprised.
I hate bulkheads. They actually have less legroom than regular seats. More room for your knees maybe, but less room to stretch your legs and feet out.
"Extra Comfort" is definitely a must on long haul Hawaiian flights say between Hawaii & Australia.
Thank you.
Economy!
One reason I was willing to pay a little more for Hawaiian SEA-HNL is the wide body plane with 2-4-2 configuration in economy. It’s so much more comfortable not having a stranger in the row with us! And, as the small one I always get the dreaded middle seat, so yay Hawaiian!
@RD, look at the picture and you'll see that they are in a mini-cabin, that's what makes them special
Hey Tiffany great write as to what Hawaiians "W" class has , I have one question after reading this. What's special about rows 11 and 12 that make them more Worthwhile than the other seats? Thanks.
I speak Hawaiian.