Hawaiian Airlines Lie Flat Seats are now flying from Honolulu to select long haul destinations. Among those destinations are Tokyo-Narita, Brisbane and Auckland. The airline had begun installing the lie flat seats on their A330 fleet over the past several months. Part of the purpose was to update their previous first class product. Their original premium cabin consisted of recliner seats, which for a flight as long as HNL-JFK or HNL-BNE would be terribly uncomfortable.
The New Seat
The airline’s new seat is a truly 180-degree lie flat product. It looks like a hybrid between the B/E Aerospace Diamond Suite and a British Airways First Class product trimmed down. Hawaiian announced their new product mid-to-late last year. This would make them the only airline to offer a truly lie flat product across most of their fleet to Hawaii. Other notable flights that have lie flats are United’s EWR-HNL, Delta’s ATL-HNL and American’s DFW-HNL. The only product that can compete with the Hawaiian Airlines lie flats is Delta, which still offers all aisle access.
The new seat will be in a staggered 2x2x2 configuration. They will have a large privacy screen, as well as an iPad holder. The seat does not have built in IFE. There will be an enhanced amenity kit provided to each passenger. Each kit will have all the essentials with a Hawaiian flair. More details here.
Aircraft Configuration
The new A330 configuration will be a major improvement in terms of premium cabin offering. Premium cabin will still be 18 seats, but the Extra Comfort class will go from 40 to 68 seats. Economy will shrink from 236 to 192 seats. Extra Comfort is the airline’s extra-legroom seating.
The airline expects to continue retrofitting its A330 fleet over the course of the year. Slowly introducing them to flights to the mainland US. Their most likely first market will be JFK, given the length of the flight.
Landing Thoughts:
I am very excited to try out Hawaiian Airlines lie flats. The fact that someone is finally installing a true long haul product for flights that more often than not are as long as flights to Europe is a great development. Hawaiian Airlines is one of the more original airlines in the US. With this product, they will have a leg up on all their competitors from the mainland. With due time, I expect to see the lie flats on all flights to the US. This will be pending, however, the retirement of their 767s.
What do you think? Do you want to try Hawaiian’s new lie flats? Have you flown the new or old product recently? Let us know!
