Hawaiian Airlines Manila Nonstop

[macuu222]

I was wondering if anyone has flown to Manila on the Hawaiian Airlines non-stop from Honolulu? I was looking at the airfares and right now and you can currently fly roundtrip to Manila from Honolulu for less than what it would cost to fly to the east coast...$750.00. Even first class is incredibly cheap! Just wondering what the catch is....

Is it safe to go there?

Anyone?

[John S. Rabi]

No catch, and safe to go there, just use common sense. (I took the same flight several months ago, but went on to Cebu.)

Aloha,
John S. Rabi, GM,PB,ABR,CRB,CM,FHS
888.819.9669
johnrabi@johnrabi.com
http://www.JohnRabi.com
Typically Tropical Properties
"The Next Level of Service!"
(This is what I think of the Kona Board of Realtors http://www.nsm88.org/aboutus.html)

[macuu222]

Thanks John. We would be flying on also. ...but have to spend 36 hours there to connect with a Jet Star flight to Darwin.

[missydog1]

How was Cebu, John?
The pics of the ocean/beaches look gorgeous.
I have one of those island of the world calendars and just finished a month that featured the Philippines -- and I thought, WOW, I never knew it was so beautiful.

It's a long flight though, no?
Flying along the equatorial route means a lot of hours.

It's cool how many places Hawaiian goes now. Back in 2008 I was checking all the carriers to China (because I had won a trip), and Hawaiian only flew to Manila, and that was new. Now they fly to Tokyo, Kansai, Bangkok, as well as Sydney, Samoa, Pape'ete.

My husband and I had accumulated enough Hawaiian Miles (charge those home renovations to Hawaiian card!) to fly for free to Pape'ete about five years ago, and it was an OK flight. It wasn't the most deluxe 767, for sure. It was pretty basic, and I was glad the flight was only six hours. What equipment is Hawaiian flying to Manila?

Have you looked at the airline review sites? I like this one.
http://www.airlinequality.com/Forum/hawaiian.htm

These are the Manila route reviews ...

quote:

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Hawaiian Airlines customer review : 13 July 2011 by Jon Veel (Singapore)
Trip Rating : 4/10
Cabin Flown:First

Manila-Seattle via Honolulu and return with an additional stopover in Maui. Flights were labelled as Business Class (MNL-HNL) and First Class (HNL-SEA) though in fact, there is no difference in cabin or service. All flights were on Hawaiian's elderly 767's. Do not be fooled by the winglets (which HA added to save fuel), these are old planes with interiors to match.

Also, do not for a moment think you will be getting anything like a Business or First Class product on a first tier airline, this would be a mediocre Premium Economy product at best. The seat I would guesstimate the pitch to be around 38-40" with limited recline and in a 2-2-2 layout with only 3 rows. I am 6ft 5" and sat in 1B for all sectors, this bulkhead seat has the advantage that you don't have someone reclining their head into your lap, but the leg space is woefully inadequate. I had to sit at an angle with my feet into the forward galley to get at all comfortable. The AV comprised personal players that were handed out with a limited range of films and TV shows pre-loaded. Unfortunately this was the same content for all 4 long haul flights and by the end of the first flight I had already watched all that interested me. It was also awkward to use these during the meal service as there was basically nowhere to put them.

Food was adequate although dry and uninspiring. The "champagne" served on take off was in fact a fairly unpleasant Prosecco and the single white wine choice with the meal was probably a hazard to the aircraft paintwork if you spilled any. As with all airplane travel, the quality of the experience is relative to the price you have paid. Clearly Hawaiian are used to people upgrading into this cabin either as a frequent flyer freebie or as a $1-200 add on to the regular ticket price in which case, possibly its worth it, but probably not.

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quote:

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Hawaiian Airlines customer review : 20 May 2011 by Peter Pomeranze (USA)
Trip Rating : 6/10
Cabin Flown:First

Honolulu-Manila Business Class. Very disappointed to note that Hawaiian Airlines new, upgraded inflight service is a real downgrade. They've ditched the tapas style menu for a slow food service. In addition they are no longer catered by Chef Gannon and for the first time in years I was served bad food on Hawaiian Airlines. The flight attendants were wonderful but clearly embarrassed by the downgrade. In addition the new printed menus are tacky. Also time to retire the 767. Just not up to standard for a 10 hour plus flight!

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quote:

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Hawaiian Airlines customer review : 19 May 2010 : by A Santos (Philippines)
Trip Rating : 0/10
Cabin Flown:Economy

MNL-SEA and LAS-MNL. Overall, a disappointing experience and we won't make the mistake of booking it again. It was really like taking a domestic US flight across the Pacific when there are so many options on international airlines. The service, amenities, and aircraft are not comparable. Manila check-in was ok but they had problems with non-working printers and were unable to print all of our boarding passes (they told us to just pick up the last one in HNL because they couldn't figure it out).

We boarded the 20+ year-old 767 with overhead bins sized from the 80's, no IFE, and ageing cabin. The flight attendants all appeared to be senior and had a lot of attitude. We overheard one flight attendant insult an elderly passenger behind her back because the passenger requested to change her new blanket which had hairs on it. The mocking and poor attitude of flight attendants which other reviewers below referred to was true on our flight.

To watch movies, they rented personal DVD players for $15 per segment. With a change of plane in HNL that meant 4 segments round-trip or $60 per person to watch movies. When we inquired if there was a seafood option (the only choices were chicken and pork), the flight attendant replied they used to have special meals but no longer offer them.

On the return flight from LAS we stopped over in HNL for a night but were charged baggage fees for that segment because it was technically a domestic flight - $25 per bag. Finally we took off from HNL-MNL and weren't in the air for 30 minutes when the captain announced a faulty generator requiring us to return to HNL (again a 20+ year-old 767).

However, we had to burn fuel first so we flew in circles at 7,000 ft for 4 hours with the landing gear and flaps fully extended - an uncomfortable ride. The flight attendants were plain combative with understandably worried and upset passengers. Six hours later we landed in HNL again. They arranged another plane with a new crew and we arrived in MNL 8 hours late.

To make matters worse, they left behind baggage of at least 50 passengers in HNL so there was an ugly queue of irate passengers at 2:30 am after an 8 hour delay. We received our luggage two days later. We wrote a letter to Hawaiian but they did not respond. All in all, if we had flown on CX or KE or OZ via HKG or SEL to the mainland, we could've avoided a tremendous amount of hassle (eg. having to collect your bags and check-in again in HNL), being nickel and dimed (eg. luggage fees and DVD rental fees), poor service (being insulted by flight attendant), and delays from old, faulty aircraft.

I should also mention I felt bad for the business class passengers who paid $2,000+ for their seats. The seats in business class are domestic US first class seats - very little recline and leg room. You have many choices and until Hawaiian actually starts caring about their transpacific passengers, we are not flying them again.

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The reviews on the Sydney flight from HNL seem a bit rosier. I think Qantas has a direct connection from Sydney to Darwin. I wonder if Hawaiian is using a better fitted aircraft for Sydney or the passengers are just easier to please.

On the trip I mentioned, we used our United miles to get a FF award on ANZ to continue on to the Cooks (Tahiti was out of our league for cost), and the contrast between airlines was sharp. Hawaiian is a friendly airline, but ANZ was a great flying experience, so much better in the plane itself, the service, the food, everything. The Hawaiian flight got us from point A to B safely, but I can see why the people taking the long trans-Pacific flights might complain.

[macuu222]

Thanks Kathy.

That's probably why the the tickets are soooo cheap. We really wanted to fly to Australia direct but they want twice the amount it cost to go to Manila. Hawaiian wanted $6200.00 for Business Class to Sydney for 2....Hawaiian wanted $3200.00 business class for two to Manila. Even with a jetstar connection from Manila to Darwin roundtrip ....it still saves us over $1500.00 (we didn't want to go to Sydney anyway). Don't really care about the seat comfort and I never eat their meals (even in First). Just as long as they keep the drinks coming and I get there in one piece...... I'll call it a good trip.

BTW....Hawaiian includes first class inter -island roundtrip to Honolulu to connect with the Manila flight at no extra charge! That's another $400.00 savings!

By comparison...A real First class international airline like New Zealand Air from Honolulu to Auckland charges $10,000 for their Business Class service for 2.


Hear is another comment someone made about the Honolulu Sydney run on Hawaiian:

"Hawaiian Airlines customer review : June 24, 2011


Economy

HNL-SYD. Travelling with 4 young children and wife. Departure delayed by 2 hrs. Nice new 767 but no personal AVOD. Could not get infant seat belt for 1 yr old despite repeated request. My wife was quite worried as this has always been available when needed. Staff seemed uninterested, almost unhelpful and sometimes rude. Kept to themselves gossiping in the back of the plane. Food was ok. Toilets started to break down half way through the 10 hr flight. 3 hrs out of SYD no toilets were working! A cabin announcement was made advising that passengers should refrain from using toilets especially depositing "solids". Captain advised on landing that he considered landing in Fiji but by the time pax would be deplaned it would have been about the same time to reach a working toilet. Sometimes things go wrong which is understandable but cabin crew were very poor. A memorable experience! "

[John S. Rabi]

quote:

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Originally posted by KathyH
How was Cebu, John? The pics of the ocean/beaches look gorgeous. I have one of those island of the world calendars and just finished a month that featured the Philippines -- and I thought, WOW, I never knew it was so beautiful. It's a long flight though, no? Flying along the equatorial route means a lot of hours.

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Cebu is beautiful, or I should say the resort area is beautiful. I went to two other islands too, unspoiled paradise! I'm used to these long flights since I regularly go to Taiwan and that takes even longer! (Not to mention my fights to Bali, Malaysia, Thailand and China! Direct flight to the Philippines?! Just a hop![][][]

Aloha,
John S. Rabi, GM,PB,ABR,CRB,CM,FHS
888.819.9669
johnrabi@johnrabi.com
http://www.JohnRabi.com
Typically Tropical Properties
"The Next Level of Service!"
(This is what I think of the Kona Board of Realtors http://www.nsm88.org/aboutus.html)

[missydog1]

sounds very fine, John. Sigh ... []
yes, if you fly to Asia that much it would be nothing. It would be a lot for me. I don't like flying.

makuu, boy I'm glad I wasn't on THAT flight! []

I think you have it all figured out. You don't care about the frills. Frequent fliers who do these reviews on long hauls seem to place a great emphasis on the personal entertainment, the food, and of course the leg room. (I would care about the leg room.) They also have a certain standard for Business and First, but as you point out, Hawaiian isn't charging the price for those classes that the airlines do that offer premium service in them.

I would still prefer a 777 to a 767 because the stability in flight seems much greater to me. A 777 feels like a big living room in the air, but on our flight home on Hawaiian, which was of course ocean all the way, the winds buffeted the plane constantly and I didn't like it. But then it was a windy time in the Pacific that we went, not normal weather.

But when I was looking at equipment for Hawai'i to Asia flights (in 2008, so maybe it's changed), I noticed that none of the airlines were flying their best planes out of Hawai'i. They were flying the premium planes out of LAX and other mainland airports, and using 747's and 767's and the airbuses (for some), and they weren't fitted with lie flat seats in premium classes, or laptop ports, the state of the art was just not in play for Hawai'i.

That's really nice about the inter-island flights being included. []
I've flown first on Hawaiian inter-island once and it was nothing I would pay much for as far as the flight went. I only did it as a $25 upgrade at check-in because my husband had had surgery and we wanted to use the lounge at the airport so he could lie down while we waited for a few hours.

The first class lounge for inter-island is not fancy at all but if you have any kind of wait between connections it is nice to be able to use it.

I've been reading Bill Bryson's book "In a Sunburned Country" in bits and pieces. Very funny.

[macuu222]

My understanding is that on Hawaiian International flights....Business class customers are allowed to use New Zealand's first class lounge in cites where Hawaiian doesn't have a lounge.

[missydog1]

Good deal ... []

Interesting that they share with Hawaiian. ANZ is a member of Star Alliance, Hawaiian isn't. (Aloha was.)

I will mention this although it might not be a factor for your destination. When we were overseas, we wanted to change our return flight on Hawaiian, but we were not able to get hold of them. We spent $50 in phone charges trying. IIRC, it was because their only CS number at that time was a 1-800, which you can't use when you are outside the U.S..

Because they only flew one flight a week out of the destination (Pape'ete), there was no Hawaiian office there. They only opened a few hours before the flight, at the airport, which at the time was at 1 a.m.. We were on another island and if we traveled to the airport there was no point in not going home.

I hope they have fixed that and now have an international contact phone #. You never know when something may happen where you need to communicate with your airline.

[macuu222]

I have one question that has been bothering me about travel in the Philippines, Australia, New Zealand etc...

They say that you need to show proof of return passage when entering the country. But in this day and age everything is paperless ...so what do you show them for a return ticket when your entering the country? Also how about if you only purchased passage one way because we didn't know how long it would take to see everything there is to see in a particular country (New Zealand) and wanted to leave it open? Can you do that? I have booked return passage from Australia...but not New Zealand..