Earlier in the year, I had the opportunity to visit the islands of Hawaii. There, I flew between Oahu and the Big Island on Aloha airlines.
A short background ================== Small airline that service mainly the islands of Hawaii. Recently has started flights with several cities on the west coast of USA as well as Vancouver. Service several pacific islands such as Christmas islands, Johnston islands etc.
My experience ============= As usual, we arrived early at the check-in counter of the Aloha airline section of the Honoluluairport. Check-in process was very efficient and within minutes, we had our boarding passes. It was only then that I found out that seats are not allocated but passengers choose their seats on boarding on a first-come first-served basis. This, I found interesting because I never expected this in America.
Anyway, towards boarding time, the queue for the boarding gate had started to grow. My husband and I decided to queue up, so we might have a chance of sitting together. Before we were allowed to board, we had to show some form of photo ID. In our case, we provided our passports together with our boarding passes.
The plane had 2 by 2 seatings. We managed to find seats together. The seats were quite spacious and comfortable, I didn't feel like it was a squeeze to get into my seat nor did I feel I could fit two of me into one seat! Some seats in the middle of the plane are reserved for people who are strong enough to lift the emergency doors. Apparently on these Boeings that Aloha airline is using, the emergency doors have to be physically lifted out in order to activate the floatation devices or something along these lines. The safety procedures was quite interesting too. I quote "in the event of an emergency, use seats as a floatation device ..." So, I have to rip my seat off and wrap on arms around it to stay floated ... as long as the sharks don't get to me first!
On the way to the Big Island from Oahu, it would be a good idea to sit on the left hand side of the plane. Why, you ask? Well, we were provided with a running commentary of the various islands on the way to the Big island and most of these islands are located on the left hand side ... plus the flight also provided a great view of the diamond head volcano on Oahu as well as the city of Oahu, so sit on the left side if you can!
Food wise, nothing! Its only a one hour flight, refreshment was provided in the form of a drink and nothing else.
Can't say anything about the washroom because I didn't get to visit it during the short flights. But I'm sure there were a couple in the plane!
The take-off and landing was reasonable smooth. The flight was punctual both ways. Nothing to complain about.
Cost ==== I bought my tickets as a holiday package from expedia.com which included return airfares from Oahu, car rental and accommodation. It came to around 640 US dollars for 2 people.
It is worth checking hotel websites on the Big island because they usually have very competitive deals with the domestic airlines and car rental companies.
Aloha airline also sells something call a 7-day Island pass. I believe it is the equivalent of a 7-day Eurorail pass. With this pass, you could have unlimited travel with Aloha airlines within the islands of Hawaii for around 340 US dollars (including tax). Personally I think this is a pretty good deal and allows a visitor to visit as many islands as possible.
Verdict ======= The flights were reasonable comfortable. There was the occassional turbulance (as expected) and on a small plane, one can always feel it. I've given it a 4 star because I feel they could do better in the refreshment area.
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