Review of United flight from Honolulu to San Francisco in Economy

PERfect MEDIOCRITY - United 777-200 domestic economy

After 7 days in the paradise, it's time to return home to gloomy and frigid California. I could have chosen the non stop HNL-LAX that lands at 0600 but where's the fun in that? Decided to fly into my neighborhood airport of John Wayne (SNA) with a stop in San Francisco, where I will stop by the Amex Centurion lounge. 

Before entering the check-in area, all carry ons and checked bags must be scanned for agricultural products and prohibited species being carried away from the island of Oahu. 

After a short interaction with the very friendly agent (aka the kiosk), I received my boarding pass for both HNL-SFO and SFO-SNA legs. Didn't want to pay $35 for the overweight and oversized carry-on bag so decided to volunteer to gate check for free… Let's be honest, if you have 330 vacationers packed in a 3-4-3 777 returning home from Hawaii after Christmas, there will not be enough room in the overhead compartments.

Lost my pre check earlier 2019 due to expired green card and USCIS's waiting period of almost 4 years to renewal… First time ever on my life my TSA experience that is swift, polite, and made me feel welcome. 

Hawaiian airlines plumeria lounge (interisland terminal)

Located just 10 minutes away from the G concourse by shuttle at the interisland terminal, the Hawaiian Airlines Plumeria Lounge accepts priority pass (in my case given by my Amex Platinum). It's not worth paying for the visit, but definitely worth the ride from the G concourse.

It has a good selection of drinks, snacks, and budget alcohol. 

Rating
Comfort: 10
Meal/catering: 8
WIFI: 10
Services: 9

37/40=92.5% 

Boarding ua396 hnl-sfo

Here's my ride today, N778UA, a 24 year old Boeing 777-222.

Boarding was done by groups and surprisingly organized and free of gate lice… Guess people (even gate lice) don't want to leave Hawaii.

There were two sets of aerobridges; however, only one was used for boarding.

Taking my last gulp of fresh-ish air before sitting 5 hours in a metal tube. Last flight of 2019, first flight of 2020 (flying through the new year)

As advertised, this 777 was in a 3-4-3 in Economy, and 2-4-2 in Business. 

united b777-200 domestic economy

Seat pitch was (35 in.) at Economy Plus rows. A blanket was provided at every seat. Of course, when I say blanket it means sliver of polyester that's lighter than air, but still better than nothing.

Seat pitch was 31 inches at regular economy rows,  enough with room to spare for my 170 cm / 5'6" and 46 kilos / 106 pounds frame.  

The PDE holder works well with my ipad. If I take my glasses off, it looks just like if it were a part of the seat. Sidenote: United abbreviates personal device entertainment as PDE, which in math means Partial Differential Equations… 

Our route today was estimated at 4 hours and 39 minutes, with the actual flight time being 4 hours 33 minutes and 12 seconds.

Tracked the flight via ForeFlight using ADS-B receiver Sentry Mini for accurate flight data.

17 minutes behind schedule, we took off from 08R and climbed to 35,000 feet. 

Wifi was provided at an additional charge of course. I chose not to purchase one because the service was very spotty on my last LAX-KOA flight, also serviced by Panasonic. $14 for the full flight seems a bit high.

Some not so interesting movie options to fall asleep with

About 70 minutes before arrival, flight attendants came by for the only drink and snack service on this flight. Sorry for the blurry picture it was really dark and I didn't want to turn on lights and wake up my snoring seatmate(s). 

Got 2.5 hours or so of "sleep" before descending into San Francisco. 

Short final for 28R at SFO

THE end