Flight to Hawaii

We were going to Hawaii!!  This was the trip that we had originally planned for Spring Break 2020.  But, because of Covid, we canceled our plans and decided to go at a later date.  We had until December 31, 2022, to use our plane tickets and our GoOahu card.  So we decided to go the week before Christmas.

Ethan and Courtney finished finals and Ethan drove home on Thursday.  We packed and then waited until it was time to drive to Las Vegas to catch our red-eye flight to Oahu.  Our flight wasn't set to leave until after 1 am, which meant that we didn't need to leave our house until around 10 pm.  Bryan was set to take a nap and I was trying to check us into our flight when I discovered that we didn't have seats assigned.  Our confirmation had seats assigned so I was a bit confused.  I called Hawaiian airlines to find out what we needed to do.  They told me that we couldn't be assigned seats until we were at the airport and that they couldn't guarantee that we would sit together because we didn't have seat assignments.  

I was a bit worried because I didn't want us all over the plane for a long flight.  The woman on the phone told me that we needed to get to the airport and get our seat assignments as soon as we could to help our chances of getting seats together. So we decided to leave for the airport really early in the hopes that we could get seat assignments.

We got to the Las Vegas airport about 5 hours before our flight and...the Hawaiian Airlines customer service desk was unmanned.  We didn't know what to do but we wanted to be the first in line so Bryan started the line.  I asked a customer service person at the next desk and they said that Hawaiian Airlines people don't show up until 2 hours before the flight.  So here we were, with 3 hours to spare before they would show up.  Bryan took one for the team, put in his earphones, listened to his book on Audible, and waited in line for hours.  He made friends with the other people in line while he was waiting.  

At 11 pm, when they were supposed to show up, no one had come.  At 11:30-ish they finally showed up and we were able to ask.  We were told that we wouldn't get seat assignments until we were at the gate.  So all that time had been wasted!  But we checked our bags, went through security, and found our gate.  The woman there told me that they wouldn't do gate assignments until right before the flight. Once again, Bryan started the line and stood there.

At around 12:15 am, they announced that we didn't need to stand in line because they would call us up to give us our seat assignments.  By this time, there was a long line behind Bryan, I was vowing to never fly Hawaiian Airlines again, and the kids were tired.  They finally called our name around 12:30 am and I went to the counter ready for a fight.  The woman calmly handed us our tickets.  I asked if we were together and she said "Oh, did you want to be together?" I said "yes" and she said, "Good, because you are."  

Finally, it was time to load onto the plane.  We had been in the airport WAY too long and were ready to get on with our vacation.  Imagine our surprise when we got on the plane and had been assigned seats in business class! We were right behind first class and had tons of legroom.  We had the row together and there were blankets on our seats. It was nice and I decided I didn't hate Hawaiian Airlines anymore.

First class was behind that curtain.

We were finally on our way to Hawaii!  We napped off and on during the flight.  Courtney had a hard time getting comfortable.  She was hoping to sleep on the tray table but it was too small.  So she leaned on me and put her head on my lap.

Then we got close and arrived in Honolulu.

Courtney has figured out, from her trips with her soccer team, how to carry her luggage with style. Her carryon is on her back and her backpack is on her front.  Efficient!