Hawaiian Airlines A330-200 Extra Comfort review: Extra okay(ish) is more like it

The most interesting thing about Hawaiian Airlines A330-200 Extra Comfort is its name.

For those that don’t know, Hawaiian Airlines Extra Comfort is their standard economy class seat with a few extra inches of legroom. That’s it. There are no other perks.

It’s the use of the word ‘extra’ that gets me. ‘Extra’ implies that economy class was even comfortable to begin with. It isn’t.

The good news is that those few extra inches do make a difference. It is better than regular economy. It ain’t ‘extra’ comfortable though. It’s just comfortable.

AS815
San Diego, CA (SAN) – Honolulu, HI (HNL)
Tuesday, September 22, 2026
Aircraft: A330-200
Registration: N399HA
Duration: 5 hours 34 minutes
Seat: 16C (Extra Comfort)

Hawaiian Airlines A330-200 (N399HA) side view illustration — Hawaiian Airlines A330-200 side view illustration by NorebboStock.com

AS815 flight track — Our route from San Diego to Honolulu this morning as AS815

My full review of Hawaiian Airlines A330-200 Extra Comfort from San Diego to Honolulu

”But Scott!” you say. “Didn’t you review this exact same product a long time ago?” Indeed I did. However, the 2017 version of Hawaiian A330-200 Extra Comfort was a lot more premium than 2026 version, so I felt that it was worth having another look. Things have changed (in not so pleasant ways).

Arrival and checking in at SAN

This flight was scheduled to depart at exactly 9 AM, and I ended up strolling into the airport just after 7 knowing that Hawaiian Airlines no longer serves hot food onboard. It would be my responsibility to nourish myself this morning, and I figured that an hour and a half would be enough time to do so.

Walking into the entrance of terminal 2 west San Diego airport — Welcome to t~~he entrance of Terminal 2 West at the San Diego International Airport~~ my portal to Hawaii this morning!

Scott Leazenby walking into terminal 2 west at the San Diego International Airport — FYI, it’s not an instant teleportation. I still gotta do the whole 5-hour Hawaiian Airlines A330 thing.

Looking down on the arrivals level roadway of terminal 2 at the San Diego International Airport at sunrise — A quick stop to take a picture of the sunrise (as one does when traveling through a portal out to the islands).

Overflowing United Airlines check-in San Diego airport terminal2 — Whoa. RIP to anyone going to Hawaii on United this morning I guess. This was the result of a network meltdown at EWR the day prior.

Walking through T2 West at the San Diego airport just after 7 AM. — **Pro tip:** tropical island portals are much easier to traverse if you fly the native airline (or at least any airline who didn’t think it was a good idea to build a hub at EWR of all places).

Alaska Airlines and Hawaiian Airlines aircraft parked at terminal 2 west San Diego airport — There’s Pualani, catching the attention of two pervy Alaska boys. Unfortunately for them, it’s technically incest now that the whole Alaska / Hawaiian merger is complete. #wompwomp

Scott Leazenby eating in the terminal 2 west food course San Diego airport — Speaking of #wompwomp, Hawaiian Airlines no longer serves hot food in Extra Comfort (or economy). Hence the stop here in the food court for an $18 breakfast bowl.

The boarding process for flight 815 to Honolulu

Based on how the entire booking process went (and all email correspondence from them leading up to this exact moment), I was relieved to hear the gate agents using the name “Hawaiian Airlines” when announcing the call for boarding.

Everything up to this point had been “Alaska Airlines”. It’s even an Alaska Airlines flight number for crying out loud (AS815). As a huge fan of Hawaiian Airlines, this frightens me.

Passengers waiting for Hawaiian Airlines flight at gate 51 San Diego airport terminal 2 west — Gate 51. Admit it. You were expecting rainbows, palm trees, and sea turtles during the Honolulu teleportation, weren’t you? This is “American Eagle E145 to Omaha” levels of energy IMHO.

Hawaiian Airlines San Diego to Honolulu extra comfort mobile boarding pass — Remember how the pervy Alaska boys were looking at Pualani a few pics back? I was doing the same to this sexy a** hot pink SAN-HNL boarding pass. *“Hey baby – how you doin’?”*

Despite being a completely full flight, they got the boarding process started (and completed) exactly on time. It’s like they’ve done this before.

Scott Leazenby walking down the gate 51 jet bridge San Diego airport

Inside gate 51 jet Bridge San Diego airport

Hawaiian Airlines A330-200 forward boarding door — The forward boarding door. Technically the most accurate definition of a portal to Hawaii in this entire review, but I’m not going back and rewriting those captions.

Hawaiian Airlines A330-200 N399HA Kumau plaque — The plaque here in the entryway identifies this aircraft as “Kumau” (N399HA). Kumau comes from Ku (to stand upright, be firm) and Mau (for the great navigator Mau Piailug). They didn’t mention it, but the ‘firm’ thing is also a reference to the seat that I would be sitting in for the next five hours.

Hawaiian Airlines A330-200 Extra Comfort seat overview

There are two Extra Comfort cabins on the A330-200 separated by a galley with 2 lavatories. The forward one consists of just two rows of seats, with the aft cabin consisting of 4 rows in the center section, and 8 rows along the windows. Both cabins are arranged in a fairly dense 2-4-2 layout.

Hawaiian Airlines A330-200 extra comfort cabin — The exact moment I found myself surrounded by Extra Comfort seats. I’ve been surrounded by worse things I suppose.

Hawaiian Airlines A330-200 row 16 middle section extra comfort seats — Row 16! That one here on the aisle is mine. I could only imagine what it was thinking as it was looking back at me.

Hawaiian Airlines A330-200 row 16 extra comfort seats — *“MF’r sure has a bony butt. I can’t live like this!”* (What I suppose it was thinking as I was having a look around)

Yes. These are the exact same seats you saw in my Hawaiian Airlines A330-200 economy review. The only difference is approximately 6 inches of extra legroom and “Extra Comfort” logos embroidered into brown headrests.

Hawaiian Airlines A330-200 extra comfort seat width — Seat width is meh. Legroom is pretty alright. The Hawaiian music playing on the overhead speakers (and video screens) is exactly what I would expect while preparing to be teleported out to a tropical island.

All seats feature video screens, USB-A charging ports, 2.5mm headphone jacks, and 110 V electrical outlets.

Under seat storage space Hawaiian Airlines A330-200 extra comfort — Let’s check in with my backpack. *“Yo, what’s it like down there?!”*

110 V electrical outlets Hawaiian Airlines A330-200 extra comfort down beneath them between the seats — *“Oh hey, there’s dual full-size 110 V electrical outlets down here!”* Really? I kinda figured he’d be more excited about all that space, but whatever.

Hawaiian Airlines A330-200 extra comfort seat armrest

Hawaiian Airlines A330-200 extra comfort adjustable headrest

Scott Leazenby sitting in the seat 16C Hawaiian Airlines A330-200 Extra Comfort — These Extra Comfort seats are nice and all, but it didn’t stop me from wishing for a last-minute upgrade. Hawaiian Airlines A330-200 first class is weird but legit, y’all.

Hawaiian Airlines A330-200 Extra Comfort seat back video screen — The video screen situation. I especially like how determined they are to finish their performance before the tide comes in.

Hawaiian Airlines A330-200 Extra Comfort overhead bin space — The overhead bin situation. Safe from high tides.

Hawaiian Airlines A330-200 Extra Comfort window seats — The window seat situation. Not necessarily safe from high tides, but at least the window will provide a nice view of all the chaos and destruction as the water level rises.

The departure from San Diego

Nearly every seat on this aircraft was occupied, but that didn’t stop us from being pushed off the gate four minutes early at 8:56 AM. Nice!

Watching the safety video on the video screen in Hawaiian Airlines A330-200 Extra Comfort — *“Please give us your attention as crewmembers share important information about today’s flight.”* Important information such as the fact that Hawaiian Airlines no longer serves free hot food in Extra Comfort and economy? Because that’s kind of a big deal IMHO.

Hawaiian Airlines A330-200 Extra Comfort aisle seats — We were about five minutes into the taxi to runway 27 when my backpack started getting curious. *“Yo, what’s it like up there?!”*

Hawaiian Airlines A330-200 Extra Comfort passengers row 16 center section — I had no choice but to be honest. *“There’s more space down there than there is up here, bro. You’ve got it pretty good actually.”*

We lost a bit of time while taxiing out to the runway. It took 26 minutes (when it was only supposed to take 10) and we ended up taking off 12 minutes late at 9:22 AM.

Looking out the window from the center section in Hawaiian Airlines A330-200 Extra Comfort while taxiing to the runway at SAN

Looking out the window from the center section in Hawaiian Airlines A330-200 Extra Comfort while taking off from San Diego airport

In-flight entertainment

You’ll be happy to know that everybody gets a video screen here in Extra Comfort (and economy) here on the A330. You’ll be disappointed to know that they do not provide any headphones at all. You’ll either have to bring your own or purchase them onboard.

Hawaiian Airlines A330-200 Extra Comfort default state of video screen showing time of flight remaining — Normally I just blow past the default state of the seat back video screen on my way to the movies and TV shows, but I took a beat to soak in as much of this beautiful Hawaiian scenery as I could. There was only 04h 52m of flight time remaining by the time I had enough.

Hawaiian Airlines A330-200 Extra Comfort in-flight entertainment language selection screen — Wait a sec. Polynesian isn’t an option? I want my money back!

The catalog of movies and TV shows is fairly decent. Delta, United, and American offer a better (and larger) variety IMHO. I was happy to see that Apple TV is included, however.

Hawaiian Airlines A330-200 Extra Comfort in-flight entertainment movies and TV shows scream — Aw, man. The catalog of movies and TV shows seems to be slightly less pornographic than what I recently experienced in Hawaiian Airlines A321neo Extra Comfort. The hell?

Hawaiian Airlines A330-200 Extra Comfort in-flight entertainment movie selection screen

Hawaiian Airlines A330-200 Extra Comfort in-flight entertainment movie detail screen

Hawaiian Airlines A330-200 Extra Comfort in-flight entertainment map screen — And for those of you wondering, no, trying to drag the little A330 across the ocean on the in-flight map didn’t help to make this flight go any faster.

The fact that there is free Starlink Wi-Fi makes the mediocre in-flight entertainment system a nonissue. Go ahead. Stream YouTube, Netflix, or anything else. There are no restrictions. Except for smut. It’s likely that they frown upon that sort of thing.

Hawaiian Airlines A330-200 Extra Comfort streaming in-flight entertainment to my mobile device via Starlink — Yes! Access to popular streaming services such as Netflix, Apple TV, HBO Max Disney+, etc. is available via the Alaska/Hawaiin mobile app via free Starlink via your own device. Via via via!

Hawaiian Airlines A330-200 Extra Comfort streaming in-flight entertainment

Hawaiian Airlines A330-200 Extra Comfort streaming in flight entertainment map screen as viewed on my iPhone

Food and drinks

*sigh* Gone are the days that Hawaiian Airlines serves free hot food to all passengers in Extra Comfort and economy. What you’re going to get now is a drink and a small snack. Extra Comfort passengers don’t get anything more premium than economy class passengers BTW.

Hawaiian Airlines A330-200 Extra Comfort food for purchase menu — Okay, hot food is technically still available here in Extra Comfort and economy, but you ain’t gettin’ any of it out of the kindness of their hearts anymore. Bring your credit card (or pre-order online).

Hawaiian Airlines A330-200 Extra Comfort food and drink cart coming down the aisle — *“I can’t wait to give this guy an earful about the elimination of free hot food!”* Amen sister. Amen.

Free snacks and drinks in Hawaiian Airlines A330-200 Extra Comfort — Hawaiian Airlines A330-200 Extra Comfort cuisine, 2026 style. We didn’t know how good we had it back in 2017, did we?

Full can of Aloha Maid guava juice served in Hawaiian Airlines A330-200 Extra Comfort — 11.5 FL OZ’s of pure *“oh well, at least the limited amount of snacks and drinks are still Hawaiian(ish).”*

Complementary granola bar snack served in Hawaiian Airlines A330-200 Extra Comfort — The granola bar. It was pretty good actually!

I’m happy to report that they are still offering free Mai Tais for anyone over the age of 21. I wonder how long that’s gonna last?

Seat recline and comfort

Seat recline is exactly the same as you would get in a regular economy seat. In other words, it’s minimal. Comfort is minimal as well. I’ve never been a fan of these old (hard) Hawaiian A330 economy seats.

Hawaiian Airlines A330-200 Extra Comfort seat recline — Full / 100% seat recline. And the lady in 15B who still (understandably) looks miffed about the lack of free hot food.

Scott Leazenby adjusting his headrest in Hawaiian Airlines A330-200 Extra Comfort — I won the battle against the highly adjustable headrest however. That thing ~~was my bitch~~ did everything I asked of it all the way to Hawaii.

Crossing my legs in Hawaiian Airlines A330-200 Extra Comfort with the person sitting in front of me fully reclined — Plenty of room to cross your legs in these seats, even when the person in front of you is fully reclined. She’s not lettin’ the food thing go so easily, is she?

Extra Comfort lavatory

Wait! The heading for this section is deceiving. The two lavatories located between the two Extra Comfort cabins are hardly extra comfortable. They’re small, a little smelly, with yellowed plastic everywhere. Maybe they did that on purpose to keep us from loitering?

Scott Leazenby sitting on the toilet in the Hawaiian Airlines A330-200 Extra Comfort lavatory

Hawaiian Airlines A330-200 Extra Comfort lavatory size

The descent and arrival into Honolulu

They may have taken away the free hot food, but the usual pre-landing Honolulu Cookie Company snack remains. It ain’t much. But it’s always a nice welcome to the Islands.

Honolulu Cookie Company pre-landing snack served in Hawaiian Airlines A330-200 Extra Comfort — Portals that serve cookies from the Honolulu Cookie Company are my kind of portals.

Snack and drink served prior to landing in Hawaiian Airlines A330-200 Extra Comfort — They were even kind enough to pair it with a cup of water as well. They don’t hate us *that* much.

In-flight map showing our approach into Honolulu on the video screen in Hawaiian Airlines A330-200 Extra Comfort — *“Ladies and gentlemen we regret to inform you that, due to a minor issue with our navigation system, we’re going to return to San Diego and have it checked out.”*

Scott Leazenby looking at the window from the center section of Hawaiian Airlines A330-200 Extra Comfort — OK, they didn’t actually say that, but I was ready for it. Honolulu Cookie Company crumbs would do a number on an A330 navigation system panel I reckon.

Looking out the window from the center section of a Hawaiian Airlines A330-200 Extra Comfort seat while landing at HNL — Welcome to Honolulu!

We ended up touching down on runway 04R 13 minutes early at 11:56 AM. Yay! However, arriving early at HNL has its consequences. Our gate was occupied, which resulted in us sitting on the taxiway for 30 minutes waiting for an opening. Oof. So much for an early arrival.

Unbuckling my seatbelt in Hawaiian Airlines A330-200 Extra Comfort — Alrighty then. Not the fastest (or most comfortable) portal I’ve ever been through, but good enough I guess.

Retrieving my carry-on luggage from under the seat in front of me in Hawaiian Airlines A330-200 Extra Comfort — My backpack, however, wasn’t so eager to leave his comfy (and spacious) spot down on the floor. *“F U man! I’m stayin’!”*

Hawaiian Airlines A330-200 Extra Comfort bulkhead row seats — The hell he is. I’m starving, and we’re getting off this airplane.

Hawaiian Airlines A330-200 Extra Comfort pros and cons

Hawaiian Airlines has just announced an all new A330 premium economy cabin which will replace Extra Comfort. It looks good. It’s still a few years off however, so everything I just showed you in this review is what we’re stuck with for a while.

Pros

All that extra leg room is nice! Well worth the price of an upgrade over basic economy IMHO.
Free Mai Tais still, so I guess that’s something.
Video screens!
Free Starlink!

Cons

The seat is incredibly narrow. Anyone even slightly overweight will feel squeezed in these things.
The lack of lumbar support is frustrating. Especially considering that these A330’s don’t fly any routes shorter than five hours.
Snacks and drinks aren’t any more special (or premium) than what you would get in basic economy.
No free headphones? Come on, man.

4 Comments

Kamper says:

September 30, 2026 at 12:22 pm

seems cool! ant other plans?

1. Scott Leazenby (SANspotter) says:
  
  September 30, 2026 at 2:23 pm
  
  I’m going to be flying the United A321XLR soon (if everything goes to plan). Looking forward to that one.
  
Kamper says:

September 30, 2026 at 11:22 am

pretty cool that you have been on the hawaiian a332 a lot of times. when u heading to Canada?

1. Scott Leazenby (SANspotter) says:
  
  September 30, 2026 at 11:35 am
  
  This was my 8th time! I don’t have plans for Canada as of yet, but I do want to get up there and try Air Canada’s new A321XLR at some point.

Hawaiian Airlines A330-200 Extra Comfort review: Extra okay(ish) is more like it