The Hawaiian Airlines A321neo Extra Comfort experience is a little different than the Extra Comfort experience on other Hawaiian Airlines aircraft. It’s better in some ways, and worse than others.
Long story short, they’re somewhat comfortable seats that actually look somewhat premium. But they’re somewhat lacking video screens as well.
The following is a full review of my somewhat recent experience in A321neo Extra Comfort from Kahului (Maui) to San Diego.
HA58 Kahului, HI (OGG) – San Diego, CA (SAN) Thursday, May 8, 2025 Aircraft: A321neo Registration: N214HA Duration: 4 hours 59 minutes Seat: 14G (Extra Comfort)
Hawaiian Airlines A321neo side view illustration by NorebboStock.comOur route from Kahului to San Diego this afternoon as HA58
Arrival at the Kahului Airport
Arriving on a flight from Honolulu with over 2 1/2 hours to spare gave me a lot of time to think about the evolution that Hawaiian Airlines has gone through over the past 25 years.
They didn’t have “Extra Comfort” class back then. Flying economy meant putting up with cramped seats and abysmal in-flight entertainment. But today? The extra legroom and free Starlink Internet access made this a flight I was looking forward to. Sort of.
Maui now, San Diego soon. The only thing standing between me and SoCal is a five hour ride in Hawaiian Airlines A321neo Extra Comfort class. I’m so ready!I’m also so full of BS. It’s not easy to leave Hawaii, and I may have teared up slightly during the walk to the gate. The solution to this problem is to point the camera in the other direction. The Kahului airport is nice, isn’t it?Here we have the Hawaiian Airlines A321neo that will be taking me home to San Diego today just arriving from a city they call Long Beach. (Shoutout to all of the OG Dr Dre fans for catching that reference. The rest of you? Don’t worry. It wasn’t all that clever anyway.)Flight number 58 (to a city they call San Diego) looks to be running right on schedule this afternoon.Now don’t go thinkin’ that there aren’t any windows in this airport. Zooming out a bit from the last picture shows a very busy gate area. With windows (and a sh*tload of depressed tourists succumbing to the reality of going back to the mainland).
The boarding process
They promised a boarding time of 12:05 PM, and gosh darn it, they delivered. The only problem was that the gate that this flight was departing from wasn’t exactly what I would call “spacious.” There was a huge podium right smack dab in the middle of it, requiring the boarding queue to wrap around it (which threw everyone for a loop – including me).
My boarding pass for today’s flight to San Diego. I love to fly, but you’d be naïve to think that I wasn’t tossing around the idea of running out of the airport, renting a Jeep, and driving up the side of a volcano at this very moment. *sigh*Her eyes darted anxiously toward the gate as her husband scoured every listing for a last-minute Jeep – anything to escape before it was too late.Poor guy. His failure to secure a Jeep will no doubt result in him sleeping on the couch tonight. She looks miffed.A brief pause at the threshold of first class as I wait for the aisle to clear. I don’t want to get too far ahead of myself here, but let’s just say that Hawaiian Airlines A321neo first class is a lot nicer than what you’re about to see from this point forward.
Hawaiian Airlines A321neo Extra Comfort seat overview
Extra Comfort seats on the A321neo are standard economy class seats with six inches additional legroom. There are 44 of these seats total (arranged in a 3-3 layout), and they are located immediately behind the first class cabin.
My arrival at seat 14G means one thing: my departure from Maui is officially imminent. No Jeep will save me now.Well well well. This is actually pretty comfortable. But is it extra comfortable? Ask me again in about five hours.One last pic of my junk before takeoff Here’s a wide angle / top down pic showing how much extra legroom these seats have.Unlike what you saw in my Hawaiian Airlines A330-200 Extra Comfort review, there are no video screens in these seats. Thank God they didn’t deprive us of the latest issue of hana hou! Remember my JetBlue A320 Even More Space review? The mood lighting in here is about 76% as intense as that was. I’m also feeling about 28% more depressed (because it’s a lot harder to leave Hawaii than Fort Lauderdale).It’s also safe to say that the design of this cabin is 85% more sophisticated than what you’ll see in Hawaiian Airlines 717 Extra Comfort. That looks and feels like an amusement park ride. This looks and feels like they thought really hard about trying to minimize your reluctance to leave the Islands. The mood lighting helps!Enjoying the last few moments of that soothing mood lighting until the inevitable announcement to raise the window shades in preparation for departure. “Ladies and gentlemen…”And that concludes the seat overview portion of this review without the deep purple and pink accent colors. Here’s the USB charging port (in the flesh).But that’s not all! Somewhere down there (behind the flappy brown leather) is the full-size 110 V electrical outlet. You’re gonna have to feel for it I think.
It worth noting that there are no extra amenities included with a Hawaiian Airlines Extra Comfort seat. There are no pre-departure drinks. No blankets. No pillows. And certainly no amenity kits.
Departure from Kahului Airport
Gate departure was at 12:52 PM, which was two minutes behind schedule. It’s not like the Kahului Airport is a busy place or anything, so I wasn’t worried about any additional delays on the taxi over to the runway.
Now rolling (past what looks to be the volcano I’d be climbing in a pretty sweet Jeep if only I had the courage to bail on this flight). I would’ve missed out on the latest issue of hana hou! though. I made the right choice.So long, Maui. I may be extra comfortable, but it doesn’t mean that I’m not going to miss you.
Liftoff from runway 2 ended up being five minutes late at 1:05 PM. Somehow we lost three minutes during the very short taxi from the gate. Then again, this is Hawaii, and things are generally more casual out here.
For the record, it’s really easy to look like you’re super chill (and that you’ve got your sh*t together) in these seats. On the inside though? Feeling heartbroken AF.
Food and drinks
I’m happy to report that you will get a free hot meal in Extra Comfort class. I guess as long as you don’t think about the fact that it’s the exact same thing they serve back in economy class, it’s not a bad little perk. Free food is free food, right? Especially on a domestic US flight.
Whoa. I didn’t expect to see the snack and beverage cart so quickly. The cabin crew weren’t wasting any time!Pouring over the menu in the in-flight magazine at the very last minute had me feeling like I was 17 years old again (and cramming for a test I didn’t study for).
But what about alcohol? The only thing they offer for free is a Mai Tai. Beer and wine is available for purchase.
No! Despite the déjà vu you may be feeling, this is not the same pepperoni bagel you saw in my Hawaiian Airlines 787-9 Extra Comfort review. It’s actually a pepperoni and cheese sandwich.They ain’t foolin’ nobody. I am 100% convinced that the pepperoni bagel the pepperoni and cheese sandwich are exactly the same thing. And both are oddly good by the way.Yeah, I said it. It’s good.
Additional snacks and beverages are available for purchase. It won’t be cheap though, so I highly recommend bringing your own.
In-flight entertainment
The Hawaiian Airlines A321neos are the only aircraft in the fleet (other than the 717 – which only does inter-island flying) that do not have video screens. That’s a fairly significant omission for an aircraft that only does 5 hour flights between the US mainland and Hawaii IMHO.
They did not omit the free Starlink high speed Internet access for all though. The A321neos have this, and it’s very good.
Despite the lack of in-seat video screens, the complementary streaming in-flight entertainment system is one of the better ones that I’ve experienced lately.
Looks like they’ve added hard-core pornography to the catalog of content. Right on.There’s plenty of really good softcore stuff as well. And the streaming is fast and glitch-free, so you won’t have to worry about annoying breaks in the action while enjoying your smut.
I especially liked the extensive catalog of Hawaiian themed music. At the very least, it helped me hang onto Island culture for a few more hours.
4:15 PM local time:“Sure is annoying to have to hold my phone like this.”5:27 PM local time (after the movie had finished): “Holy sh*t there’s a device holder built into these seats!”
The lavatory
One of the downsides to having a seat in Extra Comfort (which is located in the forward section of the main cabin) is that you will be required to use the economy class lavatories. The cabin crew was very strict about keeping economy passengers from using the first class lavatory upfront.
If you recall from my recent Hawaiian Airlines A330-200 economy review, I complained voiced my concern about how the lavatories didn’t have any Hawaiian flair to them at all. This does not apply the A321neo. This floral wallpaper is legit!
There is one lavatory located mid cabin though, so it won’t always be necessary to go all the way to the back for a wee.
Seat and cabin comfort
The thing that I liked that the best about this experience? It wasn’t the extra legroom. It was the softness (and perhaps the shape) of the seat. It’s the exact same seat you’ll find back in economy class, but it didn’t make my back hurt like the ones on the A330-200 do.
Seat recline isn’t significant enough to be labeled “extra” IMHO. As far as I could tell, these Extra Comfort seats recline the same amount as the standard economy class seats.
The descent and arrival to San Diego
It was a fairly smooth flight all the way across the Pacific, and we began the descent into San Diego just after 8 PM local time. No fuss. No turbulence. No drama.
51 minutes to go. You know what would be delicious right about now (other than another one of them pepperoni and cheese sandwiches)?Chocolate covered macadamia nuts, that’s what. Mahalo for the pre-landing snack!46 minutes to go. You know what else sounds good right about now (other than the pilot turning this plane around and heading back to Kahului)?Skin staining mood lighting, that’s what. Mahalo for giving this milky white boy some color!There’s still a chance that we’ll have to divert to Kahului. Never say never!Then again, there are worse places to end up than San Diego.
Touchdown on runway 27 was at 9:04 PM. The scheduled arrival time was 8:55 PM, so they didn’t miss the mark by all that much.
And there you have it. Despite the very serious looking “I really wanna go back to Hawaii” look on my face, I deem these Extra Comfort seats here on the A321neo to be worthy of the upgrade. This was far more comfy than it was depressing.
Hawaiian Airlines A321neo Extra Comfort pros and cons
I usually have a hard time justifying paying more for a standard economy class seat with extra legroom being the only added perk. Especially since I’m not tall enough to need that extra legroom.
But this one is easy. Flying out to the islands and back is considered a special thing for me, and I’m willing to pay more to make it a marginally better experience. You may or may not agree. I’m cool with that.
Pros
I genuinely find the Extra Comfort seats on the A321neo to be the most comfortable Extra Comfort seats on any Hawaiian Airlines aircraft.
The high speed Starlink Internet access is fast – and free!
It’s a really nice looking cabin IMHO. Sorta premium(ish).
Cons
They serve the exact same food that you’ll get back in economy class.
Alcohol (other than one free Mai Tai) is only available for purchase.
No video screens.
Extra Comfort passengers aren’t allowed to use the first class lavatory, so making your way back to the aft lavatories might be a bit of a challenge if it’s a flight full of cheery Mai Tai drinkers.
