Hawaiian Airlines A321neo first class may not be the most luxurious option to and from the Hawaiian islands these days, but you won’t have to twist my arm to do it again.
The seats are wide, spacious, and (most importantly) draped in brown leather so soft and supple that it makes me wonder whether or not it was sourced in nefarious ways.
Don’t worry. It’s something you won’t even be concerned about as you slam back that first Mai Tai…
HA37
San Diego, CA (SAN) – Maui/Kahului, HI (OGG)
Monday, July 16, 2018
Aircraft: A321-271N
Registration: N204HA
Duration: 5 hours 23 minutes
Seat: 3J (first class)
Checking in
This trip report begins with your’s truly walking into terminal 2 west at SAN so early that I didn’t even think they were going to let me in. I look forward to Hawaii-bound flights more than any other, but a nasty side effect of having to deal with all of that giddy anticipation is feeling especially anxious to get to the airport and getting the trip started.
The boarding process
After breakfast had been consumed, I returned to the gate area to sit and wait for boarding to begin. It wasn’t a long wait, and it also wasn’t hard to envy those around me who had timed their arrival to the airport perfectly this morning with seemingly no waiting.
Excitement was high as they called for first class passengers to board, and I wasted no time in carving my way through the crowds and being one of the first ones on the plane. I’ve been waiting a long time to try one of these new Hawaiian Airlines A321neo’s (yes, even before 4am this morning), and this was finally the big moment.
Hawaiian Airlines A321neo first class seat overview
Those of you who are wrinkling your nose upon the realization that the A321neo’s feature nothing more than basic recliner-style first class seats have my sympathy. I get it. My recommendation? Fly Hawaiian Airlines 787-9 first class instead (which features fully enclosed first class suites – not seats).
There’s nothing quite like boarding Hawaiian Airlines first class and to be handed an ice cold glass of guava juice to put you in an island mood right quick.
Never mind that it was probably processed and packaged in Wichita Kanas. Those guavas had to come from somewhere tropical, and I don’t care if the guy who pushed the button to make it go into the cardboard container didn’t care either.
Pre-departure guava juice is a quintessential part of the Hawaiian Airlines first class experience, and I’m embarrassed to admit that I was too busy taking pictures to partake in the action. I’m such an idiot.
The departure from San Diego
We hadn’t even taken off yet, but I was flying high when the flight attendants made the announcement that boarding was complete and that the seat next to me had remained vacant. There was a brief scare when one of the flight attendants pulled up some commuting flight attendants from economy up to first, but thankfully I still had an entire row to myself once that was all said and done.
In-flight entertainment
Once in the air and pointed north (all SAN-Hawaii flights head up towards LAX first before turning southwest and out over the Pacific), the flight attendants came by with complementary iPad Mini’s loaded with tons of good movies, music, and tv shows. It seemed like a nice consolation for the lack of video screens in the seat backs.
Note that there is also a streaming service available, accessible with your own personal device. Considering that the iPads cost $10 to rent back in economy, the streaming thing is a good deal since it’s complimentary.
The meal service
Meal orders were taken shortly after takeoff, followed quickly by the much-anticipated drink and macadamia nut service. I’m not a huge macadamia nut fan, but bring on that guava juice and keep it flowin’ please!
The breakfast service came next (bet you didn’t see that coming), and it was nice to see that they served it in courses instead of putting everything together on one tray. And apparently I was so hungry that I completely forgot to take a pic of the first course, which was a fruit bowl.
I know. I’m risking losing my nerdy “Airline Reviewer” credentials for admitting such a thing, but I’ll try to avert disaster by telling you that the flavor of that fruit exploded in my mouth like…um…no, that isn’t going well either. Let’s just skip to pics of the main course:
Despite not totally enjoying the taste of that huge slice of breakfast pie, I’ve never been a quiche fan anyway so I’m not going to put any blame on the chefs. I just would’ve preferred to have a classic omelet that’s all, perhaps even with a couple scoops of white rice to go with it (Hawaiian style, of course).
Seat and cabin comfort
The cabin lights were switched off after the meal service, no doubt the result of flight attendants who were disgusted by looking at all of us fat slobs who over-indulged on breakfast.
All the excitement of the morning combined with copious amounts of food consumption got the best of me after the cabin went dark, and I ended up sleeping until there was just a little over 1 hour of flying time remaining.
Note that these first class seats in the A321neo are not lie flat (as they are in Hawaiian Airlines A330-200 first class), so it wasn’t the best sleep I’ve ever had on an airplane. Far from it actually. But the seats are wide, and the legroom is generous. It’s good enough.
First class lavatory
The first class lavatory here on the Hawaiian A321neo is surprisingly bland compared to the ones back in economy class (as you can see in my Hawaiian Airlines A321neo Extra Comfort review). They do look classy though.
The descent in arrival into Kahului
The cabin lights turned on just minutes after I awoke, and I hadn’t even wiped the dribble off my shirt by the time the flight attendants started coming through the aisles with complementary Mai Tai’s (even for those in economy). I passed on the offer.
A snack basket and Hawaiian agricultural forms accompanied those pre-landing drinks, and unlike other Hawaii-bound flights I’ve been on, they were real sticklers about making sure that EVERYONE completed the form and handed it in. I don’t remember them ever being so strict about this in the past.
By the way, I’d recommend checking out my Hawaiian Airlines vs United comparison if you aren’t impressed with the service I’ve received on this flight. FYI, Hawaiian Airlines first class is about as good as it gets to and from the Islands. Aloha!
Thanks for the review! Was it updated for a recent flight on 6/2/25? (I’m looking at the comments from 2018). Anyhow, nice to see a recent review as I’m taking this bird for the first time (and in First) in a few weeks from SFO to HNL. Snagged a good deal with it costing 40k HA Miles vs. 30k for economy.
You’re very welcome! I have made recent edits to this review to keep it up to date, but just know that these pictures are from a flight that I took in July 2018. It’s all still completely relevant though. It’s still the same seats, same in-flight entertainment, and same food quantity / quality.
40K is a steal! Good job nabbing that.
Love reading this piece and watching the video. You’re a riot!
Haha, thanks Sharon!
Is there any difference from an Airbus A321neo from a cramped Boeing 737-900ER?
Not so much honestly – the Airbus is slightly wider, but for the most part there is no difference (other than how each individual airline configures them).
The first time I flew Hawaiian’s A321neo was a year ago, when the airline first took delivery of their initial aircraft and folded them into the interisland schedule to offer an opportunity for flight crews to familiarize themselves with the plane. So my partner and I flew on it from Honolulu to Maui on a business day-trip, and unfortunately we were seated toward the rear on a flight operating at full capacity of 190 passengers. I think it took us longer to disembark the aircraft in Kahului than the actual 25-min. flight time from HNL. LOL! They’ve since gotten much better at the logistics; it only took me 10 minutes to get off the A321neo in Lihue, Kauai a week ago after a 6-hr. flight from LAX. Great aircraft.
You are very lucky to have had the chance to get a “preview” of this aircraft before all of us mainlanders did. It’s definitely the future for Hawaiian Airlines, though I’m not excited about the fact that it’ll be replacing the A330 on some mainland routes. It’s progress though!
“Coming up in” 🙂
Haha, yes, I do believe that these are the same seats “can Ming up” soon to AS. 🙂 It’s a really good seat too, so Hawaiian isn’t going to have the advantage for very long. They should have put lie-flats in those A321s!
Scott, I think those Hawaiian Air neo F seats look similar to the future Alaska F seats can Ming up in the conversion. With 45” of pitch they had to be pretty comfy. Especially with no seat mate!