San Jose to Honolulu First-Class Flight

As usual, I checked in online for our Hawaiian Airlines return flight from San Jose to Honolulu, in hopes of being able to secure a first-class upgrade to first-class.

I like doing it this way. Although you take a chance that the first-cabin will be filled, if you can secure seats, they are cheaper than buying a first-class round-trip ticket from the start. Plus you only pay the reduced price one-way.

And as usual, I have observations:

No First-Class Lounge: Hawaiian Airlines doesn't have a first-class lounge at Norman Mineta San Jose International Airport, and its first-class passengers do not have privileges at The Club at SJC, as they do at The Club at LAS in McCarran International Airport in Las Vegas.

Rats. They really should do something about that. Maybe we should fly into Oakland International Airport from now on?

Why the Delay? Our flight had a scheduled 41-minute delay. Once we were in the air, the captain explained over the PA. Many flights came into San Jose late last night, resulting in landing backups.

The Transportation Safety Agency requires flight crews to get a certain amount of sleep, so crews must remain at their hotel accommodations for at least a specified amount of time before heading for the airport. Our crew arrived a little earlier due to good traffic conditions, so the actual delay was about 25 minutes.

What? No Female Flight Attendants? When the crew arrived, I didn't see any women in the bunch. So I thought there would be no wahine attendants on board. As it turned out, they must have arrived separately. So now I wonder, was there a boys' bus and a girls' bus?

And why did I notice that? I think I've turned into a dirty old man since retirement.

First-Class Meal: As usual, we ordered different appetizers and entrees so we could taste everything. The wife had the Mesclun Greens with Bay Shrimp appetizer and the Stir Fry Tofu entree; I had the Chopped Chicken Lettuce Wraps and the Soud Vide Short Ribs entree.

Mesclun Greens with Bay Shrimp

 

Chopped Chicken Lettuce Wraps

 

Stir Fry Tofu

 

Soud Vide Short Ribs

The meals were excellent, especially mine. The chicken wrap was mighty good, albeit a bit spicy (too hot for the wife), that resulted in a pleasant burn in the mouth and throat that went away after a few minutes. And the short ribs, oh my, one of the better airplane meals I've had. What looked like a bread pudding topped with beef turned out to be all short rib meat.

When we finished half of our appetizers, we switched plates. With the entrees, we just swiped tastes from each other's plates.

Lemon Cheesecake with
Macadamia Nuts

Dessert was a light and creamy lemon cheesecake with hidden macadamia nut bits, along with a spot of hot green tea. Beats the chicken or pasta in economy by a long shot.

Hot Towel: That was the hottest, wettest hot towel ever given to me near the end of a flight. Hoowee, that was hot and drippy!