Hawaiian Airlines seems to have a continuing problem with row 4 and the way it is assigned. Especially for those of us who have to fly and are handicapped as well as tall. I get a different story from each agent I talk to and row 4 A and B are never available online.
At the counter sometimes they are free and sometimes they ask for the $10 if they decide to sell it or just push me off on the gate agent who can’t take money and says I have to do it at the ticket counter.
Hawaiian should use the state recognized handicapped cards for persons to be able to access or have their names flagged when they purchase tickets online to enable row 4. Ideally at no extra cost, although I do not expect Hawaiian to give up this revenue stream. Agents need to give truthful accurate answers to customers especially frequent flyers who know better. This simply does not happen.
Then again you could simply move the seats far enough apart so people over 6 feet could sit without having to put their feet in the aisle. Why not make the first five or six rows premium, the two you have now are not enough and most don’t mind paying the $10 in order to sit straight instead of wrapped up like a pretzel? While I’m writing this, I’m in row seven in pain since being 6’3” with artificial knees does not mix with metal trays and seats.
I would also thank Hawaiian Airlines for starting the Kona-Haneda route. I returned from Japan on the second flight in December in first class (thanks to points) and was disappointed with the seats. Mine was 2B which was broken and did not go back. This was not as bad as the bottoms of all the seats which were too close to the floor and again all passengers over 6’ had a miserable time trying to stretch their legs. I heard many negative comments. Honestly, someone needs to redesign the seats so that taller passengers can stretch theirlegs under the seats in front of them.
Hawaiian really needs to take passenger comfort into much more consideration. I sincerely hope Hawaiian will take some of this into consideration.
Ken Love is a resident of Captain Cook