I needed about 20,000 elite qualifying miles at the end of last year to re-qualify for Executive Platinum. Luckily the end of year double elite qualifying promotion along with $460 fares to Hawaii from New York made qualification much easier. I booked a flight departing Saturday morning and returning Sunday afternoon: LGA-DFW-HNL-OGG-LAX-JFK.
Since no one was on the road early on Saturday morning in New York, the car service got me to Laguardia in just 20 minutes. The screened off Priority Checkin was empty, not even an agent in sight. But after a minute wait the agent returned after completing a task on the other side of the “wall”.
After chuckling about my mileage run, the agent printed out my five boarding passes and wished me well for my short visit to Hawaii. A quick trip though Pre Check had me in the Laguardia Admirals Club lounge just three minutes later.
The Laguardia lounge was renovated in the past few years and is so much nicer than it used to be. From the bar area to the bathrooms everything is better appointed, more spacious and more comfortable. There was a wide assortment of bagels with cream cheese and the new coffee dispensers. Which oddly have a small and large button, but still require you to hold it until you want to stop pouring.
Since I was only traveling with a backpack, and obtaining the coveted overhead space for a roll aboard wasn’t necessary, I waited in the lounge until about 15 minutes before departure to board. Early morning New York flights are rarely friendly, I don’t think it’s so much New York as it is early morning. My gruff companion didn’t bother to get up, I had to do the shimmy slide to get into my window seat.
We arrived into DFW almost 45 minutes early and I headed to the Admirals Club.
The DFW lounges are unremarkable. Some lounge seats, some snack mix and cookies. The same in-flight magazine and internet access. I only stayed long enough to grab a Shandy and some snack mix. I then headed to the gate for my 767-300 flight to Honolulu.
This 767-300 has been recently retrofitted for Economy Extra. Where there used to be four rows in the “mini cabin” right behind first, there are now only three. Row 10 is gone.
I settled into 6G and chatted with my (much more friendly) seatmate. I snapped a photo for the couple next to me on their way to their honeymoon. Pre departure beverage choices were Water, Champagne, Orange Juice or a Mimosa.
While on the ground one of the flight attendants took meal orders from the back of cabin as this was an odd numbered flight where they take orders from back to front. The choices were Chicken or Ravioli.
The two flight attendants worked the same side of the aisle for the drink service using the cart. It was a little odd, and I’m not sure if this is standard for this flight or not. After serving everyone on the starboard side they rolled the cart back to the front, crossed over and served the port side passengers.
They then split up and delivered the salads down each aisle separately. The salad was over sized, but mostly lettuce. The salad dressing choices were Spicy Asian Dressing or Caesar. I went with the Asian Dressing and, surprisingly, it was spicy. I guess I was expecting the name to be a let down.
The chicken was served on a bed of sweet potato. It was … sweet. Too sweet for me. The chicken was dry, really dry, but the sauce had some flavor. All in all: 2 out of 5.
Service was fairly high speed, as one course finished another started. Once the dinner plates were taken away they came through with the basic sundae and cheese cart.
Overall it was a pleasant flight with an attentive crew. The angled lie flat seats were a nice perk for a daytime flight like this. Once I arrived into Honolulu I set off in search of the lounge.
