Cruiseshipcrew From United States of America, joined Aug 2008, 189 posts, RR: 1 Posted (3 years 9 months 1 week 5 days 14 hours ago) and read 14731 times:
Hey everyone,
I'm a bit bummed about this trip report. It was originally going to be a few parts.
Mokulele airlines OGG-HNL
Continental Businessfirst HNL-IAH-CLE
Continental First CLE-LAX
V Australia airlines Y LAX-SYD
Virgin Blue SYD-MEL
The problem is I did a ton of pic transfers over my trip and I'm missing a ton of pics. I seriously don't know what happened to them so I'm sorry if this TR looks a bit random.
Part 1: Mokulele Airlines.
I just finished doing a 5 month contract on my ship and was enjoying my last night onboard.
I was really excited because the next morning I was signing off my ship and flying overnight back home to Cleveland before jetting off to Australia the next day.
On July 19th I signed off my ship and headed to Maui's airport. I was excited to give this new airline a try on their new EMB-170. I got my flight for about $40 each way. I really regret trying them...
When I went to check in they said that 1 of their 3 planes was down so all flights were delayed but it shouldn't be anymore then 1 hour. That was fine..my flight left at 1pm so even if it was delayed till 2pm I had plenty of time. My connecting flight in Honolulu didn't leave till 6:50 pm. I checked in and walked around the airport and did a bit of plane spotting.
Last view of my ship from the airport!!
Empty terminal
Old Aloha Airlines items
HA 763
Well it was almost 2 pm so I rolled over to my gate and noticed it was packed with people. 2 pm rolled around and it was now 3 pm. What really pissed me off is the airline had ZERO people working at the gate. Not one..we really had no idea what was going on. I talked to someone who went outside of security and spoke to someone at check in and got the reply "you will know its time to go when your plane pulls up." I really couldn't believe the total lack of customer service..literally a total lack. Around 4 pm, 3 hours late the plane finally pulled up. I checked the flight status of my flight from Honolulu to Houston and it was delayed 3 hours so I was fine.
leg room
gotta love the juice cups!
Landed in Honolulu and was glad to be leaving this airline and going over to Continental..
Sadly I have zero pics from this flight. On the 20th of Aug I will be doing this flight again back to Hawaii so I will make sure I do lots of pics. I really love flying BusinessFirst on Continentals 767-400s...I just love that plane!
snacks in the HNL P club.
My flight home
Jump forward...
the next day I flew from CLE-LAX on Continental in first class on the 737-800. The dinner was lobster pasta or a steak sammy, salad, soup, bread and cheesecake for dessert. It was very good and I'm mad I lost the pics.
Landing into a smoggy Los Angeles
V AUSTRALIA FLIGHT #2 LAX-SYD
I was so excited to try this airline. I was soo excited to get to Australia so I'm sure that added to it. From the second you get to check in you can tell this is a fun airline. They had great music playing, lights, friendly staff etc.
I paid $100 extra to have a exit row and I'm glad I did it was well worth it.
no pics from the meals on this flight but I really liked how they offered three options in coach. Two meats and a veggy and pasta dish. About 2 hours before landing they offered breakfast. The options were eggs and bacon or pancakes with fruit topping. I loved during the flight that they kept coming around with water, tea, coffee plus the snack bar was very nice. When I landed in Sydney I connected over to Virgin Blue to Melbourne.
My official first time catching the A380 in real life!
Once again I'm sorry for the few pics going down, I wish I knew what happened. I have a few more pics returning though.
I had a blast in Australia. In Mel I stayed at the Sofitel Melbourne and the hotel was amazing. I would really suggest it to anyone heading down under.
hotel room
I was on the 46th floor and had great views.
I loved the bathroom because as soon as you walked in these mood lights turned on
Please excuse this picture..we were a tad drunk when we took it but you get the idea the amazing views from the lobby restroom!
crown casino
Flying back home...
I liked the inflight chat rooms
mood lights!
on my way home!
Dinner-really wasnt bad and filled me up. The flight crew of this airline is great. The FA that was sitting right in front of me was only a few years older then me so we joked around a lot. I asked for a screw driver and made it, came back and winked and said "here is your vodka with a drop of orange.." it was so strong.
I don't have any pics of the breakfast but I did the french toast with berries and it was very good. I was glad the flight was over but I hated LAX customs. Next time I will fly down under via SFO!
Flying home from LAX-CLE was the redeye so we only had their cold plate but it was ok considering the time.
Overall I loved V Australia. I would fly them again without thinking twice. Once again sorry everyone for the bad TR with lack of pics and details. In a few days I'm doing CO BF CLE-IAH-HNL and will make sure I make up for this weak one! Feel free to ask any questions and if you're interested I have more trip pics on my facebook. www.facebook.com/jetboy787
WindowSeat From United States of America, joined Sep 2003, 1307 posts, RR: 59 Reply 1, posted (3 years 9 months 1 week 5 days 14 hours ago) and read 14695 times:
Very nice report! The photos are fantastic. I'd love to try V Australia too someday. Thanks for posting
cheers,
WindowSeat
I'm all in favour of keeping dangerous weapons out of the hands of fools. Let's start with keyboards.
Dahawaiian From United States of America, joined Jun 2001, 226 posts, RR: 0 Reply 2, posted (3 years 9 months 1 week 5 days 14 hours ago) and read 14683 times:
Great report and pictures! If your experience with Mokulele is any indication of how they regularly do business, I think I will stick with HA on interisland flights.
Cruiseshipcrew From United States of America, joined Aug 2008, 189 posts, RR: 1 Reply 3, posted (3 years 9 months 1 week 5 days 13 hours ago) and read 14587 times:
Quoting Dahawaiian (Reply 2): Great report and pictures! If your experience with Mokulele is any indication of how they regularly do business, I think I will stick with HA on interisland flights.
Yeah It's too bad I was excited to try them. If my luggage wasn't already checked I would have just gone and bought a ticket on Hawaiian. I'll be sticking to just them from now on.
Gardermoen From Australia, joined Jul 1999, 1518 posts, RR: 1 Reply 4, posted (3 years 9 months 1 week 5 days 11 hours ago) and read 14273 times:
Interesting report!
The Mokulele livery on the embraer sure looks attractive - too bad you had a sour experience with them.
Funny how you got a Pacific Blue REAL paper boarding pass at SYD for your MEL domestic flight. I didn't think was normal, I thought you'd get a supermarket docket styled one (I hate those)
Quoting Cruiseshipcrew (Thread starter): Please excuse this picture..we were a tad drunk when we took it but you get the idea the amazing views from the lobby restroom!
If they had some dimmed mood lighting, i'm sure the view would have been more spectacular.
Cruiseshipcrew From United States of America, joined Aug 2008, 189 posts, RR: 1 Reply 6, posted (3 years 9 months 1 week 5 days 8 hours ago) and read 13944 times:
Quoting A1ring23 (Reply 5): View is very nice! Where did you stay in SYD?
I stayed at the Four Points Sheraton at Darling Harbor. I wasn't that trilled. I think mainly because I was spoiled at the Sofitel. My friend got staff rate so it was a treat. I wasn't a huge fan of Sydney but I think because I did that leg of the trip alone..and traveling alone is never fun so I will have to go back and meet up with people.
Quoting A1ring23 (Reply 5): Very nice, pity DJ haven't followed their American counterparts or VA!
Yeah it's interesting how they didn't do that. Its a bit of a shame. After landing in SYD I was on the plane waiting to go to MEL and the woman heard my accent, asked where I was from blah blah and I said I came over on V Au. She was surprised it wasn't as cheap as Virgin Blue. I hope the connection with DJ won't make people think VA is a low cost airline because its far from that.
Quoting A1ring23 (Reply 5): VA looks very good even in Y, bit of a shame they are reporting low loads!
What were the loads there and back for you?
From LAX-SYD it was packed with only a few open seats. Coming back to LAX it was around 60% full. After tax I got the flights for about 680 round trip. I'm going back in January to see Mel again, Perth and Bris. In Nov I'll start watching out for ticket prices and see what airline I go on. I must say I totally fell in love with your country and the people. It's on the top of a short list of possible places to move once I quit ship life.
A1ring23 From Australia, joined Jun 2009, 196 posts, RR: 0 Reply 7, posted (3 years 9 months 1 week 5 days 7 hours ago) and read 13887 times:
Quoting Cruiseshipcrew (Reply 6): After tax I got the flights for about 680 round trip.
That's decent, PM me when you're in Perth and I'll show you around
Quoting Cruiseshipcrew (Reply 6): I must say I totally fell in love with your country and the people. It's on the top of a short list of possible places to move once I quit ship life.
Perth and Sydney are my favs, tho Melbourne isn't bad either!
T8KE0FF From United Kingdom, joined Apr 2009, 400 posts, RR: 1 Reply 8, posted (3 years 9 months 1 week 5 days 4 hours ago) and read 13636 times:
Pleased you liked australia's new airline! When I was in SYD a few week's ago they were boarding when we were boarding as I was tempted to get on board I had a looooong flight to DXB instead on the A380 :|
Cruiseshipcrew From United States of America, joined Aug 2008, 189 posts, RR: 1 Reply 9, posted (3 years 9 months 1 week 4 days 21 hours ago) and read 13230 times:
Quoting T8KE0FF (Reply 8): Pleased you liked australia's new airline! When I was in SYD a few week's ago they were boarding when we were boarding as I was tempted to get on board Big grin I had a looooong flight to DXB instead on the A380 :|
Nice ride yourself! Yeah its a shame I can't sign up for their FF program since I live in the States.
Cruiseshipcrew From United States of America, joined Aug 2008, 189 posts, RR: 1 Reply 11, posted (3 years 8 months 1 day 2 hours ago) and read 10379 times:
Quoting Carfield (Reply 10): Thanks for an interesting trip report!
Just a quick question about MW, is it open seating or do you have to get a seat assignment?
Thanks,
Carfield
Seating is assigned..you can pick it when you book online.
Reifel From Germany, joined Feb 2005, 1135 posts, RR: 1 Reply 13, posted (3 years 8 months 20 hours ago) and read 10072 times:
Great to read a report from someone who works in the same company as I do I don't seem to be the only one out there loving both cruise ships and planes.
You were very lucky that you got your onward connection in HNL, i guess it wasn't booked on one ticket. It's a shame they have such a lack of customer service. However they have nice planes at least
ANstar From Netherlands, joined Nov 2003, 4848 posts, RR: 6 Reply 14, posted (3 years 7 months 4 weeks 1 day 7 hours ago) and read 9447 times:
Quoting Gardermoen (Reply 4): Funny how you got a Pacific Blue REAL paper boarding pass at SYD for your MEL domestic flight. I didn't think was normal, I thought you'd get a supermarket docket styled one (I hate those)
At SYD all Pac Blue flights get the proper boarding passes... PAc Blue also operate the transfer desk at T1 hence why they use the PAc Blue BP's.
Quoting A1ring23 (Reply 5): VA looks very good even in Y, bit of a shame they are reporting low loads!
Loads seem to be picking up which is a good thing... flew VA in J 2 weeks ago and was one of the beter J flights I have taken.
AirframeAS From United States of America, joined Feb 2004, 14150 posts, RR: 26 Reply 15, posted (3 years 7 months 4 weeks 1 day 6 hours ago) and read 9442 times:
Cruiseshipcrew From United States of America, joined Aug 2008, 189 posts, RR: 1 Reply 16, posted (3 years 7 months 4 weeks 1 day ago) and read 9231 times:
Quoting Reifel (Reply 13): Great to read a report from someone who works in the same company as I do I don't seem to be the only one out there loving both cruise ships and planes.
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From United States of America, joined Aug 2008, 189 posts, 
From Australia, joined Jul 1999, 1518 posts, 
From United Kingdom, joined Apr 2009, 400 posts, 
I had a looooong flight to DXB instead on the A380 :|
From Germany, joined Feb 2005, 1135 posts, 
I don't seem to be the only one out there loving both cruise ships and planes. 
From Netherlands, joined Nov 2003, 4848 posts, 
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