In June 2012,
Hawaiian Airlines debuted its daily non-stop service between New York City's John F. Kennedy International Airport and Honolulu. To promote their new route, Hawaiian Airlines offered roundtrip airfare for less than $600 during the month of June. Once this announcement was made, travelers, including myself, jumped at this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and started booking their flights.
Between the date of the inaugural flight, which was on June 4, and our flight, which was on June 17, I was searching the web for feedback on the meal service. Food is important to me, and I wanted to get some information on what was going to be served on the flights, so that we could pack enough food in our carry-ons to keep us from going hungry. I couldn't find any mention of the food, and so my husband and I winged it by loading our carry-ons with a lot of snacks. Turns out we didn't need them, because they provided us with two complimentary meal services during our 10-11 hour flights to/from JFK.
The reason for this post is to give you an idea of what to expect food-wise, just in case you are about to embark on this flight and want to know what you will be eating in the coach cabin.
Hawaiian Airline's new Airbus 330 waits for its passengers at the gate.
HNL to JFK Meal #1
Penne pasta and veggies. The hubby didn't like it but I ate it all. It was one step above a frozen dinner. The portion size was similar to what you consume on the
Nutrisystem diet, although I doubt Hawaiian keeps the portion size small out of concern for our waistlines.
Close up of the dessert, which was actually pretty good!
HNL to JFK Meal #2: this meal was served about an hour and a half prior to landing in JFK, and since I was half asleep when they started the meal service, I completely forgot to take a picture of it. It was a round turkey sandwich (turkey and cheese only).
JFK to HNL Meal #1
breakfast burrito
Cross section of the breakfast burrito - looks like there's some egg, rice, and edamame in there.
Dessert - looks like a muffin (I didn't eat it)
JFK to HNL Meal #2
Turkey sandwich and brownie. Similar to the turkey sandwich that we were served on the flight from HNL to JFK, it came with only turkey and cheese (no lettuce or tomato).
If you're wondering what the food is like in first class, click
here. Can you see any noticeable differences? :) I thought it was a nice re-cap of his experience on Hawaiian Air's JFK-HNL flight, although I thought it was funny how he does not mention that he was sitting in first class.
I have to say that the food was better than expected, and sufficient for the 10-11 hour flight each way. The only meal that I didn't like was the breakfast burrito, but it's a step up from the breakfast frittata that we were served on a flight from California to Hawaii last year.
