World Traveller 73 
United Airlines has had a presence in San Francisco since the 1930’s and the San Francisco International Airport operates as a domestic and international hub for the American carrier. As a result of this long history, it has a long and loyal base at this Californian coastal city. It is only fitting that they offer a flagship lounge for this location. We would visit what used to be their flagship lounge in the San Francisco International Airport prior to the opening of their United Airlines Polaris Lounge. Read on to see how their best United Club at SFO compared.
This post is one chapter on our trip during the pandemic to Honolulu Oahu, Hawaii, United States. This trip was redeemed through Marriott Bonvoy and further enhanced through Marriott Bonvoy Elite Status. For more information on how this trip was booked, please see our trip introduction here. For other parts of the trip, please see this index.
If you enjoyed this post, please follow us here or on social media through Facebook, Twitter or Instagram for more travel tips and hacks on how to “Upgrade Your Travels”.
Read more from this trip:
- Introduction: Honolulu, Hawaii, USA via United Airlines Business Class
- Coronavirus Testing for Travel: Getting Tested for Hawaii
- Fairmont Vancouver Airport, Canada
- United Airlines Business Class: Vancouver – San Francisco
- United Club Lounge San Francisco – “F” Rotunda, USA
- United Airlines First Class: San Francisco – Honolulu
- The Sheraton Princess Kaiulani, Honolulu, USA
- Tips for Walking Diamond Head, Oahu, Hawaii, USA
- Roy’s Waikiki Restaurant, Waikiki Beach, Hawaii, USA
- On the Locals Beach at Waimea Bay Beach Park, Oahu, Hawaii, USA
- Snorkelling at Hanauma Bay, Oahu, Hawaii, USA
- Circling the East Coast to Waimanalo Bay Beach, Oahu, Hawaii, USA
- How to Save on Hotel Parking in Waikiki Beach, Hawaii, USA
- Marakume Udon, Waikiki Beach, Hawaii, USA
- The Sheraton Waikiki – Kai Suite, Honolulu, USA
- The Royal Hawaiian, a Luxury Collection Resort – Waikiki, Historic Garden Suite, Honolulu, USA
- United Club Lounge Honolulu, USA
- United Airlines First Class: Honolulu – San Francisco
- United Club Lounge San Francisco – “G” International Terminal, USA
- United Club Lounge San Francisco – “E” Concourse, USA
- United Airlines Business Class: San Francisco – Vancouver
Review: United Club Lounge, San Francisco International Airport – “F” Rotunda, California, United States of America
The United Club San Francisco “F” Rotunda Lounge used to be the flagship lounge for United Airlines in San Francisco International Airport prior to the United Airlines Polaris Lounge which opened in late 2018. Along with this positioning as a flagship lounge, it is much nicer than the average United Club lounge offering.
We arrived into San Francisco International Airport on United Airlines Business Class: Vancouver – San Francisco. We had a very long nine hour connection to use up prior to continuing onwards on United Airlines First Class San Francisco – Honolulu, as a result of being on a deeply discounted business class ticket.
We spent a lot of time at the nearby American Express Centurion Lounge San Francisco which we accessed courtesy of the American Express Platinum Card. Since I’ve visited and reviewed it before, I won’t do so again. Needless to say, the Centurion Lounge has had some updated furniture since our last visit. It still offers the same great food and beverage and is a worthy visit if you find yourself passing through San Francisco International Airport.
Locating the United Club San Francisco:
After the American Express Centurion Lounge San Francisco, we headed up closer to our gate up at the F Gates towards the end of the F Concourse. On our route, we took a spin through the United Club F Concourse Rotunda, San Francisco.
The United Club has been at this location for as long as I can remember. As a past heavy duty Star Alliance Gold flyer, I used to be through this lounge quite a bit. More recently, my travels have taken me to other networks and cities and as a result, I hadn’t had the opportunity to visit here since our Trip to Dubai on United Airlines in 2012; almost 9 years ago before United Airlines withdrew from flying to the Middle East.
Map Courtesy of flysfo.com
The United Club San Francisco “F” Rotunda lounge is located next to the food court in the F concourse almost adjacent to gate F11. Its located almost directly on the right after the moving sidewalks.
The United Club San Francisco Club Entrance is easily marked opposite to the main food court area.
Accessing the United Club:
Thanks to complex lounge access rules in the United States where memberships are offered, it’s a little more challenging than most to access the United Club. Access to the United Club is permitted under the following circumstances:
- A boarding pass for travel in United Polaris or United Business Class (international) business class at departure, connecting and arrival airports along their eligible same-day routing.
- Customers traveling to and from Canada in United First are eligible for United Business access.
- Customers on premium transcontinental flights may only access United Club locations at the origin and destination of their premium transcontinental flight (only between New York/Newark and Los Angeles and New York/Newark and San Francisco).
- A boarding pass for travel in first class on a Star Alliance member airline, only at the departure airport for their international first class flight
- A boarding pass for travel in business class on a Star Alliance member airline, only at the departure airport for their international business class flight
- A valid Star Alliance Gold membership card and a same-day boarding pass for travel on an international flight operated by a Star Alliance member airline are needed to access United Club locations at departure, during connections and upon arrival, along the eligible same-day itinerary
- A same-day boarding pass showing Star Alliance Gold status, for travel on an international flight operated by a Star Alliance member airline is needed to access United Club locations at departure, during connections and upon arrival, along the eligible same-day itinerary
- A valid Star Alliance Gold membership card and a same-day boarding pass for travel on a flight operated by a Star Alliance member airline and departing from the same airport
- A same-day boarding pass showing Star Alliance Gold status, for travel on a flight operated by a Star Alliance member airline and departing from the same airport
- A boarding pass for same-day travel with a valid United Club membership number listed
- A valid United Club membership card and boarding pass for same-day travel
- A valid United Club membership number and boarding pass for same-day travel
- A valid mobile or paper United Club one-time pass and boarding pass for same-day travel
- A valid 15-digit one-time pass number and boarding pass for same-day travel
- Active duty military members with a valid military ID, boarding pass for travel within 24 hours on a United- or United Express-operated flight and one of the following: Dressed in uniform, Leave orders, Rest and recuperation papers
- A valid Air Canada Maple Leaf Club membership card and a boarding pass for a flight operated by a Star Alliance member airline and departing from the same airport
- Maple Leaf Club North America members can access United Club locations in the U.S. only.
- Maple Leaf Club Worldwide members can access all United Club locations.
The lounge reception is located at the end of the longest lounge entry hallway I’ve experienced in the world.
In short, there are many ways to get in, if one can figure out the labyrinth of complicated access rules. Our access today was courtesy of the International Business Class ticket status of our United Ticket.
Inside the United Club SFO “F” Rotunda:
Immediately after stepping into the United Club San Francisco, you immediately notice the flagship feature of this lounge, the large rotunda immediately off the reception area. The rotunda is one of the most unique rotunda’s I’ve ever seen in an airline lounge and is a neat inspiring travel feature; similar to what you might expect in an old world train station.
Immediately off the rotunda is a small seating area that has a view of reception. In an old school touch, it has a model boat encased in an atrium.
A few steps from the rotunda is the lounge itself. Once inside, the lounge is much the same as it was since my last visit. The lounge offers terrific window seating up against floor to ceiling windows with viewing of United’s E Concourse which houses some of it’s more regional aircraft.
Most of the seating is well oriented towards the day light windows, which is something that is always appreciated for those of us that spend way to much time in the office.
The lounge tends to be busy and its sometimes hard to find a seat in the primary seating area. The lounge also offers some quieter locations towards the rear right hand side of the lounge behind the bar. The curve of the building also allows the lounge to offer some seating that is tucked away and around the back.
I have usually found it to be quieter in this back location, and have never had difficulty in locating a seat in this hidden area.
Food an Beverage:
The United Club’s aren’t particularly known for their outstanding food and beverage. Surprisingly, the coronavirus pandemic has had almost an improvement on the lounge catering.
Today’s food included Turkey and Cheese Croissants, wrapped cheese and a variety of snacks including veggie straws. They were featured in convenient take away containers.
The usual mixed nuts silos that had marked the United Red Carpet Clubs for years have been evaporated, with more contemporary pre-wrapped snacks available for grab and go consumption.
The bar offered a variety of complimentary house wines and some over the top wines by the glass on a chargeable basis. The house wines were nothing to get excited about, and you’ll get a higher quality wine on a complimentary basis at the nearby American Express Centurion Lounge. All of the alcohol service at the United Club is through the bar, which did not offer a delivery to table service.
The United Club has also added an on line drink menu feature, which is accessed through scanning of a QR code at your lounge seat. The real steal is getting a Red Bull and Vodka here, which is included in the complimentary house spirits.
In stark contrast to the American Express Centurion Lounge San Francisco, the clientele at the United Club is much older, more weathered and less debonaire and more experienced. The space is still traditionally impressive for an older United Club with the inspiring Rotunda marking the entrance to the lounge area.
We would enjoy at stay at this lounge, prior to heading off on our United Airlines First Class San Francisco – Honolulu flight.
My Thoughts on United Club SFO “F” Rotunda:
The United Club San Francisco “F” Rotunda is arguably my favourite United Club at the San Francisco International Airport. It offers a large and somewhat elegant space, along with great seating with airside views. While I haven’t come to expect too much in the form of food and beverage, recent improvements have made the food much better than on my past visits. If you’re flying United Airlines, and don’t have access to the American Express Centurion Lounge, this place is worth a visit on your travels through San Francisco International Airport.
If you travel through San Francisco International Airport, do you have a preference on which United Club to visit ?
There are times when you have to take a short positioning flight in order to get to the better stuff. That was the order of business for today’s flight: a short hop on United Airlines on Vancouver to San Francisco in order to get to a United Airlines Polaris Business Class Seat on their United Airlines Boeing 777-200 equipment type. We would have a quick hop down on the United Airlines Embraer 175 equipment prior to our more exciting journey just thereafter. How does United Airlines Trans-border Service measure up these days?
This post is one chapter on our trip during the pandemic to Honolulu Oahu, Hawaii, United States. This trip was redeemed through Marriott Bonvoy and further enhanced through Marriott Bonvoy Elite Status. For more information on how this trip was booked, please see our trip introduction here. For other parts of the trip, please see this index.
If you enjoyed this post, please follow us here or on social media through Facebook, Twitter or Instagram for more travel tips and hacks on how to “Upgrade Your Travels”.
Read more from this trip:
- Introduction: Honolulu, Hawaii, USA via United Airlines Business Class
- Coronavirus Testing for Travel: Getting Tested for Hawaii
- Fairmont Vancouver Airport, Canada
- United Airlines Business Class: Vancouver – San Francisco
- United Club Lounge San Francisco – “F” Rotunda, USA
- United Airlines First Class: San Francisco – Honolulu
- The Sheraton Princess Kaiulani, Honolulu, USA
- Tips for Walking Diamond Head, Oahu, Hawaii, USA
- Roy’s Waikiki Restaurant, Waikiki Beach, Hawaii, USA
- On the Locals Beach at Waimea Bay Beach Park, Oahu, Hawaii, USA
- Snorkelling at Hanauma Bay, Oahu, Hawaii, USA
- Circling the East Coast to Waimanalo Bay Beach, Oahu, Hawaii, USA
- How to Save on Hotel Parking in Waikiki Beach, Hawaii, USA
- Marakume Udon, Waikiki Beach, Hawaii, USA
- The Sheraton Waikiki – Kai Suite, Honolulu, USA
- The Royal Hawaiian, a Luxury Collection Resort – Waikiki, Historic Garden Suite, Honolulu, USA
- United Club Lounge Honolulu, USA
- United Airlines First Class: Honolulu – San Francisco
- United Club Lounge San Francisco – “G” International Terminal, USA
- United Club Lounge San Francisco – “E” Concourse, USA
- United Airlines Business Class: San Francisco – Vancouver
Review: United Airlines Business Class E175, Vancouver International Airport – San Francisco International Airport
We had a two flight day starting off with this flight, which was to be followed by our connecting flight onwards on United Airlines First Class San Francisco – Honolulu in a United Polaris configured business class wide body aircraft. Our second flight would easily be the highlight of the two experiences.
We had this short positioning flight to get down to San Francisco airport. United Airlines usually runs their Boeing 737 or Airbus 320 product between Vancouver and San Francisco. Thanks to light travel demand as a result of the coronavirus pandemic, a smaller Embraer 175 was being used on the route today.
Checking into United Airlines:
We woke up from our stay at the Fairmont Vancouver Airport at 4:00 AM. We were out the door at 4:45 AM and headed downstairs to check in for our United Flight. The Vancouver International Airport check in was deserted on our arrival. Although there were kiosks, we were immediately waved up to a counter manned by outsourced but friendly outsourced Strategic Aviation staff.
Our vaccination status to enter US was verified through print copies, in addition to our Hawaii COVID QR codes that we had obtained through the Hawaii Safe Travels platform.
We were given instructions on how to access US pre-clearance and referred over to the Air Canada Maple Leaf Lounge Vancouver Transborder. Unfortunately, AC has the lounge closed in a cost cutting more and only would only be open at 7 AM, well after our departure.
Since we were departing from Canada, our boarding cards were issued with “INTL” marking on them, which allowed us complimentary access to the United Club’s throughout the system on the same day of travel.
It was pretty deserted on the US Pre-Clearance side of the Airport, with only the Starbucks open today. Even the Plaza Premium Lounge Vancouver Transborder was “temporarily closed” and shuttered during our pandemic era travels. After a snack at the Starbucks, we headed down concourse to Gate E78.
After an uneventful wait at the gate, when boarding was announced, it was those needing extra time to board, followed by Military then Group 1. We boarded with group one. As we boarded, we were provided a single United Clean Plus Sanitizing Wipe with a similar presentation to being given a red notice; almost with a slight bow and flourished presentation.
United Airlines
First Class (J)
YVR-SFO (Vancouver – San Francisco)
UA 5618
September 28, 2021
Booked: Embraer 175
Flown: Embraer 175
Departure: 7:00 AM
Arrival: 9:21 AM
On board United Airlines First Class on an Embraer 175:
The United Airlines First Class Embraer 175 is a 1-2 configuration in four rows of First Class for a total of 12 seats. We located our seats in 2C 2D today.
We were able to store our rolling suitcases in the overhead bins on the right hand side of the aircraft. As many Embraer flyers will recall, the Embraers only offer suitcase storage on the right hand side of the aircraft. The overhead bins on the left hand side are only large enough for purses and coats. As a result, if storage of a suitcase above your head is important to you, make sure you get there early so you can get the bin space.
The seats are reasonably comfortable for short to medium haul first class. The only disadvantage is that I find the seats slightly firm.
The seats offered working Empower plug ins in the center console between the seats.
Pre Departure Services:
Instead of the usual open bar pre-departure beverage, a small 237ml bottle of Dasani water was provided.
Departing Vancouver International Airport:
We had a long taxi over to Runway 8R, passing by a Westjet 787 Dreamliner and an Air India Boeing 777 that was parked on the ramp stands.
We had a wet take off today leaving Vancouver, as would be expected in the Pacific Northwest in the fall months.
The Meal: All – In – One Snack Bag
As we got to altitude, an All – In – One Snack bag was passed out. The bag was a substitution for any meal service that was offered on the flight.
The bag contained another Dasani 237ml bottle of water, a small bag of Stellar Pretzels and a Daelmans Authentic Dutch Stroopwafer cookie. Thankfully, I had the Bacon and Cheddar Croissant at the Starbucks earlier in the day. The snack bag itself was pretty meager. For an international flight of almost two and a half hours, I frankly expected something a little more.
We were offered a drink service of Tea / Coffee, Juices, Water with alcohol available. I ended up with a coffee which was served in a Illy branded paper cup. The Illy branded coffee was reasonable tasting, a premium coffee that is on par with most air carriers in North America.
United Airlines In Flight Entertainment:
The entertainment was available on the United App. The selection was pretty limited. There were only 2 comedy movies, 2 documentary movies and a few television shows. As a result, I didn’t bother draining the battery down in the device.
We eventually had views of the California Coast as we came in for landing at San Francisco International Airport.
We landed at Gate E3 at San Francisco International Airport. This part of the airport held many of the smaller regional flights. As a result, we had views of United Express Embraer and Bombardier aircraft.
We would connect over to the United Club Lounge San Francisco “F” Rotunda and eventually onwards to United Airlines First Class San Francisco – Honolulu flight.
My Thoughts on United Airlines Transborder:
Our United Airlines First Class flight from Vancouver – San Francisco was exceptionally bare bones for a First Class experience. Despite being on a flight over two and a half hours in length, we only received a sanitizing wipe, a coffee and a pre-packaged snack bag with a lounge that was shuttered and closed. The main improvement was the seat and the early boarding, which marked the highlight of this experience.
If you travel between the United States and Canada, do you have any preference in air carrier ?
With a departure to the United States departing at seven in the morning, we were keen to make life easy for our travel day by staying at the Fairmont Vancouver Airport prior to our flight. It had been several years since we had last stayed at this property, so we were up for trying it again. The hotel has experienced a full renovation since the last time we visited. How would the hotel perform since the last time we had visited?
This post is one chapter on our trip during the pandemic to Honolulu Oahu, Hawaii, United States. This trip was redeemed through Marriott Bonvoy and further enhanced through Marriott Bonvoy Elite Status. For more information on how this trip was booked, please see our trip introduction here. For other parts of the trip, please see this index.
If you enjoyed this post, please follow us here or on social media through Facebook, Twitter or Instagram for more travel tips and hacks on how to “Upgrade Your Travels”.
Read more from this trip:
- Introduction: Honolulu, Hawaii, USA via United Airlines Business Class
- Coronavirus Testing for Travel: Getting Tested for Hawaii
- Fairmont Vancouver Airport, Canada
- United Airlines Business Class: Vancouver – San Francisco
- United Club Lounge San Francisco – “F” Rotunda, USA
- United Airlines First Class: San Francisco – Honolulu
- The Sheraton Princess Kaiulani, Honolulu, USA
- Tips for Walking Diamond Head, Oahu, Hawaii, USA
- Roy’s Waikiki Restaurant, Waikiki Beach, Hawaii, USA
- On the Locals Beach at Waimea Bay Beach Park, Oahu, Hawaii, USA
- Snorkelling at Hanauma Bay, Oahu, Hawaii, USA
- Circling the East Coast to Waimanalo Bay Beach, Oahu, Hawaii, USA
- How to Save on Hotel Parking in Waikiki Beach, Hawaii, USA
- Marakume Udon, Waikiki Beach, Hawaii, USA
- The Sheraton Waikiki – Kai Suite, Honolulu, USA
- The Royal Hawaiian, a Luxury Collection Resort – Waikiki, Historic Garden Suite, Honolulu, USA
- United Club Lounge Honolulu, USA
- United Airlines First Class: Honolulu – San Francisco
- United Club Lounge San Francisco – “G” International Terminal, USA
- United Club Lounge San Francisco – “E” Concourse, USA
- United Airlines Business Class: San Francisco – Vancouver
Review: The Fairmont Vancouver Airport, Vancouver International Airport, Canada
“Easily the Most Convenient and Classiest Airport Hotel Option in Vancouver for US Bound Business Travellers Catching the Early Morning Flight to the United States”
It has been a while since I last visited the Fairmont Vancouver International Airport. Since it’s been almost 7 years since I’d last stayed, I figure that it’s worth a review again to see how the hotel as fared over the years.
We had a 7 AM departure on United Airlines Business Class Vancouver – San Francisco. MrsWT73 described this as “an early departure” and was insistent that we stay at the airport in order to get a proper but relaxing jump on our holiday.
Booking the Fairmont Vancouver Airport:
I booked the Fairmont through their website direct. I was able to locate a rate of approximately $199 CAD, which was remarkably soft for this property. I typically notice rates of $275 – $300 for this property and it often sells out on weeknights.
The Fairmont’s President’s Club Loyalty program has been merged in to the Accor Live Limitless (ALL) Loyalty program along with many of the wonderful benefits that previously existed with the Fairmont’s President’s Club.
Getting to the Fairmont Vancouver Airport:
The Fairmont Vancouver Airport is the only in airport hotel at Vancouver International Airport. It’s located above the US Pre-Clearance Area.
As a Vancouver resident, I self drove my own car to the hotel. The hotel is also accessed through the Skytrain transit system or any other transportation methods too and from the Vancouver International Airport.
Checking into the Fairmont:
On arrival to the property, I parked in the valet and arrival zone out front. There was no host at the street when I arrived, and I found my own way up to the lobby, leaving my car curb side.
After checking in, I would later go self park the car at the Vancouver International Airport long term lot which is about 3 km from the airport. It’s conveniently connected back to the airport by free on “Sea Island” Skytrain elevated rail, and next to the McArthur Glen Factory Outlets; a destination on its own for those with time to kill around Vancouver International Airport. This was handled completely separately from the hotel, and our car would remain there for the duration of our holiday.
Getting back to the hotel, the Fairmont Vancouver Airport hotel lobby is located immediately above US departures and accessible via escalators or elevator.
There was no line at check in. At check in, I was immediately offered assistance with the bags from an onsite attendant but declined. The Fairmont Hotel Vancouver Lobby isn’t super aspirational, and is more of a functional space in the centre middle of the hotel.
At check in, I received a friendly upgrade to a deluxe room from the base Fairmont King that I had booked. My reception host had a “in training” badge but was very pleasant to interact with. Our upgrade was to a north facing runway view. Although I was a loyalty member there was no specific welcome or recognition of it, as a base level member.
My general impression was that the hotel was approximately 50% full based on the number of lights as visible from outside on in the rooms. Despite this, we had friendly treatment everywhere we went and the hotel did not feel full in any way.
The Room: A Fairmont Deluxe Room
I navigated with MrsWT73 up to the room. We ended up in Room #1317, which was on the top floor with runway views facing the North Shore mountains.
The hotel has been fully renovated since the last time I had stayed here. As a result, the hallways and exterior spaces have a clean and slick modern look to them.
Upon entering our Deluxe Room, I was impressed with the renovation. The old airplane spotting telescopes are gone, but the room decorated in nice neutral colors. The room is a reasonable size and is perfectly suitable for those travelling as a couple, unlike some older properties that are quite compact when travelling for two.
Immediately on entering the room, guests notice the large King Size Bed. The bed was inviting and well appointed.
Just off the king size bed is the ensuite bathroom. Opposite the regular side of the bed was an occasional chair for relaxing. The chair had a foot stool and an occasional table. Being up against floor to ceiling glass windows, it would have been an excellent place for airplane spotting during the day time.
The room featured a flat large 55 inch flat screen television. While a 55 inch television is almost industry standard for the hotel rooms, it’s almost too large for the space.
Viewing the television from the occasional chair was much more proportionate.
The room itself was also well equipped with all the needed accessories. This included a small fridge, a set of wine glasses, and a set of coffee mugs, along with a tassimo coffee maker.
In terms of sleep quality, I had a sound and quiet sleep. There was no noise and no airplane noise to be heard inside the room itself. In an old school touch, the room also offered an analog alarm clock.
The hotel offered a spacious bathroom that had two access points; one by the front door and one from the bedroom area. The bathroom itself had a separate shower and a stand alone tub that was embedded into the wall.
The bathroom was well equipped and offered PURE soaps. The PURE soaps were pleasant smelling and nice to use. Although the bathroom was a single vanity sink, the bathroom was large enough sized in order to have two occupying the bathroom without crashing into each other.
The shower itself had good strong pressure. The shower was spacious and room for 1 ½ persons or a spacious size in order to get into the shower and turn it on without getting soaked wet.
The hotel room had great runway views of airport operations. The hotel was also close enough to the runway to actually see operations, as opposed to being so far away from the operations that the views weren’t worthwhile. There was also an aviation themed spotting guide in the room. This was a nice touch personalized to all aircraft and carriers that visit Vancouver.
The hotel had local art on the walls including images of Vancouver Stanley Park Sea Wall and aviation themed art of propeller planes; appropriate for an airport hotel.
Around the Property:
Gym
The hotel has an small gym. During our visit, a visit to the gym required vaccination verification at front desk as a result of a current Provincial Heath Order as a result of the coronavirus pandemic. As a result, I didn’t stop by for a photograph or avail myself of the facilites.
Globe at YVR:
The in hotel restaurant is the Globe at YVR. It’s probably my favourite restaurant at the Vancouver International Airport. During our visit, there was live music playing. The Globe at YVR was offering meal service until 11 PM, with alcohol stopping at 10 PM as a result of the Provincial Health Order due to the pandemic.
Aside from the Globe at YVR, there isn’t much else around the airport complex that would make this property worthy of a multi night stay when visiting Vancouver. You’d be much better off staying in downtown Vancouver at the Fairmont Hotel Vancouver, the Fairmont Waterfront, or the Fairmont Pacific Rim if you were staying multiple nights. There are also a wide variety of Marriott hotels in Vancouver that cater to the business and leisure travel market.
Departing the Fairmont Vancouver Airport:
In advance of our flight, the next day we checked out at 4:45 AM. We had a friendly check out and our bill was as expected. Our Folio was in my email account within 5 minutes.
I wandered downstairs and was immediately at United check in within 50 steps in order to check in for our United Airlines Business Class Vancouver – San Francisco flight. It was pouring with rain outside on our departure so we probably made the right choice by staying dry by overnighting at the hotel.
The Bottom Line: The Fairmont Vancouver Airport
The Fairmont Vancouver Airport has had a tasteful upgrade in terms of a full hotel renovation compared to the last time that I stayed at this property. The renovation has been nicely done and all the dust has been cleared. The hotel still offers a classy place to stay, with considerate and professional levels of service at every opportunity. While this isn’t the hotel to stay in for several nights at a time, it is the best option to stay at if you have an early departure to the United States.
If you have stayed at the Fairmont Vancouver Airport, did you appreciate how easy it was to get to your gate ?
International Travel around the world these days is a much more complicated experience. As a result of testing requirements, the lack of any one international standard and vaccine cards of varying levels and integrity, it’s a confusing time for travellers. On my first experience through the testing environment, I thought I would share my thoughts on navigating through the testing process to prepare for travel.
This post is one chapter on our trip during the pandemic to Honolulu Oahu, Hawaii, United States. This trip was redeemed through Marriott Bonvoy and further enhanced through Marriott Bonvoy Elite Status. For more information on how this trip was booked, please see our trip introduction here. For other parts of the trip, please see this index.
If you enjoyed this post, please follow us here or on social media through Facebook, Twitter or Instagram for more travel tips and hacks on how to “Upgrade Your Travels”.
Read more from this trip:
- Introduction: Honolulu, Hawaii, USA via United Airlines Business Class
- Coronavirus Testing for Travel: Getting Tested for Hawaii
- Fairmont Vancouver Airport, Canada
- United Airlines Business Class: Vancouver – San Francisco
- United Club Lounge San Francisco – “F” Rotunda, USA
- United Airlines First Class: San Francisco – Honolulu
- The Sheraton Princess Kaiulani, Honolulu, USA
- Tips for Walking Diamond Head, Oahu, Hawaii, USA
- Roy’s Waikiki Restaurant, Waikiki Beach, Hawaii, USA
- On the Locals Beach at Waimea Bay Beach Park, Oahu, Hawaii, USA
- Snorkelling at Hanauma Bay, Oahu, Hawaii, USA
- Circling the East Coast to Waimanalo Bay Beach, Oahu, Hawaii, USA
- How to Save on Hotel Parking in Waikiki Beach, Hawaii, USA
- Marakume Udon, Waikiki Beach, Hawaii, USA
- The Sheraton Waikiki – Kai Suite, Honolulu, USA
- The Royal Hawaiian, a Luxury Collection Resort – Waikiki, Historic Garden Suite, Honolulu, USA
- United Club Lounge Honolulu, USA
- United Airlines First Class: Honolulu – San Francisco
- United Club Lounge San Francisco – “G” International Terminal, USA
- United Club Lounge San Francisco – “E” Concourse, USA
- United Airlines Business Class: San Francisco – Vancouver
Activity: Coronavirus Testing Before Travel, Getting Tested to Enter Hawaii
The world had changed quite substantially since we last travelled on an international trip At the time of our travels on this trip, each country now had a patch work of different rules and regulations surrounding their entry and exit requirements that reflect travel between destinations during this Coronavirus pandemic environment.
It’s certainly added a large level of bureaucracy to travel, in addition to some fairly strict effort to review requirements including any transit information. As a result, I’ve added a post on how we approached the experience of travelling between Canada – United States – Hawaii, including navigating the testing requirements..
Screening Requirements at Vancouver International Airport:
At the time of this trip, on the Canadian side before departure, there was a Canadian requirement that Canadian Air Transport Security Authority (CATSA) performs temperature checks at the passenger screening checkpoint located within the airport itself. Passengers with a temperature reading of 38 degrees Celsius / 100.4 degrees Fahrenheit or higher were to be denied boarding and access to the secure area of the airport for 14 days, unless a medical certificate is provided which confirms the elevated temperature is not related to COVID-19. Canadian travellers were also required to be vaccinated for domestic Canadian flights.
Testing to Fly into the United States:
In addition to the temperature checks, as a pre-requisite in order to enter the United States from Canada, a negative COVID Antigen test (or better) was required. This testing information was collected by the airlines and screened either through the United Airlines app or in advance through the internet.
At of the time of this trip, Canadians were only permitted to “fly” into the United states for travel by air. The land border between Canada and the US remained closed to Canadian citizens to drive across by car, making air travel the only option possible in order to enter the United States.
In order to fly into the United States, the US government required a negative antigen test, or any type of molecular test, taken within the previous 3 days of the US bound flight. The antigen tests are generally the cheaper variety and are typically around the $100 CAD price point in Vancouver, Canada.
Researching all the travel requirements meant navigating through lots of information provided by United Airlines. It required a careful examination of all the policies, to make sure you didn’t miss anything. Making matters more challenging, were that many of these screens were only available after you had purchased a ticket. This made advance research on destinations a little difficult.
United Airlines was pretty integrated with requirements for travel built right into the http://www.united.com. It involved electronic uploads of all documentation for automated electronic review. Traveling under this new era certainly meant closely following all the requirements.
Navigating Safe Travels Hawaii with a PCR Test:
Secondary to providing a test to get into the United States, the state of Hawaii had a state requirement for all travellers to test negative or be vaccinated prior to entry into the Hawaiian Islands. While Hawaii accepts American Vaccination records as issued by the Center for Disease Control, they hadn’t gotten around identifying a way to verify international vaccination records. As a result, as Canadian travellers, we had to under go a COVID Test PCR / NAAT test in a similar category to all to the non vaccinated travellers. If you successfully passed the PCR test, you were given eligibility to enter Hawaii in order to apply for “an exemption” from the 10 day quarantine.
The Hawaiian testing platform was managed through a web based portal called Safe Travels Hawaii. It was a pretty elementary platform consisting of a secure log in, an instructional video and a QR code generator.
The Safe Travels Hawaii site offered a link of “Trusted Travel” partners where testing could be performed. Initially, it was a little confusing as the state list of approved “Trusted Travel” partners was hosted on internet landing pages published by Canadian Airline Carriers Air Canada and Westjet. The state did not seem to take into consideration that Canadian travellers could access Hawaii on Alaska, Delta or United Airlines from Canada by connecting through the United States. It took a little research but it was more the location and status of the testing clinic as a “Trusted Travel” partner that was of importance. The State of Hawaii didn’t seem to care whether travel was on specific carriers.
The Trusted Travel partners were limited to some national drug stores and speciality travel clinics. Interestingly, most were centered closer to the airport and none where situated in my Vancouver suburb. The Hawaiian test requirements were 72 hour prior to your last inbound flight to Hawaii; in our case this was a Tuesday at 1:15 PM. As a result on a Sunday morning at 10 AM (some 52 hrs before our flight) we drove into Richmond, BC for a test at the Bon Voyage Medical Clinic.
Finding a PCR Test near home:
The Bon Voyage Medical Clinic offered easy testing and booking for international travellers. After navigating to their website, we easily selected a time.
Their Richmond location happened to be almost permanently set up at the Sheraton Vancouver International Airport in a meeting room.
We attended the quiet test location, which was a much quieter experience than the mass vaccination convention centers set up in my community. The PCR test was $190 CAD, which was pretty standard in the Vancouver Region with a set price point pretty much everywhere.
Getting a PCR Test:
On admittance, the clinic verified our identification. I used my Canadian passport to verify my identity. There was only one reception person and one nurse working a room that had approximately 5 testing stations.
The test involved a “shorter” nasal swab that was placed up both of my nasal tubes by the nurse. While it was uncomfortable, like a needle, it was pretty much done within 15 seconds. I’d rate it as a 5 out of 10 on the dis-comfort scale.
MrsWT73 didn’t enjoy it, rating it worse off at a 8 out of 10 on the discomfort level. She would later come out of the testing room with very watery eyes.
The tests samples were sent to a centralized analysis center called LifeLabs; a bio-medical testing center. Once the test samples had undergone the microscope, the results were returned to Boy Voyage for authentication. Bon Voyage produced a code suitable under the Hawaii Trusted Travel partner testing. Our test results were promised next day by 11 PM. In reality, the test results were received on Monday at 11AM.
Waiting for Test Results:
The time spend waiting for the test results was a bit like waiting to be paroled. Admittedly, it took a little bit of the steam out of getting excited for a holiday. Much like an anxious smoker waiting for a cigarette, I was nervously checking the device for any sign of an email. At the time of the trip, rapid testing and testing facilities were not prevalent through our region. It would be our first experience getting tested and with the possibility of asymptotic cases, we had no guesses as to whether our trip would proceed.
Eventually, we received our negative test results. With the results ready, we followed up with the last steps of our trip. We booked airport parking, finalized hotel and other car transfers to avoid cancellation challenges and difficulties.
In terms of Hawaii, we uploaded our test results into the Hawaii Safe Travels Oahu. This spit out a QR code that we used to verify our travels. We would end up needing to present this at check in every time we changed hotels in Honolulu.
This wouldn’t be so bad doing it at the last minute but it does add some time to any travel preparation assignments.
Getting a Test to Return to Canada
After our ten day Hawaiian Island adventure, on our return trip back to Canada, at the time of our travels, the Government of Canada required an expensive PCR test for all travellers entering or returning to Canada. As a result, we had to locate a PCR testing provider in Hawaii that could test us within three days (72 hours) of travel.
I booked a test months in advance through Clinical Labs of Hawaii. I found lots of availability up to about 48 hours prior to travel. I would still recommend making advance reservations as far in advance as practicable in order to get your preferred choice of times.
We were able to locate a travel testing facility in the Sheraton Waikiki through Clinical Labs of Hawaii. A few of my travelling colleagues were presenting themselves to CVS asking for a test. However, I elected to just pay outright for a diagnostic test at a travel clinic.
At the Sheraton Waikiki Docs on Call, listed for an appointment using the on line interface. We presented ourselves at our pre-assigned time.
It was a bit less organized than our departing experience from Vancouver. There was a line of about ten people at 10 AM. I chatted with some other travellers in line, including a lady who refused to vaccinate and was getting antigen tests every two days so that she could go out in restaurants in Honolulu as part of the Safe Travels Oahu mandate requiring all guests to be vaccinated in restaurants and other communal spaces.
The testing in Hawaii was a similar to Vancouver. It was a single nasal swab 15 seconds in each nostril with a fresh nurse who wished me to be well.
In this case, after our test, we were given a card that displayed the account information in order to get our results. We weren’t given any promise on time or when we would expect them. We were also expected to set up a separate account, which was a little high on the pain in the tail factor. Among the last things you want to be doing taking away from your beach time is navigating clunky information technology platforms.
We ended up getting our test results later that afternoon. With a negative test result, we were able to upload our information into the Arrive CAN application, endorsing our pre-clearance to return home to Canada.
My Thoughts on Undergoing the Testing Procedures:
The testing requirements for travel certainly added large inconvenience factor for travels. There was substantial research and interaction time that was required in order to navigate many of the portals and requirements in order to secure testing through different providers, in addition to confirming requirements through airlines. Perhaps the largest lesson learned was that I would plan to allow for an additional 2 – 3 hours on the compliance side, not withstanding any travel for testing.
If you have experienced diagnostic travel testing, do you have any tips to make the process go smoothly ?
Travelling during a pandemic has never been fun. Planning a trip has been fraught with challenges along with flight cancellations, possible trip interruptions and Coronavirus health concerns. After almost fourteen months of isolation, in the middle of the Omicron variant, it was time for us to get back out travelling again. We tested the waters with a local trip to the Islands of Hawaii, United States of America.
This post is one chapter on our trip during the pandemic to Honolulu Oahu, Hawaii, United States. This trip was redeemed through Marriott Bonvoy and further enhanced through Marriott Bonvoy Elite Status. For more information on how this trip was booked, please see our trip introduction here. For other parts of the trip, please see this index.
If you enjoyed this post, please follow us here or on social media through Facebook, Twitter or Instagram for more travel tips and hacks on how to “Upgrade Your Travels”.
Read more from this trip:
- Introduction: Honolulu, Hawaii, USA via United Airlines Business Class
- Coronavirus Testing for Travel: Getting Tested for Hawaii
- Fairmont Vancouver Airport, Canada
- United Airlines Business Class: Vancouver – San Francisco
- United Club Lounge San Francisco – “F” Rotunda, USA
- United Airlines First Class: San Francisco – Honolulu
- The Sheraton Princess Kaiulani, Honolulu, USA
- Tips for Walking Diamond Head, Oahu, Hawaii, USA
- Roy’s Waikiki Restaurant, Waikiki Beach, Hawaii, USA
- On the Locals Beach at Waimea Bay Beach Park, Oahu, Hawaii, USA
- Snorkelling at Hanauma Bay, Oahu, Hawaii, USA
- Circling the East Coast to Waimanalo Bay Beach, Oahu, Hawaii, USA
- How to Save on Hotel Parking in Waikiki Beach, Hawaii, USA
- Marakume Udon, Waikiki Beach, Hawaii, USA
- The Sheraton Waikiki – Kai Suite, Honolulu, USA
- The Royal Hawaiian, a Luxury Collection Resort – Waikiki, Historic Garden Suite, Honolulu, USA
- United Club Lounge Honolulu, USA
- United Airlines First Class: Honolulu – San Francisco
- United Club Lounge San Francisco – “G” International Terminal, USA
- United Club Lounge San Francisco – “E” Concourse, USA
- United Airlines Business Class: San Francisco – Vancouver
Trip Introduction: Honolulu, Hawaii, United States of American via United Airlines First Class
Planning the Trip:
After a year and fourteen months of pandemic living in Vancouver, Canada, and climbing vaccination rates of over 83% in British Columbia and 73% in Canada, the urges to travel were getting ever stronger. With both of us being fully vaccinated with a Pfizer / Pfizer combination, it was time to get away once again which started the search for travel destinations.
While we were searching for many international destinations, we looked for tickets that did not involve complicated routings, stopovers in exotic foreign destinations. Not being in favour of loaning money to airline carriers in the event the flights got cancelled, we ended up settling on nearby Hawaii, United States of America.
The island state of Hawaii was relatively easy to be reached from our West Coast home in Vancouver, Canada and only one or two flights away; dependent on your routing. Surprisingly, Hawaii and the United Island Hopper was the last destination we went to prior to the pandemic shutting the world’s air travel down.
Planning Flights:
Flights from the Mainland to and from Hawaii
While searching for options on google flights, I happened to find that United was offering terrific First Class fares to and from Canada to Hawaii. The service was via San Francisco or Los Angeles on their International Polaris Business Class full flat seat. Although the flights were not branded as United Polaris Businesses, they did offer a unique business class pod featuring a full flat seat and would meet up with our past memories and longing for a proper wide body international flight.
Our typical route to Hawaii was on Alaska Airlines First Class with a connection in Seattle, so this was a reasonable alternative that would have us travelling on a wide body aircraft instead of a narrow body Boeing 737 tube that Air Canada, Westjet or Alaska were offering. We booked these with cash for $1,369 CAD ($1,071 USD) per person.
We credited these flights to Air Canada Aeroplan. With a Business “Z” Fare earning 150%, we earned 9,568 elite qualifying miles, and 2,232 status bonus miles, thanks to being an Air Canada Aeroplan Elite 35K status on base miles of 6,379 status miles travelled, totalling 11,800 miles earned.
In the end, the routing ended up looking like this after it was all put together:
YVR – SFO – HNL (paid)
HNL – SFO – YVR (paid)
Planning Hotels:
In terms of Hotels, the pandemic hasn’t been kind to hotels and their partner credit card holders. We had a fistful of American Express Marriott Bonvoy credit card hotel certificate nights valid only at Category 5 hotels. We typically save them for US hotels where the currency exchange premium makes this redemption a better bargain. I also had a Marriott Titanium qualification free night award valid for a room worth up to 40,000 Marriott Bonvoy points. We ended up redeeming our certificates against the Sheraton Princess Kaiulani located right in Waikiki Beach, Honolulu.
While it wasn’t the best redemption, it did offer us 5 nights in Waikiki just mere steps from the beach for free. We would later use Marriott Bonvoy Suite Night Awards to have us upgraded from a base room booked, into their nicest Tower Luxury Larger Guest Room with an Ocean View.
Since we were looking for a little resort styled stay, we also returned to our usual favorite The Sheraton Waikiki for the a 4 night paid stay booked under a cash rate of Members Stay More, which lowered the rate by 20% to $269 USD per night over a four night stay. While we had stayed here previously, we had a great time and were impressed by the infiniti pool, the Executive Lounge and the views afforded from it’s oceanfront rooms.
The hotel being so large and with so many rooms, offers great upgrade opportunities, and we applied Marriott Bonvoy suite night awards to the rooms in hopes of an upgrade. The hotel also offers some resort styled beach chairs around its two swimming pools, whereas in many other resorts, these are on a paid reservation basis.
We also considered the Moana Surfrider and the Marriott Waikiki Beach Hotel, but the Sheraton Waikiki shined compared to these other two. We did consider the Marriot Ko Olani resort, but rates were above $465 USD per night. Thanks to the Marriot Ko Olani being branded as a Marriott Vacation Club property, Marriott Elite status was virtually non existent. With no included breakfasts, lounge access or other upgrade opportunities, staying here made little sense to us at a $465 USD a night rate.
My acupuncturist, who is a regular visitor to Hawaii, had always raved about The Royal Hawaiian, a Luxury Collection Resort – Waikiki. We stayed here on a reconnaissance basis for one night before departing, just to see how it was.
Getting Around:
Since car rentals were pricing at over $1,000 USD per week in Hawaii thanks to the global shortage as a result of the inventory offload, I ended up locating reasonable rates through Hertz on a daily “when and as needed” basis. I actually booked 5 one day rentals at $80 USD a day while we planned our trip and exploration around Oahu, Hawaii. I ended up cancelling some of these after we had solidified our plans. The demand dropped down to $50 USD a day, and I would end up cancelling the $80 USD a day rates in favor of cheaper rates.
Our points and miles redemption summary:
In summary, we redeemed:
- Four American Express Marriott Bonvoy Annual Free Night Certificates
- One Marriott Bonvoy Titanium Free Night Award Redemption
While it was an ironic surprise that we would be returning to this Pacific Island that was the location of our last holiday before the world shut down, after almost 2 years of no leisure travel, I’d take almost travel at this point.
If you have flown during the pandemic, what strategies did you use to get outsized value during periods of high demand ?
Our flight from Lihue, Hawaii had us connecting through Seattle and onwards to Vancouver, Canada. While there are many carriers that typically fly this short international route, our travels on Alaska Airlines would have us on their newest Embraer 175 aircraft in First Class. How would this segment compare to its prior Alaska Airlines Bombardier Q400 aircraft?
This post is one chapter on our trip on the United Island Hopper and to Oahu & Kauai, Hawaii, United States. This trip was redeemed through Alaska Mileage Plan, United Airlines Mileage Plus and Marriott Bonvoy. It was further enhanced through Marriott Bonvoy Elite Status. For more information on how this trip was booked, please see our trip introduction here. For other parts of the trip, please see this index.
If you enjoyed this post, please follow us here or on social media through Facebook, Twitter or Instagram for more travel tips and hacks on how to “Upgrade Your Travels”.
Read more from this trip:
- Introduction: The United Island Hopper via Honolulu & Kauai, on United Airlines and Alaska Airlines First Class
- Alaska Airlines First Class: Vancouver – Seattle
- Alaska Airlines First Class: Seattle – Honolulu
- The Sheraton Waikiki, Honolulu, Hawaii, USA
- The United Island Hopper – Flight #1: Honolulu – Majuro
- The United Island Hopper – Flight #2: Majuro – Kwajalein
- The United Island Hopper – Flight #3: Kwajalein – Pohnpei
- The United Island Hopper – Flight #4: Pohnpei – Chuuk
- The United Island Hopper – Flight #5: Chuuk – Guam
- The United Island Hopper – Top 5 Tips and Tricks
- The Sheraton Laguna Guam Resort, Guam
- The Sagan Bisita VIP Lounge, Guam
- United Airlines: Guam – Honolulu
- Bill’s Sydney, Honolulu, Hawaii, USA
- Hawaiian Airlines The Plumeria Lounge, Honolulu, USA
- Hawaiian Airlines First Class: Honolulu – Lihue
- The Sheraton Kauai Resort, Poi’pu, Hawaii, USA
- Visiting Kauai Coffee Estate, Kauai, USA
- The Views at the Waimea Canyon State Park, Kauai, USA
- Sailing the Napali Coast, Kauai, USA
- Alaska Airlines First Class: Lihue – Seattle
- Alaska Airlines First Class: Seattle – Vancouver
Review: Alaska Airlines First Class E175, Seattle Tacoma International Airport – Vancouver International Airport
As Canadian’s travelling on Alaska Arilines, our trips always require a connection at their Seattle hub. After arriving into Seattle Tacoma International Airport on Alaska Airlines First Class Lihue – Seattle, we only had one hour of connection time.
Regrettably with our early 6:48 AM arrival time from our connecting flight, there was no time to visit The American Express Centurion Lounge Seattle. During our visit the American Express Centurion Lounge Seattle opened at 10 AM, which was well after our departing flight at 9:50 AM.
Alaska Airlines doesn’t offer lounge access to its Alaska Lounge Seattle on “U” fare upgraded tickets so we ended up just waiting out our connection at the gate for our second leg up to Vancouver, Canada.
Today’s flight left from the usual C Terminal at Seattle Tacoma International Airport. It’s usually standing room only while waiting for the flight to be boarded as a result of all the commuter flights departing from these shared gates.
It was a bit of a treat for us this time since the usual Alaska Airlines Bombardier Q-400’s have now been upgraded to more comfortable Embraer’s on this leg.
Alaska Airlines
AS 2898 – First Class (U)
SEA – YVR (SeaTac International Airport – Vancouver International Airport)
February 6, 2020
9:50 AM – 10:51 AM
Booked: Embraer 175
Flown: Embraer 175
On Board Alaska Airlines First Class:
Getting on board Alaska Airlines First Class in the Embraer 175. Alaska Airline’s Embraer 175 is set up in a 1-2 configuration in First Class and a 2 -2 configuration in economy class. The Alaska Airlines First Class seat on an Embraer 175 is leaps and bounds above a single class of service aircraft on Alaska Airlines Bombarbier Q400 aircraft.
It was a wet day for ground operations at SeaTac and our warm Hawaiian adventure was most certainly at a cold end.
Pre – Departure Services:
A pre – departure beverage was offered. This was a Starbucks Coffee for myself and a Dasani water for MrsWT73. It was great to have a proper beverage as opposed to the very light offerings usually found on the comparable Bombardier Q400 product.
After boarding was complete, we got underway. It was a short uneventful 27 minute flight up to Vancouver.
As is always the case, there is no other in flight service on this flight as it’s so short.
On arrival to Vancouver, we parked at a gate unlike our usual apron flights on the Q400.
We ended up landing in Vancouver and we cleared Canada Border Services Agency customs courtesy of Nexus without any issues or waits.
The Bottom Line: Alaska Airlines First Class Embraer Service
The Alaska First Class seat on the Embraer 175 is miles ahead in comfort than on the comparable Alaska Airlines Bombardier Q400 product. Although you won’t get much in the way of service on the short Seattle – Vancouver flight, it’s still a comfortable hop between the two cities.
If you fly between Seattle and Vancouver, do you stick with Alaska Airlines or do you take Delta Airlines or Air Canada ?
Alaska Airlines offers among the most frequencies of service from Hawaii to the mainland United States. This includes service from Lihue to Seattle which can save some time connecting within Hawaii and also within the Pacific Northwest. We would get the opportunity to test out their First Class on their Boeing 737 narrow body aircraft on our trip home to Vancouver, Canada.
This post is one chapter on our trip on the United Island Hopper and to Oahu & Kauai, Hawaii, United States. This trip was redeemed through Alaska Mileage Plan, United Airlines Mileage Plus and Marriott Bonvoy. It was further enhanced through Marriott Bonvoy Elite Status. For more information on how this trip was booked, please see our trip introduction here. For other parts of the trip, please see this index.
If you enjoyed this post, please follow us here or on social media through Facebook, Twitter or Instagram for more travel tips and hacks on how to “Upgrade Your Travels”.
Read more from this trip:
- Introduction: The United Island Hopper via Honolulu & Kauai, on United Airlines and Alaska Airlines First Class
- Alaska Airlines First Class: Vancouver – Seattle
- Alaska Airlines First Class: Seattle – Honolulu
- The Sheraton Waikiki, Honolulu, Hawaii, USA
- The United Island Hopper – Flight #1: Honolulu – Majuro
- The United Island Hopper – Flight #2: Majuro – Kwajalein
- The United Island Hopper – Flight #3: Kwajalein – Pohnpei
- The United Island Hopper – Flight #4: Pohnpei – Chuuk
- The United Island Hopper – Flight #5: Chuuk – Guam
- The United Island Hopper – Top 5 Tips and Tricks
- The Sheraton Laguna Guam Resort, Guam
- The Sagan Bisita VIP Lounge, Guam
- United Airlines: Guam – Honolulu
- Bill’s Sydney, Honolulu, Hawaii, USA
- Hawaiian Airlines The Plumeria Lounge, Honolulu, USA
- Hawaiian Airlines First Class: Honolulu – Lihue
- The Sheraton Kauai Resort, Poi’pu, Hawaii, USA
- Visiting Kauai Coffee Estate, Kauai, USA
- The Views at the Waimea Canyon State Park, Kauai, USA
- Sailing the Napali Coast, Kauai, USA
- Alaska Airlines First Class: Lihue – Seattle
- Alaska Airlines First Class: Seattle – Vancouver
Review: Alaska Airlines First Class B737-8, Kauai Lihue Airport – Seattle Tacoma International Airport
We finished up a terrific stay at The Sheraton Kauai Resort and enjoyed a lot of what the island had to offer. Before we knew it, it was time to head towards the airport. Most eastbound flights departing Hawaii are overnight flights back to the mainland. This often means attempting sleep in a seat while arriving to your North American destination the next morning.
Eventually arriving to the Kauai Lihue airport, I dropped MrsWT73 with the bags at the curb side and proceeded to return the rental car. The friendly Hertz agent met us in the lot and was able to process the return. I wandered past the nearby airport chickens and made it to the shuttle bus pick up. Thanks to no one around, it departed immediately.
Checking into Alaska Airlines First Class:
After a baggage re-distribution sort curb side to even out some weight, we checked in curb side at Lihue Airport. It was the first time I’d seen a curbside check in for Alaska Airlines “elites”. We were encouraged to clear our bags through the agriculture screening while the agent processed the boarding cards.
It was a pretty old school operation at the Lihue Airport. Dependent on your point of view, this could either be a charming or depressing point of view as a result of flying out of an older airport.
We processed our checked bags through the agriculture X ray screening, returning to collect our boarding cards. After collecting our boarding cards, we dropped off our bags at the general baggage drop, which was an old school line up of bags corralled together of all kinds. It seemed that the Lihue airport security screened bags on the public side prior to accepting them into the hold area in a conveyor free baggage processing environment.
We passed through a very slow “blended lane” TSA Pre-Check. My cabin bag, along with 5 others ahead of me were sent into secondary for imaginary security risk items. After we made it through the screening, we found ourselves in front of a tiled mosaic in a very dated and institutional airport similar to other Hawaiian airports.
It was a pretty lean flight list departing from Lihue tonight and most of the vendors and bars were closed at 9:30 PM..
There was no available lounge at Lihue airport. With not a lot to keep you entertained here, we hung out in the open air hallways until about ten minutes before boarding.
There was not much leaving from here this evening. The KLM co-share on the flight board was operated by the “other” Canadian carrier Westjet.
We eventually passed through the agriculture x ray for the cabin baggage and into the tiny gate hold room.
We headed down to Gate 8, and entered the dated looking holding area to kill of the time prior to boarding.
Alaska Airlines
AS 816 – First Class (U)
LIH – SEA (Lihue Airport – SeaTac International Airport)
February 5, 2020
11:05 PM – 6:54 AM + 1
Booked: Boeing 737-800
Flown: Boeing 737-800
On Board Alaska Airlines First Class:
Once on board, we settled into the usual Alaska Airlines First Class cabin. Alaska Airlines First Class is set up in a 2 – 2 configuration typically across four rows of first class in recliner styled First Class seats.
On the seat was a small Dasani water and a half sized Alaska Blanket.
While the seat is of the recliner variety, it offers more space but doesn’t lie fully flat like some other mainline products. While a lie flat seat isn’t typically needed on a 4 hour flight, it does become more important for overnight flights from Hawaii back to the mainland.
Pre-Departure Services:
In a nice change of pace in terms of Alaska Airlines, we had a pre-departure beverage offer of sparking wine, which appeared to be “house wine” from the can. I find Alaska Airlines is a bit intermittent with their offer of a pre-departure beverage and isn’t like other mainline carriers that typically offer a full open bar pre-departure beverage.
After we fully boarded, we had a quick departure on runway 3. It was a quiet climb to altitude as we departed Lihue Airport at 11:05 PM into the night.
Unlike on the way out, we had no dinner menus passed out. We did have a drink order taken from us; a Gin and Tonic with Lime for me and a Red Wine for MrsWT73.
The Meal: A Cheese Plate
Tonight’s meal offering was a cheese plate as the sole dinner choice. Alaska did not offer pre-order with respect to meal service today so there was no more substantial meal option. This was accompanied by the usual Tablet entertainment offering, which was promptly set up for dining entertainment.
The cheese plate wasn’t very filling. Although it was light, it was almost a little too light for a flight that was approximately 5 hours and 40 minutes in duration. Given that there are limited dining options at the Kauai Lihue airport, I highly recommend that you eat well in advance of flying. The service on this flight was friendly, along with the usual Alaska Airlines pleasant natured staff.
After the dinner service, it was off to sleep on this red eye flight until the morning for me. We eventually approached into rainy Seattle in February and landed without many challenges.
We would transfer onwards to our homeward Alaska Airlines First Class Seattle – Vancouver flight.
The Bottom Line: Alaska Airlines First Class Hawaii Service
The Alaska First Class seat is a better, but not awesome way to get around. It’s much more comfortable than flying economy class in the back. Alaska Airlines also has friendly staff. Most surprising about this trip was the sleepy hollow airport of Lihue Airport in Kauai which was among the oldest school airports I’d flown out of in the United States. It was truly unique indeed.
If you have flown from Kauai Lihue Airport in Hawaii, did you find the airport as old school as I did ?
The Napali Coastline is one of Kauai’s most difficult to get to destinations and arguably one of the most beautiful coastlines in the world. Thanks to it’s remote location on the North West corner of the island of Kauai, it has a challenging and rough sea approach, along with weather systems that don’t always co-operate. Fortunately, we were able to have mother nature on our side which allowed us to take in some beautiful views of this special place.
This post is one chapter on our trip on the United Island Hopper and to Oahu & Kauai, Hawaii, United States. This trip was redeemed through Alaska Mileage Plan, United Airlines Mileage Plus and Marriott Bonvoy. It was further enhanced through Marriott Bonvoy Elite Status. For more information on how this trip was booked, please see our trip introduction here. For other parts of the trip, please see this index.
If you enjoyed this post, please follow us here or on social media through Facebook, Twitter or Instagram for more travel tips and hacks on how to “Upgrade Your Travels”.
Read more from this trip:
- Introduction: The United Island Hopper via Honolulu & Kauai, on United Airlines and Alaska Airlines First Class
- Alaska Airlines First Class: Vancouver – Seattle
- Alaska Airlines First Class: Seattle – Honolulu
- The Sheraton Waikiki, Honolulu, Hawaii, USA
- The United Island Hopper – Flight #1: Honolulu – Majuro
- The United Island Hopper – Flight #2: Majuro – Kwajalein
- The United Island Hopper – Flight #3: Kwajalein – Pohnpei
- The United Island Hopper – Flight #4: Pohnpei – Chuuk
- The United Island Hopper – Flight #5: Chuuk – Guam
- The United Island Hopper – Top 5 Tips and Tricks
- The Sheraton Laguna Guam Resort, Guam
- The Sagan Bisita VIP Lounge, Guam
- United Airlines: Guam – Honolulu
- Bill’s Sydney, Honolulu, Hawaii, USA
- Hawaiian Airlines The Plumeria Lounge, Honolulu, USA
- Hawaiian Airlines First Class: Honolulu – Lihue
- The Sheraton Kauai Resort, Poi’pu, Hawaii, USA
- Visiting Kauai Coffee Estate, Kauai, USA
- The Views at the Waimea Canyon State Park, Kauai, USA
- Sailing the Napali Coast, Kauai, USA
- Alaska Airlines First Class: Lihue – Seattle
- Alaska Airlines First Class: Seattle – Vancouver
Activity: Sailing the Napali Coast, Kauai, United States of America.
We had an easy wake up today at The Sheraton Kauai Resort followed by an included Marriott Bonvoy Elite breakfast consisting of an Eggs Benedict along with 4 rashers of bacon.
Planning the Napali Coast:
Based on a selection informed by Trip Advisor, we ended up with a Holo Holo Charters Napali Sunset Cruise, departing from nearby Port Allen, Kauai, Hawaii. Our cruise today was departing at 1:30 PM. We booked online via the website, but later discovered at the end of the trip that gift cards are sold at Costco Kauai for 20% off $100. If you plan on coming through, and are planning on taking this trip, perhaps stop at Costco first for some savings. The group at Holo Holo Charters were terrific and we would easily book with them again.
Setting out with Holo Holo Charters:
We headed out with plenty of time and located some parking in Port Allen. We attended the safety briefing and prepared to head to the boat. I ended up taking my big SLR camera with me but it got pretty soaked along a pleasant sea salt glow crust over everything else I wore.
We headed out past the Barking Sands Pacific Missle Range Facility. It’s supposedly the worlds largest missile testing range. There wasn’t much to see there as everything was hidden behind grassy slopes.
Instead, MrsWT73 got into the free pour alcohol right away. It was a great atmosphere on the boat.
After the Barking Sands beach, we passed by several isolated beaches. The beaches were set against the backdrop of the massive Napali Coast mountains.
As we headed up the coast line, there was frequent conversation amongst the travellers on the boat that it was challenging to get all the way up to the Napali Coast in the winter as the seas were often way too rough.
There was one couple that had been on the Napali Coast Cruise seven times and hadn’t yet made it there. Thankfully, the weather held out today with smooth seas and we were able to make it all the way.
Taking in the Napali Coast:
The scenery got more and more scenic as we moved along the coast. It was really easy to see how picturesque the coast line was.
Eventually, the fully beauty of the Napali Coast was in front of the boat. The coast line was absolutely spectacular. The pictures don’t really do it justice as the green sloping hills cascaded over rocks into the oceans below. Having seen a few coast lines in our travels, there wasn’t many that were as picturesque as these.
The Napali Coastline mountains are just spectacular to take in. I haven’t ever seen anything quite like it anywhere in the world. The moss covered slopes and shadows made for some unique lighting.
We were able to get some photographs to mark this unique occasion. We were somewhat relieved to have made it all this way, having lucked out with the weather and no forced cancellations.
After the main event, we headed back towards Port Allen in time for the sunset. We spotted a few wales on the way back.
Sunset off the Napali Coast:
We also had a beautiful sunset on the water; something that’s always special no matter where you are in the world.
We eventually made it back to Port Allen where we safely disembarked. We wandered across the street for another snack at the Kauai Brewing Company. It worked last night, why mess with success?
After dinner, we drove back to The Sheraton Kauai Resort after a full day. What a special adventure up and down the wonderful coastline.
My Thoughts on Sailing the Napali Coast:
The Holo Holo Charter was money well spent. The views were easily the highlight of our trip to Kauai. It’s also an area that would be great to explore hiking for a day. I was really happy that we made it all the way up the coastline. We didn’t have to deal with any unexpected cancellations, making this trip well worth our time.
If you have visited the Napali Coast, did you make it all the way up and have clear views of the mountains ?
One of Kauai Island’s most appealing scenic attractions is the Hawaiian Grand Canyon located inland in the Waimea Canyon State Park. The Waimea Canyon State Park offers a drive up the spine of Waimea Canyon, allowing for scenic and picturesque views across the canyon on a clear day. Join us while we check out the best view points on the Waimea Canyon drive.
This post is one chapter on our trip on the United Island Hopper and to Oahu & Kauai, Hawaii, United States. This trip was redeemed through Alaska Mileage Plan, United Airlines Mileage Plus and Marriott Bonvoy. It was further enhanced through Marriott Bonvoy Elite Status. For more information on how this trip was booked, please see our trip introduction here. For other parts of the trip, please see this index.
If you enjoyed this post, please follow us here or on social media through Facebook, Twitter or Instagram for more travel tips and hacks on how to “Upgrade Your Travels”.
Read more from this trip:
- Introduction: The United Island Hopper via Honolulu & Kauai, on United Airlines and Alaska Airlines First Class
- Alaska Airlines First Class: Vancouver – Seattle
- Alaska Airlines First Class: Seattle – Honolulu
- The Sheraton Waikiki, Honolulu, Hawaii, USA
- The United Island Hopper – Flight #1: Honolulu – Majuro
- The United Island Hopper – Flight #2: Majuro – Kwajalein
- The United Island Hopper – Flight #3: Kwajalein – Pohnpei
- The United Island Hopper – Flight #4: Pohnpei – Chuuk
- The United Island Hopper – Flight #5: Chuuk – Guam
- The United Island Hopper – Top 5 Tips and Tricks
- The Sheraton Laguna Guam Resort, Guam
- The Sagan Bisita VIP Lounge, Guam
- United Airlines: Guam – Honolulu
- Bill’s Sydney, Honolulu, Hawaii, USA
- Hawaiian Airlines The Plumeria Lounge, Honolulu, USA
- Hawaiian Airlines First Class: Honolulu – Lihue
- The Sheraton Kauai Resort, Poi’pu, Hawaii, USA
- Visiting Kauai Coffee Estate, Kauai, USA
- The Views at the Waimea Canyon State Park, Kauai, USA
- Sailing the Napali Coast, Kauai, USA
- Alaska Airlines First Class: Lihue – Seattle
- Alaska Airlines First Class: Seattle – Vancouver
Activity: The Views from Waimea State Canyon Park, Kauai, United States of America.
We started out day three with an earlier than usual wake up. We were down for breakfast at The Sheraton Kauai Resort at 8:30 AM. Today was a local dish, two poached eggs, along with fried rice, crab and sausage, along with scallions and sauce. Ohh, and that side of bacon as well. . . We set up for the morning on the chairs on the ocean lawn.
In the afternoon, we freshened up and headed for our activity for today, a self drive tour of Highway 550. We had planned today’s activities as such…
It was an absolutely spectacular day out for a drive under blue skies.
Driving up the Waimea Canyon State Park:
Highway 550 took us up the Waimea Canyon State Park. Waimea State Park is a giant chasm of ancient lava rock, also known as the Grand Canyon of the Pacific. It’s approximately 3,500 feet deep and also contains one of the wettest parts of the United States.
Waimea Canyon State Park Lookout #1:
Without a proper map, we headed up the highway courtesy of Google Maps. We eventually stopped at what appears to be a pull out at Waimea Canyon Drive Lookout #1. There were gorgeous views over the “Hawaiian Grand Canyon” to our right.
Waimea Canyon Drive Lookout #2:
We then followed with Waimea Canyon Drive Lookout #2, which involved a small trail hike across flat terrain to some great views. It included the retro park signs from an era past.
Waimea Canyon Lookout:
We eventually made it up to a more official looking Waimea Canyon Lookout that was marked with a proper parking lot instead of a small highway pull over. We paid a $5 USD United States Forest Service day fee for use of (all) the parking lots. We had great views here over an established lookout that was great for panoramic photography.
The parking lot was home to several of the Kauai chickens, a species that seems to have no natural predators on this beautiful island.
Wai’po Falls Lookout:
We continued on a short distance up the road to the Waip’o Falls Lookout overlooking the vast valley. It was very beautiful and we were fortunate to have a clear day for sightseeing.
We finally arrived to the top of the road where there were several separate attractions.
Kalalau Valley Lookout:
Our first stop was at the Kalalau Valley Lookout. The first one we came to past the not so secret radar installation was the Kalalau Lookout. First off, a gratuitous picture of our “All American Black Rental Car”, a big Chevrolet Impala… along with the radar station that appeared to be manned by government officials
Unfortunately, the view of the Napali Coast that is on many postcards from here was totally obscured with cloud due to weather. We waited a bit here but we were timed out with no change in the cloud situation.
The Pu’u’ o Kila Lookout:
We continued on to the Pu’u’ o Kila Lookout at the very top and the official end of the road. We had better luck with the weather here with the sea side being obscured but the valley inland side having much better views. This location proclaims to be one of the wettest spots on earth. Surprisingly, today’s visit was dry and mud free on the trails.
With some luck, we were able to get some peek a boo views of the coast from the top. It was enough to give us a sense of what to look forward to if we ever made it back here.
Driving Down the Waimea Canyon:
From there, we headed down via Route 552. It was approximately 1 hour to get off the mountain with and enjoyable drive. There were some picturesque turns passing through the descent with ocean spread all around you.
We tried to get toward the Polihale State Park. The last 3 miles of the access road is not paved. The first portion of the road was a little rough 9 mph rough. It rough enough that we opted not to continue with the rental car and headed back towards Barking Sands Beach. I plugged the destination into Google Maps and it led us directly to a manned US Pacific Missile Range testing facility.
Sunset at Kekaha Beach Park:
With the second idea quashed, we headed a little further down the road, and ended up at wonderfully natural Kekaha Beach Park. It looked like a town immediately out of old school “Fightertown USA” from the original Top Gun movie. The locals were in town with their trucks. We found a comfortable spot on the side of the road to set up for sunset.
Dinner at Kauai Brewing Company:
From there, we headed back to Port Allen for dinner at the Kauai Brewing Company. It was an authentically local place with friendly service. It was great to be able to get a little off the regular Poi’pe resort tourist trail with some more normal “less resort like” restaurants. It looked like a dive bar but it was pretty tasty overall with a great selection of beers.
It was mahi mahi sandwiches with homemade tartar sauce for us which really hit the spot paired with a Leila Lite beer for me.
We ended up back at The Sheraton Kauai Resort after a full day of sightseeing.
My Thoughts on the Day in The Waimea Canyon:
The Waimea Canyon drive is a must see activity when in Kauai. It is reported that there can be a lot of rain on this trip, although we had a really clear day. Although we didn’t get many Napali Coast views, we certainly enjoyed the eastern facing Canyon views. Next time, I would have probably allowed a whole day to explore some of the smaller towns along the coastal drive on the way instead of the half day trip that we did.
If you have visited the Hawaiian Island of Kauai, did you take the time to visit Waimea Canyon ?
The Hawaiian Island of Kauai has a reputation for being the wettest island in the Hawaiian Island group. We experienced some of natures fury in some light rain which put us onto some non beach activities in order to navigate through our days. Today’s visit to Kauai Coffee Estate and to Brennecke’s Beach Broiler allowed us to experience some of the local attractions in Kauai while managing our weather challenges.
This post is one chapter on our trip on the United Island Hopper and to Oahu & Kauai, Hawaii, United States. This trip was redeemed through Alaska Mileage Plan, United Airlines Mileage Plus and Marriott Bonvoy. It was further enhanced through Marriott Bonvoy Elite Status. For more information on how this trip was booked, please see our trip introduction here. For other parts of the trip, please see this index.
If you enjoyed this post, please follow us here or on social media through Facebook, Twitter or Instagram for more travel tips and hacks on how to “Upgrade Your Travels”.
Read more from this trip:
- Introduction: The United Island Hopper via Honolulu & Kauai, on United Airlines and Alaska Airlines First Class
- Alaska Airlines First Class: Vancouver – Seattle
- Alaska Airlines First Class: Seattle – Honolulu
- The Sheraton Waikiki, Honolulu, Hawaii, USA
- The United Island Hopper – Flight #1: Honolulu – Majuro
- The United Island Hopper – Flight #2: Majuro – Kwajalein
- The United Island Hopper – Flight #3: Kwajalein – Pohnpei
- The United Island Hopper – Flight #4: Pohnpei – Chuuk
- The United Island Hopper – Flight #5: Chuuk – Guam
- The United Island Hopper – Top 5 Tips and Tricks
- The Sheraton Laguna Guam Resort, Guam
- The Sagan Bisita VIP Lounge, Guam
- United Airlines: Guam – Honolulu
- Bill’s Sydney, Honolulu, Hawaii, USA
- Hawaiian Airlines The Plumeria Lounge, Honolulu, USA
- Hawaiian Airlines First Class: Honolulu – Lihue
- The Sheraton Kauai Resort, Poi’pu, Hawaii, USA
- Visiting Kauai Coffee Estate, Kauai, USA
- The Views at the Waimea Canyon State Park, Kauai, USA
- Sailing the Napali Coast, Kauai, USA
- Alaska Airlines First Class: Lihue – Seattle
- Alaska Airlines First Class: Seattle – Vancouver
Activity: Sipping Kauai Coffee and Brennecke’s Beach Broiler, Kauai, United States of America.
We started out the day on the beach at The Sheraton Kauai Resort at the hotel lounge chairs. We didn’t have great weather today. It was forecasted for sun and wind, but we kept getting misted out by the occasional splattering of rain which would grace us with her presence from 5 – 20 minutes at a time.
At about 1:30 PM, we gave up on the beach for the day thanks to the rain. We headed over to Island Grocery for a take away lunch. Island Grocery is the upscale arm of ABC Stores and is priced accordingly. A delicious Turkey and Swiss on Sourdough along with some Maui Potato Chips filled out the light continental breakfast.
Visiting the Kauai Coffee Plantation:
With the rain continuing to be in and out, we headed over to the Kauai Coffee Plantation for a little visit. Twenty minutes up the road in the rental car over rural and rustic roads and we were in the largest coffee estate in the United States.
The Kauai Coffee Company and the Kauai Coffee Estate is one of the only major coffee plantations in the United States. A free visit to the Kauai Coffee Estate is an almost perfect rainy day activity as you can enjoy some of the estate while mostly determining whether or not you want to be outside in order to enjoy it.
When the weather was looking dry, we were able to take a self guided tour of the coffee plantation. It was an interpretive trail of all things coffee.
On the trail, we were able to see coffee beans growing from the trees. This was something I hadn’t seen before and it was interesting to see them from inception to roasting.
We also sampled many of the Kauai Coffee varieties. Kauai Coffee had samplers available for almost all their products; some of which I had heard from and some I had not. I am usually able to find Kauai Coffee at Costco Wholesale in the states and very occasionally at home in Canada.
We had some great colours leaving the coffee plantation, with a rainbow making it’s presence known as we left.
Brennecke’s Beach Broiler:
With the rain continuing, we headed over to Brennecke’s for Happy Hour. Brennecke’s Beach Broiler restaurant has been going for 30 years and sold their one millionth Mai Tai in the year 2016. The more I get around, the more I appreciate these odd ball old school restaurants that are still churning out product over many years.
Breennecke’s Beach Boiler is located at Poi’pu Beach. Today’s visit was under some grey skies.
The open air restaurant offered some distant water views, along with an colourful interior decor that represented thirty years of good times.
We had another snack; a small happy hour nachos but unfortunately we were rained out again for a sunset view of the local Poi’pu Beach.
We wandered back to the hotel for sunset. It was unfortunately, more wet from the hotel suite.
We ended up at The Sheraton Kauai Resort hotel restaurant RumFire for dinner. There weren’t many snack menu items in the lounge so we made do with a flat bread and salad for me.
My Thoughts on Kauai in the Rain:
I had heard that Kauai can tend to be a bit wetter than some of the other islands and today was no exception. The day was enjoyed doing some local sightseeing and activities around the island. With the wetter weather, it made the place a lot less busy than you’d expect.
If you have spent time on Kauai, did you experience some rain delays in your planned activities ?
Our travels to Hawaii hadn’t yet taken us to groovy and soul filled Kauai which is the quietest of the Hawaiian Islands. As an island that has a reputation for wet weather and being off the beaten path, it takes less of the shine than Oahu or Maui which have much larger resorts and hotels. Our visit would have us based in Poi’pu at the sunny south end of the Island of Kauai. We would be at the Sheraton Kauai Resort for 5 nights. How did the quieter environment of Kauai measure up?
This post is one chapter on our trip on the United Island Hopper and to Oahu & Kauai, Hawaii, United States. This trip was redeemed through Alaska Mileage Plan, United Airlines Mileage Plus and Marriott Bonvoy. It was further enhanced through Marriott Bonvoy Elite Status. For more information on how this trip was booked, please see our trip introduction here. For other parts of the trip, please see this index.
If you enjoyed this post, please follow us here or on social media through Facebook, Twitter or Instagram for more travel tips and hacks on how to “Upgrade Your Travels”.
Read more from this trip:
- Introduction: The United Island Hopper via Honolulu & Kauai, on United Airlines and Alaska Airlines First Class
- Alaska Airlines First Class: Vancouver – Seattle
- Alaska Airlines First Class: Seattle – Honolulu
- The Sheraton Waikiki, Honolulu, Hawaii, USA
- The United Island Hopper – Flight #1: Honolulu – Majuro
- The United Island Hopper – Flight #2: Majuro – Kwajalein
- The United Island Hopper – Flight #3: Kwajalein – Pohnpei
- The United Island Hopper – Flight #4: Pohnpei – Chuuk
- The United Island Hopper – Flight #5: Chuuk – Guam
- The United Island Hopper – Top 5 Tips and Tricks
- The Sheraton Laguna Guam Resort, Guam
- The Sagan Bisita VIP Lounge, Guam
- United Airlines: Guam – Honolulu
- Bill’s Sydney, Honolulu, Hawaii, USA
- Hawaiian Airlines The Plumeria Lounge, Honolulu, USA
- Hawaiian Airlines First Class: Honolulu – Lihue
- The Sheraton Kauai Resort, Poi’pu, Hawaii, USA
- Visiting Kauai Coffee Estate, Kauai, USA
- The Views at the Waimea Canyon State Park, Kauai, USA
- Sailing the Napali Coast, Kauai, USA
- Alaska Airlines First Class: Lihue – Seattle
- Alaska Airlines First Class: Seattle – Vancouver
Review: Sheraton Kauai Resort, Poi’pu, Kauai, United States of America.
“The Sheraton Resort Property in Hawaii for those looking to be off the beaten track with a minimum of excitement”
Having previously visited Honolulu and Maui several times, it was time to explore further afield in the Hawaiian Islands. This led us to exploring the westerly Hawaiian Island of Kauai. Most of the resorts on Kauai are located around the central southern shore, as it tends to get the sunnier weather.
Booking the Sheraton Kauai:
We ended up at the Sheraton Kauai Resort, as it was a great property that was available on Marriott Bonvoy points at the right price.
At the time of our stay, it was a Marriott Bonvoy 5 property, one of the lowest categories of available Hawaii properties. As a result, we booked in on an award stay for five nights.
In order to pay for our “free” stay, we used a variety of methods:
- Two Free Night Award Certificates from the Marriott Bonvoy American Express Personal and Business credit cards,
- One Certificate from an additional free night award, as a result of meeting Titanium status after 75 nights in a year,
- Two nights from Marriott Bonvoy from points alone at 30,000 points per night totalling 60,000 points for the stay.
On a typical Marriott Bonvoy points redemption, you get the 5th night free when you redeem 4 reward point nights. Marriott Bonvoy doesn’t like to offer a free night when you apply a combination of certificates, points and vouchers to pay for your free night certificates. Accordingly, we had to “pay” for all 5 nights and didn’t get any free.
Aside from that, it was a very good value as the paid rate was about $300 USD a night at the time of booking and climbed to over $660 USD a night shortly before our stay. Our total spend was $172.45 USD in resort taxes and fees, along with 60,000 Marriott Bonvoy points. There was also a resort fee which affects many Hawaiian Resorts of $30 USD per day (for supposed cultural activities) which was included in the rate.
Applying Suite Night Awards:
Marriott Suite Night Awards are given to Marriott Bonvoy Elite Platinum, Titanium and Ambassador level members that stay fifty, seventy five or one hundred nights a year.
Since I always end up with several leftover at the end of the year, I had applied Marriott Bonvoy Suite Night Awards this the reservation.
The hotel did not offer a traditional suite in the Suite Night Award pool but instead offered an upgrade to a better room. I don’t usually use Suite Night Awards for non suites, but I figured we would be on the property quite a bit and would appreciate the extra space.
A few days before our stay, the Suite Night Awards cleared from the base level room into a Luxury Oceanfront Guest Room; the best room available under the program.
Several days before arrival, I received a welcome email indicating that valet parking would be complimentary for Titanium members. We were also informed of the welcome amenity of 1,000 points or complimentary continental breakfast for two in Lava Restaurant.
It is too bad that many of the older Starwood hotels are being less generous than in the glory dates of past by limiting the breakfast to a continental version.
Getting to the Sheraton Kauai Resort:
We arrived to Kauai Airport Lihue on Hawaiian Airlines First Class Honolulu – Lihue. We picked up a rental car with Hertz at the nearby rental car center. We were given a pretty standard Hertz President’s Circle upgrade to a large Chevrolet Impala from our mid size booked.
From the Kauai Airport, it was a 14 mile drive lasting about twenty six minutes over to the Sheraton Kauai Resort.
Arriving to the Sheraton Kauai Resort:
The Sheraton Kauai Resort consists of what appears to have been the original resort located right on the beach, and a newer complex across the road that consists of larger vacation ownership resort under the Sheraton Kauai Resort Villas name.
On arrival, we were greeted by the valet team and checked into the front desk in the Sheraton Kauai Resort Villas area. The lobby is located in the newer complex in an open air concept and features decorative pools that over look the vacation ownership portion of the property.
We were given a map of the resort and a schedule of the events for the week.
The front desk explained that the room was “over there”, in that building (across the street representing the original Sheraton Kauai Resort property but we somehow got lost getting there not realizing it was actually two properties.
It appears that the Sheraton Kauai Resort was initially a beach / ocean front building, but they’ve moved the check in over to the newer vacation ownership Sheraton Kauai Resort Villas building across on the landlocked side of the street.
We left the land side check in and headed over to the ocean front building. The old check in appears to be used for concierge and tour desks, and the old loading zone is now saved for valet parking.
Meandering through the grounds of the Sheraton Kauai Resort, the grounds were nicely landscaped in a way that inspired a resort feel. There were outdoor passage ways across well manicured lawns that were really pleasing to look at.
The Room: Luxury Oceanfront
We eventually found our Luxury Oceanfront room. The Luxury Ocean Front Room was a large size at 532 sq feet. Unfortunately, the two queens look smaller than we had initially expected. The room was freshly renovated and was in excellent condition.
The room featured everything that you would expect from a larger Sheraton hotel room. There was a larger desk area, a flat screen television, and proper glassware; something that is missing out of hotel rooms too much these days.
The seating area of the room consisted of two occassional chairs and a table. While it’s not the most comfortable, we didn’t spend any time seated inside the room, thanks to having access to an excellent deck just steps away.
The bathrooms were quite large and much larger than expected. Two sinks were offered in the bathroom, something that made MrsWT73 very happy. This was accompanied with a shower and tub combination.
The Luxury Oceanfront Room featured an outside deck with a view of the ocean. The outdoor deck was quite large, although it wasn’t nearing anything expansive like an overwater villa. It had two chairs and would have been quite crowded with private loungers, which were not offered. Still, the space provided a great view from the room and a terrific place to enjoy a morning coffee without disturbing your sleeping partner.
For those interested, there does not appear to be many suite upgrade opportunities in the ocean front hotel. As a representative chunk of the hotel, there appears to be one suite per section compared to ten regular rooms.
Food and Beverage:
Lava’s in Poi’pu Beach Restaurant
Breakfast was offered in Lava Restaurant, which is an open air all day dining restaurant near the outdoor pool.
Every day of our stay, we used our Marriott Bonvoy Titanium Breakfast Benefit to have breakfast. In further experience in life in the new Marriott world, during our visit, the hotel was offering continental breakfast strictly to the terms and conditions of the program. The offering is simple, allowing for bagels, banana bread or toast.
The regular breakfast menu was interesting, and contained a number of more regional features. All the breakfast items on our visit was “a – la – carte” and there was no breakfast buffet offer at this property.
The Marriott Bonvoy Elite Breakfast benefit also offered a $10 USD buy up to a regular breakfast which was much more my speed. The regular breakfast portions were very generous and meat filled. I ended up doing a buy up most days and skipping a lunch. Kalua Pork Benedict with sriracha hollandaise AND a side of bacon is pictured below. Tasty and filling!
On some days, the hotel had run out of breakfast potatoes; would I be okay with substituting with white or fried rice, or salad? I ended up accompanying some breakfasts with salad with a sesame dressing. It seems that most of the food for Kauai is important from the larger islands and there were occasionally supply chain issues.
During our stay, the American Football main event of Super Bowl Sunday was on. Lava’s Restaurant / Bar was lined up full of people watching the came from 1:30 PM Hawaiian Standard Time. The game was located in Miami right at the other side of the United States country on Eastern Standard Time at 6:30 PM. It was a close game with a lot watching of the flat screen televisions in the Lava Bar in the last 6 minutes of play with an ultimate Kansas victory.
Sheraton Executive Club Lounge:
There is no Sheraton Executive Club Lounge at this property given its resort orientation. There is no additional benefit provided to those with Marriott Bonvoy Elite Status whom are seeking a lounge. While this can be a deal breaker for some, we didn’t happen to notice it as much as we though that we might.
Restaurants around the hotel:
Aside from the on property restaurants, there isn’t a lot of independent food and beverage within close walking distance from the hotel. I would recommend having a car with you as there are lots of options available with your own wheels.
If you’re absolutely going to visit without a rental car, the hotel is located about 1 mile and fifteen minutes oceanfront walk from The Shops at Kukui‘ula. The Shops at Kukui‘ula feature a number of restaurants, in addition to limited outdoor dining along with a Living Foodsgrocery store, making this your closest option for dining off resort. Given the distances of getting food to Kauai, I wouldn’t expect much pricing relief by dining here as it’s still wholly in the resort zone.
Around the Property:
Outdoor Pool
The Sheraton Kauai Resort offers an outdoor pool. The pool area is best described as a family space with both pools and tubs that are accessible to all. The outdoor pool doesn’t have any aspirational features to it. There is no infiniti pool water feature, or beach views across the pool. As a result, it’s quite a utilitarian space. We tended to prefer the beach space across the pathway, instead of lounging around the hotel pool.
Hotel Gym
There was also a gym located in the central part of the resort property. It doesn’t make sense to be running inside with such great scenary outside, but there are some rainy days where this could come in useful.
The Sheraton Kauai Resort Beach at Poi’pu
In addition to some areas which are lava beds, The Sheraton Kauai Resort is set on a beautiful sandy beach in a bay that curves naturally along the hotel grounds and beyond. The beach was among the nicer hotel beaches that I have experienced in Hawaii.
The hotel did not offer or maintain a set amount of lounge chairs on the beach itself. If you preferred a lounge chair to relax in, you were relegated to the grassy area on the resort property with a view of the beach (instead of being on the beach itself).
The beach here has strong waves and you’d have to be a strong swimmer as a youngster in order to swim here independently.
During our stay, I took a walk mid way through the day down the beach. There wasn’t any paved beachfront trail here similar to the Sheraton Maui Resort that leads through Kaanapali. All the walking at the Sheraton Kauai is on the beach itself.
There was some major water erosion happening against the neighbouring KoiKo Hotel. I would be a bit concerned as a hotel manager if this was on my doorstep.
As with many Hawaii beaches there were a few areas that contained natural rocks on the beach itself. While it’s always nice to look for a perfect stoneless beach, it was cautionary for something too look out for if you were playing in the sand.
During our time at the Sheraton Kauai Resort, we were able to get out to visit the Napali Coast and a visit to the Waimea Canyon. While those coming to this property probably appreciate the standard nature of the Sheraton brand, there isn’t a lot of partying or other late nights around the property.
The Bottom Line: The Sheraton Kauai Resort
I really enjoyed our stay at the Sheraton Kaua’i. It wasn’t the St Regis but it was a nice quiet place to exist for several days in Poi’pu on Kauai. It looked more peaceful than the mega resort Marriott Kauai which we passed by on our last night of our stay. The beach was reasonable but a little rough for family swimming. MrsWT73 found the suburban nature a little quiet for her tastes but we both enjoyed the break.
If you have spent time on Kauai, did you end up in Poi’pu for your stay ?
Our travels would take us on Hawaiian Airlines service between the Hawaiian Islands as we travelled from Honolulu on Oahu over to Poipu on Kauai. As one of the sole major carriers operating the route between the two islands, you’re likely to fly Hawaiian Airlines if you travel by air between the islands. Our flight today would take us on their unusual Boeing 717 – 200 series jet in first class for an unusually comfortable island hop.
This post is one chapter on our trip on the United Island Hopper and to Oahu & Kauai, Hawaii, United States. This trip was redeemed through Alaska Mileage Plan, United Airlines Mileage Plus and Marriott Bonvoy. It was further enhanced through Marriott Bonvoy Elite Status. For more information on how this trip was booked, please see our trip introduction here. For other parts of the trip, please see this index.
If you enjoyed this post, please follow us here or on social media through Facebook, Twitter or Instagram for more travel tips and hacks on how to “Upgrade Your Travels”.
Read more from this trip:
- Introduction: The United Island Hopper via Honolulu & Kauai, on United Airlines and Alaska Airlines First Class
- Alaska Airlines First Class: Vancouver – Seattle
- Alaska Airlines First Class: Seattle – Honolulu
- The Sheraton Waikiki, Honolulu, Hawaii, USA
- The United Island Hopper – Flight #1: Honolulu – Majuro
- The United Island Hopper – Flight #2: Majuro – Kwajalein
- The United Island Hopper – Flight #3: Kwajalein – Pohnpei
- The United Island Hopper – Flight #4: Pohnpei – Chuuk
- The United Island Hopper – Flight #5: Chuuk – Guam
- The United Island Hopper – Top 5 Tips and Tricks
- The Sheraton Laguna Guam Resort, Guam
- The Sagan Bisita VIP Lounge, Guam
- United Airlines: Guam – Honolulu
- Bill’s Sydney, Honolulu, Hawaii, USA
- Hawaiian Airlines The Plumeria Lounge, Honolulu, USA
- Hawaiian Airlines First Class: Honolulu – Lihue
- The Sheraton Kauai Resort, Poi’pu, Hawaii, USA
- Visiting Kauai Coffee Estate, Kauai, USA
- The Views at the Waimea Canyon State Park, Kauai, USA
- Sailing the Napali Coast, Kauai, USA
- Alaska Airlines First Class: Lihue – Seattle
- Alaska Airlines First Class: Seattle – Vancouver
Review: Hawaiian Airlines B717-2, Honolulu Daniel K. Inouye International Airport – Kauai Lihue Airport
Hawaiian Airlines operates a fleet of twenty Boeing 717-200 twin engine jet aircraft for its regional island hop flights between the Hawaiian Islands. The Boeing 717-200 series are a unique aircraft that were originally designed as a McDonnell Douglas MD-95. They were eventually marketed as a Boeing 717 when Boeing acquired McDonnell Douglas in 1997.
There are less than 150 Boeing 717’s in operation in the world, with the primary users being Hawaiian Airlines, Delta Airlines and Qantas Airlink. As one of the limited worldwide operators for this type, it’s always unusual to fly this type of aircraft.
Booking Hawaiian Airlines First Class:
In order to get from Oahu to Kauai, I had to book an inter island flight between the two Hawaiian Islands. I ended up just booking a paid first class fare on Hawaiian since the difference between Economy and First Class a checked bag was minimal (less than $30 USD +/-).
Unfortunately, Hawaiian Airlines has changed their earning structure and made earning mileage on other carriers much more restrictive so we didn’t expect to earn any useful miles for this segment. Surprisingly though, after entering our number when buying online, we ended up with 125 miles in credit after flying this segments to our AAdvantage account.
After checking in, and spending some time in the Hawaiian Airlines Plumeria Lounge courtesy of Priority Pass, we headed down to the gate at the posted boarding time of 12:45 PM. We seemed to have missed the early boarding call because on arrival to the gate at about 12:50 PM, they were already finishing up boarding on boarding group 6. Fortunately, there was a first class lane and we were able to skip on fairly easily.
Hawaiian Airlines
HA 293 – First Class (A)
HNL – LIH (Honolulu – Lihue)
January 31, 2020
1:10 PM – 1:56 PM
Booked: Boeing 717
Flown: Boeing 717
On Board Hawaiian Airlines First Class:
On board, we settled into the smaller but plush Boeing 717 seats. Hawaiian Airlines First Class is set up in a 2-2 configuration. The first class cabin only exists over two rows of First Class, for a total of eight seats.
I was fortunately able to find bin space, since only one side is available since the other is full occupied with emergency equipment. Similar to the Embraer aircraft, there really is only overhead cabin space on the right hand side of the aircraft.
The Hawaiian Airlines Boeing 717 – 200 is a treat to fly short distances with it’s eight seat first class cabin and 120 economy seats. It is a much more comfortable aircraft than the single class of service ATR-72 aircraft that is sometimes featured on inter island routes in parts of the world.
Pre Departure Services:
On today’s flight, there was no pre-departure beverage offered. The kind flight attendant took a drink order for when we were airborne.
We departed from Honolulu International Airport. As we got underway, we had a bit of plane spotting on the way out.
Once we were airborne, the drinks were dropped off. In the seat back was the usual Hana Hoku in flight magazine and a local newspaper which was a nice touch.
Arriving into Kauai Airport:
We landed in Kauai. We happened to be seated on the right hand side of the aircraft, which happened to be on the wrong side of the aircraft for the coastal views. We eventually disembarked into the Kauai airport.
Kauai Airport is a pretty sleepy hollow type of airport. It was awfully quiet when we arrived. We navigated ourselves to the baggage claim, where we were the only flight arriving at the time. Like many airports in Hawaii, the baggage claim area is an open air terminal. It’s the same temperature as outside.
After collecting the checked baggage, we would head off to The Sheraton Kauai Resort for a wonderful five day stay.
My Thoughts on Hawaiian Airlines Inter Island First Class:
Hawaiian Airlines First Class is a great but simple way to get between the islands. If the price is the same as a regular economy fare, it makes sense to pick up a discounted first class fare for the priority handling. While the flights aren’t necessarily full of amenities, it’s a pretty comfortable way to get around the islands on a unique worldwide aircraft.
World Traveller 73 
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