When booking my flights to New Zealand on Hawaiian Airlines, I researched their “Extra Comfort” seating and opted for it to minimize the impact of flying on my back as much as I could.

Rows 11 and 12 are in their own tiny section behind First/Business Class and in front of Economy. Row 11 is a 2-4-2 configuration, while Row 12 is just 4 consecutive seats in the center. Row 11 has no seats in front, so belongings must be stowed overhead during takeoff and landing, and both the tray table and entertainment console fold up and out from the arms of the seats, with the trade-off of more legroom.

I didn’t know what my experience of more legroom would be (does pitch length really give anyone an idea?), so I chose one of each for the two legs.

I know that I prefer to have the screen, tray table, seat pocket, and handbag storage in front of me, but open space was appealing too. I flew last year on LEVEL in a seat I thought was similar to Row 11, and there was a fairly good-sized area at the bulkhead in front of me where I could stand and stretch frequently with ample space. So I chose Row 12 for the 6-hour flight to Honolulu and Row 11 for the 9-hour flight to Auckland.

PDX -> HNL

Score! The legroom in Row 12 is comically large. I could get up from my seat without closing my tray. My aisle seat (STRETCH!) was right in front of both the lavatory and galley, which I found more convenient than disruptive.

I additionally won the airline lottery on this leg. The passenger in front never reclined, no crying babies (!), and no seatmates. The other aisle seat was occupied, and the two between us remained empty.

I watched Wonder, a movie about kindness that hits all the right notes and made me cry happy tears I don’t know how many times (although that could be for a lot of reasons}. I tried for a moment to sleep, unsuccessfully. And I started re-watching S01 of Westworld so I’ll be ready to catch up on the new season when I get home.

My back did pretty well! I got up and stretched a lot, and I was no worse for wear upon landing than I imagine most people are after a flight of 6 hours. Excellent use of $80.

HNL -> AKL

On the first flight, I could see what would be my seat on the next plane, and there was no empty bulkhead area. Rather, it was the back wall of the front section. Still more space than with a seat in front, though.

I was less optimistic once I actually boarded and sat down. The extra space was insufficient for the trade-offs, the aforementioned oddly located seat amenities and lack of place for stuff to keep handy.

I asked a flight attendant if I could move to Row 12 if a seat remained empty and he said “Sure” so nonchalantly I should have expected it was pretty unlikely. Those 4 seats remained tantalizingly empty for a good chunk of boarding, but alas they filled in. I might have gazed a little too long at the folks getting settled there.

I hadn’t put my backpack and messenger bag up above yet since I was hoping to move, and just as I was figuring out I needed to get settled where I was, my seatmate arrived and took up the whole bin space.

I put my bags in the next bin over, which was above a First Class seat so I braced myself for a tsk-tsk (none came), and sat down to my seatmate having removed his shoes and airing out his stinky feet.

I wasn’t resentful about either of these things. I disturbed his sleep by getting up a lot to stretch. It is what it is.

Once in the air, I got both my bags down and kept them in front of me because I wanted/needed different things at different times and it wasn’t feasible to continually access them from the overhead bin as I’d done on the first flight. This compromised the extra space that was the point of sitting in this seat! Terrible use of $125. Win some, lose some. Certainly not the worst in travel fuckery.

My back didn’t hold up as well on the second leg, but no lasting damage after a good night’s sleep.

AKL to Airbnb listing

I deleted the Uber app in 2014 after reading this piece by Sarah Lacy, whom they threatened. I restored it a few days ago because I unfortunately needed it.

The SkyBus into the city is $18 NZD ($13 USD) but takes 55 minutes and then would still be a short taxi ride to the listing or a 12-13 minute walk. Having landed at 10:00pm, after being awake for 21 hours, a door-to-door ride was in order. A taxi would have been $65-75 NZD ($46-53 USD), whereas an Uber was $45 NZD ($32 USD) and included the benefit of paying via the app, seeing who the driver is, etc.

I will delete the app again upon returning home, however.