Vacations Hawaii Premium Class -- A Review

This past trip to Vegas was made relatively at the last minute and because of scheduling and price, we opted to go to with Vacations Hawaii. 

Now, Vacations Hawaii is not a bad deal. For one price, you get airfare (with free drinks and meals), transportation to the hotel (including transporting your luggage -- no waiting in baggage claim), hotel accommodations and meal vouchers. You'll just have to not mind staying in Downtown Las Vegas (which is going through a revival) at one of Boyd's properties -- California, Main Street Station, Fremont and Orleans (which is not located Downtown). 

Previously, the Omni planes would make me hesitate taking a Vacations package. The first time I rode in an Omni plane to Vegas, in the early 2000s, the ashtrays were screwed shut on the passenger arm rests! 

Happily, the planes have been upgraded and they include personal digital entertainment in headrest of the seat in front of you (pretty standard for most planes now).   

For this particular trip, we decided to purchase Premium Class tickets for about $40 more (because we really wanted to purchase First Class, but it's too expensive). 

Was it worth it? Here's what we got and what I thought about it. 

Dedicated Check-In

When you arrive at the airport, you get a separate line for checking in. Depending on when you arrive, this will speed up the process. As you can see, when we got there, there was no one in our line, and there was no one in the regular line, so this perk didn't add much value on this particular trip.

One thing to note . . . you don't get a dedicated check in on your flight back. Everyone stands in the same line.

Gold Lane access through TSA wasn't a part of our package, but we were lucky enough to be granted access to this line. I would definitely pay for this perk as part of my package!

A patch of green space as we walked to our gate.

Priority Boarding and Seating

I'm not one of those people who are anxious to board; and therefore, hover at the gate. I'm fine cruising in my chair until my section is called. However, out of the four (or maybe it was five) categories of boarding, Premium Class boarded second to last, just before general boarding. So you don't really get to board much earlier than general boarding (but keep in mind general boarding is also divided by rows as well).

On the other hand, I do like get get off the plane ASAP, so having a seat near the front of the plane facilitates that. Faster de-boarding means getting to the games faster!

Pictured above, the view from my seat. Premium doesn't offer you larger seats or more leg room. I wish it did.

Complimentary Headset

Meh. Who doesn't have their own headset these days? But in the event you forget yours, it's nice to know that you don't have to pay for a cheapy one only to toss it when you leave the plane.

Here's my my movie choice. Can you guess the movie? Everything is awesome! :-)

Hot Towel Service

This is one of those things that you can do without, but when you get it, you go, "Ahhhhh!" But I have to say, the "hot" in the hot towel never lasts for very long. Thirty seconds or so?

In-flight snack. Fairly typically. Not individually packaged.

Specialty Meal

The website states that Premium Class passengers get a specialty meal. I'm not sure if we were offered anything different, but I chose the bento for my meal. I have to say, processed food is not a bad choice for an in-flight meal. It doesn't taste much different than it does on the ground. LOL. The chicken was not bad too.

Complimentary Champagne, Beer and Cocktails

I don't drink. I order and give to the Hubz so he can drink twice as much. Cheers!

We got a Melona bar for dessert.

We got snuck a sundae that is usually served in first class. It comes in a sundae glass in first class, but I'm not gonna grumble about a plastic cup!

The verdict? Was the extra amenities worth the extra bucks? I'm kinda on the fence. The Hubz says he would do Premium Class again though. Have you flown Premium Class? First Class? Did you think it was worth the additional price? Leave a comment below!