Originally Posted by cactusmike

Do you fly an Airbus?No I had the -76 as my #1 choice... Have you flown a 321?We don't have 321's, and neither has any of my previous 5 companies. Have you flown the tracks out to Hawaii?Every trip The reason people are bringing this up is that there are some real issues with this route. It is the longest overwater segment in the world. Hawaiian is ordering a paper airplane at this point and Airbus has a history of over promising and under performing. Every Boeing airplane outperforms the Airbus equivalent in its market niche. That is why you see airbus narrow body's stuck at FL 390 and below. And FL 380 and 390 are rarely seen unless you are light or in a lighter 319. Airbus has used the same wing for the 319 to the 321. There are issues. From what I've read the NEO is going to have a "sharklet" wing, and enhanced engines... I'm not an engineer, but am able to give Airbus the benefit of the doubt that they can design an airplane that can fly the 2300 mile trip. And I'm going to give the Hawaiian decision makers the benefit of the doubt that they ran some very specific numbers and liked the NEO better than the MAX... I understand some of you fly the 319/320/321... But also understand that this is a modified 321. There is a small chance that the engines and wings will make the a/c more efficient...It seems with every a/c order that any airline makes, there are always those that think they know better than the people paid to do the decision making every day.

And if you think there is no difference in flying at FL 320 versus being able to get up to 380 or 400 then you have not flown a large jet. The difference I see in fuel between FL320 and Fl 360-380 usually is within a few hundred pounds- a thousand pounds.. However I have flown at FL510 and at that altitude you will see a "noticable" difference.