Hawaii Part 1: Flying on a C-17

We took a fabulous trip to Hawaii a few weeks ago! We decided to fly Space-A on the military flights, which means that you try to get on a flight if there is space available. The problem is that they only make the flights known 24-48 hours in advance. We had been calling on flights for a couple weeks to see what was available, but on the day before we left we weren't sure if we were going to flight out of nearby McChord AFB or drive to California and catch a flight from there--or not be able to get on a flight at all. Finally, at 9 p.m. that night we found out that the flight from McChord to Hickam AFB in Hawaii had been canceled, so we prepared for a road trip the following day.

We left on Wednesday, February 10 early in the morning and drove all the way down to Travis AFB, California. It was about an 11 1/2 hour drive. We knew there were five flights scheduled to go to Hickam AFB, Hawaii the following day. We kept calling all day to check on flights and then we went straight to the terminal when we got there. The flight times and show times kept changing all around, so it was crazy trying to figure out what to do and when to get there. There were two 5:00 a.m. flights on C-130s that we decided not to try for since they didn't have very many seats and those planes are slower prop planes. The next flight had a show time (the time they call names and see who is there that wants to get on the flight in order of priority) of 2:00 p.m. We had a few hours, so we decided to go bowling that morning and just relax. David went over to the terminal about 11:00 and learned that they had moved show time to 12:30. So then it was a crazy scramble as we hurried to drop off our luggage at the terminal and then have David take the car to long-term parking and catch a shuttle back. We cut it way too close as they were calling for roll call right when David walked in the terminal. But we were close to the top of the list, so we got on the flight no problem. Hooray! We were going to Hawaii!

We learned that our transportation was going to be a C-17 cargo plane. They had put a pallet of seats in the middle, which was nice so we didn't have to sit on the side jump seats. We bought our $4 box meals, which included a turkey sandwich, fruit, water bottle, soda, fruit bar, and package of M&Ms. We had to wait for a couple hours before we took off, including riding an old bus out to the runway and climbing aboard the C-17.

Flying Space A is an adventure. Here is my list of pros and cons:

Pros:
· Price--it doesn't get much better than free
· No extra fees for bags--we can each check two bags up to 70 lbs each and bring on one-carry on.
· No one took away my water bottle
· We all have to wear ear plugs--so no one can hear my baby crying or my kids fighting--not even me!
· Those box meals are a bargain!
· You can get up and walk all around this huge plane for the whole flight, other than take-off and landing.
· The air force guys on the flight are great--they don't come around all the time like regular flight attendants and bug you. Half way through the flight one of the guys pulled out Costco size box of cracker packages and tossed them out to those interested and then handed around cans of soda, but there was no annoying drink carts blocking the aisle and running over my toes.
· No one gawked at us for having 5 kids. There are lots of big military families and people are used to seeing families like ours travel this way. Not one person asked me, "Are those all yours?" It was so nice.
On the other hand, flying Space-A does have its drawbacks:
· They constantly change the show times for the flights, so if you aren't checking constantly, you could easily miss the flight you want to get on.
· You have to wear ear plugs--this is both good and bad--it is hard to sit on a really loud plane for six hours.
· You get what you get--you might get a C-17 or a nice passenger plane. You just don't know until the last minute.
· You have no idea when you are going to leave, or even what day you will fly. This makes it particularly hard to make reservations for lodging or cars ahead of time. We actually had trouble with both those things when we got to Hawaii, but we couldn't do it ahead of time since we didn't know when we were going to get there. Even once you get chosen to be on a flight, there is no one telling you when it will take off, when you will board, or when you will land.
· Flights get cancelled with absolutely no notice and aren't necessarily rescheduled. You may have to keep checking for days to find another flight.

All in all, however, it was a good way for us to take a trip this time.

Here are a few pictures of us on our flight.

Ben and Kate eating their box meals.

Sarah holding William for me so I could take a few pictures.

They put all our luggage on a big pallet in the rear of the plane.

Those two big blue boxes in front are the restrooms.

These are the regular seats on a C-17. The fold out from the wall and are not too comfortable for long term. But we could spread out during the flight and it was nice to have the extra space.