Unremarkable domestic trans-con flight in 38” first class recliners. Friendly flight attendants, uncommunicative pilots.
Pros
- Alaska miles are versatile
- Power at seat in Business Class
- Free messaging on wi-fi
- Salt and Straw ice cream
- Friendly FAs
- Snack basket + candy before landing
Cons
- Newark terminal has indoor porta-potties instead of bathrooms
- No seatback entertainment, they hand out a small tablet PC instead.
- 70 minutes from boarding to wheels up with zero communication from flight deck about why we were delayed
- No food choice (I guess I'm having the vegetable pasta!)
- Complimentary upgrades means Business Class is always full
- Alaska refuses to enforce the "use the lavatory in your ticketed cabin" rule
- Wi-fi is very expensive: $39.99 for Gogo's slow-go internet
Tips
- Sit near the front of the Business Class section if you'd like to have a choice of meal
How I did it
$502 for a one-way flight. I chose this primarily due to the flight time clicking well with my schedule in Portland. I earned 4,258 Alaska miles and ≈2500 American Express miles from this flight (≈$135 value).
Airport
It’s no secret that i don’t like Newark. While United has done a decent job at making their Newark terminal (Terminal C) a bit less awful, terminal A is still generally unpleasant. It’s tiny, so if even a single flight gets delayed the place overflows with people, and snagging a seat or an electrical outlet becomes a blood sport. To add to that third-world charm,
they’re now using indoor portable toilets during renovations. It’s a party. My hat is off to the bathroom attendants, though: men are completely unable/unwilling to queue for the loo, and they weren’t letting any Pushy Pushingtons cut the line.
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| Indoor porta-potties |
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| And the queue for the loo |
Boarding
Boarding was orderly. A blanket and bottle of water were waiting at my seat. As I suspected, the seats were old and well-worn, with no in-flight entertainment modules but I'm glad Alaska finally added power outlets (in Business Class). Despite this being an old cabin, the new one they're installing on these 737's
isn't better in any fundamental way.
Unfortunately we sat motionless on the tarmac for nearly an hour with absolutely no communication from the flight deck or the flight attendants. No idea what the holdup was, but we got underway eventually.
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| Blankets and water |
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| No seatback entertainment |
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| Finally - power outlets! |
Service
As has always been my experience, the staff were very friendly. Menus, warm nuts, and drinks came out quickly, as did their digital movie tablets and headphones. They also made an announcement that their exciting now "water service" would commence as soon as we reached cruising altitude (it wasn't an
April Fool's joke after all!)
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| My menu ended up being kinda useless… |
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| nuts and a g&t |
Alaska's policy (as I have since learned) is to take orders from 1A to 4F, so my seatmate and I both got stuck with the vegetable pasta. It was surprisingly not terrible (though I did hit it with some of my purse hot sauce). Special shout out for the bread being warm and perfect, unlike most airplane bread. Another shout out for Salt and Straw ice cream, my absolute favorite.
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| tablet media player |
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| Salad and bread |
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| Vegetable pasta |
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| Salt and Straw ice cream |
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| Pre-landing chcolate |
A snack basket with fruit and nuts and chips is passed several hours into the flight, and a cute
Frango-esque chocolate was handed out right before we landed.
The Gogo Wifi was expensive and very slow, though the free messaging is a nice touch. SMS, iMessage, Facebook Messenger and even my email all seemed to work fine. I used my free hour of T-Mobile to catch up on Facebook and to browse the Web.
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| Wi-fi options (click to enlarge) |
The only downer about the service was something that I constantly experience on Alaska Airlines:
zero enforcement of the “use the lavatory in your ticketed cabin” rule. Even with the little curtain shut, people just walk right to the front to use it. In my mind, they're all grumpy MVP Gold members who are pissed off about not getting their free upgrade, but that's just me projecting.
I'm glad that on this flight they at least didn't permit queuing in the front of the aircraft. Look, I'm all for letting people use the forward lav if it's free, but
I didn't spring for Business Class so I could stare at people's butts for 5 hours. We all have pet peeves and this is one that I've happily confronted Alaska FA's over in the past.
Conclusions
In short: I'll fly JetBlue in Premium Economy next time, schedule permitting – Free and fast Wi-Fi, live TV, movies, identical 38" of seat pitch as Alaska Business, a terminal with bathrooms… The only downer is how useless JetBlue's miles are.
Most domestic First/Business Class is actually just "upgrade class" – no need to make it nice or competitive since nobody actually pays to sit there. This is why, despite being Mosaic Elite members on JetBlue, we're both opposed to complimentary upgrades to Mint. JetBlue's leadership
feels the same way – "
Mint will be governed by the size of the paid premium market as opposed to who’s flying in first class".
Alaska is still trying to figure out who they are post-Virgin merger. Are they a a NW regional carrier full of hub-captive business and leisure travelers? Are they solely a leisure carrier for the rest of the country? Are they positioning themselves for yet another merger? Are they trying to be the nicest of the Low Cost Carriers (a.k.a Fancy Frontier)? I don't think they know yet.
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