I was invited to Alaska Air Group’s Investor & Media Day in Seattle yesterday. The airline covered my flight and hotel, so it was a no-brainer. Most U.S. airlines do this for media events, so it’s nothing unusual.
I wanted to be able to take my kids to school Monday morning but still get to Seattle in plenty of time for the 5 p.m. cocktail party. Alaska has at least nine flights a day between LAX and SEA, and I chose AS798, operated by a Boeing 737 MAX 9. It was scheduled to depart Los Angeles at 10:50 a.m. and arrive in Seattle at 1:39 p.m.
Traffic getting into LAX was backed up on the departures level, but savvy travelers know to check both departures and arrivals before committing to one. If departures is jammed, which it often is, have your driver use the arrivals level instead, then take an escalator or elevator upstairs to departures. That simple trick saved me about 20 minutes on this trip.
What was especially nice was that my sister-in-law and some of my wife’s best friends, who had flown out to surprise Natalie for her milestone birthday, just happened to be flying back to Toronto on Air Canada about an hour after my flight. Their gate was right next to mine, so I got to see them for a few minutes before we all departed. They had all spent the weekend in Palm Springs.
I checked in online, so there was no need to stop at one of Alaska’s kiosks since I wasn’t checking a bag. BTW: There was no line at the kiosks anyway.
There was also a short line at TSA PreCheck, but I went through CLEAR, which was quick. TSA’s Touchless ID line was closed, which was just as well since Touchless ID wasn’t showing up on my boarding pass. I’m not sure why because I had entered my passport information and Known Traveler Number and opted in to Touchless ID in Alaska’s app.
Speaking of Alaska’s app, I love how it counts down to the second until boarding begins.
BTW: If you have a choice of which security scanner to go through, choose the older X-ray machines. At LAX Terminal 6, I had a choice and the newer machines were much slower. The TSA agent working the line just kept repeating the same instructions over and over, regardless of whether the line had moved. I started wondering if he was a humanoid. Soon they will be.
I had a First Class ticket but learned that you can’t access an Alaska Lounge just by flying First Class unless your flight is more than 2,000 miles. Seattle is only about 1,000 miles from Los Angeles.
Fortunately, I was able to enter the Alaska Lounge using my Admirals Club membership, which comes with my Citi / AAdvantage Executive credit card. I could bring in two guests as long as they were flying on a oneworld airline. Air Canada is part of Star Alliance, so I couldn’t bring my friends in. They didn’t want to split up anyway.
There weren’t a lot of vacant seats in the lounge, but the food was solid.
They had a pancake machine with syrup, wildflower honey or a strawberry and citrus mint compote.
I also loved the chocolate-covered espresso beans.
The one thing I definitely didn’t like was seeing a woman stick her water bottle all the way up into the water dispenser while filling it. Nasty, nasty.
On the elevator leaving the lounge, I overheard a couple talking about tipping. The woman said, “I didn’t know you can’t tip the servers, especially since at Delta’s lounge they had a tip jar.” Her boyfriend replied, “This ain’t Delta.”
I chose the last row of First Class and an aisle seat, 4D. There’s no wall or divider between First Class and economy, so it can be a little uncomfortable if you’re working on your laptop because the passengers directly behind you can see your screen. I use a privacy screen, but if someone is sitting directly behind you, they can still see quite a bit.
It was also the first time I can remember having a flight attendant stand at the front of the cabin, introduce herself and her colleague without using the PA and say, “Okay, First Class. Welcome aboard.”
She was super friendly and professional. She told us the flight time would be two hours and 17 minutes and that it was going to be a fun flight. She went through the meal service and said they had meals for everyone who had preordered, plus all kinds of drinks, including margaritas. She even told us the two types of tea they had onboard.
I had preordered my meal and was surprised by how many choices Alaska offered:
Signature Fruit & Cheese Plate
Beecher’s Flagship cheese, Tillamook sharp cheddar, brie, Partners crackers, fresh apples and grapes and a Seattle Chocolate truffle.
Tillamook Cheeseburger
Grilled Angus beef with Tillamook sharp cheddar on a sesame seed bun, served with lettuce, Roma tomatoes, bread-and-butter pickles, ketchup, mayo and mustard.
Chicken Enchiladas
Chicken enchiladas topped with tomatillo salsa and shredded white cheddar, served with cumin tomato long-grain rice, marinated pinto beans and roasted corn with peppers.
Black Bean Burger
A chipotle black bean burger on a soft bun with lettuce, tomatoes, red onions and ranch aioli.
BBQ Pork Baked Potato
Baked russet potato slices with smoked pulled pork, sweet BBQ sauce, scallions, tomatoes, sour cream, butter and parsley.
As you can tell from the photo above, I chose the chicken enchiladas, which were good. The tray also came with a delicious freshly baked chocolate chip cookie.
Before departure, the flight attendants offered coffee, water or mimosas. All of the drinks had to be collected before takeoff.
At one point, the passenger in front of me accidentally had the plug for his headphones pop out. A flight attendant immediately told him he needed to plug them back in. He hadn’t even realized it had happened.
I love that Alaska makes an announcement telling passengers they have to use headphones or earbuds when listening to anything on their devices and, more importantly, that the flight attendants actually enforce it. Bravo.
The cabin got chilly quickly, so I was happy I had a sweatshirt in my bag. BTW: While boarding, I overheard the flight attendants saying how nice it was to see so many people without heavy coats. They had just come in from Portland and said Seattle had been chilly that morning.
The seats had a power outlet and a USB-A port, so I was able to get some work done while charging my phone.
Unfortunately, the Wi-Fi, which cost $8, was painfully slow. Alaska is installing Starlink across its fleet, but this plane didn’t have it. Neither did my flight home, which was on a 737-900.
There was a kid crying in First Class, and one of the flight attendants came over and said, “I have a little friend for you.” She had made a little character out of an inflated rubber glove and drawn a face on it. It didn’t stop the crying, but it was a good try.
When the flight attendant made the onboard credit card pitch, she said something along the lines of: You can marry a flight attendant to travel for free, or you can get this credit card. Funny.
One of the reasons I like sitting on the right side of the plane when flying north to Seattle is the scenery. On a clear day, you can get amazing views of the mountains and volcanoes, including Mount St. Helens.
Before landing, I told the flight attendants that Alaska is way better than American when it comes to pretty much everything. Apparently, I’m not the only one who feels that way. Check out this thread that just popped up on social media.
View on Threads
According to FlightAware, our Boeing 737 MAX 9 actually beat the schedule. AS798 left the gate at LAX at 10:45 a.m., five minutes early, and arrived at Gate D8 in Seattle at 1:35 p.m., four minutes early.
Not a bad way to start a quick trip to Seattle.
