Alaska Airlines has announced today that they’re going to be making improvements to their first class menu and experience, with a ”west coast twist.” These upgrades are mostly fairly minor, though still interesting to note.
Continue reading: Alaska Airlines Is Making Changes To Their First Class
Share your questions, experiences, and thoughts below.
I just hope the new F seats have good recline. The current ones barely recline and feels like the same seating angle as Y seat.
I see a flat bed advantage only in red eye flights. For daytime flights, I don't want to sleep. I also avoid red eye transcons, if possible. Therefore, not having flat beds are ok with me.
Disclaimer: I don't fly AS much.
675 miles is an interesting pick. SEA-SFO is barely above it while SEA-OAK is slightly below it.
I dunno. I don't think this is anything to scoff at. No, they're not rolling out a whole new experience, but I'd say these are some fairly decent upgrades to an existing product while trying to merge the airlines and still be cost-conscious. It also sounds like they'll be implementing some sort of dine-on-demand concept, too, which is neat. And if they can compete with Sky Clubs in the lounge arena, that would be great. I'm consistently underwhelmed by Alaska's lounges but hopefully the competition from DL at SEA can force them to up their game.
All of these are nice steps forward no doubt, but yeah it doesn't change that JetBlue Mint is clobbering them on transcon routes in terms of product and ground experience (aka not flying out of JFK T7) while undercutting them dramatically in terms of price. And I don't care if Alaska dinosaurs think IFEs are a thing of the past, the Alaska tablets are pieces of junk that slow down service, have to be collected, and eat up what little table space you have.
I really do wish Alaska would get some sort of flat bed or full recline for transcons, as many of their eastbound flights are red-eyes and it is a really really rough flight in Alaska F as it stands.
Myu suggestion to those that prefer JetBlue enjoy ! As for us AS FF it's a welcome change oh be it a slow one, but AS has never been one to jump in. But they do treat their FF very well much better than JB.
I am not sure anyone fly's for the dining experience other than EK and Singapore Airlines so anything editable is welcome.
@ Ben -- Looks nice! The seat were long overdue for ore padding (and hopefully more recline).
I guess we will have to wait for SFO to finish Terminal 1 before there is an Alaska lounge. Maybe in 2021 there will be a lounge at SFO.
What AS really needs is a better FF award system. Their outdated, stingy "one person in F" award makes them fairly useless to anyone that is not single, unless the two people like paying 50% more for their award seats than the advertised rate. And you can forget two people trying to get a Cathay award flight....
What about pillows to go with the duvet? It's shameful to have a FC without pillows when you want to sleep or take a cat nap.
Where is the vegetarian option? I thought the veggie plate was more of an example snack. Maybe I missed it in the bullet points...
I answered my own question. Looks like the vegetarian option is listed on the press release, but wasn't included in the blog post.
"All menus will have a vegetarian option available."
This is pretty cool!
1. Alaska needs an East Coast hub if they're ever going to be more than a niche airline. At least unlike Hawaiian they fly to more destinations than their namesake.
2. Alaska needs pillows.
3. Pre-ordering of meals is HUGE. Puts more pressure on Delta.
Alaska's hype sets a very high bar to hurdle. Let's hope they can do it, and it's not all rubbish like UA's Polaris service which is getting the full walk-back.
Alaska's F food has ranged from ordinary to inedible, so anything along the lines of what is suggested here will be a improvement.
I noticed there were photos of raspberries being served.
My experience with those raspberries was not impressive. On two separate occasions, I was served moldy raspberries on cheesecake. I complained but they continued to serve a highly perishable fruit!
The little airline that thinks they invented First Class.
I always chuckle when I walk the isle to my coach seat and see all those looks as if to say:
"look at me - I made it to First Class"
No wonder Alaska has such a good frequent flyer program. It's hard product is below United.
Flew Alaska this morning DCA-LAX and they were rolling out the new menu. Breakfast was surprisingly good - smoothie shot, frittata, decent wines.
The best news headline would have read: 'Alaska Admits Big Mistake; Will Convert Carrier To Virgin Atlantic Model'. VA's F class seat was/is superior to AS's, as was their overall hard and soft product. Sad still that VA has gone away. The rush to the bottom continues, except Jet Blue's Mint product some of the Transcon offerings with lie flat.
In Alaska lounge now at JFK, very nice, breakfast is good, helpful staff, great restrooms