While Alaska Airlines is modernizing its fleet by taking delivery of new Boeing 737 MAXs, the airline is also updating the cabins of some existing aircraft, which passengers will no doubt appreciate.
Continue reading: Alaska Airlines Updating Boeing 737-800 Cabins With New Seats
Share your questions, experiences, and thoughts below.
Maybe those 5 planes w/ 12 First seats will do the especially long routes like JFK-Anchorage? (Or, fingers crossed for Anchorage to Tokyo someday! Altho I figure that will probably run into Russian Airspace issues at present)
Yeah I have to think they needed the Max 8 in service to start ANC-JFK and the plan became to worry about the interior later.
I think the old F seats are more comfortable but they are old at this point and more is better.
Good, increase first-class seats. Higher revenue generation. We can see that Jetblue is missing out on a lot of revenue without first class, while Alaska has been doing good with it. (I know But 6 has mint. but its deployed on competitive routes with long ranges).
They have really generous pitch in F which makes a huge difference for comfort but the lack of a tablet holder for IFE is really frustrating.
Nice, just flew on one of these older -800s, and the little niceties of the newer interiors really showed in their absence. In particular, in economy, having the smaller overhead bins, where you can't put bags on their sides, meant 20+ people had to gate check (per multiple announcements before boarding), and not having the tablet holders/USB chargers in the seatback at eye level. Glad they will be getting all that.
Alaska is adjusting their cabin configuration to meet demand. Our family flies them frequently and virtually every time I go to select seats Main Cabin is heavily booked or booked solid, Premium is not and there are passengers on the list waiting for seats who aren't elite and eligible for an upgrade. That means Alaska is giving away free Premium seats to non elites when they could be selling more first class tickets and/or accommodating more elites. Given I consistently see first class on west coast routes for as little as $50 over the cost of main cabin (but no upgrade space) the plan looks to be to reduce the price of first to where they can sell all or most of the cabin to cash customers. So while it's good to see more first seats I would not expect it to result in more availability of upgrades thought it's good news for solo travelers, (those not anyone using a companion coupon), who are willing to buy up.
It’s going to be weird to see a brand-new 737 MAX with those old-style (and thicker) seats flying around. Other than that, maybe they’ll use the 159-seater version for longer flights such as their upcoming ANC-JFK route. But, I have to wonder, does having 2 seats less really increase range that much?
I just the 737-800 in F. While the interiors are old school with a strange macrame Alaska Airlines monument at the head of the cabin, the seats were the most padded and comfortable I have been on. I would have no complaints flying on this seat on a transcon. The are probably more heavy than the seats they are using for the retrofit.
Just a guess. Likely the first exit row will only have 2 seats on either side, and the last row will have only 3 on one side due to galley/lavs.
Upgrades are always appreciated. My suggestion for an upgrade would be the installation of larger restrooms. As a big man I have difficulty utilizing the first class race restroom. A wider seating area would be enjoyable.
The 5 MAX8s with 12F won’t be the old seats, but the same as the MAX9. The interiors will all look like MAX9, just with the seat counts of the old 800s.
Ben,
Not on the subject you are writing about, but you should do a review trip of Dutch Harbor, Alaska from flights, airport approach / take off, hotel, food, history and seafood industry. I think it would be very interesting. If not a post, could you email me back if you have any insight on this.
Thank you,
A straight line from Anchorage to Tokyo just skims the edge of Russian airspace. Just swinging a little wide would add like 50 miles to the journey and keep the plane hundreds of miles away from Russia.
Yes, absolutely. I'm not all that big, and I sure find the restrooms to be so small as to be difficult to maneuver in!