Inflight With Alaska Beyond

maybe i'm insane but i actually LIKED the recaro slimline on a UA flight i had a few months back -- and i'm also 6'3". felt a lot better than what i've experienced in other Y cabins. not going to have me jumping to fly economy or anything but not nearly as bad as i'd expected. maybe that was it... lowered expectations.

excited for JFK-SEA to begin as i've wanted to try AS for some time now.

So... for a flight from San Francisco to Seattle, which is better: Virgin America or Alaska? (Both for First and for Economy?)

Is any blogger or insider going to bring AS to task for their uncomfortable F product? If they want to compete for premium traffic in the transcontinental market, they will have to revisit their meager legroom. Why is no one putting pressure on AS about this?

@Jonathan - honestly, I think Virgin has a better product in both cabins, but I strongly prefer Alaska's loyalty program and frequency on the route, so I'll never even consider VX unless AS is sold out.

@Darrin - I know, the legroom is abysmal in first class on the reconfigured aircraft. The only issue is that there's really no space for them to increase the pitch unless they shrink the legroom in coach or remove a row, and I doubt either are going to happen. Apart from shareholders pressuring AS into increasing the F pitch, I think we're out of luck.

No need to glorify drinking so much - It really is not that cool to have a bunch of cheap wine just because it is free. thank you for the rest of the article, very informative.

Lucky you to be invited to this event, I'm jealous. With regard to DL vs AS, I look at it this way:
with the same ticket price,
the same schedule,
the same B737,
Alaska's employees are better and the loyalty program is superior to DL.
Great job with the photos. Next time, take me with you.

@Darin - I dont think Alaska is really playing for premium transcon tickets. Seattle to ATL/DC/NY/BOS is just not a big enough market that it makes it worth specially outfitting planes for transcon service. Especially since the big corporate contracts that will pay for those seats are more likely to go to Delta anyhow.

As for that sandwhich, I don't see how that could possibly work. Buy on board food needs to be able to stay good over multiple flights during the day. Do they put it together when you order it? If the sandwhich was sitting already made for more than a few hours the bread would turn to mush.

As a 75k and Alaska Loyalist (to a fault) I am both jealous and sad I wasn't invited.

Maybe next time...

@Done deal

I can appreciate your thoughts on drinking, although it's definitely meant in a humorous way more than anything else. Some people get my humor, others, not so much. 😉

@Dan - I believe the flights that serve this are likely only catered ex-SEA for departures ex-SEA, so they should be relatively "fresh."

@chris - There were just a handful of AS elites on the flight, and I believe they were in the top EQM/spend for Alaska metal flights, so the qualification criteria was pretty steep.

And hey, I wasn't invited as an elite either, so don't feel too bad. 🙂

Yayyy Oregon Coast

@Dan, I didn't mean flatbed seats. As AS expands into longer stage length flights (midcon/transcon) folks are going to become more vocal about an F cabin that is not suited for 4,5 hours and above. If AS added just a little bit more legroom, they would be near, if not perfect.

Sun Liquor is great and even better since it's on Alaska. I was there a few weeks ago and met Erik while filming something with the Booze Traveler.

https://instagram.com/p/0TzG7snbk5/?taken-by=ruhtraush

We just flew SAN-BOS in F class last weekend and I find your comments about the Recaro seats interesting. It validates my wife's impression of them as uncomfortably tight. She hated them. I did kind of agree with her, but didn't bag on them nearly to the extent that she did. The tablet did run out of power after about 4 hours, but fortunately my Samsung phone power cord worked to keep it going. The food (croissant French toast for breakfast and cod for dinner on the return) was outstanding. The crews for the most part (including our very funny co-pilot from Boston to San Diego) were typical of Alaska Airlines - warm and friendly. Now just do something about those seats AS, and you have an ultimate winner!

I disagree about the recaro seats in Y. The leg room is good especially row 17 , but the seat are very uncomfortable. On sea-ewr about an hour in it was very hard to sit on.

FYI- the new media players are Toshiba Encores, not Microsoft Surfaces. And they're of _significantly_ higher screen quality than the old ones.

I've never managed to burn the battery out on either, so can't comment there.

(MVP Gold flyer posting from an Alaska Beyond flight...)