This is what Alaska Airlines 737-800 first class was like in 2018

Note: This is a vintage review of an airline product that has changed quite a bit since I wrote it in 2018. My latest Alaska 737-800 first class review offers a detailed look at what the current experience is like.

Be honest. When’s the last time you were disappointed that your upgrade cleared and that you had to give up your primo seat in economy class? Believe it or not, that’s exactly what happened to me for this short 30-minute flight down to Seattle.

Of course I wasn’t about to turn down the opportunity to write a review about Alaska Airlines 737-800 first class. But I had other plans. Let me explain…

AS706
Vancouver, BC (YVR) – Seattle, WA (SEA)
Saturday, December 1, 2018
Aircraft: 737-890
Registration: N531AS
Duration: 27 minutes
Seat: 2C (first class)

Here’s the thing: I had a perfectly good window seat just ahead of the wing reserved, but my upgrade bumped me up to an aisle seat in row 2. That’s perfectly fine for feeling privileged and special, but it’s no good for making videos. Takeoff and landing footage is a key element in all of my trip report videos and my new seat assignment wasn’t going to allow for it.

I thought about challenging it, but I couldn’t come up with a way of standing my ground without sounding like a total idiot. Demanding to be downgraded to economy class would have likely put me on a list of some kind, and when it comes to air travel and “lists” it’s probably wise never to end up on one.

Arrival at YVR

I had a 4 hour layover after my Air Canada A330-300 economy flight from Montreal that morning (which was way overkill since 1 hour layovers are possible in Vancouver), so 3 of those hours were spent wandering around the main terminal like the lowly economy class passenger I thought that I was.

You know, keeping busy with things like trying to find empty gate areas to relax in. Eating obscenely overpriced airport food. And getting reacquainted with the neon blue carpet here.

The boarding process

It doesn’t really matter if you’re in economy or first class on flights as short as this. It just doesn’t.

Of course it’s fun to text friends and family with something like “I’m just about to hop on a first class flight to Seattle – let’s sync up later” but the reality is that there’s nothing that the flight attendants can do in that short amount of time that will make it an experience to remember.

Alaska Airlines 737-800 first class cabin and seats

There are three rows of first class seats here on the Alaska Airlines 737-800, arranged in a 3-3 configuration.

The departure from YVR

The scheduled departure time for this flight down to Seattle was 2:55 PM. They had us pushed off the gate at 2:40 PM, which…uh…well…how often does that happen?

In flight entertainment

Although there are no video screens in these seats, the Alaska Airlines in flight entertainment situation is fairly decent. Windows based tablets are provided to all first class passengers (no charge), and they contain a pretty good selection of movies and TV shows.

Food and drinks

Despite expecting very little for a short 30 minute hop down to Seattle, it ended up being worse than that. The flight attendants remained seated for the entire duration of the flight and never once did they come through the aisles asking if we needed anything.

The lack of drinks and snacks was expected, but the fact that they made no effort at all to offer an ounce of “first class” service was surprising. Can’t say that I wasn’t disappointed about not being able to pop miniature pretzels into my pretzel hole however.

The following two pictures (drink menu and wine list) are a closer look at what you can expect on longer flights:

Cabin comfort and seat recline

30 minute flights or not, a bigger seat is always better. I used to be one of those people who didn’t care about seat size, but after injuring my back recently, having the extra room to get comfortable (and not look like an old man doing it) is much appreciated.

The descent and arrival into Seattle

They weren’t able to make up any time in the air on the way down to Seattle, and we ended up touching down two minutes late at 3:32 PM.

Conclusion

Up until this point I’ve never had anything bad to say about this airline. And to be fair, I didn’t think that this quick little jaunt down to Seattle was all that bad actually. The crew was extremely friendly, the plane was clean, and we arrived on time. That’s all that matters anyway.

But that’s not to say that I don’t think they could have done a better job.

Alaska Airlines first class (both from what I’ve heard and personally experienced) is getting better and better, but the lack of service on this particular flight leads me to believe that they’ve still got a few kinks in the system that need to be worked out. The least they could have done was throw a few bags of pretzels at us.