Trip Report: Alaska Airlines first class Anchorage to Seattle

Since I wanted to be back in San Diego as early as possible in the day, it meant taking an early morning flight out of Anchorage. But this is summer time in Alaska, which means that it’s light outside 24 hours a day – and that helped to wake my body get going so early. I needed all the help I could get this particular morning.

AS 112
Anchorage, AK (ANC) – Seattle, WA (SEA)
Monday June 9 2014
Aircraft: Boeing 737-900
Seat: 4F (first)

After visiting the Boardroom for about an hour, I walked down to the departure gate for my flight down to Seattle. It was standing room only – this was going to be a full flight.

Boarding was called right on time with the usual announcement of welcoming a whole slew of elite members of various programs, and then finally the first class cabin. So, even though I was flying up front, I felt like somewhat of a little peon with my lack of status in any frequent flyer program.

Once onboard, I quickly realized that this had been yet another last-minute aircraft swap. It was scheduled to be a 737-800, but I was thrilled to see that it had been switched to a brand new 737-900 – the second one I’ve ever flown. Part of me was bummed, however, that I had yet to get a 737-400 during this trip. Those are becoming rare in this world, so I’ve been looking forward to adding another one to my flight log before they disappear for good.

The Alaska 737-900 features four rows of first class, with curtain dividers separating the economy and first class cabins. This is slightly annoying due to the fact that the curtains don’t act as a sound barrier like a hard wall does – so if there are loud talkers (or a crying baby) behind the curtain, all that noise transmits throughout the first class cabin with ease. And wouldn’t you know it – there were two extremely chatty teen girls sitting right behind me. Ugh.

The cabin crew made their safety demonstrations as we taxied out to runway 32, and I managed to get a few decent pics of our departure.

The first part of the flight made it pretty obvious that first class service aboard Alaska Airlines is highly inconsistent. Unlike my previous two flights with them two days ago, there were two flight attendants serving the front cabin. Hot towels were also served, which didn’t happen on my previous two flights.

Drink orders were taken first and I just opted for water. Orange juice is usually my drink of choice on airplanes, but I was in no mood for something sugary that morning.

Breakfast was served shortly after that, which consisted of the same turkey sausage and cheddar quiche which I had on my flight from San Diego to Portland two days ago. Once again – I would have much preferred a healthy option such as cereal.

I worked on this trip report for a bit more after breakfast and then quickly succumbed to sleep – getting up at such an early hour had finally caught up to me so I napped the rest of the way to Seattle. Luckily, I woke up just as we were descending into Seattle and got the chance to take a few pics of the beautiful scenery below.

The only thing worth noting here was that, just like my previous flight, my aisle-row seatmate was glued to the window – looking all the way across me the whole time. Pretty annoying for an introvert like me, almost to the point that the thought of switching seats with him crossed my mind.

We docked at the gate, and from there I would have an hour and a half wait for my connecting flight home to SAN.