Review of Alaska Airlines flight Portland San Francisco in Economy

Airline Alaska Airlines
Flight AS384
Class Economy
Seat 20F
Aircraft Boeing 737-800
Flight time 01:45
Take-off 10 Aug 15, 21:35
Arrival at 10 Aug 15, 23:20
AS   #55 out of 96 Airlines A minimum of 10 flight-reports within the past two years is required to appear in the rankings. 85 reviews
jish.b
By 865
Published on 22nd June 2016
Hey all!
Welcome to my third part of my summer 2015 in the USA series.
In this part, my family and I would head back to base, San Francisco.
This would also be our first flight on a B737 with Split Scimitar winglets!

A recap of the trip that's been so far:
Compass Airlines (Delta Connection) DL5736 SFO-SEA 02AUG15 dep: 0917 hours arr: 1129 hours (E175)

Alaska Airlines AS422 SEA-PDX 10AUG15 dep: 1715 hours arr: 1803 hours (B734 -> B739)
Alaska Airlines AS384 PDX-SFO 10AUG15 dep: 2135 hours arr: 2320 hours (B73H) (this report!)

Southwest Airlines WN2002 SFO-LAX 12AUG15 dep: 1835 hours, arr: 2000 hours (B733)
Southwest Airlines WN2592 LAX-SFO 14AUG15 dep: 1535 hours, arr: 1650 hours (B733)

Delta Air Lines/Delta Shuttle DL2764 SFO-LAX 14AUG15 dep: 2100 hours, arr: 2237 hours (B712)
Delta Air Lines DL1435 LAX-MSP 15AUG15 dep: 0025 hours, arr: 0555 hours (B73J)
Skywest Airlines (Delta Connection) DL4473 MSP-GFK 15AUG15 dep: 0912 hours, arr: 1029 hours (CRJ200)

Catch the short video trip report here:


A couple of pictures from Portland International Airport (both the terminal, and spotting!)


At Portland, the arrival gate information is provided on screens (as well as the baggage claim). I checked C16, the departure gate for our flight. Flight AS715 was inbound from Salt Lake city. A quick check at the registration - N513AS. A 6.6 year old 737-800. No Boeing Sky Interior, again. However, I zoomed in to the picture of the wing on my phone…there was with a Spilt Scimitar winglet!!!! Awesome, some kind of redemption, at least, and finally! :D

There it is! My plane!!!
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The split scimitar debut!
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Headed to the gate after a lot of wandering and spotting and a McDonalds fish burger. Boarding was announced by the lovely gate agent Anya, who announced a full flight to San Francisco.
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She offered large bags to be checked in for free (which we took advantage of), and she welcomed veterans and military personnel, followed by the ‘important’ First Class and tier holder passengers, and then zones for Coach.

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Same as the B739, the interiors were nice and well maintained. The plane filled up very quickly as the sun rapidly set. Everyone got their USB chords out to fit in to the USB port charger (and a power port in general) to charge their devices. Great thought from Alaska!

Welcome announcements made, it was an all John cockpit crew for us to San Francisco! This reminded of the all Vinay cockpit crew I had back in Janurat, on the not-so-nice 9W354 from Delhi to Mumbai. (Coincidentally, I was supposed to be on 9W384, here I was on AS384…and both flights had similar timings!)

Not the most ideal lighting conditions, and I'm not the best in low light photography…but here goes!




Pushback was long..like a lot of taxiway was wasted by pushing all the way back when perhaps a pull-front would’ve saved time and money (then again, I was on the starboard side, so I could not see all the way in front!). A long taxi followed to runway 28L. A full blast take off, there is something very impressive about a jam-packed 737 taking off at night…add to that a set of split scimitar winglets!



We soon reached 10,000 feet where I checked out the WiFi entertainment. Regular service began slowly, with a wide of drinks and the usual American fare. The crew members were really nice, despite their long day, as I found out. I requested for a Ginger Ale, but I was handed a Coke instead. I said.. Oh..Okay, and took the glass. But just before that, she pulled back the drink and asked ‘What did you request for?’ ‘Ginger ale’, I said ‘But I will have the coke anyway!’ She said - I’m so sorry, its been a long long day!’, apologetically pouring ginger ale in the cup. I felt bad, I kinda did. Went through some magazines and stuff and fell asleep for a bit.


We then started a rocky descent into San Francisco over the bay area and then into San Francisco’s parallel approach! We were lined up 28R, so I couldn’t see any other plane, if there was one, landing by our side. Another rough-ish touchdown, we quickly taxied off the runway and slowed right down.



‘Welcome to San Francisco ladies and gentlemen, where the time is….oh just check your mobile phones!’ Well, AS do love their cellphone jokes eh? :D (it is in the video!!)

Taxied by the United, American Airlines, Virgin America, Delta and Southwest terminals straight to the international terminal! Looks like AS do not have a dedicated concourse! There were 2 777s, one of Philippine Airlines and the other of Cathay Pacific. We parked right next to a JetBlue A321. Disembarkation took some time, we waited.


However, it was a long long LONG walk back to the baggage claim! In fact, we passed by the international security check and immigration, this was crazy! Took us almost 25-30 minutes to get to the baggage claim. Ours were the only ones on the carousel. Headed out and waited for our shuttle bus to the hotel. A few days in San Francisco, before heading to Los Angeles!!


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Verdict

Alaska Airlines

7.1/10
Cabin8.5
Cabin crew9.0
Entertainment/wifi5.0
Meal/catering6.0

Portland - PDX

9.1/10
Efficiency8.5
Access9.0
Services9.0
Cleanliness10.0

San Francisco - SFO

6.6/10
Efficiency7.0
Access8.0
Services2.5
Cleanliness9.0

Conclusion

These were my first two flights with Alaska Airlines. It was nothing special, but its nothing close to a disaster. Overall, I was quite satisfied with Alaska Airlines. The connectivity to the midwest (MSP/ORD) is a bit low, so its unlikely I'll be flying them any time soon which is a bummer. However, I like the innovative power ports in all seats which is a huge benefit in this day and age, while I also got some Delta Air Lines SkyMiles from these flights, which is nice! The ground crew in both PDX and SEA were lovely, however the crew were quite tired on the PDX-SFO flight, as I pointed out.

Portland was a fun airport to kill time at - spotting opportunities were great! SFO could use a golf cart or two because my father who is suffering from arthritis (in the knees) wasn't pleased of the long walk that lay ahead....

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2 Comments

If you liked this review or if you have any questions, don’t hesitate to post a comment below !
  • Comment 354678 by
    Rl 777 802 Comments
    Thank you for sharing this FR with us!

    Nice spotting shots from PDX!

    Pretty nice to fly on a 737 with Split Scimitar Winglets!

    That was a really nice FA, a lot of people wouldn't care if they were tired.

    Have a good one, see you!


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