Review of Delta Air Lines flight Fairbanks → Seattle in Domestic First

The already published flights:

Fairbanks International Airport

After a wonderful stay in Alaska, it is already time to head to new horizon. A bonus (and another on the next report) is available at the end of this FR.

I always and will always, liked Fairbanks airport:

The use of the woods makes it looking very warm and inviting:

Parking is in front of the building:

We were alone at the check in, it was done in no time.
The check in area:

And the regional airlines zone:

Those airlines are exempt from TSA screening, passengers can just go to the boarding gate:

Evening FIDS:

TSA was super quick and here we are airside:

Our A319 already arrived:

This is the international departure / arrival zone with the charter flights ex Japan and the regular fligths from Germany or Canada in the summer:

Information screens are available throughout the terminal:

Alaska special livery:

The other side:

There is also a store for last minute gifts or snacks but it is on the expensive side:

This 738 arrived and will go to ANC:

Boarding started on time, back to the A319 lovely cabin:

The bulkhead seats don't have a great legroom and the screen is located on the wall:

Overhead:

The strange thing is that it is the same cabine and type of plane as on the inbound, but those seats recline much farther:

Power sockets:

The seat pitch is good:

Baileys to start with:

The blanket isn't the one that is provided in Domestic First but still ok:

We pushed back on time but we needed to de-ice and we have head wind, making the flight a bit longer, meaning a bit of a delay on arrival. no worries for us since we have 02H30 connexion time in Seattle.

Leaving beautiful Alaska:

By that time I hoped to be back latest by 2019, that year I couldn't travel to Alaska as I used all my vacation to go twice to South America, I booked it to 2020. And in 2020, you know what… I hope to be back in 2021 since I really miss that state.

Everts Air DC4:

IFE:

De-icing:

Flight information:

in flight

Shortly after take off, there was a beautiful aurora outside but the flight deck didn't mention anything. As the cabin was pretty bright, the passenger on the first row stood up to ask the lights to be turned off or dimmed for the people to enjoy the show but the crew declined. I believed that they were starting preparation for the meal service. Sad.

I tried to snap some picture hidden under a blanket but it wasn't an easy task.

There will be more and better  pictures at the end of the report :)

Service starts with a luke warm towel:

Choices were either egg quiche or hot oatmeal with fruits, my mother took the latter:

The egg dish:

With the cutlery:

Both breakfasts were really nice, the hot dishes were good and filling, fruits were fresh and the bagel slightly toasted.
I then watched a movie until we landed in Seattle under the rain:

The flight path:

Hawaiian for HNL and OGG :

767-300ER OMNI International:

We landed 20 minutes late:

northern lights

To be able to spot the aurora, there are a few requisites:

- Be at night
- As much moonlight as possible, if the activity is low and the moonlight high, you will barely see anything
- A clear sky
- And of course, solar activity, since the show comes from solar activity

And the last is … luck. You can see something here and nothing 10 miles away. Out of 4 nights of observation, we had luck one night and boy, that night, we really had luck. The activity forecast was low but never really trust the forecast.

It was 2 out of 9 (1-2 being low, 3-4 moderate, 5-6 active and so on.) Most of the people think the higher the number the higher the chances but not really. This website will explain it much better than I:

http://www.aurora-service.eu/aurora-school/all-about-the-kp-index/

This is way we saw that night at the start:

It was the first time in 5 years that I saw red in the aurora. The most common color is green then yellow, followed by red. Rarely seen are purple and blue. You can see some red in the pictures above the green:

The the activity lowered a bit:

Just to start stronger:

It was such a show!

The lights were dancing in the sky:

It was a magical moment:

And it lasted, lasted and lasted :) The whole show took more than three hours. It was around minus -30F outside, no need to say that we had the adequate clothing and had the possibility to head back to a heated room if needed. I thing during the 3H we went into the room for maybe three times 5 minutes :)

It is just amazing:

And two last pictures to finish with: