Review of Alaska Airlines flight from New York to San Diego in Domestic First

introduction

Hello and welcome to this 2nd review in this pandemic-era series of flights. 

After spending the summer in southwestern France with family, it was time to head home to the U.S. before the little one was due to begin preschool. Unlike the 3-segment routing on the way to France, which got us to a closer airport (Toulouse), we flew a simpler 2-segment routing from Paris back to San Diego with an overnight in New York. 

I had built the overnight stay into the itinerary to break up the trip and make it easier on our 2-year-old. It was a good opportunity to check out the TWA Hotel again. I'd stayed there once previously, shortly after it opened two years ago. If you're interested, you'll find that TWA Hotel review at the end of the previous report.

The day of the flight, we checked out of the hotel and headed to Jones Beach for a bit to get some fresh air and have our son to run around and get out some of that toddler energy out prior to our transcontinental flight home to San Diego.

routing

As mentioned, this was a simple 2-segment routing. Check out the first leg if you missed it–link below.

Flights in this series:

pre-flight & check-in

After dropping off the rental car, we hopped on the AirTrain to Terminal 7.

Decent line up at Terminal 1 as we went past, though obviously not as busy as pre-pandemic times. 

The Delta parking stands where the iconic Pan Am WorldPort (Terminal 3) once stood. R.I.P. ?

Hadn't seen one of these guys in ages!

We sped past the TWA Hotel at Terminal 5, where we'd checked out that morning…
So beautiful, but such mixed feelings about that experience! 

Check in was very quick as it was a domestic flight without all the additional document checks of the previous leg. It also helped that there was no one else at the First class/Priority ticket counters.

We were through TSA pre-check in no time.  

alaska lounge jfk

The Alaska lounge had re-opened since our previous time through this terminal in June, so we headed straight for the lounge. 

Alaska Airlines is the only US carrier to allow First class passengers access to its lounges on domestic itineraries–this is one of the many reasons why Alaska is becoming my preferred carrier since moving to the West Coast. 

The Alaska lounge is located upstairs–it was recently remodelled.  

The shiplap walls give off a rustic Alaskan energy while looking clean and modern–my perception is surely shaped by Joanna Gaine's popularisation of the look in HGTV's "Fixer Upper" a few years ago. 

The planters inside the walls adds a nice natural touch–again, feels very Alaskan.

The inside of the lounge is anything but rustic, however.

The subway tile appears to be a nod to New York City. 

The lounge is quite spacious and light-filled with two huge walls of windows. It's a good-sized lounge considering Alaska's relatively small New York JFK operation, with less than 10 flights/day currently.

We easily found a quiet corner with some nice views.

The food offering is quite decent by US carrier standards, with some fresh options and 2 soups. 

You can build your own Caesar salad with cheese, croutons, and roasted chicken breast. There was also a complimentary sparkling rosé, which I appreciated. 

boARDING

Our flight's boarding was announced in the lounge. It was a short walk to the gate–this is one of the nice things about the smaller Terminal 7.

We arrived at the gate just as First class boarding began. Gate agents made several announcements asking passengers in other boarding zones to remain seated to avoid crowding of the boarding lanes, which I appreciated. 

I'm really glad that Alaska joined the oneworld alliance this year. I've always been a fan of Alaska, but didn't often have much opportunity to fly them when I lived in DC, where I was mostly loyal to AA/BA. The timing of the AA/AS partnership and Alaska's subsequent entry to the oneworld alliance was perfect as it coincided with our move to Southern California. 

These 737-900ERs still sport the older cabins. The new post-merger cabins can mostly be seen on ex-Virgin America airbus aircraft. 

The main cabin was still being cleaned as First class was boarded. It was good to see that a thorough cleaning was happening on a daytime turn.  

The "Premium Class" section has differently coloured headrests. 

Great legroom in the first row of Economy–the buy-up to "Premium Class" includes complimentary alcoholic beverages. 

Back in First class, these older seats on the 737 fleet are comfortable as they are well-padded with a good amount of legroom. 

Each seat is equipped with a USB port and 110V AC power outlet. 

While pre-departure drink services still hadn't returned to Alaska flights at the time (or any other US carriers for that matter), there were waters and sanitising wipes at each seat upon boarding.

I'd never seen water in a carton before! While I certainly appreciate the gesture and the biodegradable nature of the packaging, the water did have a slight cardboard taste. 

There are four rows of seats in First class on the 737-900/ER. Seats are laid out in a standard 2-2 configuration and offer a generous 40" seat pitch and 20-21" of width between armrests. A 40" seat pitch is above average for Domestic US configurations, which typically have 37-38" seat pitch. This gives Alaska an edge on comfort for most routes, except for these longer 6h transcontinental flights where other major carriers typically run long-haul configured aircraft with fully flat seats in the premium cabin. 

I had the great pleasure of flying JetBlue Mint in the opposite direction a few months earlier and Alaska's recliner seats can't come close to Mint in terms of privacy, space, or comfort. Check out that review here if you missed it. 

I will say that Alaska First class is typically priced well below JetBlue and other competing carriers offering flat beds in Business. 

At the next gate over was a BA 777–which seems to be all BA send to JFK anymore. I will certainly miss seeing beautiful BA 747s at Terminal 7 and at my new home-airport SAN! The most upsetting of several cancelled pandemic-era bookings, was a flight on the upper deck of the BA Queen of the Skies from SAN originally booked for summer 2020. Of course, it never happened as the entire fleet was retired, and I now I'll never fly a BA 747 again ?

Moving on to a happier subject, in-flight entertainment…

There are no longer any in-seat screens across the Alaska fleet since they were removed from former Virgin America aircraft. Instead, streaming entertainment is available for free to passengers' personal devices.  

The IFE is available from gate-to-gate. 

There is a large choice of movies, tv series, documentaries, music, and children's programming. 

The interface is easy to navigate, but does not work well on some older android devices. The system had trouble launching most video on my 3 year old android tablet, but worked perfectly fine on my newer iPhone. American's streaming IFE works on all my devices, so I expected it would work on Alaska, but nope! 

the flight

The flight was mostly full in all cabins, but boarding wrapped up relatively quickly and the cabin was ready for an on-time departure. 

We ended up pushing back a few minutes late, however. The routing was updated to avoid storms, if I recall correctly.   

Between normal summer thunderstorms on the East Coast and Category 4 Hurricane Ida making landfall in Louisiana, there was a lot of  severe weather to work around that day!

We then had a typical JFK half-hour-ish taxi time before taking off. 

It was a cloudy and stormy day across much of the country so there wasn't much to see out of the window. Plus I'd given the window seat to my son–literally the only person in the world i'd give up a window seat for ?

In-flight service began shortly after takeoff, though was interrupted a few times for turbulence. 

I had originally asked for a sparkling wine, but was disappointed to learn they no longer carry any, so I went for a beer instead. 

We'd pre-ordered dinner online a few days before departure. 

Pre-order is available between 2 weeks and 20 hours before the flight.  

We each ordered one of the 3 options.

I had the Miso marinated cod. It was tasty and fresh, and an overflowing generous portion size, but a bit dry. It seems the farro pilaf absorbed most of the sesame-miso butter sauce. 

Alaskan cod marinated in white miso and rice wine.
Sesame-garlic farro pilaf, sautéed  yu choy, bell peppers, shiitake mushrooms
sesame-miso butter sauce 

Ravioli with Citrus Sauce

Fresh ravioli with grilled scallions, sautéed summer squashes, asparagus, crumbled cotija cheese
white wine citrus sauce 

As Alaska don't offer a child meal option in First class, I ordered the fruit & cheese plate for my son as it was the smallest of the options, but still way to much food for a 2-year-old. The actual fruit & cheese plate (excluding the salad, bread, and dessert) appears to be exactly the same that's available for purchase in Economy.

Beecher's Flagship cheese, Tillamook sharp cheddar and brie,
crackers, and Seattle Chocolate truffle 

My son slept for the rest of the flight, which allowed me to watch a movie and do some reading. 

Before we knew it, we were landing in San Diego as the sun dipped below the horizon. 

With the airport so close to downtown, there are always spectacular views of the city when sitting on the left side of the aircraft. 

With only one runway, taxi time is always short at SAN and we ended up arriving at the gate about 15 minutes early despite our late start in New York. 

Seeing this tells me I'm home ?

Thanks for reading!