#54 out of 94 Airlines A minimum of 10 flight-reports within the past two years is required to appear in the rankings.
85 reviews
First Class - ultimate luxury and a great way to travel… except we're in the U.S. If you're not familiar with flying within the U.S., things are a bit different. 'First Class' refers to business class as far as domestic flights are concerned. On international routes, the term 'Business Class' would be used instead. What's more, flying First Class does not automatically grant you lounge access. Read the fine print below taken from Alaska Air's website:
'Lounge access is granted to passengers traveling on a paid First Class or a First Class award ticket on flights operated by Alaska Airlines where one flight has a distance of at least 2,100 miles on the day of the flight only, to all lounges in that day's itinerary, including connecting flights that are less than 2,100 miles. Lounge access is not included for family or other guests not traveling in First Class.'
Since our flight to San Francisco this morning was only 806 miles in distance, lounge access was not granted. That being said, if you hold elite status with Alaska Airlines or from another airline in the Oneworld alliance, you will be eligible for lounge access (Please do correct me if I'm wrong in the lounge access policy since things in the U.S. are pretty complicated to non-Americans like me).
Since Alaska Airlines does not fly directly from Vancouver to San Francisco, I had to fly through Seattle. Upon check-in, I was handed 2 boarding passes. Though on my return trip, I only received 1 boarding pass that can be used for both flights (as you can see below).
First class guests and elites can use the priority check-in counters but since there was only 1 staff handling this line, it would've been quicker if I had just used the kiosks.
While I'm not eligible to use an airline lounge, I have access to the Plaza Premium Lounge thanks to my credit card. The lounge is located near gate E87 in the transborder terminal (aka U.S. Terminal). This lounge has just been renovated so everything looks modern and new.
Food offerings in this lounge is also quite decent. It consists of:
- Scrambled eggs
- Sausage
- Hash browns
- Bacon
- Assorted pastries
- Mini cakes
- Iced tea
- Fruit juice
- Coffee & Tea
A very spacious lounge with various types of seatings offered
The bathroom also features a shower
The boarding process began with with pre-boarding, meaning that those with special needs, travelling with small kids and active military personnels may board first. After pre-boarding, those who are seated in First Class and hold 100K status with Alaska Airlines (the airline's highest published status) may then board.
It's always excited to board an airline you haven't flown with before
Flying us down south today is an E175 with registration N400SY, which is essentially a SkyWest aircraft that flies for Alaska Airlines. Apart from Alaska Airlines, SkyWest also flies for the other 3 major U.S. airlines - American Airlines, Delta and United Airlines.
The first class cabin is laid out in a 1-2 configuration. This means that solo travellers can avoid having a seat neighbour.
Upon boarding, a box of water was placed on the armrest of each seat.
Since the flight down to Seattle was merely 45 minutes, there was no inflight service and nothing notable can be mentioned. The flight went by pretty quickly and we soon touched down in Seattle. We disembarked at the E gates, which is where most Alaska Airlines' flights operate in and out of Seattle.
We arrived in this beautiful morning sun
My layover at Seattle was about 2 hours. There isn't much to do at this airport but there are shops and restaurants for you to kill some time. If you enjoy exploring airport terminals, you can do so on foot within the main terminal (A, B, C, D and E gates) or take the driverless train to the satellite terminals (S and N gates). If you prefer to rest somewhere quiet, gates A10 - 14 tend to be less busy.
Image obtained from: https://www.portseattle.org/page/printable-airport-directories
The second and last flight of this journey took us back to the same aircraft that I flew in from Vancouver. The same crew were also onboard where she warmly welcomed me back into the same seat - 2A.
Similarly, a boxed water was placed on my seat and we departed earlier than scheduled.
Once airborne, the seatbelt sign was switched off and the inflight WiFi also became available. The WiFi is free to use to access the entertainment system with your own device. If you need internet access, you can purchase an addon for just $8 USD. But hey, let's disconnect from the world for just a while.
A tablet will always come in handy on flights without IFE screens fitted
The movie options don't really fit my likings and so I only went with some short documentaries to past the time.
As I pre-ordered my meal before my flight, I was confirmed my meal option by the crew where it was then being promptly brought out.
The meal I ordered was a protein plate, which consists of a boiled egg, grapes, cheese, apples slices, pita bread and a salmon dip. The meal tasted fine but the portion was a bit small.
There was not anything notable about the service on this flight but on my return journey, there was 1 crew who was really enthusiastic and proactively offered us refill of drinks and snacks. She also made good use of her humour to fill the cabin with joy.
Finally, we arrived slightly behind schedule despite departing earlier due to an going maintenance at San Francisco airport, and an aircraft failing to clear our gate upon our arrival.
Welcome to SFO, home to United Airlines!
I bought these tickets while they were relevatively cheap, just around $800 CAD for a return trip. It was well worth the money given the added comfort. It was also nice to experience the great service that travellers were praising on Alaska Airlines, especially on the return journey.
Les contributeurs de Flight-Report ont posté 8 avis concernant 4 compagnies sur la ligne Vancouver (YVR) → San Francisco (SFO).
La compagnie qui obtient la meilleure moyenne est Air Canada avec 7.5/10.
La durée moyenne des vols est de 2 heures et 6 minutes.
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1 Comments
Normally only non-North American based Elites have access on short flights and domestic flights in general so AS and AA elites have to pay for a day pass if they don’t have an annual club membership. AA allows elites access on transborder flights between the US and Canada and Mexico, but I’m not sure about Alaska. It’s gotten so complicated I can hardly keep up and I fly AA and AS all the time.
I do love flying AS because of the great service, as you mentioned. It’s definitely better than AA and living in the West Coast I try to fly AS over AS as much as possible. Plus I get free WiFi on Alaska flights with my T-mobile plan, which is also a factor for me.
Paid First class has become ridiculously expensive since the pandemic. In 2019 I was regularly paying $900 for transcontinental domestic First (not the premium transcons with lie flat seats). Not it’s more than that in Economy most of the time and First is usually around $2000 rt. So $800 for a short flight is expensive, but unfortunately not in the context of these crazy post-pandemic prices.
Thanks for sharing!
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