Review: Alaska Airlines North Satellite Lounge Seattle, with hot pancakes, free Mimosas and mighty views!

The Flight Detective
a woman sitting at a counter in a restaurant

Having done my research before travelling, I knew the best Alaska Airlines lounge in Seattle was the North Satellite lounge. Opened in July 2019, it is the flagship lounge for the airline at its home base.

Even though our flight departed from one of the other concourses, it was quite simple to get there. Seattle Tacoma International Airport has a handy train that whisks you conveniently from place to place airside. Very nice indeed!

Who Gets Lounge Access At Alaska Airlines?

Alaska Airlines operate eight lounges in six cities and unlike most US carriers, paid first class passengers get lounge access included in their ticket. You can also be a member of their lounge programme and pay a yearly fee, or even purchase a Day Pass for US$50.

Mileage Plan members who are Sapphire and Emerald along with their American Airlines AAdvantage counterparts gain access on international itineraries (excluding Canada) only. Sapphire and Emerald members of any other oneworld frequent flyer programme are granted access as per the usual alliance rules.

Welcome To The North Satellite Lounge!

Walking up to the lounge, you’re greeted by the sign exhorting you to “Be Our Guest”, which is quite nice. It could come across as meaningless, but I’ve found this airline really walks the talk.

A friendly agent checked our boarding passes and we were in. Even though it was after the early morning rush, the facility was still quite busy. My friend and I found seats, then headed off to the bar.

You Mentioned Free Mimosa’s?

At the bar, the first thing I spotted was a sign that headed, “Cocktail of the Month” and under that, “Pineapple Whipped Mimosas”. Well colour me curious, my decision was made and an order was placed. The bar, incidentally, is pictured at the top of this article.

The chalkboard over the bar offered many beers, such as Mac & Jac’s African Amber, Georgetown – Bodhizafa, Fremont Baxter, Diamond Knot, Ruben’s Pilsner, Incline – Marionberry Cider, Truly – Mixed Berry. In cans, they had Coors Light and Alaskan Amber.

Anyway, back to the Mimosa. This comprises of pineapple juice, sparkling wine, coconut milk and “whipped topping”, which is squirty cream out of a can. How did it taste? So good we had seconds!

Around the bar is plenty of seating looking out over the airport. Naturally they were all taken, but keeping a keen eye on other passengers meant we soon snagged a window seat.

What About The Food?

We arrived in that dead zone after 9am, where it’s no longer breakfast time, but not anywhere near lunch time. It meant the breakfast items were still available and somewhat depleted.

The oatmeal was quite delicious, though I had to have it with “Breakfast Syrup” rather than honey as there wasn’t any. Still, it was quite tasty and a good beginning for me.

I Came Here For The Hot Pancakes!

In the Alaska Airlines North Satellite lounge (and I daresay in the others too) is a blue and white machine in the food area that produces pancakes. Charmingly, it has a “Prepare for Bake-Off” sign, with an airport design and a little plane pointing to the button that starts the action.

Within a minute or so, you have two piping hot pancakes on your plate. Beside the machine, I naturally found the honey I could have used earlier, plus all the other bits and pieces you may want to throw all over your pancakes with glee! These went down very well, bookended as they were with Mimosas.

Toilet Time Before Leaving

Sadly, as I was enjoying the whole vibe – not to mention the airport action out the window – it was time to leave. Popping in to the Men’s bathroom was necessary and of course I captured it for posterity.

Everything was clean and equally importantly fresh smelling, so that was nice. Once done, I headed out to take the handy train over to my gate for my flight to Denver.

Overall Thoughts

The Alaska Airlines North Satellite lounge in Seattle is really quite special. It has a lovely design aesthetic and the wrap around windows overlooking the tarmac really ensure you know where you are. All the staff I encountered were friendly and they did get around to clearing tables swiftly enough, in spite of how busy it was.

I initially thought the food offering to be a little meagre, but that is because there seemed to be so much wasted space where the yoghurts and boiled eggs were. They all looked quite lonely. In actual fact, I ate my fill what with the two pancakes and oatmeal. My guess is there a more extensive offering for the rest of the day.

Drinks wise, I love the idea of a Cocktail of the Month and the fact I was treated like an adult when I ordered two drinks at once. “These aren’t both for you, are they?” I was asked, and I replied that no, one was for my friend. I do know some airline lounges will not let you order multiple drinks to bring to others in your party – ever – so this was nice.

I’m flying through Seattle again soon and I’m going to be hard pressed to use the British Airways lounge that I should be using. I feel another visit here coming on!

What do you think of the Alaska Airlines North Satellite lounge in Seattle? How does it compare to the other lounges operated by the airline? Thank you for reading and if you have any comments or questions, please leave them below.

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Lindad

It’s a lovely lounge. It’s too bad that on our visit, one of the attendants in the lounge was way less than pleasant. I do hope she’s either changed her attitude or been transferred to some spot where she doesn’t meet other people.

Lobster

Sorry for commenting on an old post (you probably won’t see this) but I’m flying in seattle in about a week and will be taking a qatar flight to doha from there. Do you know if I will get access to this lounge because it’s a oneworld partner airline? Thanks so much!

Lobster

Thank you so much! I love your posts btw, especially the history ones

Missy K.

Lovely review!! We will definitely have to visit this lounge on our next layover! Thanks for being so detailed!

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