How is Alaska Airlines’ 737-900 Premium Class

May 9, 2018

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Background:
Flight Details:
First Impressions:
The Verdict:
MY SEATTLE WEEKEND TRIP REPORT:

Background:

I booked an Alaska flight on my way to Seattle for the Freddie Awards! Two days before departure I chose my Alaska Premium Class seat for no charge because I’m a MVP member. Alaska’s system on Premium Class upgrades kind of confuses me, as they make you join a “waitlist” but I just logged in and moved my seats 2 days before departure to Premium Class as they were designated as “Free”. I’ve actually never flown on Alaska before, as my MVP status came from Virgin America so I was excited to try it out. For this Thursday morning flight, I was the 8th position on the waitlist for first class, and only 1 person cleared for a First Class upgrade.

After a quick stop at the Alaska Lounge @ LAX , I headed to the gate at 11:25 when boarding was supposed to start at 11:10 for a 11:50 departure. The gate was empty and when I went to board the agents said this was final boarding! Dang. All the flight monitors didn’t even say it was boarding, just “On Time”. There were only 2 people left to board after I did lol.

We headed to the runway on time, as we waited quite a bit at the gate even though the entire plane was pretty much boarded by 11:35 and the doors were shut.

Flight Details:

Alaska Airlines 465
Los Angeles (LAX)- Seattle (SEA)
Seat: 6A- Window- Premium Class
Aircraft: Boeing 737-900
Scheduled Departure: 11:50 AM
Actual Departure: On Time
Scheduled Arrival: 2:26 PM
Arrival to Gate: On Time

First Impressions:

The plane looked pretty old, and I noticed by looking out of the window that the plane was still with the old Alaska livery. Surprisingly, I found out that the plane (Reg: N457AS) is actually only 4 years old. It definitely needs a cabin refresh.

The Alaska Premium Class seats are basically the same seats as the Main Cabin, with a silver headrest instead of black headrest.The legroom was good, and Alaska advertises Premium Class to have 4 inches of extra legroom. I did feel that the seat was super thin however, and wasn’t the most comfortable on my back. The adjustable headrest was not bad though. It was comfortable enough for my little over 2 hour flight to Seattle.

No seat-back IFE, but you could stream to your device really easily! There were many movie selections with new releases and plenty of TV shows to watch. Also, we had USB chargers and plugs at each seat.

Service was good, and I was actually a bit surprised we got two drink services. One right after reaching cruising altitude, and another service a little less than an hour before landing. Alaska Premium Class has removed snack boxes on their flight (boo!) but there’s free booze if you want. So the only snack I got was a choice between Trail Mix and a Fig bar. The trail mix was fine but a bit too sweet.

The plane was equipped with Gogo WiFi, and it was $17.95 for the flight pass (a bit steep) or $5.95 for 30 minutes. My favorite part was that iMessage, Facebook Messenger and WhatsApp are free to use! I love texting my friends on flights.

The Verdict:

Overall, Alaska Premium Class is a solid way to fly on a short hop with more legroom. This was my first time flying Alaska, and I guess I had a bit of higher hopes. Nothing spectacular, but it got the job done!

Cheers,

theresorttraveler