Alaska Airlines 465
Los Angeles (LAX) – Seattle (SEA)
Boeing 737-400
30 May 2016
Alaska’s B734s are as comfortable as they sound – not very. I actually think that Economy is more comfortable than the horrible seats they have in First Class. Hopefully they will remove some of these older aircraft from service or at least upgrade the seats soon.
My Aeromexico flight from Mexico City was a bit delayed but, I was able clear immigration in all of about ten minutes (the most time consuming part was walking). There were no queues for Global Entry, but there were huge queues for the regular officers since a ton of international flights just landed. After exiting the terminal, I decided to walk to Terminal 6, where Alaska flights depart.
I spent about an hour in the Alaska Airlines Board Room, mainly enjoying a few snacks (including the pancakes from the pancake machine.. which is now not restricted to the morning only). I headed to the gate about five minutes before scheduled boarding time to find that half of the plane was already boarded (as is the norm with Alaska).
Alaska Airlines at LAX
The flight to Seattle was operated using a B734, with very uncomfortable seats in First Class and virtually no legroom. A bottle of water was waiting at my seat.
Water
Alaska Airlines First Class B737 (-400) Legroom
We departed right as scheduled and after a few bumps, we reached cruising altitude at which point the seatbelt sign was turned off. The views were absolutely gorgeous throughout the flight, and especially as we approached the Pacific Northwest.
View
The lunch consisted of a simple chicken salad, bread, and a cookie. I also asked for some tea to go along with my meal. The salad was nothing special, though edible.
Tea
Lunch
Seattle Area
We eventually began to get closer to Seattle, at which point the seatbelt sign was turned on and we began to descend. We landed in Seattle about fifteen minutes ahead of schedule and arrived at the gate shortly thereafter. I spent the majority of the flight looking out into the beautiful Pacific Northwest. The flight attendants didn’t interact much with the passengers, though were nice when they did.
I made it home about twenty minutes after finding my car at the airport and with that, another trip was over.. many more coming up!
Thanks for your review. I fly this route quite often and although the AS equipment is aged and tattered, I enjoy the vibe of the crew and I find the flights very pleasant. Coming into LAX sometimes the taxi time causes issues with connections, but AS usually hits me with 3k miles and hotel/meals for my inconvenience. Hope to read more of your stuff soon. Cheers
Thanks for your comment!
Alaska’s 737-400s are on their way out, replaced by 737-900ERs by 2017.
Even sadder: the Combi version is also being retired, with no direct replacement.