As was the case with our last Alaska Airlines flight, the plane was one acquired from Virgin America and hadn’t yet been painted or decked out in the Alaska livery.  This route appeared a strange way to get to New York, travelling west for nearly two hours only to then fly east to New Jersey’s Newark airport.

Airline and Flight #

Alaska Airlines|AS1917

Aircraft 

Airbus A321

Departing Airport and Terminal

McCarran International Airport, Las Vegas, Nevada, USA| Terminal 3

Scheduled Departure Date and Time

Tuesday 9 October 2018 | 6:30 pm

Flying Time

1 hour 42 minutes

Luggage Allowance

Checked Luggage

Checked luggage is not included in the price of the ticket with Alaska Airlines.  The airline charges $25 USD each for the first two bags and $75 for any additional bags.  Bags must not weigh over 50 lbs (22.67 kg) and must have a maximum linear dimension of 62 inches (28.12 cm).  A $75 surcharge applies to each bag over the size or weight limit.  There are seasonal restrictions that apply in busy periods but also certain waivers allowing free checked luggage for certain passengers such as First Class passengers and active duty US military passengers.

Carry-on Luggage

• 1 piece of carry on luggage not exceeding  56x36x23 cm (22x14x9 in) including the handles and wheels. The three dimensions when added together must not exceed 45  (114.3 cm). The bag must be able to fit in the sizer at the airport.  These dimensions used to be a bit bigger but were changed recently to allow passengers to more easily fit their bag into the overhead compartments.
• 1 personal item which must fit under the seat in front of you.  This includes for example, a purse, briefcase or laptop.

Fun Facts

• Alaska Airlines acquired Virgin America in 2016 for $2.6 billion USD
• The airline has its headquarters in Seattle, Washington State, USA
• Texting has been adopted by Alaska as one way of receiving customer service
• In-flight messaging is allowed on Alaska Airways

Website

• You can book your flights and manage your trip via the Alaska Airlines website. I used a travel agent as I was flying predominately with Qantas but taking a look at the website, it appeared user friendly and contained enough information which was helpful without being too cluttered.

Check-in

Check-in can be done in one of four ways:

• Online – check in on line and printing boarding passes can be done within four and 24 hours prior to departure.  Enter your departure city and select one of the options such as your booking or itinerary number or credit card number to bring up your flight to commence the check-in procedure.  You can also pay for checked luggage or seat upgrades if necessary.
• Mobile – check in at alaskaair.com or by using one of the airline’s apps on your mobile device from between one and twenty four hours prior to your flight’s departure.
• Kiosk – check in can be done at any of the kiosks located at any of the airports the airline flies out of.  If you are flying without checked luggage, then you can use the kiosk to check in on the day of travel up to 40 minutes prior to departure.  Once your boarding pass has been printed you can proceed to the gate.  If you are checking in with luggage then you can pay for this up to four hours prior to departure. Once you have printed your boarding pass proceed to the baggage drop off.
• Counter – check in can be done at the counter if you have a paper ticket or you would like some extra assistance.  Checked baggage is only accepted within four hours of departure.

We checked in at the self service kiosk and our boarding passes contained our seats for both this flight and the connecting one to New Jersey.  I’ve never had two flights on the same boarding pass before.  The paper was very thin and we were also issued a receipt with the fare price which was interesting as we booked the whole trip as one and hadn’t been privy to how much this particular sector was worth.

Seating 

• The A321 is a narrow bodied jet with a 3-3 configuration in Main (Economy) and the Premium rows.  The aircraft has 185 seats divided into 8 first class seats, 18 premium class seats and 159 main cabin (Economy) seats. We were seated in row 15 of 33.  The black leather seats were well padded and comfortable.  There were adjustable arm rests but no footrests on this aircraft.  Leg room was good.
• There were no pillows, blankets or head sets on the seats.
• Seat pitch in Economy was 32 inches ( 81cm) whilst seat width was 17.7 inches (45cm).
• Trays weren’t folding but with sufficient leg room it didn’t matter.

Cabin Comfort

As this was an evening flight, the ambient lighting was in purple and blue tones which looked quite dramatic but felt calming at the same time.  The windows were a little on the small side but the cushioned seats were comfortable and the leg room was good also.

In-flight Entertainment

Electronic Devices

Personal electronic devices can be used throughout all parts of the flight, gate to gate.  Devices should be put into flight mode straight after the door closes and until landing.

Power

We couldn’t find any power outlets in our exit seat row.

Reading Material

In the seat pocket in front was a copy of Alaska Airlines’ magazine Beyond which included a copy of the menu as well as an attractive looking safety booklet titled Take Care.

WiFi

WiFi service is provided by GoGo and prices vary from $11 USD for half an hour to around $50 USD for an all day pass.  If you are with T-Mobile as we were, you get an hour of internet for free which I took advantage of.  All passengers have access to free mobile chat via iMessage, Facebook Messanger or WhatsApp.

Entertainment System

Each seat was fitted with individual touch screens with a remote nestled in the inside armrest of the seat.  The airline was still using Virgin America’s entertainment system RED which is built by Panasonic and powered by a Linux computer. It has a button just below the screen for viewing a 2D flight map.  The map is simple, displaying your current location, how far you have travelled and how far you have to go to reach your destination.  The other screen options are:

• Watch – this allows you a choice of over 500 free movies and TV shows, classic & Indi movies, documentaries and featured content.  Some movies such as recent releases you have to pay for.
• Talk – this allows you to talk seat to seat or as part of a chat room
• Learn – provided details on where Alaska Airlines flew to and their mileage plan
• Eat – there were four menus here which were Drinks (the good stuff and on the house), snacks, meals and order history.  This allowed you to order food and drinks, pay for it on your card and have them delivered to you.
• Shop – this option was not available
• Kids play – a selection of children’s movies and TV shows along with parental controls
• Quicknav – allows you to see all the options on one page

The live TV, games and music which Virgin America had running on their planes, has been removed to make it consistent with the rest of Alaska Airlines’ fleet.

Catering

Menus

The menu can be viewed via the screen from the Eat menu option and there is also a copy inside the airline magazine.  Snacks started at $3.25 USD for a packet of sea salt chips whilst meals started at a reasonable $6 USD for a selection of 5 different snack type foods.  There were four meals to choose from although I would categorise them more as snacks than meals.

Food/Drinks

Alaska Airlines charges for food and some drinks on board its airline but some non-alholic drinks are complimentary.  We used the screens to order a couple of Mr & Mrs T’s Bloody Mary mix.

Restrooms

There were two restrooms at the rear of the plane, one in the middle and one at the front for first class.  Myself and another passenger were waiting to use the restroom for about ten minutes when I decided to check with a member of the cabin crew who were doing the drinks round whether anyone was actually using them.  It ended up that they were empty but had just been locked.  So that was a bit annoying.  Inside the restroom, the setup was basic containing the bare essentials. The soap dispenser was built in to the sink which is a bit unusual.

Service

I found the service on this flight to be varied.  As we boarded the plane, the female crew member didn’t appear interested in looking at our boarding passes or guiding us to our seats.  The announcement that came over the PA sounded very unenthusiastic and was hard to understand due to the crew member’s poor diction and way she was speaking.  When our rubbish was collected, again there was no smile, eye contact or speaking.  Staff should have checked the toilets so they weren’t locked with no-one in them.  The cabin crew handing out drinks were more friendly and the pilot was chatty and informative, informing passengers of the ground airconditioning not working and later that we would be gaining altitude where it was calmer and there would be less turbulence.

Pros

• Leg room was good
• Individual screens offering inflight entertainment were located at every seat
• The aircraft was not very old and was nice and clean inside
• The leather seats were well padded and very comfortable
• The mood lighting was very attractive

Cons

• No complimentary snacks and a poor selection of meals
• The windows were a bit small
• The aircraft still looked like a Virgin America plane painted with the VA livery and VA interior.
• No ear buds or headphones were handed out to use the entertainment system

Conclusion

I loved the comfortable seats and ample leg room on this flight as well as the individual screens and mood lighting.  What I didn’t like as much was the  unprofessional attitude from some of the cabin crew and the poor selection of meals on board for purchase.