This time our plane actually looked like an Alaska Airlines plane and not a Virgin American one. Despite this flight leaving at 9:30 at night, due to the time difference between San Francisco and New York, we would be arriving at around 6:00 the following morning.
Airline and Flight #
Alaska Airlines|AS1182
Aircraft
Airbus A321
Departing Airport and Terminal
San Francisco International Airport, San Francisco, California, USA| Terminal
Scheduled Departure Date and Time
Tuesday 9 October 2018 | 9:30 pm
Flying Time
5 hours 24 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 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 in Washington State, USA
- Texting has been adopted by Alaska as one way of delivering 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 twenty four 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 from. 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 had previously checked in at Las Vegas using the self-service kiosk where we were issued our boarding passes for this and our previous flight.
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 31 of 32. There were 33 rows on the other side of us. 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 although staff did come around with ear buds.
- 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
The good leg room combined with the well padded leather seats made for a comfortable flight. As this was still an ex Virgin America plane which had been painted on the outside, there were still a lot of leftover remnants from Virgin America. The attractive mood lighting in tones of reds and purples rather than blues and greens, added to the ambience. Apparently the red and purple tones suppress appetite whilst also managing to maintain a feeling of calmness. The windows on this plane had the shutter close from the top unlike the previous two ex Virgin American planes and had an attractive blue border around the outside.
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
There was power available at every seat with a 110v (60 hz) power socket as well as a phone charger below the screen.
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. On this flight the captain made an announcement that if you are with T-Mobile as we were, you get an hour of internet for free. Passengers have access to free mobile chat via iMessage, Facebook Messanger or WhatsApp.
Entertainment System
Each seat is fitted with individual touch screens with a remote nestled in the side of the 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. This time cabin crew came around with ear buds for any passengers wanting them.
- 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 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 start at $3.25 USD for a packet of sea salt chips whilst meals start 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-alcoholic drink are complimentary. We used the screens to order a bottle of water each but the crew said there were none so poured some water into a cup for us instead.
Restrooms
There were two restrooms at the rear of the plane, one in the middle and one at the front for first class. The ones at the back appeared fairly clean and tidy. Inside the restroom, the setup was basic containing the bare essentials. The sinks were a different shape to the previous two flights on Alaska but those were ex Virgin America planes.
Service
The staff on board were polite and friendly. It would have been nice to have been served a snack on board but only drinks were handed out.
Pros
- Leg room was good
- Individual screens offering inflight entertainment were located at every seat
- The aircraft appeared quite new and was nice and clean inside
- The leather seats were well padded and very comfortable
- The mood lighting was very attractive
- This plane was painted in the Alaska Airlines livery, unlike the previous two we had flown on and had a few extra features the others didn’t have such as power sockets, a phone charger and the attractive blue colour around the windows.
Cons
- No bottled water was available despite it being on the menu
- The windows were a bit small
- The choice of meals was limited and you had to pay for all meals and snacks
- No pillow or blanket
Conclusion
I loved the comfortable seats and ample leg room on this flight as well as the individual screens and attractive mood lighting. I also enjoyed the hour of free internet. What wasn’t so great was the poor selection of meals on board for purchase and that there was no bottled water.