Trip Report: Alaska Airlines, New Orleans to Bozeman via Seattle (September 2020)

Trip Report: Alaska Airlines, New Orleans to Bozeman
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Travelling has seriously changed in 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic.  Flight schedules have been drastically reduced or cancelled, many people are not traveling, and some airlines are blocking middle seats while others are not.  As a result of all this, for those comfortable flying there were some good deals that the airline was providing and I took advantage of one these deals to try out an airline I have been wanting to fly for a while.  My family and I decided to travel to Yellowstone National Park, as there are few people there and it was easy to social distance.  There are only a couple of airlines that fly to the Northwest and Alaska seems to have the best schedules and dominance in the area, also it had been more than 20+ years since I had flown with Alaska so was excited to try the airline again.  An added bonus was that Alaska became a member of oneworld alliance so I was able to earn oneworld points with the flight.  Booking the flight through the Alaska website was very easy, and it was easy to manage and add/upgrade extras either through the website or through the app.

For my trip, I was flying from New Orleans to Bozeman with a connection in Seattle (and it was the

same on the return).  Alaska operates three services - First, Main Cabin Extra, and Main Cabin (which also include basic/saver fares).  The first flight, from New Orleans to Seattle, was scheduled at over 4.5+ hours and given this length of time we decided to upgrade the outbound journey to Main Cabin Extra  The costs were a lot higher than expected for this upgrade, and it was indicated that the passenger would receive 'premium drinks and snacks, extra legroom, and priority boarding'; the Main Cabin Extra seats were right after first class so they were also quicker to exit as well.  Through the app we were able to preselect our seats and, as part of their safety policy, Alaska has blocked out middle seats.  Alaska allows free carry-on but charges for checked baggage and the standard allowance is 50lbs; my experience with other airlines is that if you had paid for an upgrade then they will grace you 2-3lbs but Alaska did not care and each time I checked in it had to be exact 50lb or less.  I checked in through the app, received my boarding pass, and went to the airport to check-in my bag and board the plane.  As I said, on the outbound from New Orleans to Bozeman via Seattle we were in Main Cabin Extra.  This included priority boarding so we were first to board after first class; Alaska did strictly follow safety protocols when it came to boarding and enforced group boarding to ensure distance and less people (which was a good thing).  

Alaska operates a Boeing 737-800 on this flight in a 3-3 seat configuration.  Because Alaska had blocked out middle seats, we each were assigned to an aisle or middle seat.  The Main Cabin extra seats were standard Alaska seats but had extra legroom; in fact the legroom was really nice and generous.  Other seat features included a seatback pocket uptop which contained a safety card plus instructions on how to connect to the wifi and underneath was a standard-size tray table.  Below that was a power outlet which was available at every seat and completing the seat layout was another small seatback pocket.  It was a standard and basic seat layout with the only distinction or interesting piece being the seatback power outlet at every seat.  There were no seatback screens as through the onboard wifi and through the AlaskaAir app you are able to stream movies and tv shows to your personal device, so having the seatback power outlet is a nice idea.  Because middle seats were kept empty, this meant there was more room in the overhead bins for passengers carryons so once everyone was boarded and everything settled we pushed back ontime for the 5hr and 3min flight to Seattle.

Due to COVID, there were restrictions in service onboard the flight.  As I said, this included blocking

the middle seat and no lines near the lavatories.  Alaska still provided a beverage service and for the 5hr3min flight there was only one service - this to within the first 30mins of the flight. the FAs were not customer friendly, they were wearing masks, passengers were given a biscotti cookie or crackers, and a choice of a drink - the drink were served in the tiniest of cans and only one was given (similar to European carriers).  I understand modifying restrictions but this 'service' (and I put it in quotes because frankly it was ridiculous) was not sufficient given the flight time and length.  Also, even though we were in Main Cabin Extra, there was no extra greeting or extra service items - it was the same as given in regular economy.  So, for the extremely high price paid for Main Cabin Extra all we got was extra legroom and priority boarding; to me it was definitely not worth the price because the cost for two legs of the Main Cabin was almost equivalent to the price of the roundtrip ticket.  After this service, the FA's went to their seats and were never seen again in the cabin until it was time to land.  I had heard about Alaska and supposedly the great service they provide but saw none of this on my 4 flights - each flight the FA's provided basic service, did not seem to care nor want to interact with any customers, and did not exhibit any sort of customer interaction, warmth or friendliness at all.  Basically passengers were left to their own devices to pass the time as they want - watch movies, tv shows, or eat the food that you had brought on board.  We finally landed in Seattle, taxied to the gate, deplaned and made our way to our next gate.  

We originally had about an hour layover but we landed early so that gave us more time in Seattle to relax and slowly proceed to our gate and wait for boarding to commence.  When we got to the gate, everything was proceeding as normal and only when it was time to board did the airline make the announcement that the flight had been cancelled.  The gate agent and representatives at the gate were not very helpful, and again did not provide any customer service warmth or friendliness; instead they directed everyone to go to the AlaskaAir customer service desks about 6 gates away.  All of us when there and finally got a decent airline representative who proceeded to provide us with a complimentary hotel, complimentary food vouchers for dinner that night and breakfast the next morning, and then rebooked us for the next mornings flight.  I would say that Alaska did a good job in providing good compensation and generally in a timely manner, and then got more service reps to come to the center to ensure passengers were not waiting long.  We proceeded to the hotel (Seattle Marriott - review here) and the next morning went back to the airport for the early flight to Bozeman.  

This flight was operated by Horizon Air for AlaskaAir and the operating aircraft was a Q400 with a 2-2

seat layout.  The Main Cabin Extra seats were in the beginning while the regular Main Cabin seats were in the back.  The flight time from Seattle to Bozeman was 1hr42min and again a basic service of drinks + snacks were provided and both Main Cabin and Main Cabin Extra received the same service.  And again, there was a lack of customer service, friendliness, or connectivity with passengers from the FA's - they both just did their basic job.  We landed in Bozeman, taxied, deplaned and retrieved our luggage.  

The experience on the return was similar to the outbound in terms of ensuring our checked baggage was exactly at 50lbs, the same type of aircraft equipment, the attitude of the FA's, and the one basic service despite the long flight time.  The only thing that was different was that we were in Main Cabin and not Main Cabin Extra - there was a decrease in legroom but the legroom in Main Cabin was decent and given the middle seat was empty, you did not feel the shortened legroom on this flight.  

Overall, I was extremely disappointed with Alaska Airlines.  I had heard many good things about the service and the overall experience and I got none of that.  Yes, the base price was competitive but the service in air was not good, the service on the ground was not good, and overall there was nothing compelling that would make me choose Alaska over anyone else; in fact, based on this experience I would not choose Alaska and choose someone else. 

Stay Report: Old Faithful Snow Lodge (Yellowstone - September 2020)

Stay Report: Old Faithful Snow Lodge 

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My family and I planned a trip to Yellowstone. We were flying into Bozeman on Alaskan (flight review here) and then were going to drive into Yellowstone.  We spent the first night outside of Yellowstone at The Adventure Inn in West Yellowstone (check out review here) and our first night in Yellowstone was spent at the Old Faithful Snow Lodge.  When planning the trip, I knew I wanted to stay near Old Faithful and use that as a base to view the surrounding area.  Due to the pandemic, many of the hotel and services were shut but in July the park released some rooms and I was able to book a night at the Old Faithful Snow Lodge.  The Lodge is operated by Xantera, as are most of the hotels within national parks, and they usually have high prices for basic/standard rooms.  My first experience with Xantera was in Grand Canyon and that room was updated and very nice, but after Old Faithful we went to Mammoth Hot Springs and that was average (review here).  

Even though check-in time is not until the late afternoon, we were able to check-in and receive our

room when we arrived early.  The customer service at the check-in desk was very nice - they had lots of maps, provided great explanations of the services that were available, timings, and overall provided great information about the parks; it was a good start to the stay.  We took our key and proceeded to the elevator to our room on the 2nd floor.  When you entered into the room, on the left was the bathroom which contained the sink and the shower - the shower had refillable shampoo/conditioner and bodywash and there were towels as well above the toilet.  Across from the bathroom, in the hallway, was an open sink with refillable soap and lotion (although the lotion had not been refilled) and another soap carved into a bear.  Further into the room, on the left were the two double beds with a nightstand in the middle.  On either side of the beds were also two narrow but tall closets (more like shelves with doors as there was not a lot of space).  The beds were somewhat comfortable, not extremely comfortable but not too bad either - it was fine for one night but not sure it would be comfortable for many nights.  Across from the bed was a desk with a chair, a fridge in the corner with an ice bucket on tip, and a garbage/compost/recycling stand.  The room felt like it had been designed with the basic amenities plus a bit more but that's about it; there was no AC in the room and no wifi in the room either.  For the hotels in the national parks, you pay for location but you pay a lot and what you get in return is only a basic room so the cost seems to outweigh the benefits.

Due to the pandemic, only a limited number of shops and restaurants were open.  There was a restaurant in the hotel that was open but it was to-go only, so you could order inside through one window, pick-up at another window, and then either eat outside or in your room.  For lunch we ate outside but for dinner we ate in the room.  The dinner menu was more extensive and the flavor was better, and the costs for the food was reasonable for the dinner portion.  As I said, complimentary wifi was not available in the rooms but was available in the lobby; at check-in you received a code that you can enter to access complimentary wifi.  The wifi was only available in certain pockets of the lobby, was extremely slow, and only worked for basic email and communication (there was also little to no cell service in any part of the park except for inside the hotel).

Overall, the service was great at the hotel but high price did not justify the basic standard of the room.  I understand that you are paying for the benefit of staying in the national park and for the convenience of being closer to the attractions, but the benefit should equal the costs and you are paying 5+star prices and are getting a 2-star room.  The environmentally friendly details are nice, with refillable water stations, refillable toiletries, composting, and recycling containers.