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: Seattle Airport Marriott (Seattle, WA - September 2020)

 Stay Report: Seattle Airport Marriott
comment below and let me know your thoughts :)

I was flying from New Orleans to Bozeman via Seattle (see report here) and was only supposed to be transiting in Seattle, but unfortunately my flight from Seattle to Bozeman was cancelled.  I was flying with Alaska Air and I went their customer service desk where I got rebooked on the next flight, given meal vouchers, and given a hotel voucher for Seattle Airport Marriott.  The hotel provides a free shuttle from the airport to the hotel so we made our way to the shuttle area to catch the shuttle.  According to the hotel, the shuttle departs every 20 minutes from the hotel to the airport and makes rounds, so your wait depends on the number of passengers getting off and various stopping points in the airport.  While the free shuttle is nice, given the hotel's size and the number of passengers, the shuttle filled up really quickly with the passengers + luggage so the hotel should think about utilizing a bigger shuttle during certain times of the day.

The shuttle took about 10 minutes to get from the airport to the hotel.  We entered the hotel lobby which had three c

heck-in desks on the right-hand side, a sitting area in the middle, and the restaurant and bathrooms off to the middle and left hand side.  As there were a lot of guests checking in, and only two check-in desks open, there were lines at each of the stations and guests were supposed to socially distance while standing in line (although this was not monitored nor enforced by staff).  Once I got to the front, my check-in process was very quick as I was only going to be there for less than 12hrs.  Once I received my key, I was given instructions on how to get to the room and they seemed more complicated than necessary; apparently the hotel has two distinct and separate towers that are only connected through a second floor entryway.  The directions were somewhat clear from check-in to the room, but from the room back down to the lobby the directions were NOT clear and there were many guests roaming around trying to locate the lobby.  There were two elevators, and no other guests next to us, so it was easy to socially distance in the elevators.

It was a long walk down a hallway to get to our room and once we got there, space was a premium because it was a very tiny room.  You entered into a hallway which led into the bedroom area, and in the hallway on the left-side was a sliding door to the bathroom.  The sliding door was a nice touch but it did not slide all the way, nor stay in that position so the bathroom was never completely shut.  Inside the bathroom consisted of a sink, a toilet, and a shower as well as bathroom toiletries such as lotion, shampoo, conditioner, and towels.  The bathroom was width wise narrow but had more space lengthwise.  The hallway also contained a large entryway which could be used for those with disability assistance; we used it as storage for our luggage since the main room was compact.  Further down the hallway, on right-hand side, was an open closet with a rack and hangers, an iron and ironing board, and a luggage rack.  Continuing along with right-side of the wall, into the bedroom area, was a desk that was both a working space, a storage space, and also contained a coffee-maker on top.  That was connected to the entertainment section which contained a TV on top and a chest below with drawers and a fridge; the TV was a smart TV and there was a port panel on the side to connect various items to the TV.  

Across from all of this, along the left-side wall were the beds.  We had requested a room with two beds so there were two Queen beds with a nightstand in the middle.  The beds were comfortable enough to sleep and were large enough to comfortably sleep two people.  In between the two beds was a nightstand and in between the beds and the window was a long chaise which was nice in providing extra space, but was a bit cramped in terms of space for the room.  Space was generally at a premium and on top of that there was a lot of furniture, too much in my opinion, given the size of the room.  A plus point of the room was that there were plenty of outlets and USB ports throughout the room - next to the bed, on the desk, on the nightstand, and next to the TV so you could charge as many devices as needed.

As I said, we were only there for less than 12hours so I was not able to enjoy all the facilities of the hotel.  The hotel does have complimentary wifi, there was a restaurant/bar, ice machine, a fitness center, and a business center.  The airline had provided meal vouchers so I had picked up food from the airport, but the hotel's restaurant did have late hours to accommodate late arriving passengers.  

Overall, it was an interesting stay at the Seattle Airport Marriott.  The positives were the nice clean room, the many outlets throughout the room, the comfortable beds, and the spacious grounds.  The negatives were the tiny room, too much furniture so the room felt cramped, and the lack of signage around the spacious hotel.  While it would not be my first choice, it was a nice and decent layover hotel.