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Susan and I had a pleasant surprise on our Alaska Airlines flight to Maui over Thanksgiving. I have a daughter that attends school in Hawaii and our family usually travels to the islands a couple times a year to visit and spend time with her.
We frequently use the Alaska Airlines annual companion fare coupon on our trips to Hawaii. It is offered on the Alaska Airline’s Bank of America Visa credit card. I think this is one of the better credit cards perks available to travelers (period), and have posted about it earlier here.
Susan has MP status with Alaska Airlines and I have Delta Platinum status which allows us to sit in the “Alaska Preminum” seats, which include rows 6 through 10 on the Boeing 737-800 aircraft. For our trip we were seated in row 7A, B and C, and after boarding the aircraft we settled into our seats for the 5-hour flight to Maui. Alaska Airlines’ coach West Coast – Hawaii product is great, and I have reviewed the product on our trip last spring.
Love the at seat power throughout Alaska coach – especially on medium haul flights
As we prepared for our travel our seats seemed a little more roomier than normal. I attributed it to a generally open flight as the gate agent mentioned that there were over 40 open seats on our outgoing flight. 7D, E and F were completely open and I was actually able to get a picture of the cabin with no other passengers aboard – and that never happens.
Completely open cabin – you don’t get this picture very often
And then it occurred to me that Alaska Airlines is introducing a new product called Premium Class in the economy section of their Boeing 737 fleet. The product is similar to Delta C+, United Economy Plus, and American Airlines Main Cabin Extra in that the seating offers 35″ of seat pitch (Main Cabin is 31-32″ standard pitch). In addition to the extra legroom, Alaska will also include early boarding and free adult beverages and snacks as part of the Premium Class product.
Well, on our plane Alaska had already updated the seating to include Premium Class seats – and we had them on this flight. Since the flight was open our daughter was able to sit across the isle in 7F, and we all also enjoyed open middle seats. It was a real bonus on our 5 hour outgoing flight to Maui.
Premium Seating section of the cabin
Standard Alaska coach seat
Another angle
Side profile
35″ of seat pitch
I wrote this post offline during the flight (no GOGO WiFi over the pacific) and I can say Alaska’s Premium Class seats are very comfortable. The extra legroom is great and even with 3 persons across (earlier when we boarded) it is nice to have the extra room when storing and retrieving items under the seat in front of you. I think Alaska’s Premium Economy seats are better than Delta’s Comfort Plus and American Airlines Main Cabin Extra seats. The reason for the high praise to Alaska is that even when Delta and American have the same 35” seat pitch legroom, I find Alaska Airlines slimline coach seats some of some of the best available. I love magazine rack on the seat top that seconds as a IFE holder, integrated power, and (despite the thin profile) the seats have always been comfortable on our 5 hour flights from the West Coast to Hawaii.
In Summary:
Premium Class seats by Alaska are roomy and well equipped. I’m looking forward to trying out the entire product, including the service enhancements.
