Browsing Tag: alaska airlines

    Miscellany

    “Enhanced Cleaning” on Airplanes – Where Has This Been All Along?

    March 7, 2020

    Alaska Airlines published this video a few days ago talking about the “enhanced cleaning” that it’s doing on its planes in light of the coronavirus situation. You see chairs being sprayed and wiped clean, tray tables, armrests, air vents and attendant call buttons, bathroom doors and on and on and on.

    Am I the only one who watches that and wonders why it hasn’t always been this way??!!??

    Every flight on every airline should’ve been cleaned like this all along — and going forward, this is how it should always be.

    Miscellany

    What’s the emptiest flight you’ve ever been on?

    May 28, 2017

    I had to fly down to San Francisco for business earlier this month, and that meant a connection in Seattle on Alaska Airlines. It’s a route I fly at least once per year, sometimes more often. And it’s always a crowded/full flight, which you’d expect for two of the west coast’s biggest travel hubs.

    But in the days leading up to the flight, I was watching the seat assignment chart online and couldn’t believe what I was seeing:

    All of those blue seats are “available.” Crazy, right? I thought it might fill up a bit with standby passengers or last-minute flyers … but nope. It ended up being the emptiest flight I’ve ever been on — well under 50% of the seats were empty. Probably only 1/3rd full.

    Wanna see what it looks like in real life? I put this video on Instagram:

    So … what’s the emptiest flight you’ve ever been on?

    Miscellany

    Dear Alaska Airlines, I love you, but…

    November 23, 2016

    My wife and I recently flew Alaska Airlines (which I tend to love) and had an early-morning flight over to Seattle. Take a look at these three images and let me know if you see anything strange.

    Alaska.com website

    alaska-website

    Alaska’s iPad app

    alaska-ipad

    Alaska’s iPhone app

    alaska-iphone

    You probably noticed three different departure times — crazy, right?!?!

    We booked this trip a few months ago, and as often happens, the exact departure time changed a bit between then and when we actually left. What’s not normal is that the website and each mobile app were showing unique departure times. I had no idea which of the three was correct.

    About a week before the trip, I sent Alaska a direct message on Twitter to ask which time was correct. They’re always fast and helpful when you request help that way, and I quickly got a reply that the website always shows the correct time, and the apps don’t automatically update when flight details change.

    How crazy is that??!! This is 2016 and you can’t get your apps to show updated information??!!

    Turns out that the apps did update with the correct time when we checked in for our flights the day before, so all was not lost — we had accurate info while we traveled and used our phones. But I’m still blown away that the apps didn’t update at all in the days and weeks leading up to the flight.

    Dear Alaska, I love you, but you gotta do better than that.