Liz P.
Yelp
I recently flew Alaska Air for the first time, from Detroit to Seattle, then Seattle to Bellingham, WA. Yesterday I flew them home from BLI to SEA, as well (and then took Delta from SEA to DTW).
First off, their customer service is top notch. I recently had received my TSA pre-check KTN (Known Traveler #), but this work trip had already been booked, and I tweeted at their team and they responded almost instantly, and were able to add my KTN to my trip. A few weeks later, I noticed that my seat assignment was no longer in the second-to-last row of the airplane, but rather in the very last row, and they were able to reseat me even though the app was showing no more open economy seats.
Some things you should know about flying Alaska, vs. like Delta or Southwest (the 2 airlines I usually fly):
1. Boarding is back to front of the plane (smart!). If you're on a small plane, like my BLI-SEA and SEA-BLI flights, they have two doors and will board from both doors; you also have to leave the terminal to get to the airplane, for the small flights.
2. Sometimes they have video screens, and sometimes they don't. For my SEA-BLI flight they did not, but you were able to watch movies/TV shows/etc. on your tablet or smartphone.
3. They are a *little* stingy with the snacks. For my DTW-SEA flight, they did come around 2 or 3 times with beverages, but the only snack I remember receiving was a tiny pack of the Biscoff cookies (same ones Delta has, but these are like 'snack size' it seemed, whereas Delta's are full-size).
4. DEFINITELY sign up for their Mileage Plus program - I got 5,000 bonus points after my first flight, it seems, and you only need 20,000 to get status, I believe (which includes 2 free checked bags and priority boarding every flight). If you fly them a lot, their credit card seems like a great deal too - you get a FREE companion ticket after only spending $1,000 (within the first 3 months) on it.
5. They seem to have more leg room (vs. SWA/Delta), but the seatbelts are smaller - I'm a curvy girl, and for the first time ever, I had to ask for a seat belt extender for my SEA-BLI flight, as the belt was very small (weirdly, on my BLI-SEA flight yesterday, I did not need one, though). For the larger flights, the belts are a little bigger, but not by much.
Overall, I'm a fan of the airline, so if I ever travel to the Seattle area again, I would book them, especially if they are cheaper than Delta.