Update Review, December 2025 Flight
I know this by now, but, it does still always slightly surprise me. The Alaska first class experience really is ... nothing like any of the competition. And I don't mean that in a good way. It just is lackluster on nearly every dimension - seat comfort (horrible!), layout (2-2), amenities (super thin blanket, nothing else), wine selection (just one red, one white, one sparkling), attentiveness and service ... communication ... but, it is sooo much cheaper than everyone else, and thus, I'm stuck with it.
Our flight did disconnect from the jet bridge on time, so technically pushback on time, but we spent quite a while waiting around, and eventually joined the queue of planes in line for takeoff. No proactive communication nor information provided, unlike other airlines that well tell you "Well, we've pushed back, but we are waiting on X" or even "We are number Y for takeoff". Just, nothing.
In fact there was just no communication from the flight deck at all. The seatbelt sign was literally never turned off the entire flight, and no mention of this was made. We hit some fairly significant turbulence, and no warning given.
The FAs served us our meal, cleaned it up, and vanished. So, service-wise, eh. Comfort? Miserable, my back hurt within 15 minutes. But they got me, and my bags, there, relatively on time, and it was cheap (comparatively).
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| Menu. |
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| "Red Wine" & Seltzer. |
Drink orders were taken once underway, and our pre-orders for meal confirmed. I asked for the red wine; the FA didn't know what varietal it was. I also had sparkling water, just standard Polar brand. The red wine was inoffensive, but also quite boring. As is standard with Alaska. No nuts were provided, which I had forgotten they don't do. Not that I necessarily wanted them, but it did feel like yet another bit of lesser service, a missing element.
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| Meal. |
Our meals were served about an hour after takeoff, row by row. On the tray was my main dish I expected, plus a small side salad, roll, and ... wow, and appetizer too? I wasn't expecting that. The menu online and in the app didn't give any details on these other elements, so the salad toppings and existence of an appetizer were a surprise to me. Also included were salt & pepper, Sysco butter, and balsamic vinaigrette. I didn't particularly like the meal, but much of that was my own preferences, not a fault of the catering.
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| Carrots. |
The appetizer was chilled cooked and spiced carrots, sprinkled with I think feta, and sliced almonds. I guess they were fine, but I mostly only like raw carrots, I dislike feta, and wasn't into the spicing. If this was listed on the menu, I would have asked to skip it. I used the almonds and the springs of whatever the green were on my own creation of a dish using bits and pieces from all of the others. I can't really judge this, as it just isn't something I like, but I don't think there was anything wrong with it.
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| Roll. |
The roll was warm, soft, and loaded with seeds. It was decent. It didn't taste stale nor dried out. Good to soak up sauce. 3/5.
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| Salad. |
The salad was pretty small, and not exciting to me: arugula (fresh enough, crisp), with sunflower seeds and tons of dried cranberries. I picked off the toppings the best I could as I didn't want them, and added my own salad ingredients and some components from the other dishes to at least utilize the arugula. I don't like balsamic vinaigrette so I didn't try that, but I had my own condiments bag with me. 2.5/5, there was nothing wrong with this, just not toppings/dressing I care for.
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| Smoked Chicken Ravioli. |
"Smoked chicken ravioli in a caramelized onion cream, paired with roasted kabocha squash and garlic shallots, finished with aromatic dukkah spices."
And finally, the main dish, the ravioli.
This was a mixed bag for me, as expected. I got this because 1) I love kabocha squash, 2) I loved the idea of garlic shallots, 3) caramelized onion cream sounded great, and 4) I have had some great pasta on Alaska flights before. I choose to look past the fast that, well, I hate chicken, and didn't really want dukkah spice.
The highlight? 100% that squash. It was super flavorful, well cooked (not mushy), and there were two good size pieces of it. I was very happy with that squash. 4.5/5 squash. The garlic shallots really seemed to just be soft cooked shallots (I didn't detect garlic) but they were pretty delightful too. 4/5.
Then there was the sauce ... I wanted to love it, but the first few bites, I was really displeased with it. I'm not quite sure why, but I just wasn't into it. It was a orangey color that made my brain think squash, and it was a mushy puree like baby food, so nothing like what I was picturing as a caramelized onion cream. I wanted it to be less puree-like, more cream forward, and, well, just something different. But once I adjusted to it, I did appreciate the sorta oniony taste to it. I used it as a sauce on my salad and stuffed pieces of bread with it, and did lap it all up. 3/5 sauce.
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| Ravioli: Inside. |
And then of course the ravioli. 4 very large size pieces, much larger than standard ravioli. They were kinda over cooked, pretty soft. However edges where there was no sauce were a bit dried out in a way that was almost like al dente, so I amusingly liked those bits more than the parts that were what I assume was "properly" cooked. The ravioli was stuffed very full of a ricotta? mixture, that had bits of chicken in it. No big hunks of chicken or anything. Kinda standard ricotta filling. I'm pretty lukewarm on ricotta soft ravioli to begin with, so this was all pretty "meh" to me, but other than being kinda too soft/mushy, it was likely fine. Low 2/5 for me, but, again partially due to preferences.
So overall, I'll give this a low 3/5: I was happy to use the sauce, veggies, and edges of the ravioli with my bread, almonds, arugula, and my own additional vegetables, but I can't say it was something I'd get again.
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| Dessert: Salt & Straw ice cream. |
A while after our meals were cleared, ice cream was offered. A seasonal Salt & Straw Alaska exclusive as always, this time, Peppermint Cookies & Cream. I believe this was rotated in on Dec 1, after the Pumpkin Spice Latte I had in September that stuck around all fall. It was served at a decent eating temperature, not rock solid. No bowl provided, just the mini tub.
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| Salt & Straw Peppermint Cookies & Cream. |
It was ... ok. Mine wasn't properly sealed, and it was a bit freezer burnt. I wanted more peppermint flavor. I feel like a broken record here, but, I don't really like cookies & cream in general (really, I don't care for Oreos), so I wished it was something more like mint chip, but I think this is likely a crowd pleaser. Low 3/5.
About an hour or so before landing a snack basket was passed with Lesser Evil cheddar popcorn, Community All Dressed chips, Kind granola bar (blueberry I think?), and lemon Skinny Dipped almonds. I grabbed the popcorn and almonds, as always.
Update Review, August 2024 Flight
I don't fly with Alaska Airlines much (in fact, I hadn't flown with them at all until 2 years ago), so I am not yet well calibrated to the service and food standards. Overall, it seems to me like a good compromise airline: the prices are generally lower, the food is decent, the service and amenities minimal, the comfort mediocre. So, depending on your priorities, a compromise on something at least.
Flight Details:
- Flight #: 20
- Departure: 1:25pm (scheduled) 3:12pm (actual)
- Arrival: 9:25pm (scheduled)
- Route: SFO to JFK
- Seat 3C
Service & Amenities
There is not much to say about Alaska amenities as there isn't much to them.
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| Seatback. |
A pre-departure beverage of water, orange juice, or a can of sparkling wine was offered. I selected the sparkling wine, and was handed the can. Before takeoff, orders for drinks to have post departure were taken, and our pre-orders confirmed. Those who didn't pre-order really did not fare well. The first person got the chicken (only 1 loaded), the next two had a choice of salmon or pasta, the 4th person had only salmon option, and the rest ... sorry there is nothing. No main dishes left. This seems like a mis-cater? They were offered a snack box from the back. Wow.
Service was not particularly friendly, and remarkably not proactive. Empty drink glasses were never collected. Refills never offered. I saw every passenger need to lightly aggressively get attention to take their empty glasses away. I was particularly amazed when I asked for two more drinks (water and wine), and was handed them, and the two empties I had on my tiny cocktail table were not taken as they were delivered. He just gave me two more, even with no where to put them.
Food & Drink
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| PDB: Waterbrook Brut Bubbles. |
I'd get it again.
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| Wine & Sparkling Water. |
Once underway, I started with red wine. No choice of reds, and no explanation given of what varietal, let alone winemaker. Served in what I think of as a water glass, tall and thin. Not really what you want for red wine. Anyway, it was fine, average, table wine though, very fruit forward, no real structure to it. At least low acid and tanin. Bo-ring. Low ***.
I also asked for sparkling water. I was not given the option to decline ice. It came with more ice than water, and I needed a refill nearly immediately.
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| Tip Top Old Fashioned. |
Later on I moved on to an old fashioned, as I've enjoyed them before on Alaska flights (they are the canned Tip Top brand). It was served with more ice than cocktail, and got watered down far too fast. But otherwise was great, very boozy, very classic old fashioned. ***+.
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| Nuts. |
Awhile after, not with our beverages, nuts were brought. Lightly warm. Good mix of almonds, cashews, and pecans. Very low (if any?) salt level. ***.
Finished beverages were not proactively cleared when the nuts were brought (a theme throughout the meal).
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| Menu. |
As I don't like cooked salmon, chicken, or quinoa/rice, my decision was easy. Pasta it was, and the dish did sound pretty interesting, better than the standard ravioli choices so many airlines tend to do for pasta. Shells, creamy cheese sauce, now we are talking!
All dishes are served with salad, bread, and dessert, although not listed on the menu. Tray tables were not pre-set with table clothes prior to meals being delivered.
All dishes are served with salad, bread, and dessert, although not listed on the menu. Tray tables were not pre-set with table clothes prior to meals being delivered.
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| Tray. |
My meal tray arrived unceremoniously and was served without a word, e.g. no "here we have the pasta" or anything. My drinks were empty, but no refills were offered. The tray included a salad, bread with pat of butter, and salt/pepper packet, along with napkin and cutlery.
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| Roll. |
The roll was warm, and not bad actually. Simply white roll, but soft, good chew to it, and most importantly, not stale. Better than average airline bread. It was perfect for soaking up the chili crisp from the pasta, and the pesto from the salad. ***+.
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| Appetizer: Salad. |
The salad was meager in the greens department, just some very sad compressed spinach that really didn't seem fresh. The body of the salad was 3 balls of mozzarella, 4 juicy sundried tomatoes, and pesto. The sundried tomatoes and pesto were both really quite flavorful, and I enjoyed them with the bread.
* greens, ** as a salad, but *** for those two components.
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| Pasta Primavera with Italian Sausage. |
"Pasta shells tossed in a creamy white cheddar cream sauce, served with summer squash, sun-dried tomatoes, edamame beans, and savory Italian sausage. Topped lightly with a chili crisp."
The main attraction, the pasta.
Well ... this was a very mixed bag. As you can likely see, the "creamy white cheddar cream sauce" was ... not there. At all. It wasn't on the bottom of the dish. It wasn't anywhere. I was looking forward to that creamy cheese sauce, but alas, I had plain pasta. That said, the shells were well cooked, not mushy, not totally dried out. The chili crisp oil was flavorful, and added something to it at least. The edamame were tender and tasted fresh if that makes sense, the sausage was actually very good, classic Italian sausage. The tomatoes in here were different from the sundried tomato in the salad, they seemed just like roasted tomatoes, although the menu said they were sundried. Juicy. The squash I didn't care for at all, patty pans, that were just strangely bitter.
So, meh to the squash, yay to the sausage and chili crisp in particular, and better than average pasta, but a shame I didn't actually have any cheese sauce ... *** overall despite the lacking sauce.
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| Dessert: Salt & Straw Strawberry Rhubarb with Cinnamon Crumble. |
We all finished our meals. All trays were cleared. No refills were offered. No empty drink cups collected. I thought ... dessert must be coming next right? I waited and waited. No sign of dessert. An hour passed. I finally asked if there was a dessert. I was told there should have been. The FA who I asked seemed as confused as me that it hadn't happened. About 10 minutes later, it came out. Served directly in the tiny tubs, with a far too big spoon to go with it.
It was Salt & Straw ice cream, as per usual with Alaska. For the summer, they introduced two new flavors on flights, and I was quite happy to see that we had the strawberry rhubarb with cinnamon crumble flavor. I don't think this is sold directly by Salt & Straw to consumers, I think it is a special collaboration with Alaska. The ice cream featured swirls of strawberry rhubarb jam and cinnamon snickerdoodle cookie pieces.
It was served quite hard, but it did melt nicely eventually. It was fabulous ice cream, smooth, rich, creamy, and the fruity swirls of jam were quite flavorful. I liked the texture from the softened snickerdoodle bits. It was a flavor I could enjoy on its own without adding too much to it (although, of course, I did add some fresh strawberries too).
****.
Original Review, August 2023 Flight
Flight Details
Flight: AS 20
Aircraft: 737-9 Max
Departure: SFO, 2:25pm
Arrival: JFK, 10:25 pm
Seat: 3D
Service
This was my second ever flight with Alaska Airlines, and my first longer flight (previously I had only flown SFO-SEA, which you can read about here). We were slightly delayed boarding because the plane was deemed too hot to be safe (!), and then slightly delayed pushing back because bags were still being loaded, but, the delays were minor, we took off only 15 minutes late. We had significant tailwinds helping us still arrive early.
No PDB, although there was boxed water at our seats. No amenity kits, no pillow, but a thin blanket was waiting at our seat. It was really quite cold on board, and the little blanket didn't do much to help. The flight attendant was efficient, but barely spoke to us. She wasn't unfriendly, she just ... didn't really talk to us. No hello, meal trays dropped off without a word, no offers of refills, that sort of thing.
Food & Drink
The main meal served is ... linner. The timing of the meal on this flight is definitely awkward, 3:40pm in SF time, 6:40pm in New York time. Too late for lunch where we came from, too early for dinner, but, at what will be dinner time where we are headed. When there was exactly 2 hours remaining, a snack basket was passed with Border Canyon chips, Lesser Evil popcorn, Kind bars, beef jerky, and Karma toasted coconut cashews. I was pretty happy to see the popcorn, as it is definitely my snack of choice, and the flavored nuts definitely called out. I've had many of Lesser Evil's popcorns before, but had never tried their basic Himalayan Gold, which is what the snack basket contained. Drink refills were also offered.
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| Drink Menu. |
Orders for our drinks were taken once underway. There was only one choice for red wine, even though the menu listed two.
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| Seltzer, Nuts. |
Our drinks were served with a small thing of nuts (almonds, cashews, tiny bits of pecans). Not warm. The sparkling water was Polar seltzer. I was given a (mini) can and ice, it wasn't poured for me. No offer of lemon nor lime garnish.
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| Ste Chapelle Winery Red Blend. |
I went for the red wine, which turned out to be Ste Chapelle Winery Red Blend. This is a cheap $12 bottle, definitely not as premium of wine offerings as the competitors on this route.
It was non-offensive. No complexity at all, but, not too much tanin nor acid, so it was fine. ***.
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| Straightaway Oregon Old Fashioned. |
"The Old Fashioned is revered for its versatility and simplicity. This variation on the classic speaks to wistful days spent in Milton-Freewater, OR, and we’ve transposed our fondness for the Pacific Northwest bouquet into our own bitters. Whether consumed around a mountain-top campfire or from the safety of your drawing room, tradition has it that one’s first Old Fashioned should be served by a friend."
Later on, I moved on to the Old Fashioned, which I'd had before. I was handed a can, and glass of ice. Not poured for me, no garnish. I still thought it was a nice cocktail though, same as my previous review. ***+.
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| Menu. |
For those who didn't pre-order, they could select from the 3 onboard choices. Well, technically they could. The steak ran out in row 1, seat A. Um, yeah. They loaded 1 for the entire non-preorder cabin! The chicken ran out in row 3. I was surprised how few people had pre-ordered, perhaps lots of upgrades?
Meal service was pretty quick, with the first row getting served at exactly the 1 hour post-takeoff mark, mine arrived within 10 more minutes.
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| Linner. |
Meals come all one one tray, with a roll, salad, the entree you ordered, along with butter, and packet of salt and pepper.
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| Bread, Butter, Dressing. |
Salad dressing was fairly solid, seemed to be lemon vinaigrette. Butter also very solid, impossible to spread.
**.
The menu didn't provide any details on the salad, and everyone got the same. It was just mixed greens, with a few bites of cooked beets, a few pickled red onions, and goat cheese. Given that I loathe goat cheese, and don't really care for beets, this was a miss for me, but, I suspect if you liked those things, and liked the lemon vinaigrette, this was a decent salad. The greens were fresh and crisp. **+.
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| Salad. |
It was also served in a bowl that was kinda too small, it was hard to eat without bits falling out.
"Our reimagination of the classic. We spike our cream with just enough Guatemalan fleur de sel to bring out its nuances, then drizzle in ribbons of our hand-burned caramel."
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| Lemon Fennel Manicotti. |
"Lemon ricotta stuffed pasta | grilled baby fennel | tomato basil ragout."
The main dish was served moderately warm. I certainly wanted it hotter. The portion was three large manicotti, plus a decent amount of fennel and the chunky tomato ragout.
The pasta was microwave dinner quality. The pasta itself was not dried out or overcooked at least, but was as boring as it gets. The filling was, well, ricotta. Some minor lemon flavor. Very, very boring, and essentially cafeteria/frozen dinner quality. I gave up on it after eating one of the three tubes. *+ pasta.
I did like the fennel, it was well cooked and flavorful, and the chunks of tomato and onion in the ragout were tasty as well. *** toppings.
I combined the salad + fennel + tomatoes + onions to make a quasi-ok dish, but I certainly wouldn't get this again. I wish I had gone for the chicken, just for the grits, asparagus, and tasty sauce.
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| Salt & Straw Sea Salt with Caramel Ribbons. |
After our trays were cleared, the flight attendant came through offering ice cream. Just as I was shocked by how many people didn't pre-order, I was even more shocked by how many turned down the ice cream. Yes, timing was odd, but ... Salt & Straw is good ice cream! The flavor was Salt & Straw's most famous, sea salt with caramel ribbons, which I've had before, and loved.
It was served quite solid, so it took a while to become possible to eat it. But once it softened, I dug right in. It matched my memory of the flavor - nice quality base ice cream, and TONS of very gooey, very sweet, caramel. I added my own fresh strawberries and sprinkles, and quite enjoyed. And then I enjoyed an extra, which I volunteered to take off the flight attendants hands (so generous of me, right?). She happily obliged, given how many extra there were. ****.
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