To attend the Alaska-Boeing event, I flew Alaska Airlines from Chicago (ORD) to Seattle (SEA) onboard a 737-9 MAX in first class and enjoyed a pleasant flight, with the exception of the Wi-Fi onboard.
Alaska Airlines 737-9 MAX First Class Review (ORD-SEA)
I traveled as a guest of Alaska Airlines. While I have historically turned down these sorts of invitations and did not even know that Alaska Airlines would book me in first class, the cost of tickets to this event plus a nanny for the day would have made this trip to difficult to justify…so feel free to stop here if you think that discredits my review, but I hope you can appreciate the transparency. I may accept more such trips this year (because, why not…regular readers know that I’m not going to publish a fluff piece if the flight is bad), but will always disclose when I do.
It has been years since I’ve traveled on Alaska Airlines and I was excited to try a new plane on my outbound, though perhaps most irrationally, excited to try the cheeseburger onboard (part of me did hope that I’d get one of those old school 737s, though, with the carpeted bulkheads).
I checked in online and was traveling only with a small bag, so I bypassed the counter completely.
Delay
The flight showed a one-minute delay on the app and on the departure board, but the inbound aircraft had not even landed by the time we reached our scheduled boarding time. It finally rolled in about 5:40 pm.
I waited out the delay in the American Airlines Admirals Club (thanks to my Citi AA Executive card). Boarding finally kicked off at 6:08 pm, our scheduled departure time.
Alaska Airlines 409
Chicago (ORD) – Seattle (SEA)
Tuesday, January 6
Depart: 06:08 PM
Arrive: 8:58 PM
Duration: 04hr, 50min
Aircraft: Boeing 737-9 MAX
Distance: 1,721 miles
Seat: 4A (First Class)
Onboard, like a fool, I sat down in seat 4F instead of 4A. A guy came onboard, saw me, and probably thought I was trying to steal his upgrade. I sheeplishly pivoted over to 4A.
Seat
The first class cabin on Alaska’s 737-9 features 16 seats: four rows in a 2-2 configuration. Alaska uses the Recaro CL4710 on this aircraft, but at 41 inches offers more legroom than some of its competitors. The seat is 21.3 inches wide and reclines about five inches. It also has a footrest that flips down from the seat in front (no calf rest on this aircraft).
Seats are controlled by a button below the armrest. Each seat has 110-volt universal A/C outlet and USB-A port as part of the armrest between seats. The passenger service unit overhead has individual air vents.
Food + Drink
I’ve tried burgers on Delta Air Lines, United Airlines, SWISS, Lufthansa, Cathay Pacific, and others…Certainly, I had to try the cheeseburger on Alaska, described as a Tillamook cheeseburger (“grilled Angus beef, Tillamook sharp cheddar cheese, sesame bun, served with crisp lettuce, sliced Roma tomatoes, bread & butter pickles, and a tangy burger sauce”). In addition to the burger, Alaska offers meal service pre-orders and other entrees, including:
- Chili shrimp & black rice
- Smoked chicken ravioli
- Yellow cauliflower curry
- Fruit & cheese plate
Service began with a warmed snack mix with pretzel twists, cashews, and almonds. I had a Paloma cocktail (tequila, grapefruit juice, lime juice, salt) from Straightaway and found it pretty darn perfect…not too sweet and very refreshing.
I should also add that I love mood lighting on airplanes and liked the blue light that cast over the cabin during the flight.
Next came a towel (packaged) from Salt & Stone that had a very pleasant scent. It was well-timed because the snack mix was messy.
The main course arrived, served on a platter with a side of hummus with carrots and cucumbers (the flight was double-catered in Seattle).
The burger was excellent…yes, the Shake Shack burger on Delta is better, but this was enjoyable (I skipped the bun as part of my diet). I also appreciated the hummus on the side, which was a very nice side.
About 45 minutes after the meal, a hot chocolate chip cookie was served. I had a cup of coffee with it (Alaska now serves Stumptown onboard). The coffee could have been stronger, but I loved the cup!
IFE + Wi-Fi
While this aircraft is equipped with Gogo 2Ku onboard Wi-Fi, it did not work very well on my flight. First, T-Mobile did not work at all…then I input my credit card ($8) and it charged me, but the internet was slow, unresponsive, and I’d say wholly non-functional for about 50% of the flight. It was very hard to work and it seems that Alaska really missed an opportunity here to install better Wi-Fi from the start…there are brand new planes.
The good news is that Alaska Airlines is rolling out free high-speed Starlink internet across its fleet, starting this year. Soon, slow or non-functional Wi-Fi should be a thing of the past.
I was not in the mood to watch any movies or TV shows, but Alaska offers complimentary streaming in-flight-entertainment and the selection was quite decent.
Lavatories
The first class lavatory in the front of the aircraft was very small, but I appreciated the Salt & Stone soap, which had a great scent.
Serivce
A big shoutout to Lisa, who served as purser and took care of the first class passengers. She was very attentive, very kind, and nicely provided the warm hospitality Alaska Airlines is known for.
CONCLUSION
With the delayed departure, we landed a bit behind schedule in SEA, but not much: the pilots had managed to make up most of the delay.
I enjoyed the journey on Alaska Airlines and appreciated the great service onboard. The cheesburger may not have been healthy, but healthier than the pasta option. There’s room for improvement on the Wi-Fi, but that will be addressed via Starlink.
Nice review. It’s not the most exciting First Class. Recliners, 2-2 configuration, are obviously better than regular economy seats, 3-3, middle blocked, like in Europe or LATAM’s premium economy. Would be amazing if more airlines did what Singapore has done with it’s 737s lie-flat business class on their narrowbody aircraft, especially for redeyes and 5+ hour flights. As with American Airlines narrowbodies (other than 321T, LXR), Alaska also does BYOD, and honestly, the lack of IFE screens does seem like a let-down (come at me, ye anti-IFE goons!) Of course, the lack of complimentary Wi-Fi is also ‘sad-face,’ I guess, unless you’re like @Gene and have T-Mobile.
I use T-Mobile, and it didn’t work on my recent flight using a computer; it only worked on the phone. The good news is that Alaska is rolling out Starlink, and if they charge for that, they’ll likely stay with T-Mobile, as they were the first to accept Starlink.
My opinion is that the technology is already here for all airlines to adopt better hardware and offer free, reliable WiFi for all passengers on every flight. Yet, if there’s a profit incentive, I presume some airlines will still charge… *sigh* (I know, I know…they’re a business, not a charity… but, like, if you’re not gonna have IFE screens, just do free WiFi.)
We always enjoy AS on domestic flights – best US carrier in my opinion.
And my family loves Salt and Stone toiletries / skin care!
take the free flight, i would have too. but the issue with free flights isn’t that you’ll publish a fluff review, its that the cabin crew know you are a guest and treat you better and/or give you more attention than they otherwise might have.
You wouldn’t eat the bun because of your “diet” but had the cookie? LOL.
Also, you don’t need to remind us in every food post that you are a food snob and consider essentially everything that isn’t steamed meet and raw vegetables “fat bombs.”
The cockpit crew on this flight certainly deserves a bravo…
3F or 4F are always my favorite seats in First Class…
AS is still “proudly Boeing,” even with Airbus in its current fleet…
Thanks for the nice review! It’s been decades since I’ve flown AS.
I was a bit confused – the flight description said ORD-LAX, but your article text and the flight map images showed ORD-SEA. I eventually figure out the LAX must’ve been a typo- a brain fart with your home airport.
*****
Alaska Airlines 409
Chicago (ORD) – Los Angeles (LAX)
Tuesday, January 6
Depart: 06:08 PM
Arrive: 8:58 PM
Duration: 04hr, 50min
Aircraft: Boeing 737-9 MAX
Distance: 1,721 miles
Seat: 4A (First Class)
*****
Safe travels home!
Thank you, fixed!
I’d say AS is trying to emulate SAS and finnair in a lot of ways.
All the branding is shockingly similar. Especially finnair.
I found updated the app and displays to show a one-minute delay strange. Why bother for one minute. But, then it dawned on me. I think this is a signal that the plane is likely to be delayed more, but until they know, they don’t want to put a number on it. If you expect a 6:08 flight to leave at 6:40, you don’t want to update that earlier, because it is much easier to move 6:08 to to 6:09 6:30 than changing 6:08 to 6:40 and trying to get it back to 6:30.
And, didn’t we already establish they have no MAXs 😉
Thanks for being honest about the free first class. I always wonder if crew know a VIP/reviewer is on board. I’ve flown first class twice this year from KC and DC and haven’t seen exactly the same standards. On both flights, the dessert and towel came on a tray. I also didn’t have the special soap in the bathroom.
Still, good domestic first-class flights, but just a different delivery than what you’re seeing.