From West Coast to East Coast (Alaska Airlines Award Redemption in Practice)

Points Redemption

This trip was from the West Coast to the East Coast: PUW - SEA, SEA - ORD, ORD - BOS. I redeemed 25,000 Alaska Airlines miles for it.

The total distance was 249 + 1715 + 864 = 2,828 miles, which is longer than the "Leap: trips longer than 2,101 miles" tier on the official award chart. Logically, it should have cost at least 30,000 miles, but I only used 25,000. After thinking about it, I figured it was probably because the first segment, PUW - SEA, was only economy.

This year I’m probably going to fly between the East Coast and West Coast a lot, and the SEA-PUW segment is only operated by Alaska Airlines. Plus Alaska Airlines has a great reputation, so I started thinking about whether I could go for Alaska Airlines MVP or MVP Gold this year.

So if I’m determined to go for Alaska Airlines MVP, why did I redeem miles for this East Coast trip? 1. Business class, even if it’s just a big recliner, at least has a larger seat and is a little more comfortable; 2. I’m broke, which is the key factor. I checked and economy for a trip like this would cost $500+, while redeeming miles for business class only cost 25,000 miles. Based on an Alaska Airlines mile value of 1.97 cents per point, I redeemed without hesitation...

So where did my miles come from? A while back I applied for the BofA Alaska Airlines credit card, which came with a 40,000-mile sign-up bonus + $100. Although the first-year annual fee of $75 wasn’t waived, the $100 from the sign-up bonus more than covered it.

The first two segments below were both operated by Alaska Airlines itself, while the last segment, ORD - BOS, was operated by AA.

PUW - SEA Flight Experience

• Aircraft: Bombardier Q400
• Flight number: AS 2203
• Flight time: 1 hour 23 minutes (actually less than 50 minutes)
• Distance: 249 miles

Check-in

PUW Airport is extremely small. There’s just one Alaska Airlines counter, a tiny but complete security screening setup, a small waiting area after security, and two gates (Gate 1, Gate 2) that make up the entire terminal.

Maybe because mine was a night flight, there were very few people in the terminal. Check-in was very quick, but even though my last two segments were business class, because my first segment was only economy, the agent still charged me $40 for the second checked bag (normally, without the BofA Alaska Airlines credit card, the checked baggage fee is $30 for the first bag and $70 for the second).

When I got to Gate 1, there was a small twist: for aircraft balance, the staff moved my seat farther back. So when we flew later, the seats in the front and back were full, while there were many empty seats in the middle. Past Gate 1 was the actual gate leading to the aircraft. This plane had the UW livery, and the word "husky" was also printed on the engine.

Cabin

Once on board, you could immediately feel the age of the aircraft. The layout was 2-2, with no real distinction between business and economy; all the seats were made of old leather. Everyone was the same.

There was nothing flashy at all—no seatback screens, no lumbar support, nothing! But since the flight was under 50 minutes anyway, I dozed off and arrived before I knew it.

In-flight meal

The meal was one small cookie + 1 drink. Too bare-bones, so I didn’t take a photo.

Service

This flight had one white older lady and one slightly red-skinned older lady. The white older lady was very cold and provided mechanical service throughout—someone who would say hi but absolutely refuse to say Hello... The other older lady was different: smiling the whole time, thumbs up.

SEA Airport Arrival + Lounge Shuffle Experience

When the plane flew over downtown Seattle, I quickly took a photo. The second photo shows the landing gear being lowered before landing.

The plane landed smoothly at the airport, but unfortunately it was a remote stand. We waited on the plane for nearly 20 minutes before the shuttle bus came to pick us up and let us disembark. The bus then took us to Gate G in about 5 minutes (I’d never been to this gate before).

Since it was still early and the planes hadn’t even reached the airport yet, I checked on the bus to see which lounges I could visit with a PPS card. I found two, one in A and one in S. (Actually there were three; there was also one in N, but it felt more like a restaurant?)

Since I’d been to A many times before, I wanted to check out Club SEA in S. I specifically checked the hours and saw that both were open until late on Sunday, so I excitedly took the little train to S, only to find out I’d been tricked. The S lounge only ever operates until 5:30 p.m.; I got misled by the hours in the app.

So I passed through all those elevators and the little train back to A and went to the lounge I usually visit.

The A lounge was pretty average: a few big sofas, a mini fridge with free drinks, a water dispenser with fruit-infused water, some snacks (chocolate, small cakes, and the like), and a small bar where you could order alcohol. That was basically it.

Still, as long as there was somewhere for me to lean back and rest, that was enough.

SEA - ORD Flight Experience

• Aircraft: Boeing 737-900
• Flight number: AS 1010
• Flight time: 4 hours 5 minutes
• Distance: 1715 miles

Check-in

After leaving the lounge, I took an empty little train to the check-in counter. After waiting for a short while, boarding began. The counter staff were very busy; they took our boarding passes, scanned them, and said nothing—just waved us in to go through.

CabinThe jet bridge wasn't long; after walking a bit, I reached the aircraft door.

The seats on board were basically like big sofas, in a 2-2 layout. But because the plane was much larger than the one on the previous segment, the 2-2 big seats were still very comfortable. You can see that water had already been placed between the seats, one bottle per person.

This flight was very full. At first I secretly rejoiced, thinking no one would be sitting next to me. But shortly before takeoff, a flight attendant brought over a captain heading home and seated him next to me. Well, it actually didn't make much of a difference. For the whole flight, aside from waking up briefly to eat "the meal," we spent the rest of the time sleeping.

You can see that the seat was actually quite spacious, and stretching my legs straight out was no problem.

This is the Alaska Airlines aircraft next to us, photographed before takeoff. After taking the photo, I went straight to sleep, haha.

In-flight meal

I still remember being half asleep when I heard the male flight attendant asking the passengers in the row ahead what they wanted to eat. I actually woke up on my own (as expected, as a foodie, I perk up the moment I hear food). The flight attendant asked what I wanted to drink and whether I wanted breakfast (there wasn't even a choice to make; the only option was whether I wanted an extra pack of cookies, okay then). After answering, I unfolded the tray table and then... fell asleep again. Then, when I woke up once more, the flight attendant was gently waking me with a smile while holding the food.

The food really wasn't good: a few kinds of cheese and two packs of cookies. For me, the only thing I wanted to eat was fruit. Fortunately, the apples and grapes were both quite sweet.

The photo below shows the lighting during the meal. I remember taking this photo and then falling asleep right afterward... When the flight attendant later came to take away the plate I had only eaten a little from, I didn't even notice...

Service

On this business-class flight, I only saw one male flight attendant providing service. He was handsome and had a great service attitude. I was groggy and half out of it the entire flight, but he kept smiling the whole time. Thumbs up!

The photo below was taken upon arrival at Chicago airport, showing the aircraft next to us and Chicago's classic control tower!

ORD - BOS Flight Experience

• Aircraft operated: Boeing 737-800
• Flight number: AA 2723
• Flight time: 2 hours 18 minutes
• Flight distance: 864 miles

Check-in

The check-in counter H18 for this flight wasn't far from the arrivals area, and it only took a short walk to get there. Along the way, I passed all kinds of little restaurants and was tempted several times to stop in and buy something, but I gave up every time because I was too sleepy (I just wanted to sit down as soon as possible).

I checked on the way and saw that the PPS lounges available at Chicago airport are all in the international terminal, so there was no way to go to a lounge. Fortunately, I got to the gate early, and there were still plenty of seats.

Boarding was very punctual. The display already showed it 55 minutes before boarding; once boarding time arrived, I was among the first to board.

In-flight amenities

The onboard amenities were generally very new. The seat layout was 2-2, and the space was quite generous; stretching both legs straight out was no problem. The seat was soft and comfortable to sit in as well.

The key feature was that each seat had a touchscreen (not super responsive, but still pretty good); back when I flew, I liked using the screen to watch movies and such, but now I especially like using it to check the 3D route map, flight information, and sometimes some airlines even offer views from the front of the aircraft and near the tail.

In-flight meal

A breakfast was served on the flight: eggs, which tasted okay; much better than the potatoes, though, since the potatoes were cooked way too soft. The fruit was all quite sweet.

Service

On this AA flight, the business-class service crew consisted of two older female flight attendants. One was very kind, and although the other had a poker face, she responded to every request, so it never felt uncomfortable.

Here’s a final photo of BOS airport. Actually, BOS's control tower is also pretty distinctive.

Personal Takeaways

Overall, I was quite satisfied with the Alaska Airlines staff's service attitude. On such a late-night flight, being able to still see smiling faces while passengers were half asleep was really heartwarming. The American Airlines staff were great too, and the older ladies were very kind and considerate.

As for the food, I don't even want to comment. The cookies in the first segment were understandable; the cheese in the second segment was a fail! The eggs in the third segment were actually pretty tasty.

As for the hardware, the first segment was relatively old and felt a bit hard to sit in; the second segment was still quite comfortable; and the third segment was probably the most comfortable of the three.

One more thing I want to complain about: since I had already upgraded to business class, even though the first segment was economy class only, they shouldn't have charged me for a second checked bag. I hope AS can make this a bit more customer-friendly.

Finally, after this middle-of-the-night business-class cross-country run, I don't think I'll want to go through that again anytime soon... Even though the seat was a bit bigger and more comfortable, it was truly exhausting. The waiting was tiring, the connections were tiring; next time, I'd rather just take a nonstop economy flight. ORZ