Trip Reports - SJC-PDX

I flew between SJC-PDX on Alaska flight 323 yesterday. I am staying at the Heathman, which is one of Portland's many fine hotels. Unfortunatley, I got stuck with a shoe-box sized room, as often happens with singles in older hotels.

My flight was quite pleasant, and uneventful. I had a parking nightmare, as I cruised around the outdoor lot for 30 minutes, before I gave up and went to long term parking, which is some ways away. I caught a Shuttle bus back to the boarding area. I used the electronic check-in, and went to the boarding area where I waited for my flight. They have quite a lot of waiting area for the number of flights they have at SJC, and there is also a dozen or so "work stations" with courtesy phones, and power outlets in the boarding area. The plane boarded through the front and the tailcone exit (or entrance in this case) of the MD-83. I quickly sat down in seat 17C. The plane was quite clean, and the seats were new. The plane had arrived 3 minutes late but 28 minutes afterwards we were pushing back 4 minutes early at 11:33. The flight was about 75% full. I was on the two seat side, and had both seats to myself. There was no wait to takeoff. The F/As were all very pleasant. I was glad I had traveled when I did, because a low pressure area came in later in the day, and it has barely stopped raining since. A colleague flew in out of Oakland, on Southwest today (most delay free airline, on most delay free airport in Bay Area) and was still two hours late due to bad weather.

In-flight service was pretty good. I flew between SEA-SJC in August, and I ended up with the same lunch they served then! (Fortunately it was good both times). They served a roast beef sandwhich with sun-dried tomato pesto on Italian herb bread (aka foccacia). There was also a plum, and a chocolate chip cookie. There was of course the usually prayer card (same on I got last time I flew!), a towelette, and a breath mint. They also gave out eskimo pies, which were specially made for them to commemorate twenty years of service between the Bay Area and Portland. The flight was a little rough due to the in-coming storm. We landed at 13:07 and were to the gate at 13:11 (9 minutes early). Baggage arrived quickly.

One question that is unrelated to the topic: I was typing this out twice before when everything I had written suddenly vanished...I didn't click any button, or punch any unusual key. Has anyone ever had this happen to them before, while at Flyer Talk...can anyone explain why?

I will be returning to SJC tomarrow at 7:05 in the morning on flight 312.



[This message has been edited by West Coast Flyer (edited 10-28-1999).]

Sounds like you hit a rare and lucky calm spot in PDX weather yesterday. I flew in yesterday morning and out yesterday afternoon and both flights were so bumpy that the FAs had to stay strapped in from take-off to landing. Too bumpy to eat, drink, do crossword puzzles, get out your laptop or read. Everybody I saw was talking, praying or holding an emergency receptacle http://talk.flyertalk.com/forum/redface.gif Poor babies.

My colleague said it was only a little better this AM, but still no in-flight service. It is supposed to have calmed down this afternoon. Hope so. http://talk.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

Yes, the Heathman Hotel is very nice- so simple and elegant. It reminds me a bit of the Adolphus Hotel in Dallas. The only bad thing is many of the rooms are very tiny! They have many many suites (maybe a third to half the entire hotel0 but they too are generally not very large. For me though, that's just fine!

The Heathman restaraunt used to be great and imagine it still is. Do they still have excellent jazz performances each evening in the lounge? Anyway, Thanks for the report and enjoy the hotel an your trip.

Alaska's the only way to fly between SEA and the bay area. They fly to all three airports and have much better FC service than the evil United Shuttle.

Are the eskimo pies made with real eskimos? http://talk.flyertalk.com/forum/wink.gif

Welcome to the board West Coast Flyer, and thanks for the trip report, esp. your comments about the Heathman, one of my beloved haunts for cigars and single malts.

Shame that the rooms were small. I wasn't aware of that. IIRC it's not terribly old, built maybe 10-12 years ago. I can basically see it out my office window and I know it wasn't there when I started here in 1986.

Simple and elegant? Jazz performances in the lounge?? I don't think so. Elegant maybe but on what count would you evaluate it as simple? And they've never had jazz, there's no room in the shoebox of a bar. About the closet thing to live music they've had is a harpist in the library.

Cheers, essxjay

[This message has been edited by essxjay (edited 10-28-1999).]

Thanks essexjay. Perhaps you will grant me the use of the word "understated", rather than simple. Please understand this is my opinion and recollection. Unless I'm seriously mistaken, which is of course possible, they did formerly have jazz in the lounge about five or six yrs ago. As far as the shoebox aspect, remember, I'm from NY and am well acqainted with shoebox style bars, many of which have music of all types.

SXJ: http://talk.flyertalk.com/forum/wink.gif

[This message has been edited by Matt Wald (edited 10-29-1999).]

Yeah....the last time I stayed there there were gold...no, platinum fixtures on the bathroom sinks, and they carried me up to the room. Yeah.

And, my king-size bed in the lounge with the jazz quartet was extremely soothing.

Every time I fly out of SJC I vow never to do it again because of the parking. Then some fantastic fare comes up - only available out of SJC - and I end up there again. http://talk.flyertalk.com/forum/frown.gif

The lack of private parking companies pretty much necessitates parking with the city-owned(?) lot, which has the worst service ever. They claim to operate one shuttle bus every 15-20 minutes, but it's more like 20-25 minutes, and that bus weaves through the entire lot, stopping at every shelter - A through Z. It's a nightmare.

Bring on the competition!

SXJ: Single Malts...go girl http://talk.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

SXJ: Cigars...go girl! http://talk.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

... sounds to me like not so news from D.C. 'haunts for single girls and beloved cigars ...'

Rudi -- I believe they are referring to a hotel in PDX and NOT to the Oval Office of the White House... http://talk.flyertalk.com/forum/wink.gif

I flew back Friday morning, on flight 312. It was scheduled to leave Portland at 7:05 AM, and arrive in San Jose at 8:51. We pushed back right at 7:05 and were off the ground only seven minutes later. We touched down in San Jose at 8:40. I was in seat 12C on the 737-400. I had my cup of SBC, and a very small snack, (choice was cinnamon roll, or "Cranberry, Orange, Pecan bread"). I was adventurous and chose the latter, and it was actually delicious. Deplaning was smooth. But, as soon as we got into the airport...things began to go wrong. The baggage claim area at Terminal C in San Jose always has been and continues to be a nightmare. All the airlines share three carousels, so there is really nothing to be done. All carousels were busy with other airlines, and we were waiting half an hour for the baggage to start. Then, just as the baggage began to come off, the carousel broke down (as usual). Nobody was in sight to fix it. Finally, someone started it again, but it was literally "stop and go" from that point on out. In the end, nobody had lost their luggage, but everyone had lost their patience. Then, to make things worse, the airport only had one parking attendant on duty at the exit (and even that was slower than it should have been, because the gates were broken.) The line of cars to leave was several blocks long. I am really fed up with SJC, but it is the closest airport to my house, and the fares are lower.



[This message has been edited by West Coast Flyer (edited 11-03-1999).]

But it's better at SJC than SFO, isn't it? SFO is a nightmare now.

SJC is a drag returning a rental car, though you can walk from the garage to the gate. They rental car people I have found are a pretty rude bunch there in the garage.

I do like the Admirals Club there.

Great return trip report!

The breakfast snack in Alaska seems to be not comparable to the lunch or dinner snack that you get on the way in.

Anyway, Alaska is the only airline that serves food on that SJC-SEA run anyway... You can't expect much... At least, you have something to go with your SBC coffee or OJ!

Thanks,
Carfield

I do prefer SJC to SFO. The flights are more on-time out of SJC, and since it is a smaller airport, you can get to checked-in and to the gate quickly. SFO is big and crowded, and parking fees are obviously higher. OAK is my favorite of the Bay Area airports.