AS/QX F EWR-SEA-PDX-SEA-EWR
Feb 9, 2004, 2:18 pm
#1
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Join Date: Oct 1999
Location: New York
Posts: 7,347
AS/QX F EWR-SEA-PDX-SEA-EWR
Dear folks,
Here is another of my usual Alaska’s trip report. I flew quite a number of Alaska flights since 2004, but nothing was really special enough for me to write a report. But this trip was a relatively nice one and I had some wonderful F/As on almost all the flights. Therefore I will write a short report on it – first AS report for 2004.
February 7, 2004
AS 7 EWR-SEA Lv1805 Arr2116 Boeing 737-700 N615AS
Well, I had not taken the evening flight to Seattle for a while because of limited upgrade availability. I arrived at EWR around 4:15pm and proceeded to the kiosk – no line at all and got my boarding pass in no time. Security line was almost deserted, since there were a limited number of CO flights to ATL, CHI, and DFW flights on Saturdays and also AC flights. ATA had a flight to SFO, but it was not terribly busy. I went to the President’s club and had a ginger ale, accompanied by cheese, crackers, fritos, ripple potato chips, and apples. I made a few phone calls and headed off to the gate at 5:15pm. Boarding began at 5:23pm and Jeff, our first class F/As, welcomed us on board. Big bottles of Sparklette water were placed on the consoles, which was a welcomed sight. Our load was very light this evening… 10F and 42Y… I was a bit surprised because the evening flights were usually more popular than morning flights. I guess it was a typical low time. Two F class seats were left empty, despite two passengers were offered upgrades. I guess since almost everyone could have a row to him or herself… why bother! Door was closed at 5:59pm and we pushed back in a minute. Due to Saturdays, EWR was not too busy. We took off from R/W22R at 6:16pm, following a Continental’s Boeing 737-800.
Flying time was a quick five hours and seventeen minutes. It was a clear night and had great views of Toronto and Minneapolis on our way to Seattle. Seat belt sign was turned off at 6:46pm, and a beverage service was quickly followed by a bowl of warmed mixed nuts. Well, some F/As like to serve these cups of mixed nuts as accompaniments to meals… some like to serve them as snacks prior to arrival. I prefer the last option, because sometimes you get hungry towards the end of a five or six hours flight. Anyway Jeff began the dinner service shortly after he passed out the Dig E players. Here is my menu transcript:
Mesclun Green Salad, accompanied by slices of tomatoes and fresh buffalo mozzarella cheese slices and Balsamic Vinaigrette dressing
Wonderful salad… the tomato and mozzarella cheese slices are fresh and delicious
Breadbasket – slices of white and walnut bread
Main Courses
Pesto crusted salmon, accompanied by sliced potatoes and green beans
Or
Chicken Wellington – chicken breast and mushroom stuffed on a pastry shell, accompanied by a Bordelaise sauce, wild rice and carrots
I like this chicken dish much, as remarked by a lot of you, as the one of the best entrées served by Alaska.
Dessert
Pumpkin cheesecake topped with almond flakes
The meal was nice and completed after two hours. For economy class, there was a choice of mains – roasted pork with mashed redskin potatoes and Italian vegetable, or Chicken straganoff with egg noodles, accompanied by Caesar salad, a roll, and chocolate cake. The rest of the flight went by with a few turbulences now and then, and Jeff was pretty good in refilling our beverages. Descent soon began at 11:10pm and we landed on R/W16L at 8:33pm PST. We parked at gate D10 at 8:38pm.
QX 2335 SEA-PDX Lv2210 Arr2254 Dash 8-Q400 N416QX
Seattle was really quiet at this time of the day and Board Room was closed on Saturday evenings, so I decided to sit at gate C10 and C12 facing R/W16/34… not too many activities. So I watched the Larry King Live’s interview with Janet Jackson. (Just personal opinion – about the NFL show drama, I honestly think the conservative media over-blew the whole episode. I think we can deal with a nipple… considered we had reality shows like Temptation Islands, all kinds of dating shows, and the Apprentice, where sold to the public based on sex). But the Larry King’s show was an okay way to spend time. I tried to read but the Larry’s show was distraciting…
Boarding began at 9:50pm at gate C2M. The loading was relatively light, and there were two F/As welcoming us aboard. Door was closed at 10:09pm and we pushed back in three minutes. The pilots wasted no time in racing down to Runway 16L. We took off at 10:20pm and flying time was twenty-eight minutes. After flying all these SEA-PDX flights, CRJ and Dash 8-Q400 were a bit faster than the Q200s, but Q200s’ service was more personal. Express beverage service with a choice of complimentary wines, beers, bottled water, and orange juice, accompanied by a bag of pretzels (yuck!). I had a beer and water bottle… I was carded… the F/A was good about it and I told her that I passed the drinking age a bit… She just smiled and I told her that it made me feel “young” to be carded. Descent soon began at 10:32pm, and landed on Runway 28L at 10:48pm. We parked at gate A4 four minutes later.
February 8, 2004
QX 2060 PDX-SEA Lv1200 Arr1255 Dash 8-Q200 N346PH “Great Cities of Redmond/Bend”
Check in using the kiosk, and then headed to the express line… The Board Room was nice at Portland. I had a cup of orange juice, accompanied by a bag of peanuts. I headed to gate A8 about forty minutes prior to takeoff. The noon flight was pretty full, but the seat next to me remained empty. Therefore I had a comfortable forty-two minutes flight to Seattle. Door was closed at 11:58pm and push back at 12:01pm. We took off from Runway 10L at 12:06pm.
Mary, our friendly F/A, began the full beverage service shortly after. I had a can of ginger ale – really good Pacific Northwest’s product, accompanied by a bag of Tim’s Cascade potato chips. After serving the whole can, she did another refill and additional chips were handed out. Descent soon began at 12:28pm and we landed on R/W16R at 12:48pm and parked at gate C2 two minutes later.
AS 14 SEA-EWR Lv1400 Arr2158 Boeing 737-700 N613AS
I went to the Board Room for a bit, before heading over to the north satellite. Boarding began at 1:25pm from Gate N7. Water bottles were placed in the console, accompanied by a bag of mixed nuts – a nice touch and a good indication on the way this flight is heading towards. Door was closed at 1:50pm and we pushed back at 1:53pm. After the safety demonstration, Keith took our beverage orders and announced the entrée selection and ladies got their first choices, and he would take the order from the back towards the front. The loading was a bit better than the past two Sundays – 12F and 60Y. We took off from Runway 34R at 2:04pm.
Keith wasted no time in serving the first round of beverage (12 minutes after takeoff), and I had a nice glass of mimosa. Keith made sure that we knew that he was good in making a mimosa. After the first round of beverage, he passed out the Dig E players. Seat belt sign was turned off at 2:23pm, as we leveled off at 37,000ft. Salad was then served with more beverage refills and a breadbasket service. Most AS F/As just put bread on your salad tray… but Keith did it the first class way in a basket. Then he took the entrée order. Here is the menu transcript!
Mesclun green salad accompanied by orange segments, a slice of Brie and Sesame Oriental dressing
Breadbasket – slices of white, raisin, and multigrain breads
The salad was really fresh and nice. I also like the raisin bread much.
Main Courses of:
Seared Tiger Prawns with Coconut Cilantro Cream sauce, accompanied by rice pilaf and spinach
Or
Beef Tenderloin fillet with au poivre sauce, accompanied by creamy potato risotto, and French Beans almondine
I told Keith that I would be fine with either choice. I guess there must be some special meal orders, because even I was the last one, I still had a choice of beef and prawn. Since I don’t like coconut much, I choose the beef, which was perfectly cooked – medium rare, and the risotto was delicious. Then Keith passed out more bread.
Dessert
Almond Pear torte
Third times in a row of Sundays’ flight – dessert was not changed from January’s menu. I like the Pear Torte.
Keith was one of the most friendly, hardworking, and professional Alaska F/A I have ever met. (Of course, no one is friendlier than our FT AS F/A -- ASFlyer) He never stopped to refill our beverage. After meals, he offered various rounds of coffee and tea. Wine glasses were never empty and he did a cabin check every twenty minutes. He passed out the warmed mixed nuts around 5:15pm. For economy class passengers, your dinner choices are Hungarian beef stew with egg noodles or Halibut with Asian sauce, accompanied by sesame rice pilaf, accompanied by salad, Kaiser roll, and dessert. We climbed to 41,000feet after passing Minneapolis/ St Paul, to take advantage of fuel economics.
Descent began at 6:06pm around South of Buffalo. Seat belt sign was turned on at 6:21pm, and we landed on Runway 22L at 9:43pm EST. We parked at gate A27 at 9:49pm.
Well, I hope you enjoy this typical AS/QX report!
Carfield
Here is another of my usual Alaska’s trip report. I flew quite a number of Alaska flights since 2004, but nothing was really special enough for me to write a report. But this trip was a relatively nice one and I had some wonderful F/As on almost all the flights. Therefore I will write a short report on it – first AS report for 2004.
February 7, 2004
AS 7 EWR-SEA Lv1805 Arr2116 Boeing 737-700 N615AS
Well, I had not taken the evening flight to Seattle for a while because of limited upgrade availability. I arrived at EWR around 4:15pm and proceeded to the kiosk – no line at all and got my boarding pass in no time. Security line was almost deserted, since there were a limited number of CO flights to ATL, CHI, and DFW flights on Saturdays and also AC flights. ATA had a flight to SFO, but it was not terribly busy. I went to the President’s club and had a ginger ale, accompanied by cheese, crackers, fritos, ripple potato chips, and apples. I made a few phone calls and headed off to the gate at 5:15pm. Boarding began at 5:23pm and Jeff, our first class F/As, welcomed us on board. Big bottles of Sparklette water were placed on the consoles, which was a welcomed sight. Our load was very light this evening… 10F and 42Y… I was a bit surprised because the evening flights were usually more popular than morning flights. I guess it was a typical low time. Two F class seats were left empty, despite two passengers were offered upgrades. I guess since almost everyone could have a row to him or herself… why bother! Door was closed at 5:59pm and we pushed back in a minute. Due to Saturdays, EWR was not too busy. We took off from R/W22R at 6:16pm, following a Continental’s Boeing 737-800.
Flying time was a quick five hours and seventeen minutes. It was a clear night and had great views of Toronto and Minneapolis on our way to Seattle. Seat belt sign was turned off at 6:46pm, and a beverage service was quickly followed by a bowl of warmed mixed nuts. Well, some F/As like to serve these cups of mixed nuts as accompaniments to meals… some like to serve them as snacks prior to arrival. I prefer the last option, because sometimes you get hungry towards the end of a five or six hours flight. Anyway Jeff began the dinner service shortly after he passed out the Dig E players. Here is my menu transcript:
Mesclun Green Salad, accompanied by slices of tomatoes and fresh buffalo mozzarella cheese slices and Balsamic Vinaigrette dressing
Wonderful salad… the tomato and mozzarella cheese slices are fresh and delicious
Breadbasket – slices of white and walnut bread
Main Courses
Pesto crusted salmon, accompanied by sliced potatoes and green beans
Or
Chicken Wellington – chicken breast and mushroom stuffed on a pastry shell, accompanied by a Bordelaise sauce, wild rice and carrots
I like this chicken dish much, as remarked by a lot of you, as the one of the best entrées served by Alaska.
Dessert
Pumpkin cheesecake topped with almond flakes
The meal was nice and completed after two hours. For economy class, there was a choice of mains – roasted pork with mashed redskin potatoes and Italian vegetable, or Chicken straganoff with egg noodles, accompanied by Caesar salad, a roll, and chocolate cake. The rest of the flight went by with a few turbulences now and then, and Jeff was pretty good in refilling our beverages. Descent soon began at 11:10pm and we landed on R/W16L at 8:33pm PST. We parked at gate D10 at 8:38pm.
QX 2335 SEA-PDX Lv2210 Arr2254 Dash 8-Q400 N416QX
Seattle was really quiet at this time of the day and Board Room was closed on Saturday evenings, so I decided to sit at gate C10 and C12 facing R/W16/34… not too many activities. So I watched the Larry King Live’s interview with Janet Jackson. (Just personal opinion – about the NFL show drama, I honestly think the conservative media over-blew the whole episode. I think we can deal with a nipple… considered we had reality shows like Temptation Islands, all kinds of dating shows, and the Apprentice, where sold to the public based on sex). But the Larry King’s show was an okay way to spend time. I tried to read but the Larry’s show was distraciting…
Boarding began at 9:50pm at gate C2M. The loading was relatively light, and there were two F/As welcoming us aboard. Door was closed at 10:09pm and we pushed back in three minutes. The pilots wasted no time in racing down to Runway 16L. We took off at 10:20pm and flying time was twenty-eight minutes. After flying all these SEA-PDX flights, CRJ and Dash 8-Q400 were a bit faster than the Q200s, but Q200s’ service was more personal. Express beverage service with a choice of complimentary wines, beers, bottled water, and orange juice, accompanied by a bag of pretzels (yuck!). I had a beer and water bottle… I was carded… the F/A was good about it and I told her that I passed the drinking age a bit… She just smiled and I told her that it made me feel “young” to be carded. Descent soon began at 10:32pm, and landed on Runway 28L at 10:48pm. We parked at gate A4 four minutes later.
February 8, 2004
QX 2060 PDX-SEA Lv1200 Arr1255 Dash 8-Q200 N346PH “Great Cities of Redmond/Bend”
Check in using the kiosk, and then headed to the express line… The Board Room was nice at Portland. I had a cup of orange juice, accompanied by a bag of peanuts. I headed to gate A8 about forty minutes prior to takeoff. The noon flight was pretty full, but the seat next to me remained empty. Therefore I had a comfortable forty-two minutes flight to Seattle. Door was closed at 11:58pm and push back at 12:01pm. We took off from Runway 10L at 12:06pm.
Mary, our friendly F/A, began the full beverage service shortly after. I had a can of ginger ale – really good Pacific Northwest’s product, accompanied by a bag of Tim’s Cascade potato chips. After serving the whole can, she did another refill and additional chips were handed out. Descent soon began at 12:28pm and we landed on R/W16R at 12:48pm and parked at gate C2 two minutes later.
AS 14 SEA-EWR Lv1400 Arr2158 Boeing 737-700 N613AS
I went to the Board Room for a bit, before heading over to the north satellite. Boarding began at 1:25pm from Gate N7. Water bottles were placed in the console, accompanied by a bag of mixed nuts – a nice touch and a good indication on the way this flight is heading towards. Door was closed at 1:50pm and we pushed back at 1:53pm. After the safety demonstration, Keith took our beverage orders and announced the entrée selection and ladies got their first choices, and he would take the order from the back towards the front. The loading was a bit better than the past two Sundays – 12F and 60Y. We took off from Runway 34R at 2:04pm.
Keith wasted no time in serving the first round of beverage (12 minutes after takeoff), and I had a nice glass of mimosa. Keith made sure that we knew that he was good in making a mimosa. After the first round of beverage, he passed out the Dig E players. Seat belt sign was turned off at 2:23pm, as we leveled off at 37,000ft. Salad was then served with more beverage refills and a breadbasket service. Most AS F/As just put bread on your salad tray… but Keith did it the first class way in a basket. Then he took the entrée order. Here is the menu transcript!
Mesclun green salad accompanied by orange segments, a slice of Brie and Sesame Oriental dressing
Breadbasket – slices of white, raisin, and multigrain breads
The salad was really fresh and nice. I also like the raisin bread much.
Main Courses of:
Seared Tiger Prawns with Coconut Cilantro Cream sauce, accompanied by rice pilaf and spinach
Or
Beef Tenderloin fillet with au poivre sauce, accompanied by creamy potato risotto, and French Beans almondine
I told Keith that I would be fine with either choice. I guess there must be some special meal orders, because even I was the last one, I still had a choice of beef and prawn. Since I don’t like coconut much, I choose the beef, which was perfectly cooked – medium rare, and the risotto was delicious. Then Keith passed out more bread.
Dessert
Almond Pear torte
Third times in a row of Sundays’ flight – dessert was not changed from January’s menu. I like the Pear Torte.
Keith was one of the most friendly, hardworking, and professional Alaska F/A I have ever met. (Of course, no one is friendlier than our FT AS F/A -- ASFlyer) He never stopped to refill our beverage. After meals, he offered various rounds of coffee and tea. Wine glasses were never empty and he did a cabin check every twenty minutes. He passed out the warmed mixed nuts around 5:15pm. For economy class passengers, your dinner choices are Hungarian beef stew with egg noodles or Halibut with Asian sauce, accompanied by sesame rice pilaf, accompanied by salad, Kaiser roll, and dessert. We climbed to 41,000feet after passing Minneapolis/ St Paul, to take advantage of fuel economics.
Descent began at 6:06pm around South of Buffalo. Seat belt sign was turned on at 6:21pm, and we landed on Runway 22L at 9:43pm EST. We parked at gate A27 at 9:49pm.
Well, I hope you enjoy this typical AS/QX report!
Carfield
Feb 9, 2004, 3:32 pm
#2
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Thanks, Carfield!
That Pesto Crusted Salmon and Chicken Wellington are two of my all time favorite First Class entrees on ANY airline.
That Pesto Crusted Salmon and Chicken Wellington are two of my all time favorite First Class entrees on ANY airline.
Feb 9, 2004, 5:15 pm
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Thanks Carfield , this helps me get my weekly fix of life aboard AS/QX flights...as it'll be a while for me before my next round of flights over there.
, this helps me get my weekly fix of life aboard AS/QX flights...as it'll be a while for me before my next round of flights over there.