No More Pre-Flight Drinks In First on Alaska Airlines?
Meg Butler August 09, 2018
Well this isn’t a good sign.
FlyerTalker trevorwh2 posted this in the Alaska Airlines forum:
“Was just informed by my FA that Alaska has changed its policy and will no longer offer pre-flight drinks in first class – water only. Policy went into effect August 1st. Fairly disappointing given that even the legacy carriers do this on a far worse first class product. Just a heads up for folks.
If it matters – I’m on a previous VX flight out of Maui.”
He went on to clarify that the flight attendant he spoke to informed him that they were only allowed to serve water while still on the ground. Which means not just alcoholic beverages but juice and coffee are also off the menu until the plane is up in the air.
The real question, of course, is just how widespread this policy applies. Several FlyerTalkers have reported a wide variety of different experiences in the comments’ section. You can join that convo in this forum thread.
Image Source: YouTube
This is not correct. Before 11am it's OJ/coffee. No PDBs after 11am except for Hawaii. To Hawaii it's sparkling wine, POG juice, or POG mimosas
Were pre-flight drinks previously offered by request only? I dont really recall them doing a full service while at the gate, but I dont fly a lot of transcon. I just prefer they get the orders taken while we're on the ground (for efficiency) then bring out the first round of drinks before the meal service... so that if I'm back in row 4 I dont have to wait for 12-14 other people to get their drinks AND meal delivered before I have a drink in hand :)
"Just saying"? After a long day at a client, I'd like a drink before we take-off if I'm paying for first so I can maximize my rest time on the flight. It is amazing to watch the devaluation of the on-board product.
If these are pre-flight drinks as first gets settled in and everyone else is on the jetbridge held up then good. Holding up boarding for 5 minutes while people sweat in the jetbridge gets real old and is really unneccessary.
So whats the big deal? This has been going on for a long time and until this post no one has said anything. My next trip on AS ( Monday) I will pass a MM's that make two airlines and in the past 15 years of flying AS I have never asked for nor care for a pre take off drink. Just saying