Alaska Flight 851
Seattle (SEA) to Honolulu (HNL)
Thursday, Nov 13, 9:55am-2:05pm, Flight Time: 6:10
Boeing 737-800 - No power
Seats 1D & 1F
With our Trusted Traveller numbers on the booking, and the TSA PRECHECK stamped on our boarding passes, we left for the airport with 2 hours until takeoff. With no traffic and a short line for baggage drop off, we were quickly on our way to the N gates. Alaska likes to start boarding 45 minutes before take off, so there wasn’t really time to visit the Board Room on this trip.
Mrs CRAZ8 likes the bulkhead row, as she puts her feet up on the wall to get some extra recline. I’m a bit taller, and this just isn’t comfy, but the front of the cabin does get the better food choice, so that works in my favor.
Unlike continental USA flights, Alaska flights to Hawaii have some extra perks. The first is the PDB of either POG or a POG Mimosa - POG being Passion/Orange/Guava juice. Adding bubbles to it makes it a nice refreshing beverage and a good way to start a vacation.
We closed up and pushed back on time and were on our way.
Next up was some coffee with Baileys - our standard daytime vacation drink - and out came the iPad to watch my TIVO’d shows. The Mrs got one of the onboard devices and watched movies for the trip.
About an hour into the flight, the food service started up. The menus were at the seats when we boarded, so we had time to make a choice. I don’t like shrimp at all, so it was short rib for me.
The salad was really nice - the garlic chips and the goat cheese really made this work.
If I’m nitpicking, the spare rib meat was a little under seasoned, but the potato and vegetables were fantastic. This might have been the best tasting meal I’ve had on a plane.
After clearing everything away, and some more wine being served, about 20 minutes later the desert was served. This was very nice too.
Towards the end of the flight, a bowl of warm nuts was delivered, with the other thing Alaska does for flights to Hawaii - the Mai Tai! Now, the Mai Tai is a pre-mixed bottle, but it wasn’t the worst I had on this trip. I believe they serve this in coach too - everyone gets a complimentary Mai Tai.
Soon after we flew past Diamond Head and landed at HNL. The signage to baggage claim seems to be temporary - it was small and easy to miss, but we eventually got our bags and called up an Uber to the hotel.