Thanks for the input everyone. A couple more questions:
- How accurate do the seat maps to actual load tend to be? Right now large portions of both flights show they are already taken, which I guess can be plausible. But I hear the SLC-SJC flight in particular has had horrible load factors and I'm surprised there isn't anything available for allocation yet. I guess it doesn't help that I don't have status yet.
- Have you found the Alaska Airlines credit card worthwhile? It doesn't look like it has many flight benefits like an extra checked bag or 20% off in-flight purchases like the Delta one did - those were big pluses for me.