There are a couple of bad Alaska configs, but the planes Alaska runs on t-cons are generally the ones with the generous F pitch (they have a 40"-41" pitch). I would fly Alaska in a heartbeat over Delta in F - it's a significantly superior hard product, especially compared to Delta's F hard product which in aggregate is the worst out of all major US carriers that offer F. I guess they make up for it by putting out white tablecloths and calling their soft product superior.

I wouldn't worry about the bag checks. I have flown Alaska 3 times since the initial uproar and had no issues with a bag that - while fitting vertically in every overhead bin in the US (other than RJs) - is clearly oversized.