Day 2:

Segment 3:
December 21, 2019, Alaska Airlines 132
Fairbanks, AK (FAI) to Seattle, WA (SEA)
Scheduled Departure 23:55 AKST (December 20), Actual Departure 00:50 (December 21), gate 2, runway 20R, temperature -31F, calm winds, clear skies
Scheduled Arrival 04:40 PST, Actual Arrival 05:02 PST, gate C3, runway 16L, temperature 46F, wind WNW7, rain, visibility 6 miles
Boeing 737-900ER, N275AK
Actual Flight Time 3:00

I arrived at FAI about three and a half hours prior to the scheduled departure time of 11:55 PM. Check in was easy and quick (it always is when you’re the only person in line) and the friendly woman explained to me that SEA was in full on meltdown mode due to record rainfall and a malfunctioning baggage belt system, and that most flights that involved SEA were running one to two hours behind schedule. If you’re so inclined, here’s a FT thread about the event: SEA is a Christmas holiday nightmare

Security was a breeze with Precheck, and soon enough I was set up with a table at the airport bar and grill, the appropriately titled Local at FAI, in between gates 3 and 4. The FAI terminal was rebuilt from the ground up in about 2007, replacing the old terminal which was a hodgepodge of facilities from the 1950’s and 1980’s. Originally constructed in 1951, the airport is owned by the State of Alaska and is co-managed alongside ANC under the Alaska International Airport System umbrella. While ANC gets the bulk of the cargo refueling business, FAI acts as a reliever when ANC is shut down due to weather or other events. Currently for passengers FAI sees year-round service from AS (SEA, ANC, SCC, BRW) and DL (SEA, seasonal MSP). UA (DEN, ORD), soon to be AA (DFW, ORD), DE (FRA), and 4N (YDA) serve the airport seasonally, along with numerous JL winter charters from Japan for aurora boreal is tourism. The airport has six jetbridge gates, allocated as such: Gates 1 and 2 for AS, gate 3 for Shared Services Aviation (shuttle service to North Slope oil fields) and a reliever for AS, gate 4 for DL, gate 5 for AA, and gate 6 for UA plus all international arrivals and departures (DE, 4N, JL). Fun fact: FAI is the smallest city in the country with transatlantic service to Europe.

A Twister Creek IPA from Denali Brewing and a glass of Knob Creek helped pass the time, and soon enough my ride to SEA landed, shortly after a DL flight from SEA. With three redeye departures tonight, all to SEA, (two on AS and one on DL), the terminal was fairly busy.




Boarding began and was fairly normal, aside from the guy who attempted to board this AS flight to SEA with a boarding pass for the DL flight to SEA. I settled in to 3F and almost immediately dozed off once the safety briefing was completed.


Obligatory legroom shot



Another AS 737 parked next door at gate 1

Not much to say about this flight as a dozed as much as a I could. We took off to the south, and made an immediate left turn as we passed over the Tanana River and had a nice tailwind and a straight shot flight path down to SEA.

FAI-SEA flight path

We touched down in torrential rainfall at 4:58 AM on runway 16L and had a quick taxi over to C3.

Segment 4:
December 21, 2019, Alaska Airlines 944
Seattle, WA (SEA) to Portland, OR (PDX)
Scheduled Departure 06:05 PST, Actual Departure 06:38 PST, gate D5, runway 16L, temperature 45F, wind NNE7, rain, visibility 3 miles
Scheduled Arrival 07:09 PST, Actual Arrival 07:31 PST, gate C3, runway 10R, temperature 51F, wind S6, rain, visibility 8 miles
Boeing 737-900ER, N474AS
Actual Flight Time 0:32

SEA was still in recovery mode, and while the flight boarded on schedule it took a while to round up bags and as a result we were 33 minutes off schedule.

Flight time was estimated at a quick 36 minutes, and a PDB of sugar with a splash of oranges or coffee was offered. My seatmate was wearing enough cologne to stun a small farm animal.


Interior of this 737 has seen better days

We were fourth in line for departure, behind another AS 737 bound for LAX. Our flight time was so quick that the FA was unable to get drinks out past the first two rows; honestly I don’t think anybody cared on a scheduled 6:05 AM Saturday morning flight that was barely in the air for half an hour.

SEA-PDX flight path

PDX weather wasn’t much better than SEA, and we landed on runway 10R and quickly taxied to C3 (gate C3 seems to be a theme on this trip).


Morning lineup at PDX



Another day in paradise

Thanks for reading!