This comment prompts me to add that, on my most recent flight, just one FA was wearing a union lanyard and I was curious if her job performance would appear different from the rest of the cabin crew. Nope, at least, not in a negative way; she wasn't in the F cabin where I was sitting, but she was highly visible (and appeared to be working hard) throughout the flight.
Maybe I get lucky or am easy to please, but AS FA's routinely live up to my expectations and regularly exceed them.
When I report PDB service here, it just because I know how popular that service is, and FT folks love data. (I also love data; I'll feed your habit if you feed mine.)
Since I still mask until my flights hit altitude and I know the HVAC is running on full, I don't accept a PDB anyway. I do try to state facts plainly while labeling my opinions as such. I'm much more likely to write in to Alaska Cares with kudos than with complaints.
If the policy were as simple as
ALERTING F PAX at boarding that a short flight is
<350 MILES and therefore will offer no in flight beverage, that would satisfy me; even more so if that notice were provided with an offer of a PDB, helping to justify paying to sit up front on short flights.
Like many others, I want to know what to expect, and then see those expectations met more often than not. Right now, I have to google the Alaska policies before short flights to refresh my memory of what exactly they advertise, and then also seek out the distance from X to Y. (Distance is easily visible on the AS website, but not on my boarding pass or without multiple clicks in the app.) That's not a premium experience.
Also, I routinely forget to notice if my flights is supposed to be Horizon vs. Alaska vs. SkyWest. (And I'm on FlyerTalk!) Frankly, if it's being sold and managed as an Alaska flight, I think it is nonsensical to expect average flyers to note any difference to adjust their expectations.