Great post, Eastbay! Thank you! ✈️

It brings back some great memories, such as Alaska's early Gold Coast Service flights to celebrate Alaska's expansion into California. I remember my first flight on one of Alaska's then new 727-200s. It was May of 1979 and I was flying from San Francisco up to Seattle, and beyond to Ketchikan. I'd flown into SFO from Tucson aboard an American 707 upon which we'd been served a passable Chicken Cordon Bleu luncheon. What might Alaska have in store on a the short flight up to Seattle?

For starters, those first two 727-290s - as delivered to Alaska fresh from Boeing - were beautiful airplanes inside. The First Class cabins were spacious with large, plush recliners upholstered in a bright yellow and orange checkerboard (tiny checkerboards) pattern - considerably more cheerful and airy than the comparatively stolid and staid dark blue leather seats endemic to the industry today.

Dinner - despite the short 1hr 50min flight time - was served course by course - salad, a slice of prime rib with typical accompaniments, and dessert - a slice of New York style cheesecake. I do remember the plates and coffee cups were emblazoned with the Gold Coast branding. Also, on the similarly timed flight up to Ketchikan, we were served the exact same meal. For short flights like that, service rarely got any better industrywide.

Sadly, I never got to fly Alaska's Toronto flights. I heard the service was spectacular. It's interesting because in the late seventies and eighties, Alaska offered a nice but hardly memorable First Class service on its then longest flights between ANC/FAI and SEA. Western's Pacific Northerner flights offered a much more elaborate service, and when United started service to Alaska in 1984, it was to the same standards as UA's acclaimed Four Star Service as experienced on its longer flights of 3.5 hours or longer.

I flew United often on its 700p SEA-ANC-FAI flight back in 1985 and '86. The aircraft was a 727-200 and the service was stellar! Stepping from United's SEA Red Carpet Club (Located upstairs across from N7) across the concourse and onto the aircraft, I was greeted by one of the most comfortable First Class seats in the sky, a welcome cocktail and a large menu detailing the dinner to follow.

Service always began with an appetizer plate - typically three or four prawns, seafood dip, some cubes of cheddar cheese, a slice of pate de fois grass and a couple of bread sticks.

Next up was the salad - presented from atop the trolley - tossed in a large clear bowl. A variety of breads and crackers were offered along with a choice of dressings, poured from small silver service pitchers - never PC packets. A large wooden pepper grinder was then presented, and ground atop your salad with flourish.

We're talking performance art here. The Flight Attendants who worked United's SEA - ANC flights were from the SEA International corps, and all were not only well trained in food presentation and service, but seemed to really enjoy their work.

There were always four main entrees offered, highlighted by a roast presented atop the trolley and accompanied by serving dishes filled with vegetables like potatoes au gratin, green beans almondine or steamed broccolini. The roast was typically a Chateaubriand, but occasionally a crown roast of pork with Hoisin Sauce.

United's 727s had 12 seats up front, and with a choice of four mains - including a lighter entree - there was generally always more than enough meat to carve up some pretty generous slabs of meat. And we're talking meat that was always nicely cooked - tender, juicy and pink in the middle. These ladies were pros. There were no dingbats on those ANC flights.

One of my favorite additions to the Chateaubriand was United's supposedly "mild" horseradish sauce. Mild my a$$! That stuff would occasionally hit me with sinus clearing clarity and often have me wishing for a hit or three off the oxygen masks. I loved it!

I didn't always have room for dessert, but when I did, I remember there was always a choice between the ubiquitous ice cream sundae (constructed to taste before your eyes, not preplated like American's) or a hot apple strudel. My favorite was the apple strudel served with a scoop of vanilla ice cream drizzled with Amaretto. Heavenly!

But wait! There's more!

A variety of cheeses were offered after dessert, along with a selection of after dinner liqueurs.

It's hard to believe this is United Airlines we're talking about here. Pretty amazing considering some of the horror stories circulating about UA back in the early 2000s. But I have a lot of good memories of my flights in The Friendly Skies, dating as far back as the 1960s. United used to be one of the very best...

Interestingly, I was in Western' Airlines' Horizon Club lounge at Anchorage and was talking with a gentleman who'd had some recent experience flying First Class on Alaska up and down from Seattle. As a collector of First Class menus, I happened to have a copy of the menu off my inbound flight from Seattle. He was aghast at the level of service compared to what he experienced on his Alaska flights.

I only logged a couple of flights in First Class aboard Alaska back in the late seventies and once in the early eighties. Like I say, it was a solid service, but not a spectacular service. I don't recall ever seeing a trolley employed on any of my Alaska flights, but again, I only logged about 15 flights on Alaska in the eighties. I do remember being surprised at seeing a trolley aboard a Delta 727 while flying SEA - ANC back in 1990. Delta even offered us an array of hors d'oeuvres on that flight.

But I digress... as usual. Too many fond memories... I was blessed to fly a lot of spectacular international and domestic First Class services back in the 1980s, but unfortunately it never occurred to me to take pictures of the meals back then. That could be because I had a big, bulky Nikon FG back then, with which it was hard to be as discreet as with a pocket camera or cell phone. Additionally, film was expensive back then I typically shot Ektachrome slides, which had to be mailed off and developed at considerable cost back then. Still, I regret that I don't have at least some photographic evidence of just how elaborate the service was back then. As one who worked in the industry, I was the beneficiary of some truly spectacular flights - flights with service so good that it never felt like an imposition to don slacks, a jacket and tie to join the party - even when it wasn't required.

What a shame that most of those born after 1980 have no real reference to any of this on either a domestic or international level. I had some guy in his forties tell me recently that airline food - especially on international flights - is better today, if only due to technological advances in cooking, storing and reheating it.

While he's certainly entitled to his opinion, I beg to differ. Big time. Aside from cutbacks and simplification of menus (read Hamburgers for the shorts and t-shirt set) however advanced it may be, the equipment in the galley is only as good as the people using it.

Back in the 60s, 70s and 80s, flight attendants - or stewardesses - received comparatively intensive training on the proper way to work the ovens in the galleys and prepare and present the food. Pre-deregulation, the CAB controlled route expansion and fares. As such, one of the best ways for the airlines to differentiate from one another was with their inflight product or soft products. Domestically, these were branded with names like Regal Imperial Service (NW), Ambassador Service (TW), Royal Hawaiian Service (UA) and yes, Gold Coast Service (AS).

In training, there was a real emphasis on proper heating, presentation and service of meals because airlines were often marketing themselves based upon their inflight services. When I was with the original Frontier back in the seventies, we took great pride in our meal service and our stewardess were trained accordingly. Back then, they also had to look good serving our meals, so they had to submit to regular weigh-ins as well. But that's another story...

These days, we hear flight attendants remind us on every flight that their primary purpose is our onboard safety. No mention of service or comfort...

Meal service is secondary. Maybe even tertiary, based upon some of the bumbling and sometimes just plain lackadaisical presentations I've witnessed since deregulation

But enough palaver. In Alaska's case, like all US airlines its meal service has certainly had its ups and downs over the years. Menus occasionally show up, then quickly disappear. Certain services - such as Alaska's popular but short-lived Small Plates service were fun (and filling) while they lasted, but ultimately were deemed either too expensive or impractical or both to maintain.

In any event, I'll do my best to document it photographically in the coming posts. For the 12 of you actually following this thread, more pictures will be posted shortly.