March 2, 2005
Fairbanks to Anchorage to Seattle
Alaska 148 First Class * Dinner
DC-9-80 N949AS Seat 3A
320p-927p

This day began as so many of my initial departure dates do ~ with a hectic morning of last minute packing, bill paying and errand running. I then bid so long to my friend Tundra Rich and his pet rat “Quarantina” and sped into town to meet my friends Irish Lee and his wife Baggs for a few games of pool followed by lunch at Fairbanks’ premier Thai restaurant, the Thai House. Fairbanks would seem an unlikely place for a Thai restaurant but the city boasts five of them, two of which are outstanding.

After dropping my truck off at the cabin of fellow FTer wheresDG, Lee drove me out to Fairbanks International. A big electronic sign displaying the current time and temperature is mounted at the entrance to the airport. The day was cold, cloudy and windy and the temperature was listed as 11 degrees. Days like this are perfect for jetting off to warm weather destinations!

For elite level members of Alaska’s Mileage Plan or those flying First Class, check in at FAI is always handled quickly and easily. Even the security checkpoint was deserted when I arrived. The agent checking boarding passes and IDs was reading the Fairbanks News Miner Sports section as I arrived and we chatted briefly about spring training and the prospects for his favorite team, the Atlanta Braves. We both agreed they should win their 12th straight division title, especially with the addition of my favorite pitcher from the Oakland A’s, Tim Hudson.

At the gate, I was met by a pleasant surprise in the form of Alaska’s DC-9-80 registered N949AS. Now I realize that most passengers could care less about the aircraft they’re flying upon, so long as it’s airworthy and reasonably comfortable. However, most passengers don’t log their flights. And, amongst those few that do, many don’t record the aircraft registration numbers.

I’ve been logging my flights since I was about eight years old and I’ve been recording the aircraft registration numbers since about my 50th flight, back in 1972. As of this day, I’d logged 3,352 flights for 2,991,990 miles. Over 300 of those flights and almost 200,000 of those miles had come aboard Alaska Airlines. As one might imagine then, I’ve flown on a lot of Alaska Airlines jets. In fact, I’ve flown on almost the entire Alaska fleet.

The significance of N949AS is that it is the last DC-9-80 (or MD-80) that I haven’t yet flown in Alaska’s fleet. After this flight, I’ll have flown them all. Coincidentally, last month I logged a Denver to Seattle flight aboard N764AS, the last of Alaska’s 737-400s that I hadn’t flown.

So, as it now stands, I’ve flown all of Alaska’s 737-400s, all of the DC-9-80s, all but two of the 737-900s and all but four of the 737-200s. Long ago, I’d logged flights aboard every 727-200 in the Alaska fleet. I’ve also flown aboard the sole winglet equipped 737-700 (N619AS) but have yet to fly aboard, much less spot even one of the new 737-800s. Someday…

Following a rather prolonged take off roll, we climbed into the low cloud cover above Fairbanks and were in sunlight only moments later. Unfortunately, everything north of the Alaska Range was socked in, so I reclined my seat, pulled out my book and enjoyed an ice cold MacTarnahan’s Scottish Ale along with the packet of almonds that I’d purchased for this flight.

About 100 miles out of Anchorage, over Trapper Creek, the skies cleared and those of us on the left side of the aircraft were treated to beautiful vistas of the Susitna River drainage and the upper Knik Arm.

Our layover in Anchorage was a short one and so I had just enough time to grab a copy of the Anchorage Daily News and make a couple of quick calls from the gate area before heading back onto the aircraft for the 3 hour 6 minute flight down to Seattle. Dinner would be served on this segment and our 5:00pm departure promised a nice sunset as well.

Although Alaska Airlines hasn’t employed menus on its flights between Anchorage and Seattle since back in the 1970s or earlier, I snagged a copy of the meal manifest from the lead FA and can now present to you the dinner offerings in menu form:


Anchorage to Seattle

DINNER

To Begin
Two bags of peanuts to accompany the beverage of your choice

Salad
Baby Spinach Salad with shaved red onions, chopped eggs and bacon
Presented with Balsamic Vinaigrette

ENTREES

Grilled Chicken Breast with Red Pepper Pesto Sauce
Served with red skinned mashed potatoes with green and yellow zucchini sautéed with thyme

Beef Tender Tip with Demi Glace Sauce
Accompanied by rosemary roasted potatoes with stir-fried broccoli, carrots and red onion

** ***** **

Dessert
Pumpkin Cheesecake




I’ve seen this menu before, just two weeks ago on a Seattle to Chicago flight. I also had it back in September on another Anchorage to Seattle flight. Two tries at the beef have convinced me not to try it again. It’s certainly edible, though not a very good cut of meat. The Red Pepper Pesto Sauce is the real star of the chicken entrée, and thankfully there was still one available when it came my time to order back in row 3.

Upon completion of a most satisfactory meal, I pulled out my trusty laptop and put in some work on this report. I really like Alaska’s First Class seats in the MD-80 fleet. For me at least, they seem to be just the right width and softness. Though not as wide as the seats in Alaska’s older 737-400s, they may still be the widest First Class seats in any MD-80. Now if only Alaska could see fit to give each First Class seat another couple of inches of legroom.

The more I fly domestically, the more I appreciate legroom over most any other aspect of the flight. On most airlines, unless it’s a transcon length flight, the meals are no longer noteworthy. Since I’m not a big 250 lb. or more guy, the width of the seats has never been an issue for me. It’s all about legroom.

On our approach into Seattle, an announcement was made detailing connecting gate information for Alaska’s flight to Miami. No other flights were mentioned, even though Alaska operates a number of late night flights to places like Washington DC, Orlando, Portland and Spokane. Evidently a large number of people off this flight were, like me, heading down to Miami.


March 2, 2005
Seattle to Miami
Alaska 19 First Class * Snack
737-900 N319AS Seat 3A
1015p-651a Flight Time: 5:05


This Miami flight was scheduled for a 10:15pm departure. Regardless of what class I’m traveling in, I have never liked traveling in the middle of the night. Above all else, I really enjoy life under sunny skies rather than starry skies. There’s a reason why I choose window seats over aisle seats and at night that reason is completely negated. Secondly, I enjoy sleeping at night and one simply can’t get a quality sleep on a short five-hour transcon such as this that doesn’t include a bed. Unfortunately, Alaska offers just one flight per day between Seattle and Miami and this is it.

The aircraft for tonight’s flight was a 737-900, the longest derivative of Boeing’s most popular airliner ever. One of the nice things about Alaska’s version is that the First Class seats have a couple more inches of pitch than any other aircraft type in the fleet. If I must fly during the night on Alaska Airlines, I couldn’t have asked for a better aircraft.

Not surprisingly, most of the people seated around me in the First Class cabin were the same ones I’d traveled down from Fairbanks with. One exception was my seatmate who had started his day in Spokane. He explained with a yawn that he’d been up since 4:30am and as such, it was all he could do to keep his eyes open past the safety demonstration. He reclined his seat the moment we became airborne and was still asleep when I awoke about a half-hour out of Miami.

In between all that, I read for a bit and passed on an initial snack offering that included a small bowl of tomato and olive salsa served with a packet of Tropical Sesame Crackers. Soon after that, I fell into a fitful sleep, finally awakened for good by the aroma from the delicious warmed Danishes that accompanied a small plate of sliced melon for the pre-arrival snack service.

We descended through overcast skies and, after a nice landing, taxied through a light rain to our gate out at the end of the E Concourse. I don’t believe I’ve ever been out on the end of this concourse because it required a short train ride to get us over to the main terminal. Perhaps it’s part of the new Miami International Airport? The numerous posters displaying artist renditions of the new South Terminal made the future MIA look quite nice indeed. I have no idea how long it’ll be before all of this terminal construction comes to fruition but it occurred to me as I was walking down to Baggage Claim that if Miami can do it, certainly London Heathrow should be able to as well. Shouldn’t they? Lord knows Terminals 1 and 3 are long overdue for a proper renovation.

After claiming my pack off the baggage carousel, I picked up a rental car and sped off to the nearest Security Patrolled Service Plaza where I reclined the front seat and caught another three hours of quality sleep. When I returned to consciousness, I headed down the turnpike to Florida City where I stopped for lunch at Rosita’s, an excellent if somewhat unpretentious looking Mexican Restaurant that I first discovered in the wake of Hurricane Andrew back in early 1993. Tourists hardly ever go in there and the staff is more than happy to allow me to practice my increasingly rusty Spanish with them.

Later, I drove thirty-eight miles down to Flamingo, located at the very bottom of the Florida Peninsula in Everglades National Park. This is far and away my favorite road in the entire state of Florida and a drive I highly recommend to anyone with an afternoon or a day to spare while visiting South Florida. Even if you were never to see any of the many different species of birds and reptiles that call the park home (an unlikely event), the scenery alone makes the drive well worth the effort.

I made it back to Homestead in time for a quick visit with Bob and Christy and their Australian Red Healer, appropriately named “Stubby”. They’re old friends who used to drive at Denali and are now full time N.P.S. Rangers at Biscayne National Park. They recently returned to Florida after seven years wearing the green and gray at Zion National Park in Utah. They are both naturalists extraordinaire and their love of nature is matched only by their passion for drinking beer. Needless to say, they are thrilled to be back in a place where real beer can be easily bought at most any time of day. They drink more beer than any two people I have ever known and it has been my great pleasure over the past twenty years to join them for many a session on back porches in Denali, Everglades, Zion and Acadia National Parks, not to mention many places in between.

As nice as it would have been to stay the night and help finish of the rest of their beer, I was faced with a 6:15am departure and a long day of travel ahead. They had the next day off and so wouldn’t be hittin’ the sack until late. I’d thought about getting a hotel earlier in the day but decided that $50.00 was just too much money given the amount of time I’d be able to actually stay and enjoy the room. The airport would be noisy until midnight, so that was out too. Instead, I headed back to the Snapper Creek Rest Area, parked in the shadow of a nice big tree, reclined the front seat fully, pulled out my pillow and sleeping bag and slept undisturbed until my alarm went off six hours later at 4:00am. The money I saved tonight I’d put into a nice hotel in Santiago tomorrow night. By the time I hit the road at 4:15am the next morning, I was only 25 minutes away from MIA.