tombiro

That's what the little adapter thing is for so you can a) extend the plug and b) actually have your plug stay in. Forget airplanes, that thing falls out at home.

Seattlenerd

Was on AS 639 yesterday (PHX-SEA) and we had a 737-800 with the new bins, divider and at-seat power.

Liked the new bins (I was in First). Could stack my briefcase on top of the rollaboard, even though I couldn't turn my rollaboard sideways as the graphic inside indicated. I was later told by AS staff onboard that the bins up front in F didn't quite support that configuration, but the ones in back did.

Honestly couldn't figure out where the power was, and I looked. Turns out, in F, it is hidden by the second beverage tray in the center console. Nice to have the power, but I can imagine it would be awkward to use considering where it is (though I certainly wouldn't have any suggestions for an alternative).

AS did a survey of those on board regarding the power and bins. I was generally quite positive for both.

beckoa

^ Glad to hear AS isn't just tossing them out and is looking to keep them in the fleet. Any chance they'll make it on the 73Q's?

Putzy

With the info I have available, I will say no to the combi's having the -800 seats. The total number of -400's to be modded appears to be 16.

beckoa

Wirelessly posted (beckoa's BB: Mozilla/5.0 (BlackBerry; U; BlackBerry 9810; en-US) AppleWebKit/534.11+ (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/7.1.0.694 Mobile Safari/534.11+)

Thanks for the info. Understand AS doesn't want to keep the 73Q long term so this makes sense.

makfan

The FAs will only "allow" you to go to the bathroom when the seatbelt sign is off. However, realistically people are human and sometimes aren't going to be able to hold it if the sign is on a long time. It can be an hour or more from boarding to the sign going off. Most FAs will look the other way except below 10,000 feet when AS typically locks off the lavatories.

I was told by a FA once "Don't ask if it is OK to get up and use the bathroom when the seatbelt sign is on, because I have to tell you it is not OK."

makfan

Sitting on N309AS, a -900 that has been retrofitted, in seat 4D.

No divider at all. Definitely miss that illusion of privacy from the curtain. First thing that happened was the people in row 6 grabbing my seat to get into theirs.

Old bins.

The power boxes in F affect ALL A and F seats. If I can get a picture I will. My neighbor's bag is small so no contention over the middle section. The real issue is that the bar on the aisles seats is farther in towards the seat track, so that section is pretty much worthless for storage.

Still seems like row 2 is best and 3 is next.

mczlaw

Same a/c (N309AS) but I'm in 16A due to my last minute switch so I could get back to PDX to watch Blazers game. Power box is under B and E (middle) seats....power port at downward leaning angle so standard Macbook Air brick not stable in port. Glad I have the extension.

As others have noted seat back "pocket" below is a joke though my little Macbook does fit. Above pocket is hard plastic so inflexible and maybe can hold two magazines (if they're not too thick).

Glad to have power. Trade off in coach suboptimal.

--mcz

tusphotog

The old 900s all had a closet (or bathroom) so that helped quiet F down and add some "privacy." People have been pulling seats on the 800s all the time. It drives me crazy at times because people sure pull themselves up with a LOT of force.

makfan

My travel day went a little sideways as the aircraft I was planning to take back to SEA was late out of Mexico. I had to stand by and return on the same N309AS that I flew down from SEA, but this time in Y. Fortunately even though I was 6 on the list, they cleared 6. The very last middle seat that I was given was next to a couple so they asked if I would mind taking the aisle instead. I sat down before they could change their mind. You definitely have to put most of your stuff in your carryon below the seat due to the minimal seat pocket. I had to pull my bag in and out several times to get something I needed and then put it back when I no longer needed it. I was 4D SEA-LAX and 10D LAX-SEA.

The lavatory situation is unfortunate, and the lack of a curtain exacerbates the contention. I have more sympathy for the Y passengers who come forward after that flight. When the carts came out, I did not even have the slightest urge to use the restroom, but before the carts finally cleared the aisle I was getting a little desperate. I swear it wasn't 15 minutes after clearing the aisle before they did a trash run and then came back with a refill cart. I'm sorry the F people don't like it, but with 26 rows of Y it takes a while for 2 flight attendants to serve everyone and those of us in the first few rows are cut off from the rear lavatories for the a large chunk of the flight.

I did find both seats reasonably comfortable. The F seat approaches the comfort level of the old 400 F seats and is MUCH better than the -800 seats that are being phased out. I like the headrests in both seats a lot. Also, the gap between the aisle and window F seats is much smaller so there is more privacy between rows. ^

Bottom line to me: the seats have some nice features, the power will come in handy (nice to get my phone back to 100% after some calls to try and sort out my delay situation). Storage space will be an issue in some seats, especially if you push the limit on the "personal" item. I think F comfort is pretty good and Y comfort is no worse. Us regulars will have to adjust to the new reality but it is not as bad as I feared after reading some of the posts here.

makfan

Yeah, I try to avoid row 4 for a number of reasons, but sometimes it's row 4 or the bulkhead and I just hate having no foot storage at all.

makfan

I am on N584AS for the final segment of this trip. It is a fairly new -800 aircraft that has the new bins and some sort of plastic or plexiglass cabin divider, but no curtain to discourage coming forward. There is a track above the cabin where a curtain could be installed. New bins are interesting but it requires retraining everyone to try sideways first (not that everyone figured out wheels out, either). When the bins are open they hang low enough to bump your head. Bins over rows 1 and 2 are a little shorter so the sideways doesn't work that well. Life raft above 4A/C.

mczlaw

Mostly agree. OT I admit, but have mixed feelings about the restroom thing. Not having some kind of divider certainly encourages a feeling of excessive democracy and most FA's gave up enforcing any kind of discipline long ago. The cart thing is idiotic. Personally, I'd like to see them do one run, then leave the carts parked. Figuring out a system of cart free follow up orders and garbage detail can't be that difficult, can it? OTOH, it's not that difficult to time the potty run around the carts. Or maybe I'm just jaded and have an elevated sense of when the carts aren't in the aisle and time my lavatory visits accordingly.

--mcz

makfan

Well, as I said I didn't have any sense of needing to go before the carts came out. What I hadn't considered is that because I spent an hour trying to sort out this alternate flight, I hadn't make a restroom stop before boarding - didn't want to leave the gate area in case they called me. It took so long to serve the whole Y cabin that I really had to go and went to the F lavatory eventually.

I flew B6 last month for 3 decently long segments, and I have to admit that tray service for the drink orders is quite nice. I think this is the same way WN does it, and VX has the touch screen order thing. It's funny that two of the airlines that refrain from using carts don't have an F cabin, but this completely solves the "aisle blocked" problem.

One of the things AA does on its 738 flights is have the F flight attendant serve the forward part of the Y cabin on non-meal flights. They do all F drinks and then the FA rolls a cart and starts working Y until they meet. This gets the aisle cleared a lot faster. The downside is some FAs use the cart to serve the F cabin, too, which is a downgrade. I've never seen an AS FA use a cart in F except for digiplayers.

austin_res

I flew AUS-SEA nonstop on Alaska last Friday, in First on the 737-900. The airplane did not have winglets, so probably not a -900ER. The seat had the power ports. No divider between first and coach.

I believe when the FAs are seated then they are not supposed to allow people to use bathrooms, but there have been exceptions:
1) AA flight JFK-AUS, we were sitting in a long line for takeoff and the girl next to me heads to the bathroom. She explains to the FA she can't hold it much longer so the FA talks to the pilot and then lets her proceed to the bathroom.
2) AA flight NRT-DFW, after landing at DFW the pilot stopped the plane and announced "our gate is still occupied". One FA as well as a girl use the bathroom.
3) On several flights, in the final landing phase after all FAs have been instructed to be seated, I have seen people make a bee-line for the bathroom.