BOB W

Sadly I doubt that is how it will play out.

Kurt

AS740 LAX-BWI
Nov. 14, 2018
8:35 p.m. - 4:43 a.m.
737-900 - Seat 3B




Pretty good little meal for a redeye: chicken, cheese, tomato and spinach sandwich on ciabatta (served warm), along with "autumn" vegetable soup (lentils, carrots, onions in a vegetable-based broth). Just the right amount of food for that hour of the evening. The Broken Earth cabernet was a nice accompaniment. A cup of black coffee 30 minutes before arrival was much appreciated.

Seat 2A

Date of Flight: November 18, 2018
Flight Number and Route flown: AS 175 MKE-SEA
Time of Departure: 6:50pm
Length of flight: 4 hours
Class of service: First
Meal served: Dinner
Meal Description: Rosemary Chicken Breast. This meal has been written up here before. I post it now for two reasons - MKE-SEA meal service has not been described of late, and presentations vary from one meal to the next. So if you're throwing up your arms in dismay and screaming "NOooooo! Not Rosemary Chicken again!", chill, and look at the bright side. Now you know what's on offer on the MKE-SEA flights this month. Dessert was that lightly crispy, flaky, sweet thing that's been making the rounds over the past month. Not the brownie, the other thing. Nice presentation, moist chicken and good service from the FA. In all, a good meal on a good flight.

sltlyamusd

Was there a dessert?

Seat 2A

Date of Flight: November 19, 2018
Flight Number and Route flown: AS 175 SEA-ANC
Time of Departure: 8:00am
Length of flight: 3 hours
Class of service: First
Meal served: Breakfast
Meal Description: We were offered a choice between a breakfast sandwich and a protein plate. Breakfast sandwich, please. Following a round of smoothies, we were presented a pretty nice sandwich comprised of egg, cheese, sausage and some kind of fruit compote. I'm not a fan of the fruit and egg flavor combo, so I scraped off the fruit and ate that separately. The sandwich - with salt and pepper added - was delicious. No headwinds on the flight today so we pulled into Anchorage thirty minutes early. Another nice flight with the happy face bunch.

Next report will be in three days off my 2000th flight on a 737. Assuming I get upgraded, that is.

Seat 2A

I've adjusted the relevant posting to reflect this.

Seat 2A

For years many of us have experienced exemplary service on our Alaska flights, while at the same time most of us have also experienced a few slackers who can't be bothered to provide a proper service. This is always more notable on a 5+ hour flight such as the OP described above. Don't get me wrong, the majority of Alaska's personnel - be they ground staff of flight crew - do a great job, which only serves to magnify those instances when others fail to do so.

Am I the only one who seems to feel that poor quality service is enabled when management doesn't take adequate steps to address it? Consistently good service starts with good hiring and continues with proper training with clearly outlined expectations (such as all meals will be served course by course on flights longer than 4 hours - unless the passenger requests an expedited service) and finally an effective means of ensuring compliance and the will to do so as required. If management doesn't take more effective steps to ensure compliance by laggardly employees, it is complicit with enabling that poor service. These days, being proactive in this regard is frowned upon however. People may write in to Alaska Listens about lackluster service they received but in all but the most egregious cases I doubt anything is done to address it. As one who's flown over 1.5 million miles with Alaska - mostly in First Class, I've seen enough instances of inconsistent follow through on known service standards to warrant notice, if not concern in the case of some VX employees. Back in the 70s and 80s when I worked in the industry we had "ghost riders" who kept an eye on services. Standards were high, expectations were clear and the overall consistency of service was much better. Additionally, I got the sense flight attendants policed each other back then. These days it seems a lot of people, from management on down to fellow crew members just look the other way when lackluster service rears its ugly head. Perhaps, in addition to the flowery prose employed to describe its First Class service, Alaska should add the following addendum:

Unfortunately, due to shortcomings in the human condition, an employee may occasionally choose to disregard these service standards. We apologize in advance for this, but due to the limited number of these transgressions we ask your forbearance in accepting these instances as they occur.

Kurt

AS377 BWI-SAN
Nov. 17, 2018
6:00 a.m. - 8:50 a.m.
737-900 - Seat 4F



Long day of Alaska flying, but the service was very nice. Light load on this Saturday departure (9 of 16 F seats occupied), so I moved seats and had row 4 all to myself. After takeoff breakfast was served. First was fruit (pears, red grapes, grapefruit and orange) with a pumpkin Greek yogurt dip. Nice fall flavors in the dip. A ciabatta roll/butter was also on the tray. No single-tray service here; the flight attendant remarked that there was no rush on a five-hour flight so the meal was nicely paced.



The main course was a caramelized onion frittata served with bacon and a sweet potato/mushroom/spinach mix. The other choice was the protein plate.



Everything tasted very nice.



After breakfast the snack basket came around a couple of times. The crew was excellent!

Kurt

AS579 SAN-SEA
Nov. 17, 2018
9:50 a.m. - 12:49 p.m.
737-900 - Seat 1B



As I'd already had breakfast, the protein plate sounded better and worked pretty well with wine instead of coffee. The other choice was a breakfast sandwich. Turkey, Beecher's flagship cheese, apples, hard-boiled eggs, cranberries, orange and pita triangles were on the tray, along with plain Greek yogurt. Food quality was good.

Kurt

AS674 SEA-DEN
Nov. 17, 2018
1:45 p.m. - 5:25 p.m.
737-900 - Seat 3D



Same roast beef sandwich as I enjoyed on this flight a month earlier, but it's a nice choice. Quite filling. Roast beef slices on a ciabatta roll, provolone cheese, onions, tomatoes, pickles and spinach leaves. A Seattle Chocolate dark chocolate nugget was dessert and served a bit later.

Eastbay1K

Ah yes it will. More food. Just not more food served to you on your particular flight segment.

PDXPremier

That's got to be the least amount of food I've ever seen on a daytime (non-red eye) trans con....wow, sad.

NoLaGent

AS 674 is SEA-DEN, which makes more sense for the sandwich. Likely a typo.

Kurt

Yes, it is SEA-DEN. Sorry for the typo! Fixed it in the original post.

Kurt

Not to worry - it was SEA-DEN. I did BWI-SAN-SEA-DEN that day.

Folks sure are quick to comment when they think it is something bad or disappointing!