03 Jun
ANC-SEA Alaska Airlines 116 First Class
737-990 N309AS Seat 2A
714p–1124p Flight time: 3:15

This trip began at Anchorage’s Glacier Brew House, purveyors of fine ales and hearty camaraderie fueled by the aforementioned ales. There I met fellow FT-er eastwest. As we ordered our first round of beers at the bar, we also encountered a flight attendant for Continental who happened to be sitting nearby and overheard a snippet of airline related conversation. We invited him to join us as we spent the next couple of hours quaffing Pale Ales and IPAs whilst bantering about life on the ground and in the air. Alas, time flew by and as the clock approached 6:00pm I bid my adieus and headed off to Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport.

This would be a quick trip, leaving Anchorage at 7:14pm and arriving back in town tomorrow night around midnight. Hard to believe that only a week ago I was sitting up at 10000 feet at the East Portal of the Moffat Tunnel checking out the huge Union Pacific C44-A60 engines hauling coal trains through the Rockies. With the merger of the SP and the UP, these locomotives are relative newcomers to the Rio Grande’s old “Mainline Through The Rockies”. Last time I was up at the Moffat Tunnel was June 23rd, 1983 to catch the final run of the Rio Grande Zephyr. What a difference a week makes, much less 19 years! But hey, while I’m on an historical bent, twenty five years ago tonight I was once again sitting in Seat 2A aboard a Continental 727-200, fryin’ on Blue Windowpane whilst flying the late night FN/YN service on CO 75 ELP-TUS-PHX-LAX. My hands were making cool patterns as they dripped on the floor upon arrival in LA and though I found this mildly distracting, I made it over to Delta’s gates to connect to a 1:00am L-1011 down to San Diego. The next day, I flew back to LA aboard AA DC-10-10 N110AA, the same bird that crashed two years later at O’Hare, drawing national attention to inherent design deficiencies in the DC-10. (As if the Paris and Buffalo incidents hadn’t been enough). That little trip also included flights aboard an RW DC-9-30, a UA DC-8-30 and a DC-8-61, a WA 727-200, an EA L-1011 and an AS 727-100 doin’ the flight 65 milk run which in those days went SEA-KTN-WRG-PSG-JNU-YAK-CDV-ANC. Ah… those were great times!

http://www.airliners.net/open.file/087555/M/

With no baggage to check in, I headed straight for Alaska’s Boardroom where I received boarding passes reflecting my upgraded First Class seats for both my AS and NW flights. Seat 2A all the way to Houston!

The load was light tonight – four of us up front and perhaps twenty in back. I flew this same flight four weeks ago and the load was even lighter – F 2, Y 4! For some reason, Alaska uses a 737-900 on this flight when it seems a DC-9-15 would do! Still, no complaints as we boarded Boeing’s largest 737 and stretched out.

http://www.airliners.net/open.file/181788/M/

My jacket was quickly hung and a big bottle of water was happily accepted after all the beer that I’d just drunk.

It was a sunny evening in Anchorage though dark clouds hanging over the Chugach Mountains meant a scenic flight down the coast was not likely to be. As we taxied out to the north-south runway, we passed a China Eastern MD-11, two EVA MD-11s and a UPS MD-11! I had no idea UPS had any MD-11s, but the plane looked good in UPS’s brown and gold livery.

http://www.airliners.net/open.file/210280/L/

Dinner tonight was:

To Begin
Romaine leaf salad accented by tomatoes, red peppers and cucumbers.
Herb vinaigrette dressing

Main Course

Fillet Mignon
Topped with bacon and onion gravy and served with Anna Potatoes and Spaghetti Squash

or

Lemon Pepper Shrimp
Presented atop fettucine and accented with a light cream sauce

Dessert
Chocolate Tangerine Cheese Cake

I like shrimp but it always seems that with airline entrees, you never get enough of them. As such, I opted for the fillet mignon.

A glass of Parducci Cabernet Sauvignon was delivered to me along with a couple of packets of honey roasted almonds. This was followed soon after by a tray bearing my salad and a dinner roll. The salad was pretty tasty though I missed the spinach, mushroom and bacon salad from my last dinner on this run. That was one of the better salads I’d ever had aloft!

The guy across from me had ordered shrimp and as his entrée arrived I noticed that sure enough, there looked to be only about four shrimp sitting atop the creamy fettuccine. My fillet mignon was presented soon after and it looked pretty good. Alas, looks can be deceiving. The meat was chewy and the potatoes undercooked. I’m not sure what Anna Potatoes are supposed to be but if tonight’s serving was a reasonable example, Anna wasn’t a very good cook. Even the squash seemed a bit too crisp. Indeed, this meal did not represent the quality of service that Alaska Airlines is known for providing aloft. Ah well, we all have our bad days. I’ve enjoyed for the most part very good service on Alaska over the years so I reckon I’ll just write this dinner off and look forward to my next one on Alaska.

The chocolate-tangerine cheesecake was quite good. It consisted of a layer of orangish-pink tangerine flavored cheesecake atop another layer of chocolate cheesecake with a chocolate graham cracker crust. A small slice of tangerine completed the presentation and I washed it all down with a cup of coffee and Baileys. A delicious ending to a not so delicious dinner.

Descent into SeaTac was a bit rough but we landed smoothly and taxied straight in to Gate D-2. Unfortunately, neither the Boardroom nor the World Club were open so I made my way to the gate for my NW flight to MSP and caught a little sleep before our 1:15am departure.

04 June
SEA-MSP Northwest 586 First Class
757-251 N520US Seat 2A
110a-616a Flight time: 2:42

I dreamt that I was being pursued across the Sonoran Desert by bowlegged Hungarians with trombones. We all rode Shetland ponies. It was good to awake to Minneapolis, grab a cup of Caribou Coffee and await my next flight.

MSP-IAH Northwest 1805 First Class
A319-114 N315NB Seat 2A
702a-955a Flight time: 2:10

I fell asleep almost as soon as I boarded and didn’t awake until somewhere over western Missouri. Breakfast smells filled the cabin. In fact, most everyone aboard was actually just finishing their breakfast. A pretty, middle aged flight attendant came by and asked if I’d like breakfast. Scrambled eggs or cold cereal were the choices. I was a bit surprised that at this point there were any choices left but opted for the eggs and a cup of coffee.

A linen covered tray was presented featuring a good looking fruit plate, a large calorie laden muffin and a warm bagel with cream cheese. The fruit plate was a delicious starter. It consisted of two big slices of cantaloupe, some orange slices and two giant strawberries that were surprisingly flavorful for their size. The scrambled egg entrée was presented in Northwest’s round dish/plate. The eggs were actually moist and were accompanied by roasted potatoes and a thick slice of Canadian bacon. The coffee was hot, too. For a domestic flight of this length, one could hardly ask for a finer breakfast these days. Well done, Northwest!

Upon landing in Houston, I was tempted to see if I could catch the earlier flight back to Minneapolis instead of my scheduled 1:00pm departure. The 11:00a departure was scheduled to be a DC-9-30 but as things turned out the A319 I’d flown in on was operating the earlier flight as well so I decided to stick with my original 100pm flight because I wanted to fly that DC-9. I know that some folks out there aren’t that happy with flying the DC-9-30s but I look at it from a nostalgic standpoint. I’ve enjoyed 171 flights totaling 64,810 miles on the dash 30 (I logged a lot of segments on Allegheny’s Unlimited Mileage Fares back in the early Eighties) and have rarely flown it in First Class. It won’t be long before these planes are relegated to some third world start up carrier so I go out of my way to fly them now while I still can.

http://www.airliners.net/open.file/214222/M/

IAH-MSP Northwest 1810 First Class
DC-9-32 N9343 Seat 2D
100p-343p Flight time: 2:46

The inbound aircraft for this flight arrived at 12:45pm. With a new departure time of 1:10pm, NW’s IAH ground staff did a wonderful imitation of a WN 20-minute turnaround, including loading meals for all 16 of us First Class passengers. We were loading by 1:05p and pushing back from the gate at about 1:15p. First Class was full, Coach was maybe half full. My seatmate had his nose buried in some business papers and ignored me the whole flight except to let me into my seat. He also looked up when I snapped off a picture of the meal but offered no comment when I told him I was doing a comparative study between Nigerian Airways and Northwest meal service. It’s funny how so many people who read these trip reports love to see pictures of the food but are terrified at the prospect of taking a picture of it! I personally could care less what anyone thinks of me based upon this activity. We’ve all seen far worse behavior like people who take their shoes off when they have sweaty feet or morons who chat loudly and incessantly on late night flights, keeping all their fellow passengers awake. Taking pictures of airline food is perfectly legal and offends no one. If some folks think I’m a little strange as a result of this, well, so be it. Me, I’ll have another beer and rewind for the next shot!

Here was the meal worthy of such a shot:

LUNCH

Salad
Fresh garden salad comprised of mesclun greens and variety of veggies.

Entree

Chicken Salad Plate
A cold breaded chicken breast, sliced and artfully arranged around a sliced potato salad accented by capers and green beans

Bread roll

Dessert
Chocolate Cake

I had this meal about a month ago on an LGA-MSP flight. I think this entree makes for a very attractive and classy presentation, served as it is on a large glass salad plate. Best of all, it tasted every bit as good as it looked. I washed it down with a glass of nondescript red wine, followed by a cup of coffee to accompany the cake.

We made a considerable diversion to the west in order to avoid a line of thunderstorms through north central Texas and our flight time of 2 hours 50 minutes may well have set a longevity record for a 1050 mile flight. We finally landed in MSP about a half hour late and I watched with growing interest as we taxied past the E, F and G concourses to park all the way over at the end of the C Concourse. The C Concourse is way over on the opposite side of the airport from NW’s main F and G Concourses. Still, looking on the bright side, the long walk would be a good opportunity to get a little exercise after sitting in airplane seats for the past 15 hours. As well, I’d never visited Northwest’s new World Club located on the C Concourse.

http://www.stoneworld.com/CDA/Articl...,70431,00.html

WOW! In terms of spaciousness, décor and overall ambience, this World Club ranks as one of the finest airline lounges I have ever been in! I loved the layout with dark brown wood and beige sidewalls, fireplaces, potted plants, polished stone floors and lots of big windows! Comparing this lounge with BA’s Concorde Room at Heathrow, of course the Concorde Room wins hands down on amenities and services but on décor and ambience I’d rather spend my time in here any day! I think this lounge is much nicer than NW’s main MSP World Club located at the junction of the F and G Concourses, and that’s not a bad lounge in its own right. Anyone else out there visited this lounge?

At 6:20pm I collected my gear and started off on the long trek over to the F Concourse. I once read that a brick salesman carrying a heavy sample case had estimated the distance between the C and G concourses at a little over 2 miles! Seriously, from the end of the C to the end of the G Concourse is definitely over ˝ mile, probably closer to ľ mile. As for getting to my gate F6, it took me about 10 minutes.

MSP-SEA Northwest 163 First Class
757-251 N528US Seat 3D
658p-845p Flight time: 3:18

This flight was oversold and had I arrived at the gate a bit earlier I likely would’ve been able to snag a voluntary bump. Ah well, I was hungry and looking forward to getting back to the West Coast (The Best Coast) on this sunset dinner flight, my favorite time to fly.

http://www.airliners.net/open.file/213290/M/

I’d selected seat 3D, opting for a window on the right side of the aircraft figuring, correctly as it turned out, that the sun would be setting a bit more to the northwest rather than due west as might be the case at more southerly latitudes.

This was a busy night at MSP and we spent quite some time waiting in line on the taxi way before finally getting airborne at 7:35pm. It was cloudy with a light rain but we quickly cleared the cloud layer and burst into sunshine. Drinks arrived shortly thereafter and I accepted a nicely chilled James Page Amber Lager. James Page is a local Minneapolis based microbrewery and the lager that is offered on Northwest flights apparently won the gold medal at the 1999 Great American Beer Festival. My biggest complaint with most American microbrews is that they are too sweet. This lager was pretty good. Not too sweet. Domestically, my favorite inflight libation is MacTarnahan’s Ale which Alaska serves on some flights out of Seattle.

Dinner this evening was a choice between two entrees: Chicken Pizzoli or Ham and Sweet Potatoes. Both I and my seatmate opted for the chicken and I tried out a glass of Chilean Merlot called La Playa or The Beach, rather an odd name for a winery. One thing noticeably absent from my past few Northwest flights was the hot Oshibori towel service. Those towels were refreshing and Northwest generally did a much better job with them than other domestic carriers. If AA could save $40,000.00 per year by removing the olive from their salads a few years ago, I wonder how much NW is saving by deleting their domestic hot towel service?

The chicken entrée consisted of a breast of chicken served with orzo, broccoli and baby carrots. The orzo had a bit of cheese blended in and was delicious. A round lemon slice garnished the chicken breast. On the side was a small salad consisting of mixed greens, feta cheese, two pear slices and a sprinkling of sliced olives which I carefully removed. There was also an appetizer which consisted of two 6” long strips of beef marinated in a teriyaki type sauce. I’ve had this appetizer before on Northwest and found it quite good. The chicken however could’ve done without the lemon, which made it all taste more like halibut than chicken. Dessert was the ubiquitous ice cream sundae, always a welcome conclusion to any meal aloft. I had mine with chocolate syrup and walnuts. Alas, there was no whipped cream. Baileys and coffee finished off the repast.

Unfortunately, clouds covered most of Montana and Washington depriving me of the most scenic portions of tonight’s flight. Even so, I had a fine time chatting with my seatmate, a computer graphics specialist flying back home after attending her brother’s wedding in Florida. We’d even both been to the Magnoliafest before, a four day jamband and newgrass festival along the Suwanee River that’s been an annual event for me since 1997 except for 1999 when a bunch of us Denali Drivers went to Ireland to sample pubs and lots of Guinness. But I digress.

http://www.magmusic.com

We landed in Seattle to the South and made short work of the taxi over to Northwest’s South Satellite. A shuttle bus delivered those of us connecting to Alaska and Horizon Air flights over to the head of the C Concourse.

SEA-ANC Alaska 129 First Class
737-490 N791AS Seat 2A
1000p-1228p Flight time: 3:12

I arrived at gate D-11 to find my old friend N791AS, for me one of the most popular aircraft in Alaska’s fleet it would seem. This was to be my fifth flight in the past three years on this aircraft for a total of 3,680 miles. Yeah yeah, I know – neurotic as all hell to keep track of this stuff but I am thoroughly incorrigible and totally non-repentant in this regard. Want some more?! This was to be my 104th flight on a 737-400 for 76,810 miles, my 305th flight on Alaska Airlines for 204,020 miles and my 164th time flying the ANC-SEA run, 57 times of which I have flown on Alaska. Overall, this was my 2,845th flight for a total of 2,385,380 miles, and my 1146th flight in First Class for a total of 1,179,430 miles. Total hours flown so far: 5,548 hours, 30 minutes. There’s more. Much more. Imagine being pursued by me across the Sonoran Desert shouting flight statistics at you! No doubt, I’m a guy with too much free time on my hands but no time to be self important.

It was a pretty full flight tonight, totally full in First Class. Given the late hour of our departure, meal service was limited to a cheese and fruit plate. Featured on tonight’s plate was a sizeable hunk of cheddar-jalapeno cheese that was simply exquisite! What a shame to serve it on cheap Townhouse crackers instead of a good cracked wheat or sesame cracker. The June wines advertised in the Alaska Airlines magazine had still not arrived so I settled for another glass of the Parducci’s Cabernet Sauvignon, quite drinkable and tasty by domestic First Class standards.

Arrival in Anchorage was 10 minutes early. My 29 hour trip cost me $22.00 in Airport parking. In all, a nice little excursion down to the Lone Star State that netted me almost 20000 miles. Tomorrow, I have a 240 mile drive back up to Denali followed by a mere 181 mile excursion out to Wonder Lake. The skies are clearing. Life is good.

http://www.ptialaska.net/~rcoghill/d...ept97.big.html

Happy contrails, all.



[This message has been edited by Seat 2A (edited 06-18-2002).]

Great report!

I can't believe you were at IAH and didn't arrange to meet some of the locals!

I've been in that WC in MSP and it is very nice. The only thing I don't like is that the only beer tap I could find was hidden away in the back of the club.

Alas, I only spent about 2 1/2 hours in your fair city. On a Tuesday morning between 1015am and 100pm I figured most of FT's IAH community would be hard at work! Perhaps more to the point, I doubt I've achieved the degree of recognition and/or notoriety within the FT community that would ever cause anyone to drop what they're doing and drive out to IAH to meet with me!

Now here in Central Alaska on the other hand...

Please tell me if this was a mileage run or not?

But of course! Only $299.00 r/t, 18,500 miles. Almost enough for a free ticket. Had I gone through DTW as per my original plans I would have gotten an additional 2000 miles.

The Northwest lounge on C concourse is one of the nicest I have been in. I do believe the only beer tap is in the back. When I was last there I asked the girl working the desk if my flight was oversold. She said it was, I asked to see about getting me the bump, and presto chango, I got a voucher and a free night in MSP.

It was never even announce at the gate.

Three consecutive flights with a flight time of 2:42! Is this your lucky number or what!

Oops! Lemme go back and correct that!

As always, a great report!

Looks like paradise compared to fares in Europe.

As usual - it's worth reading your report!

Another great report! I also used to enjoy flying on NW (actually Republic) DC-9's from YYZ to MSP. My travel patterns have changed so I rarely see NW metal anymore. Thanks for the pictures.

Seat 2A another great report. Thank you for taking the time to share it with us.


[This message has been edited by I LOVE EWR (edited 06-16-2002).]