The travel blogs and the FlyerTalk Alaska Airlines forum are still buzzing days later with discussions of Atmos, Alaska's new rewards program, and the new premium Atmos credit card that Alaska has introduced simultaneously.
Most of the buzz is positive, some verging toward ecstatic. Others are skeptical. Most frequent flyers are trying to answer the same eternal question: “How will this work for me?”
We're somewhat optimistic so far, as it appears the revised program has room for retired leisure travelers like us to earn points and status.
Kathy just signed up for the new Atmos credit card, despite its hefty fee, because the benefits appear to be very attractive.
Brian will stick for the moment with the regular Alaska Visa he's held for many years, but may cancel it at some point. That card has actually been one of our least rewarding ones for some years, and we'll see if this new one lives up to expectations.
Amidst all of this excitement, we've set off on an Alaska flight from Seattle to Honolulu on the Friday that opens the Labor Day weekend, taking advantage of Alaska's recent two-for-one Hawaii sale.
We found flights that enabled us to apply our upgrade certificates both ways. Five hours in Alaska's First Class is definitely something to look forward to, especially on our first flight since early July.
We drove to SeaTac early Friday afternoon in heavy Labor Day weekend traffic.
We parked at ShuttlePark 2, the SEA-area parking lot that we generally use. A shuttle bus with only one other customer transferred us promptly to the airport.
We tend to navigate the Seattle-Tacoma International Airport with trepidation these days, finding it in a seemingly continuous round of renovations, making it a minor nightmare to traverse.
The TSA PreCheck line appeared long, but we actually made it through without hassles in a very few minutes.
After that, a visit to an Alaska Lounge is a real treat. Alaska maintains three lovely such refuges in various parts of the Seattle airport, and we managed to hit two of them. Most of the business travelers must have reached home already because today both lounges were quiet and not at all crowded.
We arrived at our gate 40 minutes early for boarding as requested. Then we waited with fairly minimal informational updates while a maintenance crew examined something or other.
We finally boarded about 40 minutes late, but at least it seems we’re going. Apparently there were cancellations earlier today.
Our plane finally departed the gate over an hour late. It was shaping up to be a long night. So what about the flight itself?
Experienced flyers evaluate an airline's hard product and soft product. As defined by Ben at One Mile at a Time, the hard product is essentially everything attached to the plane, from the seats to the lavatories, while the soft product includes the service, food, and drinks.
Ben does point out some gray areas. For example, entertainment screens (Alaska hasn't had them for years) and WiFi might be considered a hard product, while the WiFi and entertainment system performance, which can vary from flight to flight, could be considered a soft product.
We consider Alaska's hard product to be good, although not exceptional. It seems roughly comparable to what we've experienced in United and American first class. We've never flown Delta in first class, considered the best by many frequent flyers.
Where Alaska shines for us is in its soft product, particularly the service provided by its overwhelmingly friendly and attentive flight attendants. This includes a good range of drinks, tasty meals, and a snack basket circulated after the meal. Sometimes a gooey chocolate chip cookie is also served, straight from the warming oven.
The entertainment, accessible through your personal device, makes it easy to pass the time, and we've benefited as T-Mobile subscribers from free WiFi on our flights. Alaska is supposedly converting to free Starlink internet service in 2026.
Our flight attendants tonight are terrific. Despite some bumps, we were served warm snack mix and a very sippable Browne Pinot Grigio to start. A generous pour too!
Later came our preselected entrée, a mushroom and sausage ravioli with a Caprese salad on the side and Browne Cabernet Sauvignon. Delicious!
A warm bread pudding was served later, and our flight attendant brought around a snack basket.
We haven't visited Honolulu since 2022. We've previously used Hawaii23 for a private airport shuttle service, and happily booked them again. While the one-way cost is $43 for two, not including tip, the basic cost for a bus transfer for two is over $50, so it's an easy choice.
Depending on traffic, the driving time between the airport and Honolulu hotels can range from 20 to 40 minutes. With a 10:03 pm HST arrival time (1:00 am our time), our hope was for light traffic. An hour or so later should be even easier, if more tiring.
Our unfortunate driver called us around 10:00 AM Hawaii time to tell us where to meet him.
We broke the news to him that he’d clearly missed the PM on the email and that we were still on I-5 wending our way toward Seattle. We’ll hope all goes well on our arrival.
We've stayed in quite a number of Honolulu hotels over the years, mainly Hilton properties, and we're staying for the first time at the Hilton Garden Inn Waikiki Beach. They offered Lifetime Diamond Kathy a complimentary upgrade to a slightly better room, a pleasing start.
Many experienced travelers claim that Honolulu, Waikiki, and Oahu itself are not the "real Hawaii." We've visited most, but not all, of the islands, and we still enjoy the vibe of Honolulu.
We're looking forward to simply wandering around, and visiting at least a couple of favored dining spots from previous trips. What's not to like about that?
Did our flight land at a decent hour? Was our shuttle driver waiting for us? Did we really get an upgrade at the Hilton Garden Inn Waikiki Beach? We’ll provide an update as circumstances permit. We hope you stay tuned, as the radio announcers used to say back when Hawaii Calls was on the air.
Aloha in the meantime from AS 823.
*Hawaii Calls was the name of a popular radio program broadcast from Waikiki Beach between 1935 and 1975.
No comments:
Post a Comment