Tagged: Alaska Airlines

Seats.aero 1

Pro Tool: Seats.aero for Airline Award Availability

As award availability has become harder and harder to find, there is an app to present the data you need without creating 100+ searches with each airline. A former Robinhood Security Engineer, started Seats.aero as a side project. I’ve been using it since March 2023 and have found value in...

Seat 1A 1

Japan Airlines (JAL) Business Class: NRT-SAN B787-8

In May 2022, I was able to secure JAL (Japan Airlines) Business Class on CGK-NRT-SAN for 65,000 Alaska Airlines miles + $73.67 in taxes. It’s much harder to lock in a connecting itinerary via Tokyo on JAL now due to availability and it also costs 100,000 Alaska Airlines miles. I’m...

It works! NFC-powered 0

Alaska Airlines Electronic BagTag

Alaska Airlines is my primary airline and I hold MVP Gold 75K status with them. Late last year (November 2022), I was invited to beta test a new electronic baggage tag for checked luggage. For longer trips, I check a bag so this was a cool new technology to test...

B737 MAX 9 0

Alaska Airlines Premium Class: SFO-HNL B737 MAX 9

At the end of 2021, I was short on qualifying for Alaska MVP 75K Gold so I decided to do a 28 hour trip to Hawaii. I was sitting on some expiring credits due to COVID-19 so the $408 trip was well worth it. I was lucky to be able...

Alaska Lounge SFO 0

Alaska Airlines Lounge SFO

Alaska Airlines recently renovated the old American Airlines Lounge at SFO in Terminal 2 into their own Alaska Airlines Lounge. The grand opening was just a few weeks ago on August 31st, 2021. I was lucky to be able to try it out on a recent trip during an evening...

EWR 0

Inflight WiFi Comparison 2019

It’s now been 11 years since I first started using inflight WiFi. Streaming Netflix with no issues inflight wasn’t possible years ago, but some systems can now handle 50+ Mbps which is plenty of bandwidth to handle HD Video. It’s not always fast or economical so I’ll compare my WiFi...

Cathay Pacific 2

Booking Africa using Miles/Points

Flying to Africa from the US is a long haul so using miles/points to fly in Business or First Class makes a huge difference. There are sweet spots in various airline award charts and I was able to take advantage of 3 of them for an upcoming trip.   Alaska...

Snow 0

How to handle IRROPS due to Weather & Mechanical delays

The winter months are coming here in the US! Over the past 12 months, I’ve had a handful of issues due to irregular operations (IRROPS) while flying around the world. They are never fun, but you have to start thinking quickly as to what your options might be and beat...

Cathay Pacific First Class 0

Booking Cathay Pacific First Class with Alaska Airlines Miles

With the farewell of Virgin America, my points converted to Alaska Airlines miles. I now value Alaska Airlines miles as some of the best miles to earn given their sweet spots on international award redemptions! Alaska Airlines offers Cathay Pacific awards from the US to SE Asia for 50,000 in...

Virgin America Inflight 1

Farewell Virgin America

The merger between Virgin America and Alaska Airlines closed ~15 months ago and now the full takeover by Alaska Airlines will be completed on April 24th, 2018. All airport branding will change over to Alaska as all flight #’s will be Alaska flight #’s plus Virgin America’s website will shutdown....