Alaska Airlines ????

[cruise junky joan]

thank you too for the info. it is much appreciated. So I guess I shouldn't be looking for that champagne toast to start the flight and of course with the new tsa restrictions we couldn't even bring our own. I am not much of drinker anyway and neither is my husband, I was just really looking forward to the extra room and better food to help pass an 11 hour flight. I don't think Alaska Air even has a lounge in the D.C. airport for us to use but I'm checking on that one. Anyway thanks for the help and if anyone else out the has something to add I would love to hear it. Joan

[AkSusan]

thank you too for the info. it is much appreciated. So I guess I shouldn't be looking for that champagne toast to start the flight and of course with the new tsa restrictions we couldn't even bring our own. I am not much of drinker anyway and neither is my husband, I was just really looking forward to the extra room and better food to help pass an 11 hour flight. I don't think Alaska Air even has a lounge in the D.C. airport for us to use but I'm checking on that one. Anyway thanks for the help and if anyone else out the has something to add I would love to hear it. Joan

 

Joan,

 

They sometimes carry champagne because I've seen people have mimosas, so I'd ask, you just never know.

 

Found the Board Room page that shows the AK Board Room locations plus the ones that are available for when there isn't a AK Board room, they have agreements with their partner airlines to use them. http://www.alaskaair.com/as/www2/Flights/Boardroom/LocationsHours.asp

 

According to the page, looks like Continental and Northwest at National and Northwest at Dulles. Now it does say Board members and their guests, but as a first class ticket you do have access to the AK Board rooms, so let us know what Alaska says.

 

I just bit the bullet and bought a first class ticket from here to Orlando in March. Using miles for a ticket or trying to upgrade just wasn't working out this time, so I finally just said, heck, it's a long trip, so charge it :D

 

Just looked and don't see any agreements for a club at Orlando, oh well, I'll just use the one in Seattle (got a 4 hour layover coming and going). The Board Room in Seattle is very nice. Only been in the one here in Anchorage while it was under construction, but will get to use it on my way to Orlando.

 

Susan in Anchorage :)

[cruise junky joan]

I did some checking of my own and found pretty much all I need to know. the only problem I have now is that my 6'3" son is in a row with restricted leg room. We aren't travelling until next June so I don't think switching their row will be a problem. According to Seatguru we are in good seats coming home but going out they could be better. We don't have any long layovers on our trip but being able to use the boardroom just during the 2 hours you have to kill in the airport to leave will be better than nothing. Thanks again Joan

[AkSusan]

Joan,

 

I'm having the same problem in regards to a seat. I like aisles and they didn't have any so I booked a window, but will go back through my reservation on Alaska Air every so often to see if anything has changed.

 

Happened for me on my last trip, so seats do come open, so just keep checking.

 

Susan in Anchorage :)

[cruise junky joan]

how do you check for open seats without going thru the whole reservation process over again? I tried to find something by starting with my reservation but couldn't figure out how to make it work. Joan

[Gardyloo]

Go to the "View/Change a Reservation" screen at http://www.alaskaair.com, enter your name and confirmation code (six letters) and you will be taken to a screen where you can change seat assignments.

 

One thing (not sure it's mentioned before) but on paid reservations in first class, Alaska grants admission to the Board Room, its club lounge. Drinks, snacks, beer, TVs - often a decent soup or veg chili at the Seattle BR. Nice little perk. If there isn't a Board Room at your boarding airport, ask the counter - they sometimes give reciprocal admission to a partner airline's club.

[cruise junky joan]

Apparently if your reservation is booked with a companion certificate, mine was, you can't make this change on line. I guess I will be calling the airline for a seat change afterall.

[AkSusan]

Joan,

 

Are you talking about the $50 companion ticket you get once a year because you have an Alaskan Airlines VISA card?

 

If that's the case I find it weird because I did one with my Mom in June and when I pulled up the confirmation code, it showed both her and I and I could go in and view and change seats.

 

Another technology mystery.

 

Susan in Anchorage :)

[cruise junky joan]

There's no mystery here Scooby Doo. This was totally operator error, I'm not good with navigating web sites. I went back out again and even though there wasn't a prompt for a seat change where I thought it would be there was an area under the current assigned seats that allowed me to make the changes I wanted. Namely the short hop from Vancouver to Seatle on the prop plane. We were seated near the wing, which I normally like but according to seat guru these would be very loud. I know this is only an hour flight but since it was so easy to change our seats to somewhere reputed to be quieter I did so. I would have liked to have changed our seats for the outbound leg but the seats I wanted were already taken when I booked the flight origonally so I am pretty much stuck there. I plan on checking back periodically to see if maybe the seats may have mysteriously opened up between now and next June. Thanks for the help, it's just me. Joan

[AkSusan]

Glad it worked out. And yes those lovely prop planes can be a bit noisy. I usually take one over to Kodiak and somehow I always forget and get near the wing and I swear I vibrate the whole rest of the day from sitting next to that thing :D

 

Susan in Anchorage :)

[wa.mama]

Whatever airline you choose, I would plan to arrive in Vancouver at least one day prior to the cruise's departure date.

 

Especially with Alaska, be careful with scheduling. They have one of the worst on-time records in the industry and also have a reputation for cancelling flights or changing flight times without recourse. I have been a loyal Alaska customer for 20 plus years, and have seen their customer service and quality decline at a rapid speed over the last 2-3 years. It's very sad, but when traveling I look for punctuality and good customer service, and Alaska has those assets last on their list.

[chargap]

Do you know anything about the shuttles between Seattle airport and Vancouver. We hope to use them for our cruise as it is much cheaper to fly Detroit to Seattle than Toronto to Vancouver.

[Luckysll]

Do you know anything about the shuttles between Seattle airport and Vancouver. We hope to use them for our cruise as it is much cheaper to fly Detroit to Seattle than Toronto to Vancouver.

 

Here's a link to the QuickShuttle, which runs between SeaTac and Vancouver.

 

http://www.quickcoach.com/schedule.htm

 

Just be aware that when the bus gets to the border, you will be required to get off and take all your luggage through Customs, then re-board the bus.

 

You may also want to consider staying in Seattle overnight and taking the Amtrak train to Vancouver. It leaves Seattle quite early in the morning and there is only one train per day. The rest of the trips shown on the Amtrak site for Seattle to Vancouver are by bus, so be sure to pick the right one. Easy to get from the train station in Vancouver to the pier. For the train, you clear Customs in Vancouver, which will probably be a lot faster than at the border.