We returned to the Hawaiian Islands by taking a flight from Seattle to Maui. We’ve been fortunate to experience Alaska Airlines Hawaiian service many times before. However, this was the first flight that we’ve taken on their new First Class product on their Beoing 737-9 Max product. Alaska Airlines offers reliable and frequent service from the mainland to the Hawaiian Islands. Read on to see what the service looks like as they forge ahead with their merger with Hawaiian Airlines.

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Review: Alaska Airlines New First Class B737-9 Max: Seattle Tacoma International Airport – Kahului Maui International Airport

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Today’s flight ended up starting at Vancouver International Airport on a short Alaska Airlines Vancouver – Seattle flight. Since I’ve reviewed that flight many times before, and there is no actually in flight service on the short twenty six minute segment, I won’t review it again.

After a brief lounge visit to the American Express Centurion Lounge – Seattle Tacoma International Airport, we located our connecting gate. We were departing from gate D3, which was located a short walk away from the Centurion Lounge.

Alaska Airlines
AS 805 – First Class (U)
SEA – OGG (Seattle Tacoma International Airport – Kahului Maui International Airport)
December 1, 2024
5:38 PM – 9:52 PM
Booked: Boeing 737-900
Flown: Boeing 737-9 Max

This flight was purchased this flight paying cash. We credited these flights to Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan.

On Board Alaska Airlines First Class:

Our Alaska Airlines First Class flight ended up being on Alaska Airlines new First Class on their Boeing 737-9 Max product. Alaska Airlines files a Boeing 737-900, a Boeing 737-900 ER and a Boeing 737-9 Max product; all of which can be used interchangeably with a similar seat configuration.

Alaska Airlines First Class was configured in a 2 – 2 configuration across four rows of First Class seating. While it is not as comfortable as the United Airlines Polaris First Class product that occasionally flies from the mainland to Honolulu and back, the Alaska Airlines narrowbody product is “as good as it gets” for narrow body aircraft heading to the Hawaiian Islands.

It was completely dark outside by the time we boarded the aircraft, and we settled into some blue electronica lighting.

We located our seats in seats 2D and 2F on the right hand side of the aircraft. There were small wrapped blankets waiting on the seats on our arrival. Despite Alaska Airlines’ announcement of upgraded blankets, these hadn’t entered circulation in early December.

The space of the Alaska Airlines First Class seat itself offers a fairly large amount of leg room, with a class leading 31 – 32 inches of space among domestic carriers.

The new Alaska Airlines First Class seats are slim line seats. The seats are generally more comfortable than the older blue puffy leather seats, as a result of the seats being slightly more contoured to your back and seat.

Since the photos from the actual flight are a little dark, I have some photos from my previous Alaska Airlines First Class Las Vegas – Seattle flight, that do a better job at showing the cabin.

Alaska Airlines New First Class seat consoles and seat pockets have been re-designed and are more modern. Each seat now offers a sturdy retractable foot rest, that seems to be fairing well on Air Canada’s First Class Max 8 product.

In some welcome news, the new Alaska Airlines First Class cabin has eliminated the irritating under the seat box that was found under select seats within it’s first class cabins. There is now much more fulsome room under the front seat to store luggage or purses.

Along with all Boeing 737 products, Alaska Airlines offers individual air nozzles over the seat. This makes for a comfortable ride, with temperature control at your fingertips.

The new Alaska Airlines First Class seat offers in seat Empower with USB – B charging. The plugs are more conveniently located on angles facing the travellers. This is marked improvement from the old power plugs that were facing outwards at the bottom of the centre console, and otherwise harder to see from the passenger seat.

Overall, the new Alaska Airlines First Class seat offers an enhanced mild evolution of their current product. It is not as fancy as a wide body aircraft offering a pod or full flat seat. However, it can easily be argued that most of these aircraft do not fly non stop to the outer Hawaiian Islands, limiting most of their frequencies to Honolulu, Oaho. The new Alaska Airlines First Class seat is about as good as you can expect to get when flying to the Hawaiian Islands from the mainland.

Pre-Departure Services:

It’s a bit hit or miss on whether you get a pre-departure service on Alaska Airlines.

At the time of this flight, the Alaska Airlines flight attendants were under contract negotiations with the airlines. At issue during the contract negotiations was unpaid time prior to the door closing. This technically would make most pre-departure beverage services unpaid.

However, I’m happy to report that todays flight came with a pre-departure beverage choice of water, orange juice or sparkling papaya orange guava (POG). I ended up with the sparking POG, which was a great way to start a flight to Hawaii.

In Flight Entertainment:

Alaska Airlines offers in phone flight entertainment. This is accessed through the Alaska Airlines home page on the wifi sign in screen.

More recently during my travels, I’ve ended up bringing an iPad along as it’s much easier on the eyes than a small iPhone screen.

Alaska Airlines offered a reasonable selection of films available for the trip. There was also a rudimentary flight tracker available, which was more oriented towards checking your location versus any actual entertainment function.

In addition to the free movies, Alaska Airlines offers free messaging and texting, which is a nice addition for those that need to stay connected with friends and family. Alaska Airlines also offers $8 Wi-Fi for those that need to stay connected throughout a flight.

Alaska Airlines has done away with the complimentary tablets previously provided in First Class. If you don’t bring your own device, you’ll be without any video entertainment for the flight.

Departing Seattle:

We had an unannounced thirty minute delay departing Seattle Tacoma International Airport. Before getting underway, we had a pilot announcement that we were expecting fair weather all the way to Seattle, along with a planned cruising altitude of 34,000 feet.

When we were finally underway, we had a reasonably quick departure out of Seattle. While Seattle Tacoma can be known for delays, we didn’t have much of a wait. Our departure tonight was on Runway 16L

We had a south western departure on a direct track towards the Hawaiian Islands.

The Meal: A Dinner

After departing, we climbed to cruise altitude. We had the dinner service start after about one hour. I’m always pretty hungry during flights that depart over meal times. When you add in a short flight delay, it makes even more keen to get the meal service going.

Alaska Airlines offers a First Class meal pre-order on flights over 1,100 miles between two weeks and up to twenty hours before your flight. I always recommend taking advantage of the pre-order. In my experience, Alaska Airlines seems load only enough meals for the cabin. As a result, they frequently run out of your preferred choice by the time they get to the third row.

Several days prior to my flight, I completed the pre-order through the Alaska Airlines app. Alaska Airlines usually offers something interesting on it’s flights, with a varied and engaging menu. It’s easily the better food option between American and United.

I ended up ordering the Maple Chicken, which was a wholesome option designed for comfort food.

Alaska Airlines also offered an in seat back pocket menu that outlined all the drinks and wines on offer.

The wine list featured wines by Airfield Estates from Yakima Valley in Washington State. The spirit menu offered Aviation Gin and Tito’s Handmade Vodka. Alaska Airlines also offered Straightaway canned cocktails, which I found to be quite sweet for my tastes.

Tonights’ dinner service started with a cocktail and beverage service. I ended up ordering a POG and Vodka. My mind had slipped and I should have ordered a POG and Rum. It was served in a properly weighted highball glass without lemons or limes, along with mixed nuts.

My Maple & Herb Marinated Chicken was presented, served with black pepper and thyme jus sauce, served with a creamy potato gratin and roasted brussell sprouts.

The meal was presented with a Hawaiian flower, along with a small kale and couscous salad. Alaska Airlines is a little different than the larger wide body carriers, in that the first / business class meal is presented all at once.

The Maple Chicken was a small dish, although the cut of chicken was dry and a little stringy. I ran out of sauce almost right away and could have used a little more to liven up the meal. The potato gratin was tasty, although the brussel sprouts on their own were fairly unexciting. I tend to find myself eating a lot of chicken flying Alaska Airlnes, and tonight’s flight was no exception.

Dessert was offered after the main course. I was presented a themed coconut macadamia nut dessert. I ended up getting offered another drink, and I switched to a non alcoholic POG.

Overall, I’m usually pretty happy after an Alaska Airlines meal service with my only characteristic complaint is that they are a little light on portion size. Today’s menu managed to keep me filled up on their medium haul Hawaiian service.

While the chicken was pretty good, there were elements to the meal that were not super exciting and almost bland in nature. Despite this, Alaska Airlines remains miles ahead of American Airlines and United Airlines when it comes to their food and beverage program.

After the meal, I settled into a bit of nap time on the way to Hawaii. Since it was dark outside, the cabin remained dark for most of the flight. I was occassionally able to spot the strobes of other aircraft travelling along this corridor, outside of my windows.

The Second Service: Snack Time

At about ninety minutes prior to landing, Alaska Airlines came around with the second service. While one can hope for something substantial, in this case it was just an offering from the snack basket.

Alaska Airlines offers small 25 g bags of Pacific Popcorn or Community Snacks Potato Chips. This was presented with a drink service. I ended up with another POG and Rum.

I’m happy that Alaska Airlines offered a second snack service. Although it wasn’t super substantial, it was better than nothing.

Arriving into Kahului Maui:

At about forty minutes prior to landing, the cabin was prepared for landing. Expecting a long approach, I took the opportunity to use the washroom prior to touching down.

Our approach took us over Kihei towards a landing on runway 2. We had no wait to land and were on the ground before we knew it. We ended up parking at Gate 15 next to a Hawaiian Airlines Boeing 717.

We were among the first ones off the Alaska Airlines flight. As one of the last flights of the day, we wandered through the Maui Kahului International Airport towards baggage claim. The Kahului Airport is a fairly dated facility, but arriving here usually means your vacation is about to start, making the space have positive memories.

We picked up our checked bags, which took just under twenty minutes to be put out. Alaska Airlines has a twenty minute baggage guarantee, although we didn’t have to avail ourselves of this option.

After collecting our bags, we headed to the Maui Car Rental Centre for the collection of our Hertz President’s Circle rental car for the week and our transfer to the Sheraton Maui Resort and Spa for a seven night stay.

My Thoughts on Alaska Airlines New First Class:

While not a completely new product, new Alaska Airlines First Class offered a refined evolution of their first class product. The seats are slightly more comfortable and the food and berage menu is better than it’s competitors.

While Alaska Airlines doesn’t (yet) offer a fully flat product between the mainland and Hawaii, I expect we will see this evolve with their acquisition of Hawaiian Airlines.

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If you travel on Alaska Airlines, is it your first choice when flying to the Hawaiian Airlines ?

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