Continuing my two part series of trip reports from my San Diego trip in light of Top Gun Maverick, here’s the second part of the series with my return trip back to Seattle on Flight 323. Spoiler alert, this flight was much better than the previous flight because just like on my flight back from SFO in October, it was in Alaska’s newly refurbished product. And to make it even better it was on Alaska’s A321Neo painted in the “More to Love” scheme. So without further ado, let’s get into why this flight was better.
SAN Airport
Before we arrived at the terminal, my family and I decided to drive by Mirimar to check out the Marine base there to capitalize on the hype towards Top Gun Maverick. Sadly we didn’t see any jets taking off there but it was good to drive by there. Once we arrived at the terminal at San Diego, it was more nice than the terminal I took off from at SEA. First off, our gate was right by a food court where you can get California Pizza Kitchen, Jack in the Box or Peets Coffee. So we decided to get pizza from CPK and it was delicious. After that I decided to do a little planespotting at the terminal as there were plenty of great views of planes taking off and landing including a Japan Airlines 787-8 Dreamliner. Then our plane arrived and low and behold, it was an Alaska Airlines A321Neo in the “More to Love” paint scheme to celebrate the merger with Virgin America in 2016. Once it was time to fly and get into my seat, it was a stark contrast from the previous flight.
The Flight
Unlike the previous flight, I decided to fly in regular economy in seat 17A and it was a relief to see that it was the new hard product that I had on my flight to/from SFO. As Ive said in my SFO-SEA trip report, this seat was very practical with the flap for your tablet as well as a USB port to charge your device right next to the flap. As for the A321Neo itself, let me say that the A320 series of aircraft are the quietest planes I’ve ever been on. I am really going to miss the Airbuses in Alaska’s fleet once they retire the type. Not getting over my Top Gun craving, during the flight, I decided to watch the scenery go by just listening to the Top Gun soundtrack on my IPod as I waited for the inflight service to begin.
The inflight service was as expected from a flight of a duration like this. They offered pretzels along with a selection of alcoholic and nonalcoholic beverages. A part of me does miss having the fruit and cheese plate offered in economy for this flight, which they would offer in pre-pandemic times. Hopefully when more people start getting into the air, Alaska will make that change in the near future. The service while still being good, wasn’t as attentive and personable as it was on previous flights I had with Alaska. The crew seemed tired and were ready for the flight to end. But hey, it happens and considering that these flight attendants went through a lot the past few years, I can’t say that I blame them.
Unfortunately, this flight had to come to an end but the descent into Seattle was great considering the winds were coming out of the south, we were able to fly over DT Seattle along with The Museum of Flight. It’s cool seeing the museum from a different perspective as to when I volunteer and see all the planes coming in and now I was a part of the countless flights coming into Jet City.
Final Verdict
This was a great trip back home to the Pacific Northwest and the ability to travel again I will never take for granted. Going back to the subjective “Jamscore” here’s how I rate it.
Terminal: The terminal at SAN was beautiful with plenty of food choices and great views of all the planes taking off. Take notes Seattle! (5/5)
Seat: Similar to the A320 I took to SFO, it has all the bells and whistles that I expect from Alaska. (5/5)
Food/Drink: I feel like on this flight, the lack of food options are starting to get annoying at this point. I would have liked it if Alaska offered their fruit and cheese platter for all passengers and not just in first class. (3.5/5)
Crew: While they were polite per usual, I felt like this crew wasn’t as personable and I got a sense of fatigue from them. But as long as they treated me with respect, it’s not a dealbreaker for me. (4/5)
That makes my overall score for my return flight to Seattle a 17.5 out of 20. But what do you guys think about economy on Alaska? Should they improve on their food choices as more people are getting back in the air again? Be sure to let me know in the comments below and keep looking to the sky!