Honestly this Alaska Airlines’ inaugural flights to and from Cleveland started poorly, as there was literally nothing special going on in Seattle, other than this really sad signage.



There were zero decorations at the gate, other than that cardboard. There were no Alaska Airlines’ PR staffs mingling with passengers. The gate agent mentioned that it was the inaugural flight when boarding, and if the pilot did not mention anything on pre-departure P/A, I doubted some of the passengers were even aware of the inaugural flight. I did not expect a full-blown celebration, but Alaska Airlines used to be a more proactive in inaugural flights even during Covid-19, when they started the flight to Belize from LAX. So the outbound flight was just like a typical Alaska flight, but I got to sample Premium cabin and some of the fresh food that I pre-booked. I really enjoyed the pre-booking system and the fresh food was good.

Thankfully the return was a bit more celebratory thanks to Cleveland airport staff and even the major of Cleveland was there. There was at least a cake and some cute items for folks to take home. There was a water canon welcome and the gate was in full blown celebratory mode. In hindsight, I should have flown directly into Cleveland the day before and enjoyed the inaugural flight a bit better.

Full album link:
https://photobucket.com/u/Carfield76/a/ ... 92510e4e38

June 15, 2022
AS 216 SEA-CLE Lv0945 Arr1718 Boeing 737 Max 9 N920AK

Gate N12 was our gate this morning, and as I said earlier, there was nothing celebratory going on, except the cardboard noting that this is the first flight to Cleveland.





The flight was scheduled to be operated by Boeing 737-900ER but it was switched to a Boeing 737 Max 9, which was nice. N920AK arrived early from its previous destination.





Spotted Seattle Kraken’s 737 Max 9 – sort of wish that this would be our aircraft for the inaugural flight





The flight was full on both directions and Alaska Airlines definitely made the smart move on starting the Cleveland service during the busy summer season.

It was interesting that I overheard an elderly couple asking the flight attendants if there was any complimentary meal service on this flight, which was pretty interesting given Alaska Airlines has stopped free food service for a long time. The couple than proceeded to buy food.

Boarding began at 9:10am and my upgrade did not clear, which I sort of expected during this inaugural flight. I was happy with the Premium cabin, especially the flight was shorter than normal due to good tailwind.





Premium Class cabin



Feature of the seat – power port and legroom was great for premium class (economy plus/Main cabin extra)




Interesting tray table design



Door was closed early at 9:38am but did not push back till 9:51am as Sea-tac was busy.


We took off from R/W16L at 10:05am for the three hours and forty-one minutes flight to Cleveland. Our cruising altitude is 33,000ft.



At 10:22am, the first cart distributing pre-order food items made its appearance down the aisle and I was impressed with the number of passengers pre-ordering food.

Here is the buy on board menu for all Alaska Airlines’ flight longer than 1100 miles and you must pre-order these fresh food items from two weeks to twenty hours prior to departure. I ordered both the Sunrise Breakfast sandwich and Fresh Start Protein Plate. I love both items and will not hesitate to pre-order them again in the future. I just wish they will lower then threshold to 900 miles, so SEA-LAX will be included in this list of lights with fresh food available.









Sunrise Breakfast Sandwich





Fresh Start Protein Plate






At 10:37am, the first beverage service was offered with Biscoff cookies. JCOCO’s chocolate bars were also distributed at the same time for MVP 75K/100K members too.



At 11:55am, there was a second beverage service.


The flight was really no different from a typical Alaska mid-con flight, and descent soon began at 4:24pm Cleveland time. It was a sunny and hot day in Cleveland, and thanks to a nice tail wind, we landed on R/W24R at 4:46pm.







Finally I finally got the taste of a water canon salute. The pilots actually did not notify the passengers, but I spotted the fire trucks as we taxied into gate C4, which will be Alaska’s new home at Cleveland.





Now I felt that it was an inaugural flight.

AS 330 CLE-SEA Lv1820 Arr2036 Boeing 737 Max 9 N920AK

Gate C4






With our early arrival, I was able to witness some of the return celebration including speeches by Mayor of Cleveland, Justin Bibb, and various leaders from Cleveland business communities.


Ribbon Cutting Ceremony




While there was no full food buffet, there was a cake in display (not for us to eat though LOL) along with various souvenir and candies for passengers to take on board.







Just want to note that the flight attendants started fresh from Cleveland, but both captain and first officer were on my inaugural flight Seattle to Cleveland flight as passengers to take over the flying duty for the return flight.

N920AK at C4





Boarding began at 5:42pm and here was the first class cabin in mood lighting.






Pre-takeoff boxed water


Door was closed early at 6:11pm and we pushed back at 6:20pm.

United still held the turf here.


After this United’s Boeing 777 landed, we took our turn at R/W24R.


Flying time was four hours and thirty-eight minutes with a cruising altitude of 34,000 feet.

Passing Chicago O’Hare Airport


First Class Menu for this return flight – return catering was featured on this roundtrip flight, as no fresh catering was uploaded here in Cleveland.


The service was excellent on the return flight by a F/A, whose name that I forgot to note. I jogged down his name on original flight log, but since I am back here in Hong Kong now, I no longer have access to it now. He just told us that he was the least senior F/A on this flight, despite he was clearly experienced. He felt lucky to be able to bid for this flight successfully.

Beverage and mixed nuts first – they did not load the ramekins for the mixed nuts



Typical Alaska Airlines’ medium haul hot dinner service – all served in one tray – Alaska Airlines perhaps can serve another type of roll. I don’t expect a bread basket but think they can afford to serve a different kind of roll on eastbound/northbound and westbound/southbound flight. The chicken was good and I had it a few times already. I preferred this chicken dish to the risotto, which I did not once choose.







Freshly warmed chocolate chip cookie to end the meal



More food – snack basket made its appearance about two hours prior to arrival
Today’s snack basket features PeaTos Classic Cheese, Chez-It, Kind’s Oats & Honey w/toasted coconut whole grains bar, or Cooper River’s Blueberry Pomegranate Granola Cookie Bake. I chose the Blueberry Pomegranate cookie bake, which I was a fan of.



We began our descend at 7:50pm PST, and landed on R/W16R at 8:12pm. Sadly despite our early arrival, we did not park at our gate till 8:35pm because of congestion in the alley.

Gate D2 – I believe the N920AK continued to Las Vegas that evening.


In conclusion, Covid-19 really changed the aviation world and maybe it was the budget, or the rush nature of the inaugural flights, but Alaska Airlines really tunes down all these inaugural flights. I did not regret taking this trip, and at least Cleveland Airport Authority made it a memorable one. Hopefully when things become more normal in the future, these inaugural flights will be better. For now, I really have to reevaluate on going out of my way to attend these inaugural flights. However, I want to remark on how great the F/As and pilots were on Alaska Airlines. The service in both first and main cabin remained excellent and the service was restored to pre-Pandemic level. It will be nice to have a three-course meal back in first class, but since Cleveland is a non-premium medium haul flight, it will possibly feature a one-course meal anyway.

About the prospect of Cleveland flights, I think Alaska scores a big win, and inaugural flights rarely went 100% full on both inbound and outbound flights. According to various news reports, Alaska does not need to ask for the minimum revenue guarantee provided by Cleveland business community and airport authority. I am sure once Alaska gets more planes and resolve its labor shortage issues, I can see a second daily flight.

I wish Alaska Airlines success on this new Cleveland route, and hopefully my next inaugural flight with Alaska will be a bit more celebratory.

Carfield

Great, detailed and insightful report. Thank you!

I really hope to fly Alaska soon! I keep seeing that they are the one of the better ones. Very impressive even if not much for the inaugural flight. If you think Alaska did bare minimum, you should have been on Southwest I did from MDW to SRQ, not even an announcement that it was a first flight from anyone.