A Horseback Ride Might Have Been Quicker

We've always had a soft spot for Alaska Airlines. They seem slightly exotic and yet local all at the same time.

But the recent Times story on Alaska's lackluster, lagging performance of late made us realize that we were not alone in our recent Alaska Airlines travel nightmare. According to the Times,

Alaska Airlines ranked as the worst airline in the nation for on-time arrivals and departures during May, according to a new federal report. Alaska Airlines planes left or arrived on schedule only 59 percent of the time during May. Over the previous 12 months ending in May, Alaska Airlines ranked next to last for on-time performance, the report said. Among the worst routes nationwide for timeliness in May was Alaska Airlines flight 519 from Los Angeles to Seattle — it was late 87 percent of the time. That score ranked it the third most-frequently delayed flight out of the thousands offered by the 20 airlines surveyed. Alaska Airlines tied for the second-worst record for canceled flights.

In our case, we arrived at SeaTac an hour before our 2:41 pm flight to San Jose. We were on a business trip and were to arrive in California at 4:45; our compadre was taking a later flight, due in at 11:15. The board showed that our departure was delayed until 4:45 pm. Once we boarded, the captain told us that the delay was due not to air traffic control or the weather, but due to the plane initially leaving Burbank 40 minutes late.

The plane was incredibly hot, but we were assured by the flight attendants that the a/c would come on with the engines. No dice. The captain came on the PA to tell us that he has "flown for thirty years" and that the lack of air is no cause for alarm. Off we go.

Forty-five minutes into the flight, there's still no air and we haven't reached altitude. U-turn. The captain apologizes. Most passengers were stoicly fanning themselves with barf bags or complaining quietly about the heat; Seattlest was busy trying to figure out how we'd all have air to breathe if nothing was coming in.

Back at SeaTac, we grabbed dinner and met up with our compadre, there for the later flight. At the gate, ready for our new 9 pm departure time, the gate agents cheerfully announced that we had all been switched to a larger plane and would have "lots of room to stretch out." We turned to our compadre and said, "hey, why not get on our flight?" No dice: federal regulations. Once on board, the flight attendants raffled off the newly extra first-class seats while we text'd that news to our irritated friend on the ground.

We rolled into San Jose a little before midnight, approximately six hours late on a two-hour flight. The guy at Dollar Rental Car must have sensed our day had already been ridiculous because he "upgraded" us to a Chrysler 300.

Alaska Airlines: love 'em/hate 'em? On time or six hours late? Let us know.