Photo by Roadtirement
All scheduled flights by Alaska Airlines were grounded by the FAA “out of an abundance of caution,” the airline said. Wednesday the airline was performing an upgrade to its system that calculates weight and balance when a problem was detected that forced the shutdown order from FAA officials. An hour after the grounding, Alaska determined that the problem had been resolved and the order was lifted, much to the relief of all parties concerned.
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Wingtip and clouds at 35,000 feet
Our Indianapolis to Seattle trip started with an early departure time for Alaska Airlines Flight 501, non-stop to Seattle, which we felt boded well for the rest of our journey. The boarding was easy as we took advantage of the offer to get on early. (Being senior citizens does have benefits.) The flight attendant put my Sleep Apnea machine in the overhead compartment for me, which was helpful as the machine is very heavy.
Our flight took 4 hours and 38 minutes, according to the announcement at the beginning. Sher and I both had books to read stored on our phones. That helped to pass the time, and the one I had was in fact a very good and exciting story. Soon after takeoff the crew began to serve the snacks and drinks. We were at the back of the aircraft’s cabin, so it took a while for the service cart to get to our seats.
The Boeing 737 800/900 is a very long jetliner!
A decent Cabernet Sauvignon from the drink cart
Once we were offered refreshments, we both opted for the red wine offering. At a price of $7.50 we were glad wine was available. As an extra treat, our flight attendant was kind enough to offer us an additional serving at no cost. Wine on board a flight at net $3.75? We’re ok with that!
All in all our first flight with Alaska Airlines was a very pleasant experience from start to finish. We checked our one bag at the counter in Indy and got our boarding passes there. As noted above, boarding was easy. The flight itself was mostly very smooth, only about 5 minutes of “rough weather” was felt. Once we landed and got with our daughter and grandson at the baggage claim we knew we had arrived. Now to start our visit…
Roadtirement 