From The Farm to The Emerald City

Good evening folks,

I'm going to be based out of the chilly Seattle area for the next few days, a far cry from warm Palo Alto, as I'm up here visiting family for Thanksgiving. I just wanted to share a little about the best check-in I've ever had at SFO.

The queue at the Alaska Airlines counters was short, with only a couple of people in front of me. There was no one in the first class line so the ground staff attending to the counter waved me over.

"Hi, how are you today?" "Great, and yourself?" "Wonderful, where are you going this morning?" "Seattle." "Last name?" "Lo." "Ah, Andrew. How many bags?" "Just one." "Bring 'er up. You're all set." Quick, efficient, and friendly. After a horrible airport shuttle experience, where the driver didn't know where he was going, this was just what I needed.

I had booked my flight on American, a partner of my home airline, Cathay Pacific, but I was on a codeshare flight with Alaska. I inquired if I could get mileage for the flight, and the ground staff said no. However, after a couple of quick taps on the computer, they verified that Alaska had a mileage partnership with Cathay. My miles for the trip were added quickly and I was on my way.

I thought I was going to be late for my flight, but I was walking to the gate with plenty of time to pick up an issue of Esquire, the Journal, the FT, and have an omelet for breakfast.

Time to the airport: 1 hr 15 mins (normally a 30 minute drive)
Check-in with Alaska: 1 min 30 secs!
Flight from SFO to SEA: 2 hrs (I was asleep for most of it)
The feeling of a great travel experience: Priceless

Thanks for checking in, I'll see you guys in a bit.