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A pleasant flight with a nice crew.
I recently took a trip to DC to meet up with my folks for Mother’s Day, and cleared for an upgrade the night before my flight. It’s worth noting that you can’t tell the difference anymore between planes that once were Virgin, and the planes that have always been utilized by Alaska. UNLESS – you use this trick – here’s a hint, boeing vs airbus. I was booked on one of their old planes, and realized I’d never reviewed it in first class.
The Deets:
- When: May 2018
- Where: LAX to DCA
- Cabin: First
- Seat: 4C
Boarding:
Boarding was swift, and since I was in First Class, as soon as those needing assistance and active duty had boarded, I was on the plane. I was pleasantly greeted and offered a bottle of water.
Seat
I was seated in the last row of the cabin, in 4C. If you’ve ever flown first class in the last 15 years, this is a pretty standard seat. No built in IFE, etc. But, there was power, and the WIFI was pretty good – amazingly better than what I experience on an Airbus on the ride home. For whatever that’s worth.
Speaking of IFE…
Each passenger receives a small iPad like device. The selection is very limited. I stand by my claim that American has probably the best library in the sky.
Food:
I had a ginger ale and selected the veggie option. It was….ok. Honestly, I prefer the way that the food is still distributed in economy on the the old Virgin planes to this.
However, the big highlight was the Nancy’s Fancy Gelato. OMG – it was seriously incredible. Big, delicious chunks of cherry. Uh-mazing.
Overall:
A very pleasant flight, with a nice crew. The planes are showing their age, but honestly, I don’t really mind it. Being top tier in the airline I can clear far easier than if I were flying on say American. I’d never clear on this route, nor one to NYC because I don’t spend nearly enough money. My roundtrip was roughly $350 over mother’s day weekend when schools had graduation. I would have cleared on the flight back, but I had a pet with me, and animals can’t fly in First on Alaska’s airbus fleet.
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Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed or approved by any of these entities.
Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card
Welcome Offer
Earn 60,000 bonus points after you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening.
Annual Fee
$95
Points Earned
Transferrable Chase Ultimate Rewards
- 5x on all travel purchased through Chase Travel℠
- 3x on dining, including eligible delivery services for takeout & dining out
- 3x on select streaming services
- 3x on online grocery purchases
- (excluding Target, Walmart and wholesale clubs)
- $50 Annual Chase Travel Hotel Credit via Chase Travel℠
- The begins immediately for new cardmembers and after your account anniversary for existing cardmembers
- 2x on all other travel
- 10% Anniversary Bonus
- Every year you keep the card, your total spend will yield a 10% points bonus. If you spend $10k in a year, you’ll get 1k bonus points
- Chase Sapphire Preferred continues to redeem at 1.25c in the Chase Travel℠ and the slew of other benefits remain in tact including Auto Rental Collision Damage Waiver ( primary ), purchase protections, etc.
- Points are transferrable to 14 Ultimate Rewards partners
- Redeem in Chase Travel℠ for 1.25 cents per point
- No foreign transaction fees
- Suite of Travel and Purchase Coverage
- Auto Rental Collision Damage Waiver is my favorite
- Get complimentary access to DashPass which unlocks $0 delivery fees and lower service fees for a minimum of one year when you activate by December 31, 2027.
- $95 Annual Fee
We keep an up to date spreadsheet that lists the best ever offers: You can find that spreadsheet here.
Historically 80k is a very, very good offer and hit in both 2022 and 2023. In 2021, we saw the offer hit an all time high of 100k. Who knows if that will ever come back.
Main Cast:
Cards that earn flexible points and should be used on the bulk of your purchases.
Supporting Cast:
Cards that earn fixed points in the currency of the airline/hotel and can not be transferred at attractive rates. These cards yield benefits that make it worth keeping, but not necessarily worth putting a lot of your everyday spend on.
The Chase Sapphire Preferred® is exceptional starter card and offers transferrable Ultimate Rewards, and pairs well with other Chase cards.
If you carry this card alongside Chase’s cashback cards like the Chase Freedom Flex® and Chase Freedom Unlimited® or the business versions: Ink Business Cash® , Ink Business Unlimited® you can combine the points into Preferred account and transfer into hotel and airline partners
Annual fee is quite low at $95 a year + you get a 10% anniversary bonus on points + $50 hotel credit in Chase travel.
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