For most people being stuck at the airport is a real drag. Even though I can easily be entertained for a few hours, if I am in one more than 4-5, I will start getting grumpy. Uncomfortable seats, expensive food and no one who seems to give a darn. Unless of course, you have access to an airline’s board room.
I have flown a lot in my life, yet I have had very little experience with airline board rooms. Either not racking up enough miles with one airline or constantly flying airlines that don’t even have a board room. I have always felt they were elite and out of reach for a middle class traveler. I wanted to check out the board room experience inside and out and luckily Alaska Airlines was more than happy to have me.
I learned that although being in the board room feels like an elite experience, you don’t need to be wealthy to experience it. I visited Alaska Airline’s Board Room at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport twice in one week: The first to see what it is like as a passenger and the second, to roll up my sleeves and go behind the scenes to see what it is like to work as a concierge.
reLAX, enjoy some snacks and the view
This experience will be in a three part series with this first introduction looking at boardrooms in general, the second part showing what it is like as a passenger, and concluding with the experience as an employee.
Airport lounges allow passengers to have a first class experience at the airport. Most are airline-owned or shared through an alliance. Many larger and legacy airlines will have lounges all over the world, but most low cost carriers will not provide any.
For the most part the lounges provide a quieter environment for passengers to relax or work, free food and drinks and direct access to top notch customer service. Most airport lounges are restricted to people with yearly or lifetime memberships, elite frequent flyer members or those flying in first class. Some airlines will allow passengers to purchase one-day passes to enjoy all the amenities, but not with a long-term contract.
Alaska Airlines Board Room in Seattle, WA
Now, you don’t need to go through an airline necessarily to access first-class airport service. A while back I took a look at reLAX at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX), which gives you board-room-like service, but it is not attached to any airline. You don’t need VIP mileage status or big bucks to be treated like a rockstar. You just need a few bucks and some extra time at LAX. I checked back in with them and things have been going well. They have seen 50,000 visitors since they opened in December 2008 and are planning to expand to other cities in the near future.
So what is it like to be a VIP and go to the exclusive airport lounge? You are going to have to wait until tomorrow to find out, when I blog about the passenger experience at Alaska Airline’s Board Room!
A Day In The Life Of’¦A Board Room Concierge PART 1 | PART 2 | PART 3 | ALL | PHOTOS
That's me and Starship NC-51 (N514RS) owner Robert Scherer at Oshkosh
The quest continues for getting a flight on a Beechcraft Starship. As stated before, I have been working with Robert Scherer who is the owner of Starship NC-51. When I was at Oshkosh a bit over a week ago, I knew he was going to be there so we arranged to meet.
His Starship wasn’t parked at any of the main display areas, but way on the other side of the field in a hangar. Robert was kind enough to take me over to have a look. How could I say no?
Robert is a true aviation enthusiast and he knows what a rare treat he has and he loves sharing it with other airplane lovers. I felt like a kid going to Disneyland heading over to see the Starship in person. I had already seen amazing planes from around the world at Oshkosh, but this one got me the most excited.
Before we headed over, Robert got word that someone had made his Starship into a paper model. We tracked it down and it is obvious someone spent a lot of work re-creating Robert’s Starship.
Even when the Starship was tucked away in the corner of the hangar, she was beautiful. Luckily I had blog reader, San Jose Airport Commissioner and aviation enthusiast, Ian Kluft there with me to help take some photos. Robert was extremely patient and understanding as we took our time to get inside the cabin and take photos.
Her exterior and interior still look futuristic in my opinion. You can easily tell the plane is something different, something special. We weren’t able to do a flight, but Robert assures me it will happen. We are still looking to fly from Aspen, CO over to Orange, CA and hope to do it in the next month or so.
Robert had the special honor of flying Burt Rutan (the man who designed the Starship and SpaceshipOne, Voyager and many others) from Mojave to Oshkosh, as he has over the past few years. NC-51 is the only Starship that Burt has flown in and what a great way to arrive to Oshkosh.
I can’t wait to listen to those engines start up and fly in an airplane that has helped inspire me since I was a kid!
Boeing recently did a little re-arranging at their Everett facility for the 767 line (check out Boeing’s video). Moving 200-tons of tools is not easy, but neither is making Boeing aircraft. Instead of taking apart the tooling apparatus and re-constructing it, Boeing decided to move it like an old house. Boeing hired an outside team to jack up the apparatus and drive it to its new location.
This move will decrease the number of days to make a Boeing 767 and increase the amount of space available on the production floor. The Boeing 737 and 777 programs completed a similar change a while back. A big change from previous lines is the exit for the line will be in back of the hangars and not the front.
Now, this just leaves the question, “why?” Boeing currently only has three orders for the 767 all from Azerbaijan Airlines, but there are 55 in the backlog waiting to still be built. The 767 was first introduced almost 30 years ago and there have almost been 1000 built. Many see the Boeing 787 as the replacement for the 767, so why put this money into an aging product?
I can only imagine this move is preparing to build the next generation of military tanker using the Boeing 767 frame. I was curious if Boeing would still plan to produce 767’s if they don’t win the tanker bid and I heard back from Leslie Hazzard, with Boeing Commercial Airplanes Communications.
She told me, “We continue to market and sell the 767 and plan to continue building it as long we see customer demand for the airplane. If we win the U.S. Air Force contract for replacement aerial refueling tankers, we will integrate Tanker production with commercial airplane production on an ITAR-compliant production line.”
It looks like Boeing is planning to win the contract and I feel they most likely will. If they don’t win the contact, will there be enough of a need for an updated Boeing 767 and a Boeing 787? That, I am not so sure about.
Beautiful Kenmore Air de Havilland Canada Beaver seaplane (N6781L)
Flying in a seaplane is one of the coolest things I have done. Add in that we were flying over the San Juan Islands on a sunny, yet smokey (bunch of fires from Canada) day and it was amazing. A few months back I had the opportunity to fly around Seattle with Mary Kirby on one of Kenmore Air’s scenic tours, but I wanted to look at the other services that they provide as well.
If you are in the Seattle area, you might have heard of Kenmore Air, but think of them as the “seaplane airline.” Heck, they have that saying posted on a billboard outside their Lake Union terminal and on their shuttle. However, they also fly a fleet of Cessna Caravans with wheels, not floats. The land-based service they market as “Kenmore Air Express” and it provides more options for passengers.
I wanted to take a look at their operation first hand, so worked with them to set up a flight on a Caravan from Boeing Field up north stopping in Orcas Island and dropping me off at Friday Harbor. I was able to enjoy the sunny island weather for a few hours before heading back south on a de Havilland Canada Beaver to Lake Union.
Flying over the San Juans in a Kenmore Air Cessna Caravan with Pilot Tony!
As I have discussed previously, I love flying on small planes. When I wrote up my Horizon Air review raving how much I enjoyed flying on the Q400 turbo props, some questioned how smaller could be better? Flying at 600 feet in a seaplane through the San Juan islands is how! In the Caravan we flew at about 2,500 feet, which is pretty nice too, but lower does give a bit more of a thrill. The Caravans normally fly a bit higher, so if something does go wrong, they have that extra altitude to make it to an airport.
One of the benefits of Kenmore running a dual operation is to provide back up and I got to see it first hand. Kenmore will fly out of Friday Harbor both via the airport and from the local marina. They are only about 15 minutes apart by foot. When I was flying last Thursday, a land-based Caravan from Friday Harbor had a faulty battery. Instead of the passengers being stranded, they were shuttled over to the marina where one of Kenmore’s seaplanes met them and got them on their way.
Kenmore Air Express Cessna Caravan (N426KM) at Boeing Field (BFI)
Kenmore Air also provides a shuttle from Lake Union and Boeing Field down to Seattle-Tacoma International Airport (SEA). They have scheduled seaplane and land-based flights to 28 destinations throughout the Pacific Northwest and up into Canada. They also allow you to rent a charter flight or spend a few extra bucks for an unscheduled stop on a main-line route.
One of my favorite parts of flying Kenmore were the TSA security lines. Oh wait, there weren’t any! No body scanners, no putting your toiletries in plastic bags and no taking off your shoes. Go to the ticket counter, show your ID and you are welcome to hang out in their waiting room. From walking in the front doors at their terminal at Boeing Field to sitting waiting for my flight: 2 minutes. Yea, that is right…two minutes. I showed up 30 minutes before my flight (the suggested amount of time), but got to sit waiting for 28 minutes. They can start giving your seat away if you don’t arrive 15 minutes before departure, but I saw people arriving just minutes before take off; try that flying other airlines (okay really don’t, you will miss your flight).
Kenmore Air de Havilland Canada Beaver seaplane (N6781L) coming in for landing on Lake Union right by Seattle. That darn Canadian fire-haze!
It was very cool to fly on the turbo prop Caravan and compare it to the classic (aka older) Beaver. The Caravan was solid, quiet, newer and quicker. However, I would pick the Beaver any day! It is a beautiful airplane and I never mind a little extra noise for the sake of adventure. If you aren’t quite the enthusiast (or nerd) as I am, don’t worry, they will provide you with a set of ear plugs on the Beavers if you want. I got to sit in the co-pilot seat, but this is not something just reserved for media. Any passenger has the ability to request the seat up front to get a truly unique flying experience.
There were signs on ticket counters and the planes proudly displaying Kenmore’s new relationship with Alaska Airlines. Passengers earn 250 Alaska Airlines miles per flight and can also book Kenmore Air tickets through AlaskaAir.com.
Heck, you don’t need to visit someone to take one of their flights. A seaplane ride up to the San Juans for the day and flying back would make an awesome trip for any airplane enthusiast. Just make sure to bring your camera!
Every year Seattle celebrates Seafair. Parties, parades, hydroplanes, lots of people and of course the Blue Angels.
This year there was a special guest: Boeing 787 Dreamliner ZA003 did two fly-overs.
I wasn’t able to make it, but luckily Liz Matzelle was there to get video of the beautiful Boeing 787 Dreamliner. Yes, it is August and still overcast and raining in Seattle. Normally it is beautiful during Seafair, but this year not so much.
