{"id":5383,"date":"2021-04-09T22:59:40","date_gmt":"2021-04-09T14:59:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.huangyizhou.com\/?p=5383"},"modified":"2021-08-13T09:44:01","modified_gmt":"2021-08-13T01:44:01","slug":"20210409as5","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.huangyizhou.com\/index.php\/2021\/04\/09\/20210409as5\/","title":{"rendered":"Flight Log of Alaska Airlines Flight 5 from Washington DC to Los Angeles"},"content":{"rendered":"

April 2021. Lured by surprisingly low air fares, I took a long weekend flying across the continent to Los Angeles visiting Joshua Tree National Park. This is the outbound flight segment where I flew Alaska from Washington Reagan to Los Angeles. The weather\u2019s so great in the mountain states that it turned out to be the most scenic flight I\u2019d ever taken.<\/p>\n

\"Zion<\/a>

<\/br>Overlooking Zion Naitonal Park<\/p><\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

Rocky Mountains, Colorado National Monument, Arches National Park, Canyonlands Naitonal Park, Goblin State Park, Capitol Reef National Park, Zion National Park, Hoover Dam, it’s hard to believe I saw them all on this flight.<\/p>\n

Back in March 2021, when recovery from COVID was still uncertain and people hesitant to travel, the various airlines in United States had been offering great fares. For pretty much anytime before Memorial Day (traditionally off-season for airlines), one-way fare between Washington DC and Los Angeles had been as low as 57 dollars, and that\u2019s with full-service carriers like American and Alaska. <\/p>\n

Me being Alaska\u2019s MVP elite meant I was earning 3466 miles per one-way flight, that came down to a price of 1.64 cents\/mile, which was even lower than how Alaska Airlines sold its miles outright.<\/br>The 57-dollar was Alaska’s saver fare. I had the option to purchase it’s standard 87-dollar fare, which would get me into the upgrade list onto premium and first class. But with saver fare so cheap, that would represent a 50% increase, which I could hardly justify.<\/div>\n

Taking advantage of this lowest trans-con prices that I\u2019d seen from Washington DC, I booked myself two sets of roundtrip flights on Alaska, one in April and one in May. In both cases, I planned to spend a long weekend in the Los Angeles area. Early April should be wildflower time for Joshua Tree National Park, so this time I would be heading east exploring its desert landscape. <\/p>\n

So on the morning of April 9, I took a metro ride to Washington Reagan National Airport. It should be close to normal morning rush hour, but the train was pretty empty with fewer than 5 people per car, a stark contrast to a month later when everything seemed back as normal.<\/p>\n

Once at the airport, I ordered some food from one of the few restaurants that remained open, then headed towards security. While American Airline\u2019s terminal B\/C seemed rather busy with long security lines, terminal B where I would depart from seemed pretty empty. As of 8:30am, AS6 was the only flight waiting for passengers.<\/p>\n

\"Alaska<\/a>

<\/br>Alaska Airlines A320 (N852VA) at Gate<\/br>My plane to Los Angeles.<\/span><\/p><\/div>\n

While Alaska Airlines tended to send it\u2019s few A321neo\u2019s to Reagan National, today\u2019s flight was on a A320. A quick search revealed that one of their A321neo\u2019s had to be taken out of service a few days ago. A few immediate flights were cancelled and for today, Alaska scrambled an A320 for the job.<\/span> This last minute equipment change meant it’s a pretty full flight, but somehow it must be my lucky day as I still got an empty seat next to me.<\/p>\n

\"Boarding<\/a>

<\/br>Boarding Flight to Los Angeles<\/p><\/div>\n

Alaska Airlines 5
\nWashington Reagan National, VA (DCA) \u2013 Los Angeles, CA (LAX)
\nAirbus A320 (N852VA)
\nSeat 30F
\nScheduled Departure – 9:05am
\nActual Departure – 9:13am
\nScheduled Arrival – 11:45am
\nActual Arrival – 11:30am
\n5 hours and 17 minutes<\/p>\n

Here’s GPS tracking:
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