Sunrise as viewed from the Alaska Airlines Flight 482 in Seattle on a 737-MAX 9 flight, with Mount Rainier and an Amazon Prime cargo jet in the distance. (Brian M. Westbrook Photo)

[Editor’s Note: Brian M. Westbrook is a journalist and longtime member of the Seattle tech community who was the first paying customer aboard Alaska Airlines’ first commercial 737-MAX 9 flight today as part of the Boeing plane’s return to service.] 

For someone who typically flies nearly 100,000 miles a year, leaving early this morning after a year spent largely grounded was eerily foreign, while oddly familiar. As I found my favorite offsite parking location in the pre-dawn hours and walked into a pandemic-pivoted Sea-Tac Airport, I felt both comfortable and safe.

Safety, as expected, was a major theme this morning as I boarded, for my first time, a 737-MAX 9 aircraft. For Alaska Airlines, which recently turned safety into song and dance, today’s departure had a more serious objective: to reassure a flying public the storied Boeing aircraft was safe to fly after being grounded by global regulators for more than 20 months following two separate international crashes that killed 346 people.

First on the plane, the selfie. (Brian M. Westbrook Photo)

As the first airline to bet on the 737 MAX’s return to service, SeaTac, Wash.-based Alaska has thrown its support behind Boeing, its Seattle-area neighbor, which manufactures planes in Everett and Renton, Wash.

“We believe Boeing has made the required, necessary updates,” the airline says.

Read on for a recap of my experience on this morning’s flight.

Today we’re heading to San Diego, one of four flights on my itinerary today, starting with a 6:30am departure. By this evening, I’ll have flown the aircraft’s entire daily itinerary with roundtrips to San Diego and Los Angeles before returning to Seattle.

Daily 737-9 MAX schedule:

  • Alaska 482 – SEA-SAN – 6:30am – 9:10am
  • Alaska 539 – SAN-SEA – 11:45am-2:40pm
  • Alaska 398 – SEA-LAX – 3:55pm-6:36pm
  • Alaska 705 – LAX-SEA – 7:55pm-10:41pm

Following delivery from Boeing of the first 737-9 MAX in January, Alaska Airlines Flight 482 took off from Seattle-Tacoma International airport for the “Entry into Service” flight. Today’s launch comes after more than 50 hours and 19,000 miles of “proving run” flights.

This morning’s pilots were up front for the majority of these test flights. Captain Joe Blunt is Director of Flight Standards at Alaska Airlines and is joined in the right seat as First Officer today by Brian Eyre, the Seattle-based carrier’s fleet captain.

Captain Joe Blunt and First Officer Brian Eyre in the cockpit. (Brian M. Westbrook Photo)

During a pre-flight announcement, Captain Blunt describes the 737-9 MAX as “very planted, very rock solid” and “absolutely wonderful.”

After thanking the employees of Alaska Airlines for their efforts, our pilot describes the importance of fuel efficiency, a key decision in the airline adding 68 Boeing MAX jets between now and 2024.

“We’ll burn 15% less fuel today going to San Diego then we would otherwise. That’s important for our future, it’s important for the environment, and that’s going to take us into the future for Alaska Airlines. Welcome onboard everybody sit back and enjoy the ride, we’ll see you in San Diego,” Blunt says.

Pilots and maintenance technicians will receive special training specific to the new aircraft, including time in Alaska’s own MAX flight simulator before being certified.

Onboard, there are 149 passengers for the two-hour, 27-minute flight to San Diego.

One of the youngest passengers is 13-year old Cooper Bollom. He took his first flight at just two months old. “We flew Redmond to Salt Lake, and then to Minneapolis,” the Bend, Ore., resident recounted as if it were yesterday. Today he has a model aircraft he’s passing around to passengers, crew, and staff of Alaska and Boeing to sign as a memento of today’s flight.

Cooper Bollom with his scale model 737 MAX, signed by fellow passengers. (Brian M. Westbrook Photo)

Among those signing the scale model with tail number N913AK, matching our full-size aircraft, is Bil Douglass, a 39-year Boeing retiree in seat 3D.

“I’m on this inaugural roundtrip to show my confidence in the Boeing Company, Alaska Airlines, and the FAA that the 737 MAX is the safest aircraft in the world,” he says.

Wearing his bright yellow safety jacket, Douglass shares stories of watching Boeing 707, 727, 737 and 757 aircraft roll off the assembly line in the Puget Sound area. He spent his final three decades at the company working on various military programs.

The Boeing 737-MAX 9 at the gate at Sea-Tac Airport. (Brian M. Westbrook Photo)

My seatmate in row 6, retiree James Webber, says he’s not a “geek geek,” but regularly flies weird routes, often just for fun. The Kelwona, B.C. resident flies more than 125,000 miles per year and is not at all worried about the safety of his favorite airline’s newest aircraft.

“It’s probably the most proven aircraft after the grounding,” he shares while sipping on an early morning IPA from GeekWire neighbor Fremont Brewing.

One service not yet available on the airline’s 737-MAX flights? Inflight WiFi. While the airline offers internet on most flights, using either 2Ku satellite service, or the slower land tower-based service, the MAX planes do not yet offer this service. FAA-certification of one feature of the satellite system has delayed the launch of the Gogo-powered service, according to Alaska spokesperson Ray Lane.

The airline made a “strategic decision” to launch the plane on routes such as Seattle and Portland to Southern California, Lane tells GeekWire. The aircraft will avoid transcontinental routes, such as flights to the east coast, where inflight connectivity is most used by passengers.

Inflight WiFi on the airline’s MAX-series jets is expected to be available in September, Lane said.

“We think many customers will be understanding,” he explained, while pointing out that WiFi-based entertainment options such as movies and television shows are available.

For the many employees of the airline, both on the ground and here in the sky, today’s flight is the culmination of many years of effort. Alaska program manager Susan Kostoff spent five years preparing the new aircraft for service. During our chat at the gate in Seattle, before she ducked off to give the cabin one final check before passengers boarded, the proud employee described the approval process, explaining how the FAA was keeping a watchful eye on the first airline certification since the ground order was lifted.

“So excited,” she exclaimed when asked how she felt about today’s flight.

Bobbie Egan, who heads up public relations at Alaska Airlines, shares her own excitement after I board the new plane as the first paying passenger. No longer stashed between the seats, the life jackets are located in an overhead compartment, she explains.

Later, during our pre-departure safety briefing, our flight attendants explain how to operate the compartment in an emergency.

Employee excitement echoed throughout the cabin as self-professed aviation geeks, making up a large portion of today’s passengers, discuss their aviation experiences. In many rows, aviation bloggers, YouTubers and others that follow the airline industry are preparing videos, photos, and updates to post online. (Once we land, that is.)

For those who would prefer not to be disconnected, or prefer not to fly on a 737-MAX, Alaska says they’ll work with passengers to re-accommodate a change to their itinerary without fee. To learn which aircraft type you may be flying on an upcoming trip, click “Details” and “Preview seats” while booking.

A round of applause erupts in the fresh, clean cabin as our two captains land us safely in sunny San Diego. As our flight crew and ground staff prepare the aircraft to return to Seattle, many are refueling in the lounge, and taking advantage of WiFi, preparing themselves for a return trip and another disconnected delight.

One flight down, three more to go!

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