I agree with Gareth re Alaska's service. I recently flew them on the LAS-SEA (739) and PDX-LAS (737) routes and I thought their service was friendly and great and the cabins felt roomy.

Regarding getting to Boeing/Paine Field, it is just under an hour north of Seattle in Everett. I arranged a tour with Gray Line of Seattle via the Expedia website. They picked me up and dropped me back to my hotel and the Gray Line guide is also a Boeing employee and gave some great information on the bus also. After the tour the bus also drove around the entire Boeing facility including the offices and other areas before returning to Seattle.

While you can't take photos during the tour, you can in the visitor center and from the fence. The tour is very worthwhile and takes in the production lines of the 747, 777 and 787.

Thanks for the replies regarding PTVs/IFE, a great help.

1)As a first time traveller to the US, can I ask what the current rules are for carry on luggage (the TSA website is doing my head in!)
*Are you allowed to bring on a small backpack (as you are in Australia), or do you need to pack everything in a clear/see through plastic bag as they were doing after the issues in August 2005?


2)I see that American Airlines are charging $25US for your 1st checked bag for domestic flights, then $35 for a 2nd bag.
*Is AA the only airline that charges you for a 2nd checked bag?


3)Are laptop computers allowed to be packed in checked luggage, or must they be carry-on luggage?


Cheers

Not sure if it's across the board, but I know US charge for checked bags.

But in US's case this can be waived if you have FF status i.e Star Alliance Silver or Gold equivalent or you are connecting onto an international flight with a Star Alliance carrier.

Thanks Grant, I see that AA has the same policy for its FF status partners.
I don't have any significant status with Qantas, but was wanting to gain some extra FF points by chosing to fly with American Airlines.
The extra costs may not be worth the effort.

Jetblue don't charge for first bag and nor to Southwest. I fly with Jetblue every few weels and as others have said above they are very good and economical. You can carry a small back pack.

Alaskan Airlines is fine (although no IFE) - if it was between Alaskan or American I'd go Alaskan for no other reason then Seattle is a hub for them and they have better frequency on the route. VX would have the best product on LAX/SFO to SEA. With regards to Seattle I booked a tour that took in Boeing Factory plus the Aviation Museum (located approx 30mins away at different airports). The museum in particular is fantastic - you can walk through a BA Concorde and ex AF1 B707.

Backpacks are fine - you only need to put your liquids in a clear "quart size" (or 1 litre) bag. The policy with all the airlines I flew with was one piece of hand luggage plus one personal item (which can be a purse or camera case etc). I had a standard cabin bag plus my camera case (which is actually a full-size backpack). Even after several emails to the airlines, they were still very vague about what exactly constitutes a personal item, but finally a Continental rep said that as long as it can go under the seat in front of you, it's ok to take on as a personal item. Just don't try to take a full-size tripod onboard, TSA don't look too kindly on that...

I flew with United, Continental, Delta, Alaska and Virgin America, and they all had charges in place for a 2nd bag. They were all the standard 23kg (50lb) max weight per bag except for Virgin America, which was 32kg (70lb) for the first and 23kg for any additional bag.


I agree completely, the Museum of Flight is awesome. It's located on the south-western portion of Boeing Field (about 45 mins drive from Paine Field, 10-15mins from Seattle Tacoma). Aside from the aircraft on display, there is also a great little observation tower where you can watch all the 787s and 737s on test flights, and the multitude of bizjets - the light is best in the afternoon.

Thanks Gareth.
Looking up the websites for Delta and United and Continential it seems they all charge for even the first cheked bag, but doesn't say if this is included in their final price quote or not?
Here, Qantas clearly states that 23Kgs of checked bags is already part of the final fare, Jetstar and Virgin Blue clearly indicate that you need to select a 'checked bags' option when making a booking.
How does in work in Nth America?

Does CO offer a flight map with this product?
https://www.continental.com/web/en-u...eetstatus.aspx

Sorry Adam, forgot to mention that they charge for both first and second bags. I booked most of my flights through Expedia, so there wasn't an option for checked bags there. There is a discount for checking-in online and paying the bag fee by CC, but it's only a few dollars.

I should also mention that if you fly on a smaller aircraft, be prepared for the cabin crew to request/tell you to put your cabin bag in the hold if there isn't enough room. I was happy to put my normal bag in but had to argue about my back pack - no way am I letting my camera gear get thrown around...

^
Thanks I'll keep that in mind about the smaller aircraft.

I'm also looking at booking through expedia, I assume you have to pay for the checked bags at check-in as most of the airline websites don't seem to give you the option to book checked baggage online (unlike DJ and JQ here)?


My checked baggage will comprise of a suitcase and another backpack loosely fastened to the suitcase.
Sitting on top of one another, these two bags combined are almost the same size of a very large suitcase.
Do they charge by number of bags, or total weight of checked baggage?