Lounge Review: Alaska Airlines Board Room (Seattle North Satellite)

Alaska has been hard at work remodeling their Seattle lounges to compete with the likes of the Delta Sky Club and American Express Centurion Lounge, they’ve been aggressively expanding their lounge and addicting additional ones in the airport. While I haven’t been to the brand new main Board Room yet, the newly minted North Satellite Board Room is ready and open. While it’s not the biggest lounge it serves a place to relax for those flights heading out of the North Satellite.

Overall the lounge is quite small and fills up very fast meaning those who don’t have exclusive Alaska Board Room access may be turned away if you’re trying to get into the lounge with a Priority Pass. On this occasion I got in by the seat of my pants.

Check-In

The check-in desk is the first thing that you come to when you enter the frosted glass doors past the busy north satellite. On the day that I visited the lounge it was a very busy Monday morning for flights. The check-in agents were very friendly and offered mints and chocolates that were located on the counter.

I happened to be traveling on an Alaska flight that morning but was only traveling in Premium Class and did not have complement access to the lounge, instead I relied on my Priority Pass from my Chase Sapphire Reserve credit card to get me into the lounge. As we all know Alaska has been turning away Priority Pass holders due to space availability and today was no exception. Only by the polite begging was I able to nab access to the lounge for me and my guest who was traveling with me.

Seating

While we hear the stories of people being turned away from the Alaska Board Room for capacity problems it’s something that has been plaguing the lounges for ages. Before the remodel of the Alaska Board Room there wasn’t very much room available in the lounge and the few times I was able to get in it was packed and difficult to find a seat.

This occasion was no exception, the lounge was packed at 7AM and it took a bit of looking around to find the only seats in the place that could accommodate two people.  It definitely isn’t a big lounge to start out with, the walk ways are narrow and you have to play a game of ‘dodge the patron’ to get around.

There is a healthy assortment of seating including booths, high top tables, couches, and regular table and chairs as well as seating at the full bar.

Food & Beverage

The lounge had a limited assortment of breakfast foods which varied between bread and pastry products, hard boiled eggs, and a selection of yogurt with fruit available. Alaska is known for having a pancake machine in their lounges but it was absent from this lounge which was quite the disappointment.

Along with the food options there was juice, soft drinks, and a all-in-one coffee maker which offered custom coffee-based drinks of your choice prepared for you. I was also surprised that early in the morning the bar was open and serving traditional morning alcoholic drinks.

The drink selection did offer a wide range of choices and for someone not picky like myself I did find something to quench my thirst. I did additionally enjoy that there were to-go cups ready and on hand to keep you going as you make your way to the gate.

Wi-Fi

As with every lounge free wi-fi was available and a bit on the slow side. I was getting very slow loading web pages and any thought of trying to load a large image would have kept you waiting around. While I’ve normally had fairly fast internet available in the lounges that I’ve visited in Seattle I’ll allow it to slide this time as the lounge was at capacity and everyone was on their laptops or phones all connected to the free wi-fi on the busy part of the morning.

Final Thoughts

The main draw for this lounge lies in its convenient placement in the South Satellite. Anyone who has visited the Seattle airport knows that it’s a long walk and train ride to get to them and if your lounge is in the main part of the terminal you’re going to have to leave early to make your gate. While Alaska Airlines has taken over the South Satellite for flights, it makes the lounge a great place to go to if your flight happens to depart from there. If you’re a Priority Pass holder I wouldn’t expect you to have good luck on a busy time to be able to get into the lounge. Space is severely limited and feels quite small, but it has a full food and drink selection that the main lounge offers so it doesn’t give up on any of the services that it provides.