sorry for the bore, but hopefully this will help.

as i am immensely excited to go to alaska, i have other things i have to worry about...like planning my trip to the northwest.

as i was going to minnesota for christmas, i walked straight to the gate and my conversation with the agent went something like this.

"excuse me, how full is the flight"
"it's full"
...
"why, do you want to give up your seat?"
"yeah, actually i do"
"oh, you do, alright thank you"

so the next few minutes he gave me my voucher, bumped me into first class, made my one-stop flights direct flights, and after realizing i was going to be at the airport for a few hours, i asked if i could get some free meal vouchers...he gave me two.

now, i'm panning out details of going to seattle (hopefully with portland and boise in there too). keep your eyes open for more information.