I flew from San Francisco to Tokyo Narita on Alaska Airlines. I was surprised to learn that they operate 737-700 on this route. I assumed we would fly on a larger (widebody) plane. The flight was pretty nice actually. Since they need to load extra fuel for this flight, they have special fuel tanks inside part of the plane which is usually the passenger cabin. So this means there are fewer seats, and in fact there is only a row of 3 on one side of the plane. The other side has fuel. It smells a bit like gasoline and they make a bunch of announcements before the plane takes off, that you can't light matches during the trip. Buy on board snack boxes were a surprise. I thought they would offer a meal on an 11 hour flight.

Direct fligtht to San Francisco. We were comfortably seated at the rear of the aircraft (B747) with standard width seats and good legroom. I have no complaints to make about the staff. The service was rather efficient and quite friendly. We had a tasty meals onboard and sufficient drinks. I think for the price, the service was good enough. The return flight was as good as the first. All in all, United suits my expectations.