With the untold number of sights, stops and scenic detours you’ll want to experience during a California road trip, it comes at no surprise how quickly your time budget will run out. While a road trip in a loop fashion may allow you to see more of the Golden State, driving one way along the coast and then boarding a flight, such as the route from San Francisco to Los Angeles, can be a excellent way to return to your starting point if you are running low on time.

On this trip to California, this interstate flight was perfect in order to make the most of the time available to enjoy the road trip. This time, Alaska Airlines was the flight operator from San Francisco International to Los Angeles International.

As this was a very short flight with a very affordable ticket, a meal was not included. However, the option to purchase snacks was available, depending on the length of the flight. These menu items were made available via the in flight magazine and listed snacks, meals and drinks. Though it must be noted that almonds (nuts) were one of the snack options available for on-board purchase, which may be a source of unnecessary stress for those travelling with a nut allergy.

One of the highlights from the menu options was the availability to receiving a gluten free version of the Fruit and Cheese Platter upon request. Additionally, easy to read icons were listed next to “Feel Good” snacks identifying dairy and gluten free options, vegan options and Kosher options.

This is an excellent step by the airline, and one suggestion for this to improve for those travelling with allergies would be to include allergen icon information with the menu items, such as whether they were nut free or soya free. It should be noted however, that nutritional information is made available at AlaskaWiFi.com via the on board WiFi. It is also possible to pre-order meal options via the airline app.

All in all I felt that Alaska Airlines provided a very comfortable and affordable flight, linking San Francisco with Los Angeles in just a couple of hours and there was a range of food and snack options with the opportunity to pre order in advance.