After flying American Airlines out to Pittsburgh, I flew Breeze Airways back to Los Angeles in “Ascent” Class, its premium cabin, on an Airbus A220. While the experience was mostly positive, the aircraft was filthy…I don’t think I’ve ever been on a dirtier plane.

Breeze Airways A220 Ascent Class: My First Impressions

My boarding pass said that boarding would begin at 8:53 am for my 9:23 am departure. I showed up at the gate at 8:40 am, hoping to be among the first onboard so I could get some pictures, but found the gate area deserted…boarding had begun more than an hour prior to takeoff and was almost complete.

I asked the agents why my boarding indicated an 8:53 am boarding time, but was told, “Oh, they want us to board early. We always start much earlier than that.”

Good to know…maybe, Breeze, you just reflect the actual boarding time on your boarding pass?

The front-cabin on Breeze used to be called “Nicest” class but is now called Ascent. Breeze uses Airbus A220 aircraft with 2-2 seating in business class (same seat as my Bulgaria Airlines A220 flight last year).

I found the cabin very attractive: soft mood lighting and light colors work very well. The seat itself was also comfortable: I only got up once during the 5.5 hour flight (which took the full 5.5 hours).

While the service was not polished like you might expect in JetBlue Mint Class, the flight attendants were very nice and Tashae, who worked the Ascent cabin, was very attentive. I quite liked the more casual FA uniforms with white tennis shoes…it fits the carrier well.

There are no meals in Ascent Class: just a snack basket and complimentary beverages (including alcoholic beverages). Beverages are served in plastic.

You can also buy a snack box, but this is not included in Ascent Class:

Free high-speed Wi-Fi is available (free for Ascent Class) and it worked very well during the flight.

My ticket was only $311, which is an excellent price for a nonstop transcontinental flight in a business class seat. I’d choose it any day over my AA flight in the opposite direction, which cost $540 and another $28 for Wi-Fi and had a less comfortable seat that did not have USB-C.

Breeze does not appear to do a great job of monetizing the cabin, because it was only booked 7/12 (an eighth passenger, an off-duty FedEx employee, was upgraded just before we took off). It was certainly nice to have the seat next to me open, but I’d think that Breeze could probably sell these seats for some revenue on the day of departure if it tried a little harder.

But there was a problem on the flight…a needless problem, as far as I am concerned. The cabin was filthy.  There was dust, dander, and trash all around the seat: on the tray table, between cushions, in storage areas, and on the floor. Does anyone ever do a deep clean of these aircraft? Apparently not (and I understand why…the flight did a 50-minute turn in LA going back to Pittsburgh…there was no time).

While I would not call it a dealbreaker, the cabin cleanliness was deplorable…such a stupid, penny-wise, pound-foolish mistake.

CONCLUSION

I was glad to try Breeze for the first time and, all things considered, was very thankful that I only paid $300 for a remarkably productive, comfortable flight between PIT and LAX.

There’s actually quite a bit more to share about the flight and I will eventually share a full review, but in short: friendly service, great value, but very dirty cabins…that was my first experience with Breeze.