Nothing fancy about flying with AA, but I've never had a really bad experience with them.
I can think of a number of things to gripe about traveling with Alaska, but they're all really gripes about air travel in general: cramped seats, ridiculous boarding policies, baggage fees... Oh well, that's just the way things are these days.
When traveling on the West Coast, Alaska has regular flights to just about every major city and many not-so-major ones-- and at reasonable fares. I usually shop for price and nonstops, and this is the airline that often comes out on top.