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Snaps from the Alaska Airlines Lounge at SFO

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Here’s what’s inside Alaska Airlines new lounge at SFO Airport

Alaska Airlines debuted its new lounge in Terminal 1 (by Gate B6) at San Francisco International Airport (SFO) this week and we visited for a preview.

This new lounge has 230 seats, a wide variety of seating options, upgraded food and drink options, plenty of charging spots and some welcome bonus extras.

Alaska’s popular lounger chairs are here and they’re lined up in front of floor-to-ceiling windows looking out over the airfield. This is also the first Alaska Airlines lounge to install TalkBox phone booths for private conversations.

The lounge has two barista-staffed coffee stations serving espresso drinks made with San Francisco’s Ritual Coffee, a buffet food section, a bread station, and a candy station with jars of Ghirardelli chocolate square, Jelly Belly jellybeans and multi-colored Oakland Fortune Factory fortune cookies.

Love pancakes? Print them here

Pancake-printing machines are a highlight of all Alaska Airlines lounges. The new SFO Lounge has two!

If the complimentary food items aren’t quite enough for you, there’s also a food-for-purchase menu with pizza, cheeseburgers, chicken tenders, chicken teriyaki potstickers and taters tot or fries.

And of course, there’s a bar serving complimentary local craft brews, West Coast wines, cocktails and creative mocktails, along with premium wines and top-shelf spirits available for purchase.

California’s Long Beach Airport celebrates its centennial with cool posters

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To celebrate its centennial year, California’s Long Beach Airport (LGB) is releasing a series of four vintage-style posters that are sure to be collectible.

The first poster, pictured above, is titled “Early Days of Aviation.” This poster celebrates the early 1900s when Long Beach’s sandy shoreline served as the runway.

In this poster, onlookers are amazed as early aviator Earl S. Daugherty—who later helped establish the Airport—soared through the air in an early Curtiss Flyer Model D.

The second poster, “Historic Terminal,” pays homage to the airport’s historic terminal building, which was completed in 1941.

A City-designated Historic Landmark, the architectural gem was designed by architects William Horace Austin and Kenneth Smith Wing in a Streamline Moderne style.

Poster three was released on Wednesday.

The “Keep ‘Em Flying” poster celebrates Long Beach’s robust aircraft manufacturing history and its significant contributions during World War II. In Long Beach women of all backgrounds became Rosie the Riveters, working around the clock to produce military aircraft such as the B-17 at the Douglas Aircraft Company.

The final poster, “Welcome to Long Beach,” celebrates Long Beach’s unique climate, tourism, and manufacturing industries that now help the city thrive. In this poster, a DC-3 is pictured above beach waves, We’ll post that image when it drops.

Once released, the posters will be available free of charge at the Saturday, July 27 grand reopening and public open house of LGB’s Historic Terminal, which recently underwent a major renovation and restoration.

While we wait for those other posters to be released, here’s a video about the renovation of the history terminal at Long Beach Airport.

CrowdStrike airline waiver policies still in effect – at Delta Air Lines

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There are still some system-wide airline cancelations and delays due to the CrowdStrike IT outage, but many airlines are back on track.

Delta Air Lines, though, is still having major issues getting things back on track.

On its website, Delta says:  

“Delta people worked Monday to get the airline’s complex global operation back on track after cybersecurity vendor CrowdStrike’s faulty Windows update rendered IT systems of companies across the globe inoperable.”

But it will likely take a while.

On a hotel shuttle from San Francisco International Airport yesterday a woman lugged two suitcases into the van, plopped down and returned a call to a friend who had clearly left a “Where ARE you?” message.

“I’m fine, thank you, thanks for checking on me. I’ve been stuck at the airport for two days now and can’t get a flight out on Delta till at least Wednesday. And I can’t switch to another airline. People in the airport are freaked out, so I just decided to find a hotel with a pool and wait it out.”

The airline’s website still has its Global IT Outage Travel Waiver in effect through July 23 for all flights operated by the carrier. It may be extended.

Here’s Delta’s current travel waiver wording:

“A travel waiver, which offers customers the ability to make a one-time change to their itinerary, is in effect. The fare difference for customers will be waived when rebooked travel occurs on or before July 28, in the same cabin of service as originally booked.”

The airline’s unaccompanied minor program is also on hold through at least July 23.

Fresh art at SFO Airport: Rosie the Riveter

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One of the newest SFO Museum exhibitions at San Francisco International Airport (SFO) tells the story of Rosie the Riveter and the accomplishments of more than 16 million women who joined the workforce during the Second World War.

More than sixteen million women were employed at the peak of wartime production in 1944—with over three million in skilled factory positions to support the massive increase in war-related industries. Many of those jobs were in aviation.

Here’s the story of “Rosie the Riveter” from the exhition notes:

The Second World War had a profound impact on working women in American society. After the United States entered the war on December 7, 1941, millions of men left manufacturing jobs for military service and recruiters scoured the country in search of replacements. Women joined the workforce in record numbers and filled industrial positions previously denied to them. Migrating from diverse regions and cultures, women converged on the nation’s industrial centers and quickly learned skills that traditionally took years to master. Popular culture and propaganda launched the legend of “Rosie the Riveter,” the anonymous, bandanna-clad woman in coveralls who produced all manner of wartime equipment on the home front.

Look for Rosie the Riveter: Womanpower in Wartime post-security in Harvey Milk Terminal 1 at San Francisco International Airport through May 11, 2025.

(Images courtesy of SFO Museum)

New artwork honors Amelia Earhart

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Aviation icon Amelia Earhart disappeared over the Pacific Ocean on July 2, 1937 and there is new artwork honoring her life and her achievements.

In Derry, Northern Ireland, the North Carolina street artist Jeks was comissioned to paint a giant mural honoring Earhart on the side of a building at North West Regional College.

Earhart was a surprise visitor to Derry back in 1932, when she set off from Newfoundland, Canada heading to Paris in a bid to claim the title of the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic.

Due to bad weather and technical problems, she landed in family’s field near Derry instead and did indeed claim the title.

Laurie Anderson’s take on Amelia Earhart

Later this summer Laurie Anderson will release ‘Amelia,’ a twenty-two track album inspired by Earhart’s last flight. One cut is out now and Anderson is doing interviews in advance of the album’s release.