airline lounges

Snaps from the Alaska Airlines Lounge at SFO

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.

A look at Alaska Airline’s new lounge at SFO

We stopped by the new Alaska Airlines lounge in Terminal 2 at San Fransico International Airport (SFO) to see for ourselves what the space was like.

Sadly, the sourdough toast cart wasn’t open for business during our visit. Instead, we indulged in a made-for-us Americano and treats from the serve-yourself candy bar. There are jars filled with Ghirardelli chocolate, Jelly Belly beans, and fortune cookies from the Oakland Fortune Cookie Factory. We tried them all.   

Besides the great airfield views, the best part of this lounge may be the San Francisco Giants-themed children’s play area. This space has adorable, kid-sized baseball-inspired furniture. There’s a wall of baseball bobbleheads. And an interactive display of different types of pitches.

Alaska Airlines will build a new lounge at SFO Airport.

Courtesy Alaska Airlines

Alaska Airlines plans to build a new 8,500-square-foot top floor lounge in Terminal 2 at San Francisco International Airport (SFO) .

The lounge will offer guests great views of the airport runway activities and of San Francisco Bay. It is expected to open in 2020.

To celebrate the announcement, Alaska Airlines is offering flyers traveling through SFO’s Terminal 2 today (February 20, 2019) a chance to win a free Alaska Lounge membership for the entire year.

To enter, stop by Gate 54B.

Alaska will be offering a demo of the upgraded lounge experience and handing out giveaways. There will also be special appearances by San Francisco Giants mascot Lou Seal and San Jose Sharks mascot S.J. Sharkie.

Travelers who take a picture of themselves enjoying the lounge experience (maybe with one of those mascots) and who then post the picture to Twitter and Instagram will be entered in the contest. (Use the tags @AlaskaAir and the hashtag #MostWestCoast.)

“SFO is our second largest hub with an average of 150,000 passengers flying on a daily basis, and we want to ensure airport visitors can rest, relax and enjoy our wide array of lounge offerings.”  said Annabel Chang, Alaska Airlines’ vice president of the Bay Area.

In addition to a great view, the new lounge will offer guests complimentary fresh food options, including salads, soups and tapas.

The lounge will also offer made-to-order meals available for purchase, including Asparagus and Goat Cheese Omelet with roasted potatoes or a Korean Rice Bowl with steamed vegetables and gochujang sauce.

Alaska Airlines is on a mission to upgrade and expand its lounges.

The Seattle-based carrier opened its first East Coast lounge in April 2018 at JFK International Airport. A new flagship 15,000-square-foot lounge at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport is expected to open in June.

Alaska Airlines opens its first east coast lounge – at JFK

Alaska Airlines has opened it first airport lounge on the East Coast. This one is at John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK) on the mezzanine level of Terminal 7.

I’m hoping to visit this lounge soon, but accordong to Alaska, this lounge features “a living room-esque design” with multiple seating areas, Starbucks-trained baristas, a nice variety of complimentary fresh foods including oatmeal and yogurtbars in the morning, salad and soup in the afternoon and evening, and a wide-selection of microbrews, West Coast wines and signature cocktails.

The Alaska Lounge on the mezzanine level of Terminal 7 at JFK is accessible to Alaska passengers traveling through or out of Terminal 7 who have purchased a day pass, have a lounge membership, or are flying First Class.

United Airlines serving up Olympic super heroes & snacks

United Airlines is super excited about the Winter Olympics and, as the official airline of Team USA, is going all out with stateside celebrations.

On Friday, Feb 9, the airline will be giving out super hero action figures of a half dozen Olympic athletes at seven hub airports: Houston (IAH), Dulles, DEN, LAX, SFO, Newark and O’Hare. Details here.

United will also be serving up Olympics-inspired food and beverage at more than 50 club locations through February 24.

On Friday, February 9,  they’ll be serving a Perfect 10 cocktail made with prosecco and cranberry juice, garnished with blueberries and cranberries and a Super Sundae, made with vanilla ice cream,  strawberries, blueberries and whipped cream.

Through February 24, foods served will include a fruit bar with blueberries, pineapple, blackberries, honeydew and strawberries and a mix-and-match candy bar.

And in addition to specialty cocktails ($5 each) such as the The Rings (Vodka, triple sec, white cranberry juice and simple syrup garnished with lifesavers), on February 24 the menu will include a red, white and blue parfait, made with vanilla yogurt, fresh strawberries, blueberries and a sprinkle of granola.