Alaska Airlines

Travel Tidbits from Alaska Airlines and Virgin Atlantic

Entertainment, Uncategorized, , , ,

Here is are some travel tidibts from Alaska Airlines, Virgin Atlantic and Aer Lingus

VR on Alaska Airlines

First Class passengers flying Alaska Airlines on two routes – Seattle-Boston and Boston-San Diego – will be able to test out virtual reality headsets for inflight entertaiment.

The Seattle-based carrier will be piloting SkyLights’ new Allosky Cinematic VR with a selection of 2D and 3D movie titles such as Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, Spielberg’s Ready Play One in 3D and the kids title, Ferdinand.

360° films subjects will showcase freediving, classical music and acrobatics.

Virgin Atlantic and Aviation Gin

Virgin Atlantic announces today its that it will begin serving Aviation American Gin in its clubhouses and on its planes.  The gin is owned by actor and producer, Ryan Reynolds and batch-made by House Spirtis Distllery in Portland, OR.

To kick off the partnership, on September 30 some passengers on board Virgin Atlantic flights will be served cocktails mixed up by bartenders from some of the world’s super “in” bars, such as The Dead Rabbit in New York and Smugglers Cove in San Francisco.

Here’s a video Sir Richard Branson and Ryan Reynolds made to promote the partnership.

Not flying Virgin Atlantic? House Spirits Distillery  has a tasting room at Portland International Airport.

https://twitter.com/AviationGin/status/1042161673178628097

 

Alaska Airline’s new Russell Wilson plane

Sports, , ,

Football season is starting and Seattle-based Alaska Airlines has unveiled a plane bearing a fresh image of Seattle Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson.

 

https://youtu.be/U4-Oy8rM478

The Boeing 737-800 has Wilson‘s tagline, “Dream Big. Fly High,” above the door.

In celebration of the Seahawks season opener against the Denver Broncos this Sunday, passengers flying on the plane to Denver on Friday, Sept. 7, will be treated to a tailgate party with food, a live DJ and a photo-booth. 

Better yet, during the football season, Alaska Airlines will once again be granted early boarding privileges to passengers wearing a Russell Wilson jersey (#3) on all Seattle-departing flights.

 

 

Alaska Airlines put NBA star Kevin Durant’s image on a plane

liveries, Sports, , , ,

Courtesy Alaska Airlines

Basketball fans will want to keep an eye out for Alaska Airlines’ new specially decaled 737-900ER aircraft featuring the likeness of Kevin Durant of the Golden State Warriors.

The design is made up of more than 34 giant decal pieces and covers approximately 560 square feet across the fuselage and, according to Alaska Airlines, it took six mechanics and electrical technicians 144 hours to complete this special installation.

Courtesy Alaska Airlines

Why Durant? He teamed up with Alaska Airlines last September to support the airline’s youth and education programs in the Bay Area.

 

The last (plastic) straw for Alaska Airlines

Environment, Food, , ,

Courtesy Alaska Airlines 

Earth Day  – which this year highlighted Lonely Whale’s “For a Strawless Ocean” campaign to get people and companies to stop using plastic straws – has come and gone. But the earth still needs our help.

So it’s good to know that Alaska Airlines has jumped on the No Straws bandwagon. Starting July 16 the carrier will stop serving single-use, non-recyclable, plastic stir straws and citrus picks with drinks and will replace them with sustainable alternatives in its airport lounges and on all domestic and international commercial flights.

What’s wrong with plastic straws?  They non-recyclalbe and if they end up on the oceans, they can kill  birds and other marine life.

In 2017, Alaska Airlines handed out 22 million plastic stir straws and citrus picks. This summer, they’ll instead start using Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certified white birch stir sticks and a bamboo alternative for the citrus pick. People with special needs will be able to request non-plastic, marine-friendly straws.

Alaska Airlines has a good history of being eco-conscious.

Since it started tracking its recycling efforts in 2010, the airline says it has reduced passenger waste going to landfills by 54 percent.

The Seattle-based carrier has also replaced bottled beer with aluminum cans -which are lighter and easier to recycle and introducted a policy to refill plastic cups rather than offering a new cup for every round of beverage service.

“Building on our grassroots, employee-led recycling program, we’re thrilled to take the next step to protecting our land and oceans by removing single-use non-recyclable plastic straws from our planes,” said Jacqueline Drumheller, sustainability manager for Alaska Airlines, in a statement.

Let’s see if other airines join the no-straw party.

Alaska Airlines’ new Incredibles 2-themed plane

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(Courtesy Alaska Airlines)

Disney•Pixar’s Incredibles 2 film is due out on June 15 and in anticipation Alaska Airlines unveiled a special-edition plane featuring the “Supers” at the carrier’s hangar in Seattle.

The 737-800 features the Parr family—Bob, Helen, Violet, Dash and baby Jack-Jack—across the fuselage, wearing their ‘Incredibles’ super outfits. An Incredibles 2 logo greets passengers as they board and an image of the raccoon from the film, Jack-Jack’s nemesis, will be visible to passengers seated over the wings.

The plane – with tail number N519AS – will start flying throughout Alaska’s route network starting on Sunday.

Here’s a video of how they painted the plane:

Alaska Airlines opens its first east coast lounge – at JFK

Lounges, ,

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.

The end is near for separation between Virgin America & Alaska Airlines

Air Travel, Airline policies, Airlines,

The end is near. For most all outward appearances of Virgin America.

Alaska Airlines, which has spent the past 18 months folding Virgin America into Alaska’s operations, wrote to customers yesterday to let them know that, starting April 25:

  • There will be only one website (alaskaair.com) for all check-ins.
  • There will be only only mobile app (Alaska’s).
  • There will be one call center (Alaska’s).
  • And there we be only Alaska flight numbers.

At the airport, all check-ins for flights operated by the company will take place at Alaska’s ticket counters and kiosks.

The final switchover will take place on the night of April 24, says Alaska:

“We’ll complete physical changes at 29 airports around the U.S. and Mexico that are served by both Alaska and Virgin America. The only branding and signage will now be for Alaska Airlines. Signs and screens will all change to Alaska branding at curbside locations, lobbies, ticket counters, gates and baggage areas. While there will be some Virgin America painted aircraft still flying for a period of time after April 25, tickets will be sold only under the Alaska name.”

Alaska Airlines expands its Wine Flies Free program

Free Stuff, ,

Here’s good news for wine lovers: Alaska Airlines has expanded its popular Wine Flies Free program, which allows the carrier’s Mileage Plan members to check a case of wine – 12 bottles – for free.

The program includes domestic flights on Alaska Airlines, Horizon Air and Skywest flights from the cities listed below, but does not include Virgin America flights until May 2018.

In Washington: Bellingham, Pasco, Pullman, Seattle, Spokane, Walla Walla, Wenatchee, and Yakima

In Oregon:  Eugene, Medford, Portland, and Redmond

In Idaho: Boise and Lewiston

And in California: Burbank, Fresno, Los Angeles, Monterey, Oakland, Ontario, Orange County, Palm Springs, Sacramento, San Diego, San Francisco, San Jose, San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, and Sonoma

In addition to allowing passengers to check a case of wine for free, Alaska’s Wine Flies Free program has another valuable perk: the wine-tasting fee charged by many wineries in Oregon and Washington will be waived for those who show their Alaska Airlines boarding pass.

Details on the Oregon Wines Fly Free are here. 

In Washington wine country, not only do many wineries offer free tastings to Alaska Airlines customers who show their boarding passes, under the Wine Flies Free program Hertz rental car will waive the drop off fee, so travelers can pick up a car in one city, travel through wine country tasting and buying wine, and then drop the car off in another city. Details are here.

So drink up!

 

 

Blame Trump: Alaska Airlines to drop its LA – Havana flights

Flights,

Blame it on Donald Trump’s Cuba policy:

Today Alaska Airlines announced that  – effective January 22, 2018 – it will be canceling its daily flight between Los Angeles and Havana, Cuba.

The Seattle-based airline began offering the flight on January 5 of this year.

According to the airline, about 80 percent of the passengers who flew to Havana on Alaska Airlines visited under a U.S. allowance for individual “people-to-people” educational travel.

Last week, changes to U.S. policy eliminated that category of Cuba travel and, as a result, the airline said it will redeploy the aircraft and other resources it had been devoting to the Havana route to other markets instead.

“Travel is about making connections, and we were honored to have played a role in helping people make personal connections by traveling between the U.S. and Cuba,” said Andrew Harrison, chief commercial officer for Alaska Airlines, in a statement, “We continually evaluate every route we fly to ensure we have the right number of seats to match the number of people who want to go there.”

Other airlines may announce service cancellations in response to the most recent restrictions placed on Cuba, but even before this JetBlue, American, Southwest had trimmed their Cuba service, while Frontier, Spirit and Silver Airways had dropped Cuba service completely.

 

 

 

 

 

Eclipse from the air

Astronomy, , ,

I had the great fortune to be able to join Alaska Airlines on a special flight eclipse flight that left Portland International Airport Monday morning and headed west over the Pacific Ocean to catch a glimpse of the eclipse 15 minutes before it hit land.

Alaska’s charter Flight #9671 left Oregon’s Portland International Airport before 7:30 a.m. Pacific Time and headed west for two hours out over the Pacific Ocean with an invited guest list of astronomy enthusiasts, eclipse-chasers, a NASA astronaut, and social media contest winners.

NASA Astronaut-Michael Barratt was on board

Before entering the path of totality, Alaska Airlines pilots and invited on-board experts, including Evgenya Shkolnik, an astrophysics professor at the School of Earth and Space Exploration at Arizona State University, meteorologist Joe Rao, and NASA Astronaut Michael Barratt explained to passengers technical details involved with both the eclipse and the flight and gave tips on what to look for as the plane entered the path of totality. They also gave passengers a count-down into and out of the path of totality.

 

Flight plan waypoints chart – courtesy Eric Mann

 

Meterologist and Hayden Planetarium lecturer Joe Rao readies timers – two watches – and cameras to capture his 12th eclipse

Yelps of “There it is!” “Wow! “Oh my goodness!” and “Thank-goodness this worked!” filled the cabin as the flight hit the coordinates that astronomers and pilots had so carefully plotted out beforehand. And, during the 1 minute 43 seconds of the total eclipse, many passengers seated on both the left and right side of the plane swapped seats multiple time so that everyone had a chance to see the astronomical occurrence billed as a “once in a lifetime event.”

Totality – courtesy Alaska Airlines

My full story about the eclipse day adventure is on USA TODAY, but here’s a fun short video of the Great American eclipse flight put together by Alaska Airlines.