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  Alaska Airlines

  IATA/ICAO Code:

  AS/ASA

  Airline Type:

  Full Service Carrier

  Hub(s):

  Anchorage International Airport, Los Angeles International Airport, Portland International Airport, San Francisco International Airport, Seattle-Tacoma International Airport

  Year Founded:

  1932

  Alliance:

  oneworld

  CEO:

  Ben Minicucci

  Country:

  United States

  Region:

  North America

According to AFA Alaska, the union representing Alaska Airlines flight attendants, airline management is “considering upgrading first class” to be competitive with other airlines. This is alongside the airline's other changes and upgrades to the in-flight passenger experience and cabin crew work environment.

An airline known for being remarkable

Alaska Airlines has, among other values,

“Be remarkable: We create lasting impressions. In creative and unconventional ways, we deliver feel-good hospitality that is thoughtful, genuine, and worthy of sharing.”

Therefore, Alaska Airlines encourages employees to care about the passenger experience. With other airlines flying competitive routes offering more upscale experiences, such as JetBlue and Delta, now seems an excellent time to look at upgrading first class. Granted, to Alaska Airlines, having a reasonable price for a large, reclining seat is better than something overpriced, as stated on their earnings calls.

Nonetheless, Alaska Airlines management is considering passenger experience upgrades in various ways. For instance, a new Bloody Mary cocktail mix is in the works. So is updating the seatback cards to have updated information and a reminder to get receipts from alaskareciepts.com. Meanwhile, the tiny soda cans will remain available for flight attendants to dispense soda to passengers.

Updating the 737-800

The price tag for Alaska Airlines to update its Boeing 737-800s is a cool $20 million investment across the 61 aircraft, which have an average age of over 14 years. According to the Alaska AFA blog, the first one should be available for service by the end of this month. The goal is to carryover its updated brand from the MAX series and have the fleet be competitive with three total lavatories and 162 seats overall. The -800s are not as long as the -900s, nor as small as the -700s, which create this “just right” feel about them. One can read more about the differences between 737 models here.

More satellite WiFi is coming to Alaska Airlines, but…

Yes, more Alaska Airlines aircraft are being retrofitted with satellite WiFi. According to Alaska Airlines, 80% of the fleet already has Satellite WiFi. Satellite WiFi is available for $8 per flight and 20x faster than basic WiFi with much more connectivity.

However, neither the Boeing 737-700s in the mainline fleet nor the Embraer 175 regional jets that Alaska Airlines’ regional subsidiary Horizon Air is using to replace the de Havilland of Canada Dash-8-400s (aka Q400s) will get satellite WiFi. Pricing will vary by flight.

The 737-700s and E175s have GogoATG4 WiFi onboard, which is air-to-ground WiFi. According to GoGo, such equipped aircraft has four antennas to attempt to connect to multiple Gogo tower sites simultaneously. The WiFi speed maxes out at 9.8MBPS.

One last thing

If you do not like the ice on Alaska Airlines, please do not blame your flight attendant. The Alaska AFA union, as per its blog, is working to stress to management that “Failure of ice provisioning, quantity, and quality has contributed to a lack of confidence by Flight Attendants in the catering operation.“

Do you fly Alaska Airlines first class? Please let us know what upgrades could be made in their first class cabin in the comments.

Source: AFA Alaska, Alaska Airlines WiFi, GoGo