Introducing Alaska Beyond

alaska-beyond-flight-experience

By Halle Hutchison, Managing Director of Brand Marketing

I am proud and excited to introduce our new, improved Alaska flight experience: Alaska Beyond.

We share our customers’ love of discovery, and with every flight you take we are thrilled to bring you our latest finds, from indie hit movies direct to your own tablet, laptop or smart phone, to exciting food products sourced locally from the amazing places we fly.

Start exploring at 30,000 feet. Your journey becomes part of the adventure as you watch free entertainment, snack on artisan food and beverages, relax in our custom, leather, power-equipped seats, and enjoy our award-winning service. It’s all part of Alaska Beyond – a new flight experience designed to go above and beyond your expectations.

Beyond Entertainment

Today we’re launching our brand-new inflight entertainment system – you will be able to start watching blockbuster hit movies, TV shows and other exclusive  content direct to your own device. Our entire catalog of content will be free for customers traveling through January and after that, 30 hours/over 100 titles of short videos will be free while our premium content will start at $1.99. All 737 aircraft will be equipped with the new service by April 2015.

More entertainment:

Inflight entertainment offerings

Beyond Delicious

Our food and beverage team scours all the amazing places we fly looking for fresh, local tastes to share with our customers.

Their discoveries include Tom Douglas signature entrees, my favorite Signature Fruit & Cheese Platter featuring Beecher’s and Tillamook cheeses, hand-poured Chateau Ste. Michelle and Canoe Ridge wines, Sun Liquor hand-crafted liquors and local micro-brews. They also like to introduce our flyers to new and popular treats like our banh mi sandwich and grilled cheese sandwich with Skillet Bacon Jam.

When I travel I love to relax with a glass of white wine and our Signature Fruit & Cheese Platter. I’m confident that whatever new flavors you discover on your next flight with us will be beyond delicious!

More delicious:

Alaska’s picks: foodie gift guide

Recipe: Alaska Airlines’ banh mi sandwich

Local flavor: Alaska Airlines and Chateau Ste. Michelle partner to make wines fly

Beyond Comfort

Custom-designed Recaro leather seats with enhanced personal space, six-way adjustable headrests and personal power outlets at every seat mean your next trip with us will be more comfortable than ever.

We’ve spent the past year enhancing our flight experience. By the end of this month, every single 737-800, -900 and -900ER aircraft we fly will feature improved seats with personal power.

We’re thrilled with our enhanced flight experience, and we think you will be too. Start your adventure onboard and enjoy all that Alaska Beyond has to offer you. Learn more at https://www.alaskaair.com/content/travel-info/flight-experience.

alaska-beyond-infographic

Comments

  1. Are all of the changes for first class, only? I fly Alaska Air 6-10 times a year. Usually choose to sit in the back near restrooms for obvious reasons, always on flights over 5 hours. Always buy my meal at the airport and board with it as the in flight meal is always out by the time the cart makes it back to me. Buying the snack trays, while most passengers are getting their meal with the price of their ticket, is not something I’m willing to do. Will the commoners in the rest of the plane have access to the digiplayers or are we completely left out of the loop, now? I am a member of the MVP club but even after 3 years of flying with AA have yet to see any benefits. I fly AA because my two destinations, Alaska and Hawaii, are best priced on AA. If gas prices continue to fall and Hawaiian Air prices come down I will switch over to them unless AA offers an equitable reason not to.

    1. This is for the main cabin as well!

  2. I’m a many year Gold member that earns it the HARD way, via the sardine cans called a Q400. ANYTHING you can do to improve that experience would be welcome. The seating is nothing less than comical. Each time I board I find myself praying for a small statured individual so that we can share the two seats without wanting to kill each other before the flight is over. I’m only 6’1″ 185 lbs, so I should comfortably fit. But, pair and average sized male adult in the seat next to me and we incredibly uncomfortable. Then try with someone a little “oversized”, which seems to be the norm as of late, and I’d just as soon drive the 6 hours from SEA to BOI.

  3. How about doing something with the checked bags for MVP-Gold-GOLD 75
    can we get some kind of priority ?

    Thanks, Colin

  4. this was nice yesterday on my flight but when they start charging for it…… Forget about it!!!! I’m not going to pay $1.99 or $.50 for a movie when I have them on my own devices

    1. Then don’t. I’m totally cool with paying $1.99 for ~2 hours of entertainment, however. That’s one dollar an hour – seems pretty reasonable to me.

  5. As MVP GOLD this is MY opinion and what I WANT.

    Sadly it sounds like more UNHEALTHY food. I want HEALTHY food! A lot less FAT please! BACON? Really. You are going to take healthy food and pollute it with BACON GREASE to make it tastier?

    Come on guys! A real chef can make food taste good and be healthy. Using bacon is a cheap, lazy cop out. For those of us flying this much, we need better food since many times this is our ONLY meal.

    Stop this insanity before it starts!!!

  6. Watched my first movie today! This rocked!!! What a great concept!!! Thank you Alaska!!!

  7. So excited to see Alaska Beyond Entertainment on my way to LA and NY for my interviews with the stars!

  8. Have flown on the the new planes/seats. Love the fact my devices can stay charged but the seats are the most uncomfortable things I’ve ever sat on. Visually it seems like u have leg room but for people that are long legged the seats feel very short. Also very hard. Hope they can be improved a bit. The old leather ones where much better!

  9. I must take this opportunity to write my huge disappointment and frustration with Alaska’s recent changes to the Vancouver route, particularly to Los Angeles. After 10 years of regular monthly commuting between both cities, I am now faced with only one flight a day from Vancouver at 6am and only one return from LA at 8:50pm. I have spoken to many Alaska employees, some of whom I know quite well, and no one can find a rational behind such a drastic change. I am a regular Gold mileage member and have stayed a loyal customer because of the remarkable service I have received over the years. Prior, we had 3 or 4 flights a day to choose from. Now, if I want to travel at a reasonable time, I must make a stop in Seattle or Portland, and the pricing has risen significantly. I have an Easybiz account and a mileage credit card with Alaska, along with my mileage program. If Alaska doesn’t reconsider this alteration, they will be forcing me to switch my entire travel profile to Delta, which I REALLY don’t want to do. It really doesn’t make much sense since almost all my flights flew full, quite a number of Entertainment Industry individuals commuted on the same flights, and a lot of business executives also commuted this route. What are you guys thinking?????

    1. Look at Delta. Sadly Alaska bailed on this route, so your choice is now Delta.

      They are making STUPID decisions for the wrong reasons. Not the same old PNW company it used to be.

  10. Can’t wait to check this out next month, have a trip planed for Fort Lauderdale

  11. Flying to PSP on Wednesday, can’t wait to try the new entertainment option! Flew ATL to SEA earlier this month and LOVED having the in-seat charger. I agree with previous poster–BEST. AIRLINE. EVER.

  12. I can’t wait to give this a try Friday night coming home from Baltimore. It would also be nice for MVP Gold and 75K for a food option in lieu of an alcoholic beverage for those that don’t drink. Alaska rocks!

  13. As a regular Alaska traveler I am very excited for this new feature! Congratulations for always going the extra mile for your customers! I hope the service will be on the SEA-SJC route!

  14. Will 75K members have to pay for content?

    1. Hi Robert,

      MVP Gold 75Ks will continue to recieve complimentary IFE player rentals. As for content direct to your device, right now everything is free, and after the introductory period MVPs and other travelers will be able to rent content starting at $1.99 per show/movie/etc. We will always offer a selection of complimentary curated content as well.

  15. This is a great update – thanks for making the change! As a 75k, I love seeing the improvements. For those of us who fly often, will there be discounts or no charge on longer flights like with the digiplayers? And on flights with limited wifi – like to Hawaii- will the digiplayers still be offered?

    1. Hi Mary – MVP Gold 75Ks will continue to recieve complimentary IFE player rentals. As for content direct to your device, right now everything is free, and after the introductory period MVPs and other travelers will be able to rent content starting at $1.99 per show/movie/etc. We will always offer a selection of complimentary curated content as well.

      As for Hawaii – all of this content is hosted on our aircraft on onboard servers, so it will all work on flights to Hawaii!

  16. Best. Airline. Ever.

    Fly your airline almost every week and no matter where I sit in the plane your teams are always polite, your planes clean and service great. This just takes it to the next level.

    1. Thanks for your feedback, Kevin. Let us know what you think of the new entertainment after your next flight.

  17. Will the 737-900 flying out of Bellingham, WA to Las Vegas have this?

    1. Yes! By the end of March, all 737s (except the -400 combis) will have the new IFE offering.

  18. Looks like the seats don’t recline….if so, Thank Goodness!!

    1. Most do recline… but I hear you.

  19. As a 75k member this is good. On a flight to east coast now and it’s a much better entertainment experience

    1. Thanks for your feedback, Jason. We appreciate your business.

  20. So cool! I always feel the love and great customer service whether I’m flying to PDX OR SEA from BUR. #whyiflyalaska

    1. Thanks! Happy holidays, Horacio.

  21. Woohoo! I’m a MVP and my Husband is MVP Gold! So excited to see this upgrade!
    You guys rock! Merry Christmas!

    1. Merry Christmas to you and yours!

  22. Can’t wait to try this! Crossing my fingers it will be on my next flight. Way to go, Alaska! 🙂

    1. Thanks, Chris! Happy travels!

  23. I was on an Alaska flight today. I would have thought this would have been mentioned.

    1 – You need to improve your FC selection on short routes. DL has the snack baskets which at least allow me to grab a banana or snack.

    2 – On my late night flight home, you offer cookies but no milk. Yet on morning flights you offer milk. You can buy milk that doesn’t go bad (see Costco for details).

    3 – When you have no meal you should allow those in FC to get something from the back without having to pay. Or go to the snack basket model.

    Enjoy flying AS but there are a few touches which could make it better.

  24. Will this service be available to and from Hawaii? Thanks!

    1. The new inflight entertainment content is all hosted on servers onboard the aircraft, so short answer: yes!

  25. I have been pleased to see the rapid expansion of in seat power. For those of us who are flying all the time, keeping the gadgets charged up is a big help. Also, thanks for bringing the water bottles back to First Class!

    1. Hi Paul. Glad to hear the seat power is working out for you. About 95 percent of our fleet of Boeing 737-800s, -900s, and -900ERs, the work horses of our fleet, have power.

  26. I just completed a trans continent round trip on Alaska Airlines. The food in First Class has improved significantly. I will be making a trip down the West Coast in January and am optimistic that the First Class meals will have improved on the shorter duration flights.

    1. I would like to see meal choices improve on west coast flights as well. I am a 75k Gold and am tired of the same thing on every flight. Why make a big deal out of Tom Douglas food when it’s not available for the whole plane? Please fix this.

      1. Hi Tom. I’ll share your feedback with our Inflight Food and Beverage team. Currently, we’re only able to offer Tom Douglas menu items on flight departing Seattle, but there are other options available. If we’re able to expand this offering beyond Seattle, we’ll definitely talk about it.

      2. I also would like to see a few changes in the first class meals. I’ve flown 11 segments in the past 3 weeks, 9 of which were in first. I have celiac, which means I can’t eat gluten. I would be great if the flight attendants knew what the ingredients were, and if the meals are inedible to me (as were most of them), that I be able to get one of the tapas packs or the fruit and cheese platter WITHOUT having to pay for it.

  27. Will the video player be available for kindle users?

    1. Alaska Beyond Entertainment, powered by Gogo Vision, is not supported on e-readers.

      1. Bobbie, there are also a line of Kindle Tablets, but although the tablets are Android based, they don’t have the Google Play store. Hopefully it won’t be too long before the Android version can be made available in the Kindle App store?

  28. How do I know if my flight will feature Alaska Beyond??

    1. let me clarify — how do I know if the IFE (streaming movies/tv) will be available on my flight?? I’m so excited for this!!!

      1. For now, check your seat back card when you get on the plane. And by the end of March, every 737 (except for the -400 combis) will have it!

      2. Thanks, Halley!!

    2. There will be a seatback card located in each seat on equipped aircraft. It looks like this: http://www.alaskasworld.com/Newsroom/ASnews/ASstories/FlightAmenities_beyond.pdf

      1. Thanks Bobbie! 🙂

  29. As a long time MVP Gold this is great news. Thanks Alaska Airlines

    1. Thanks for flying with us. We hope you enjoy the entertainment, Rick.

Comments are closed.