Heroes in the aisles: Flight attendant meets girl she saved 25 years ago
Twenty-five years ago, Alaska Airlines Flight Attendant Elizabeth Kiteley was on a layover at a hotel in Boise, Idaho when she heard screaming and ran out into the hallway. There, she found a woman with a baby that had stopped breathing. Kiteley’s training immediately kicked in and she began giving CPR, breathing for the infant…
Fun fact: Alaska was first U.S. airline to sell tickets online
This news release was originally issued on Dec. 27, 1995, and is reposted here in its entirety in honor of Internet Day Oct. 29, which commemorates the day when computers at UCLA and Stanford first made a host-to-host connection. Alaska was the first airline in the U.S. to explore the uncharted world of the Internet, with a…
Alaska flight attendant takes a swing at childhood cancer, with help from MLB
When Gail Lopez’s daughter was diagnosed with osteosarcoma (a rare aggressive bone cancer) in 2011, the flight attendant’s life changed forever. In nine short days, her 12-year-old Kate went from being an exuberant athlete sprinting down the soccer field to a helpless child in a hospital bed having the first of many rounds of chemotherapy…
Video: Alaska’s quirky 1980s ads that landed director in Advertising Hall of Fame
Pausing from a TV commercial shoot back in the day is Director Joe Sedelmaier (front, center). Can you guess who was Alaska’s then-CEO in this photo? The unconventional Alaska Airlines TV ads from the 1980s and ’90s got a little fresh air at this year’s American Advertising Hall of Fame ceremony. The commercials were directed…
Composting is grounds for change on Alaska flights
Alaska Airlines serves up 37,000 cups of coffee a day on its more than 900 daily flights, brewed using more than 250,000 pounds of Starbucks coffee each year. Ensuring that those grounds go back into the earth and not into the trash is the goal of a new composting effort at Alaska Airlines. Gardeners know…
VIDEO: Pilot straps a GoPro to his private plane, captures scenes of rugged Alaska
Captain Will Turnage loves to fly, loves the state of Alaska and loves being outdoors. He combined all three of his passions last year by recording his flights throughout the state. Turnage flew over glaciers, across rocky coastlines, and on the edge of lakes with a GoPro attached to the rear of his Cessna 180.…
Honor Flight: Alaska flies veterans from Washington, Oregon and Alaska to memorials in Washington D.C.
Some arrived in wheelchairs. Others were aided by walkers or canes. Some came on the arm of a guardian. But all of the veterans who arrived at Alaska Airlines terminals in Seattle, Portland and Anchorage this fall stood tall. The veterans, men and women who served their country during World War II, the Korean War…
Video: Passenger pops the question over airplane PA system
Asking the love-of-your-life to marry you is nerve-wracking enough. Add an audience of over 100 people you don’t know, a loudspeaker and an altitude of 30,000 feet and its right up there on the stress meter. But Alaska passenger Brian Connell overcame his fears last month and asked his girlfriend Cassandra to marry him—with a bit…
Alaska and WSU partner to inspire STEM education
Washington State University and Alaska Airlines are joining forces to support STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) education for high school youth with the newly named Alaska Airlines Imagine Tomorrow Competition. The partnership is part of the airline’s focus on youth and education as a means of giving back and enriching the communities in which…
An insider’s guide to Costa Rica
There aren’t many places in this world where you can hike a volcano, paddle a river rapids, surf a breathtaking beach, trek through a rain forest and have a monkey steal your lunch—all in one day. Costa Rica, Alaska Airlines’ newest international destination, is a tropical paradise and mecca for eco-tourism, and now it’s just…
Throwback Thursday: It’s a bird. It’s a plane. It’s got skis?
Alaska Airlines has been known for a lot of firsts. First airline to offer booking tickets on the Internet and first airline to guarantee your bags arrive on time. But passengers today would do a double-take if they had seen one of Alaska’s early firsts—first airline certified by the FAA to take off and land…
Throwback Thursday: Windshield sushi – Alaska Airlines jet really did hit a fish in midair
The airplane that hit a fish is one of the most legendary stories in Alaska Airlines lore. Like all great fish tales, the size of the fish grows with every telling, but the story that made headlines around the world in 1987 is completely true. (Although it probably didn’t help that newspapers published the story…