To reach the conference area at Alaska Air Group’s Seattle-based Global Training Center, one must walk past the expansive spaces where flight crews train for weeks to ensure passenger safety: an array of yellow life rafts in the ditching room, a lineup of CPR dummies and a wall of inflatable life vests. The company’s values — own safety, do the right thing, be caring and kind, deliver performance — are etched into the walls throughout the building.

Fitting, for Alaska Air Group’s 2026 Investor Day, which I attended on Sept. 29 in Seattle. The day’s announcements and events were built around one promise: that the airline known for care can now compete with the best premium global carriers in the U.S.

As a San Franciscan who travels for a living, I’ve watched Alaska grow from the dependable West Coast option into something much grander since it brought Virgin America and then Hawaiian Airlines into the fold. During its Investor Day events, Alaska Air Group CEO Ben Minicucci laid out the next phase of Alaska Accelerate, then invited us to experience it ourselves.

Aurora Suites and Leihōkū Suites

Aurora, inspired by the night skies of Alaska and the airline’s Pacific Northwest roots, is the airline’s new flagship premium experience, from a private check-in lobby in Seattle with a direct line to TSA, to lie-flat Aurora Suites with sliding doors on the Boeing 787 Dreamliner fleet starting in 2028. For West Coast travelers, the bigger news is domestic: for the first time, Alaska will put true Aurora Suites on select transcontinental routes, on at least 25 new Boeing 737-10 MAX aircraft beginning in 2028.

Hawaiian’s version is Leihōkū, meaning “lei of stars,” after the Polynesian wayfinders who crossed the Pacific by them. All 24 of Hawaiian’s Airbus A330s will be refreshed nose to tail, including 22 enhanced Leihōkū Suites on international business class and domestic First Class starting in 2028, as well as a dedicated Leihōkū check-in in Honolulu next year and a new lounge there in 2028.

I stretched out in each model Suite, surrounded by dazzling projections of the night sky. I slid the door to the Suite closed and settled in with over-the-ear headphones, my phone nestled into its stand and a screen ready to entertain. Both were built for enjoying a flight across the ocean, not simply enduring it.

Between the Suites and Premium Class (Hawaiian’s former Extra Comfort) sits a new cabin, Premium Reserve: international-grade premium economy with 38 inches of pitch, leg and calf rests and 16-inch 4K screens, on 787s, A330s and select 737 MAX 10s from 2028, with tickets on sale next summer. Purchasing a lie-flat seat is usually out of reach for me, which makes Premium Reserve one of the most consequential products of the day.

Lounges worth the early airport arrival

Seattle is getting a new 41,000-square-foot lounge in 2027, with a 500-seat main room downstairs and an exclusive Aurora Lounge upstairs featuring made-to-order dining, a deluxe bar, private showers and wellness spaces. In Honolulu, a new 13,000-square-foot lounge, five times larger than the current one, will open next year with designs inspired by the natural elements of the Islands. San Diego travelers will also have a new 14,000-square-foot lounge to look forward to. 

The detail I loved most, from Alaska’s Manager of Lounge Programs, Liz Vernon: Aurora Lounge guests can taste a wine flight featured in international Business Class before their flight, giving them the opportunity to explore the selection and discover a favorite before boarding. We experienced a mock-up of the lounge during Investor Day, and the level of detail and hospitality was impressive. Experience-focused elements like seat-side ordering from anywhere in the Aurora Lounge contribute to a seamless experience, so solo travelers like me no longer have to choose between eating and keeping an eye on our bags.

Atmos™ Rewards: choose your own path to status

Atmos Rewards offering members the option to choose how they earn status was the announcement that excited me most — it’s one of the most innovative changes to reward travel I’ve seen in years. Members can now decide to earn status based on price paid, distance flown or segments flown, with the program recommending the best fit for how you actually travel. As Chief Commercial Officer Andrew Harrison put it, “People travel differently, so why should loyalty work exactly the same for everyone?”

Most airline loyalty programs reward whoever spends the most, which favors corporate travelers. Even as a full-time professional traveler, I can rarely meet the spending goals. Letting travelers earn on distance or segments opens status to far more people. It also removes the incentive for mileage runs, flights taken purely to hit a threshold, which is an environmental win in my book. A new Atmos Rewards debit card, launching in 2027, adds a way to earn between trips without opening a credit card.

The food: award-winning chefs at 35,000 feet

Onboard dining is where both airlines lean hardest on local talent. Alaska menus come from Chef Brady Ishiwata Williams, the James Beard Award–winning chef of Seattle’s Tomo, on Asia routes, and Chef Renee Erickson, the James Beard–winning chef behind Seattle’s The Walrus and the Carpenter, among others, on Europe routes.

Erickson’s dishes debut on next spring’s flights, and she was asked to cook dishes that felt nostalgic or personal. Her raw carrot salad with dukkah is inspired by the sides sold at Parisian butcher shops, a nod to her French training and the new Paris route. I also tasted a sockeye salmon salad adapted from one she served when The Walrus and the Carpenter opened 16 years ago. “When I’m flying, what I want is something that’s really bright and kind of forward,” she told me. Both dishes were exactly that: light, satisfying and packed with flavor. I would fly just to eat them.

On Hawaiian, Honolulu-based Chef Dell Valdez, who is behind Vein at Kakaʻako, Dell’s Kitchen & Bakery and Mio Pastalogy, leads premium menus. A two-time Hawaiian Airlines Featured Chef before being tapped for Hawaiian’s top job as Executive Chef, he cooks from a Mediterranean-Japanese background, balancing salty, sweet, savory and sour. His menus are served in Business Class cabins for flights between Honolulu and Japan and Australia now, with domestic routes next. “I just want to exceed your expectations of what we can provide up there,” he said.

A more global network: 15 long-haul destinations by 2030

Alaska already flies from Seattle (SEA) to Tokyo (NRT), Seoul (ICN), London (LHR), Rome (FCO) and Reykjavík (KEF), with Paris (CDG) and Athens (ATH) joining next year. The goal is at least 15 long-haul intercontinental destinations by 2030, meaning eight more are coming. That’s more options for travelers, and only a one-stop connection through Seattle whether you’re based in San Francisco (SFO), Boise (BOI), Honolulu (HNL) or Kahului (OGG). Even better: that connection is about to get a lot more comfortable.

Looking ahead

In the next few years you can look forward to new routes, Aurora Suites, Leihōkū Suites, Premium Reserve and Hawaiian’s refreshed A330s. For a West Coast traveler who spends much of the year in the air, that’s a lot to be excited about — and I already know what I’m ordering on the way to Paris.