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Eclectic live music in Havana, Cuba

A documentary filmmaker and photographer working in Havana, Cuba, Amberly Alene captures the colorful vibrancy and culture of the Caribbean through a photographic eye. She recently took over the Alaska Airlines Instagram account as a “Local Wanderer” as a part of Alaska’s Weekend Wanderer series. To see more local flavors of the world, make sure you’re following Alaska Airlines on Instagram.

The streets of Havana have their own unique melody. The rumbling of taxi engines and the calls of street vendors collide with the sounds of pop music and bachata from the speakers of bici-taxi drivers. The boom of a reggeton beat may greet your ear at the passing of an arch of any given doorway in a centuries old apartment building in Havana Vieja. For me, each day in Havana is a ballad. It is an intricate song with a special melody. There is a constant rhythm of day to day life that makes the city so famously unforgettable.

amberly-top-four

The daily sounds of Havana are the inspirations for my top five picks of Havana’s live music for an eclectic ear. These are my favorite selections for a great night of music in Havana:
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Travel alert: Pacific Northwest weather impacts flights in Portland

11 a.m. Jan. 9 update 

Wintry weather is continuing to create travel issues in Portland today. As of 11 a.m., Horizon Air has canceled 24 flights into and out of the airport due to icy conditions. There were also three cancellations into and out of Eugene and five cancellations into and out of Redmond, Oregon.

The weather has continued to evolve since Sunday with freezing rain in each of these cities. Deicing of the aircraft is required whenever there’s frozen precipitation, so cancellations in these locations were made to account for the time needed for this process.

Passengers are encouraged to check alaskaair.com or Alaska’s mobile app before heading to the airport to verify the status of their flight. A flexible travel policy is in place. Customers impacted by this weather event are able to rebook their flight online or apply for a refund online at alaskaair.com, without paying a change fee. As a result of the volume of cancellations, customers are advised to change their travel online, if possible.

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Havana inaugural isn’t Alaska’s first flight to Cuba

When Alaska Airlines began service to Havana on Jan. 5, it wasn’t the first time the airline had flown to Cuba.

In the early 1970s, Alaska flew U.S. Military Airlift Command charter flights to the base at Guantanamo Bay, as well as charters to Caribbean locations such as Jamaica, Puerto Rico and Panama.

Some of the flight attendants from that era still fly for Alaska Airlines today, including Julia Simmonds, Joanne De Cicco, Lynn Odell and Gail Spaeth, as well as Jackie Fay, now a lead reservations sales agent.

“It was all very exciting for a young woman of 20 years of age,” Simmonds said. “We flight attendants were still in our VERY short Russian uniforms at the time, which the military men enjoyed very much.”

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Matanzas: Cuba’s off-beach home run

“You have to hurry. They’re starting now!”

I’ve come to Matanzas, a historic Cuban city between Havana and the beach resort of Varadero, for a little beach break in a historic, idyllic town with plenty of bayside colonial charm.

But first, I want to see some baseball.

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Travel alert: New Year’s snowfall delays, cancels flights at Sea-Tac

7 p.m. update

A total of 36 flights were canceled as a result of this morning’s snow and ice. No further cancellations are anticipated, however many flights continue to experience delays. Customers with travel planned today and tomorrow are encouraged to check the status of their flights at alaskaair.com before heading to the airport.

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Discovering Hemingway’s Havana

Inside one of Havana’s most famous bars, El Floridita, several dozen people are singing along to choruses led by a dynamic salsa singer. A circle of New York couples and an Argentine with two cigars stuffed in his shirt pocket all dance before the singer’s five-piece band. Most of the patrons have ordered icy daiquiris in thin-stemmed cocktail glasses, a famous drink from El Floridita, which turns 200 this year.

Seeming to watch all this is a bronze sculpture of Ernest Hemingway, the Nobel Prize–winning American author who lived in Havana from 1940 to 1960. Now he leans against the bar in the same spot where he was known to enjoy a dozen or so daiquiris a day.

After a half-century hiatus, Americans are returning to this island nation, just under 100 miles from Florida. I’m finding that Hemingway’s footsteps provide a timeless introduction, starting with his writings. To Have and Have Not begins in Plaza de San Francisco; parts of Islands in the Stream were influenced by his nights on the island; and his articles for Esquire talk about his offshore chase for marlin. He dedicated his 1954 Nobel Prize to the Cuban people.
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2016’s top #iFlyAlaska photos

In 2016, we saw more than 59,000 mentions of #iFlyAlaska on Instagram and Twitter, and passed more than 100,000 fans on Instagram. We’re closing out the year with some of our favorites.

Join the conversation in 2017: follow us on Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and Instagram and make sure to tag your posts with #iflyalaska. We can’t wait to follow your adventures.

Wishing you a happy new year!
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Flying with Luly: Luly’s travel must-haves

Over the next two years, internationally known Seattle fashion designer Luly Yang will redesign uniforms for more than 12,000 Alaska Airlines employees. Along the way, Yang will share her favorite fashion-related travel tips.

I love to travel, and do so often – both for work and for pleasure. I frequently fly to Europe and Asia and over the years, and I’ve honed my travel and packing skills to make those long international flights as comfortable as possible. As I like to pack light, items that are multi-functional are always my favorites.

Whether traveling from Seattle to New York City or Seattle to Hong Kong, here are my travel must-haves:

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Alaska Mileage Plan enhancements and changes to Delta relationship

Today Alaska Airlines announced a few major changes to its Mileage Plan. First, the Seattle-based airline is upping the loyalty game by making its award-winning Mileage Plan more generous with the announcement of four flier-friendly enhancements. Second, its relationship with Delta Air Lines will end April 30, 2017.

So what does all this mean for travelers? Alaska Airlines’ Charles Breer, managing director of alliances, and Ryan Butz, managing director of loyalty marketing, have the answers. 

Tell us about the enhancements to Mileage Plan. What do these changes mean for Alaska Airlines customers?

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Different works: uniting two airlines to create one great flight experience

4 p.m., Dec. 14, 2016 update: Photos and b-roll of the Dec. 14 press conference in San Francisco are available for download at the bottom of this post.

Bacon on a donut. Electricity and guitars. Labradors and poodles. Men in Black’s Agent J and Agent K.

Throughout history there have been countless tales of unusual pairings coming together to accomplish something great. (Just search “buddy comedy.”)

Today Alaska Airlines and Virgin America officially joined forces and are now the latest odd couple that, as Alaska Air Group CEO Brad Tilden said today, is on the verge of greatness.

While the two companies may seem very different on the surface, Tilden says there’s more in common than you’d think, and together they’ll keep challenging the status quo to make flying better for everyone.

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When merging cultures, here’s how Alaska Airlines and Virgin America are working to get it right

culture champions

When Alaska Airlines and Virgin America announced plans to merge earlier this year, one of the biggest questions was how the two airlines would blend their distinct cultures.

“Culture has been a real challenge in many mergers, so we’re working to do things differently,” said Ben Minicucci, Alaska President and COO who will also become CEO of Virgin America today. “We are being very thoughtful about culture and are working to create an environment that reflects who we are and where we’ve been, that also enables us to work together, be bold, and succeed in a rapidly evolving industry.”

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Weekend Wanderer: San Diego to New York City

Justin Halbert Weekend Wanderer

Justin Halbert, a San Diego native, is living up to the city’s nickname, the “City in Motion,” with his busy lifestyle. As a chef, photographer, teacher, and father Justin knows just how to capture a world in motion. He just returned from an Instagram takeover in New York as part of Alaska Airlines’ Weekend Wanderer series. For more Weekend Wanderer posts, make sure you’re following Alaska Airlines on Instagram.

How would you plan a trip to NYC if you were a San Diego native? For me, I based my outings around the best photo spots and dining in the city. Shoot a little before sunrise, have a great breakfast, walk, cab or subway to the next location, shoot, eat a good lunch and so on. I was cold but that made the experience more fun – we don’t get to wear layers in San Diego.

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