‘Nerd Bird’ Flies Again: Alaska Airlines Inaugurates San Jose-Austin Service

Alaska Airlines today will inaugurate nonstop service between San Jose, Calif., and Austin, Texas, officially resurrecting the popular "nerd bird" route. The flight will originate in Portland, Ore., and the airline will add another daily flight between the three cities starting March 14, 2010.

"This route is a natural extension of our network and provides a vital link between these high-tech hubs," said Steve Jarvis, Alaska Airlines’ vice president of marketing, sales and customer experience.

Alaska will inaugurate the new route with its "Wi-Fi One" aircraft, a specially-equipped Boeing 737-700 offering inflight broadband Internet access. Customers will be able to connect to Alaska Airlines Inflight Wi-Fi using any Wi-Fi enabled device, such as a laptop, smart phone or portable media player.

"It seems only fitting to offer our tech-savvy passengers a way to stay connected to what matters most to them while in the air, "said Jarvis. "Customers on this inaugural flight will be able to send and receive e-mail, connect to Virtual Private Networks, and browse the Web from 35,000 feet."

  Schedule information

                                   Departure     Arrival         Day
  Start date         City pair       time         time         of week
  Sept. 2, 2009  Portland-San Jose  6:20 a.m.   8:10 a.m.  Daily, except Sun
  Sept. 2, 2009  San Jose-Austin    8:55 a.m.   2:15 p.m.  Daily
  Sept. 2, 2009  Austin-San Jose    3 p.m.      4:40 p.m.  Daily
  Sept. 2, 2009  San Jose-Portland  5:25 p.m.   7:10 p.m.  Daily, except Sat
  March 14, 2010 Portland-San Jose  3:20 p.m.   5:05 p.m.  Daily
  March 14, 2010 San Jose-Austin    5:50 p.m.   11:10 p.m. Daily
  March 15, 2010 Austin-San Jose    8 a.m.      9:40 a.m.  Daily
  March 15, 2010 San Jose-Portland  10:25 a.m.  12:10 p.m. Daily

  * All times based on local time zones

Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan members can earn double miles on the new flights between San Jose and Austin through Oct. 31, 2009. To qualify, customers must first register at alaskaair.com. Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan offers some of the industry’s most attractive award levels when booking online, with Super Saver Awards starting at 7,500 miles one way. Members of the American Airlines’ AAdvantage program, Delta Air Lines’ SkyMiles program, and 13 other airline partner programs, also can earn miles when they travel on Alaska Airlines.

Alaska Airlines began service between Seattle and Austin on Aug. 3, 2009, and will start daily service between Seattle and Houston on Sept. 23.

The airline will operate the flights with Boeing 737-700 aircraft, accommodating 12 passengers in first class and 112 in the main cabin. San Jose-Austin flights will offer Alaska’s Northern Bites meals-for-purchase service, which allows coach passengers to buy a meal onboard for $6. Inflight service also will include Alaska Airlines’ digEplayer, a personal entertainment system offering a variety of movies, television shows, music and other features. Complimentary in first class, digEplayers are available for $6 in coach.

The new flights are available for purchase at alaskaair.com or by calling 1-800-ALASKAAIR (1-800-252-7522 or TTY/TDD line 1-800-392-0228).

Note to news media: Broadcast footage can be downloaded at http://tinyurl.com/m4zetk or by contacting Alaska Airlines Media Relations.

Alaska Airlines and Horizon Air, subsidiaries of Alaska Air Group , together serve more than 90 cities through an expansive network in Alaska, the Lower 48, Hawaii, Canada and Mexico. Alaska Airlines ranked "Highest in Customer Satisfaction Among Traditional Network Carriers" in the J.D. Power and Associates 2008 and 2009 North America Airline Satisfaction Studies(SM). For reservations, visit alaskaair.com. For more news and information, visit the Alaska Airlines/Horizon Air Newsroom at alaskaair.com/newsroom.

First Call Analyst:
FCMN Contact: maria.koenig@alaskaair.com

SOURCE: Alaska Airlines