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How to spot a scam ticket giveaway

Several times each year, Alaska’s social media team sees an influx of bogus promotions from websites pretending to be Alaska Airlines. These websites claim to offer free roundtrip tickets, but these are scams that are not affiliated with Alaska Airlines and may put you at risk for computer viruses or identity theft. How can you tell a legitimate promotion from a scam promotion? Here are a few things to look out for before you decide to enter a contest.

Update 1/7/18: We have a SCAM promotion (see below) making the rounds. Please do not share this promotion. We will work towards getting it shut down.

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Weekend Wanderer: Seattle to Denver

Danny Owens Weekend Wanderer

From capturing portraits to exploring landscapes, Danny Owens has what it takes to highlight the best of every place he visits. He just returned from an Instagram takeover in Denver, Colorado as part of Alaska Airlines’ Weekend Wanderer series. For more Weekend Wanderer posts, make sure you’re following Alaska Airlines on Instagram.

I travel constantly. In fact, in the past three weeks I’ve only been home for one full day.

This isn’t a bad thing – I love traveling. It ignites my passion for adventure each and every time I set foot in a new place or rediscover somewhere I’ve been before.

From the moment you step off a plane, a new world of discovery and experiences is yours for the taking.

Because I travel so often for work, I’m typically not in any one city or location for very long, but I want to make sure that I make my time count and experience as much as I can.

As a Weekend Wanderer for Alaska Airlines I was challenged with just that task. Experience the city of Denver within the span of a weekend.

Danny Owens is traveling from Seattle to Denver as Weekend Wanderer
I’ve been home all of one day and I’m already heading out on some new travels tomorrow! I’m really stoked to be flying to Denver tomorrow with @alaskaair as a #WeekendWanderer !! I’ll be taking over their account so be sure to head over and follow along while I explore the mile high city.

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Travel alert: Alaska Airlines prepares for PNW storm

Updated Sunday, Oct. 16, 9:30 a.m.

No additional cancellations are planned for today.

Updated Saturday, Oct. 15, 2:40 p.m.

Alaska’s system operations continues to closely monitor the Pacific Northwest storm and developing weather system.

In severe weather situations like this one, Alaska will only operate flights when it is safe to do so. This afternoon, Alaska will operate a reduced schedule of flights into Seattle and Portland in order to err on the side of caution. The airline has proactively reduced flying into Seattle between 6 and 9 p.m. and have cancelled 53 flights to Seattle and Portland today.

Customers began to receive notifications of cancellations on Friday, and Alaska and Horizon Air have increased staffing as employees work to reaccomodate the 4,200 passengers affected by these cancellations.

As a reminder, there is a flexible travel policy in place to give customers traveling to or through Seattle and Portland today the ability to reschedule their travel. Customers with tickets booked before  Oct. 14, 2016, scheduled for travel between Oct. 14 and Oct. 16, can change their travel plans without incurring a change fee or can request to refund their ticket. Learn more at alaskaair.com.If you are scheduled to fly today to or from Pacific Northwest airports, you are strongly encouraged to check your flight status before going to the airport.

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Samsung Galaxy Note7 banned from all U.S. flights

In a statement today, the Federal Aviation Administration, the U.S. Department of Transportation and the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration issued an emergency order banning all Samsung Galaxy Note7 devices from flying onboard any aircraft.

The ban will be effective beginning Oct. 15 at 9 a.m. Pacific time for all airlines, including Alaska. Note7s will not be allowed in the cabin, checked or carry-on luggage, air cargo or air mail.

That means customers flying Oct. 15 or later must leave Note7s at home. 

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Fire safety is top of mind at Alaska Airlines

fire safety containment bags

Earlier this year, Alaska Airlines and Horizon Air outfitted their entire fleets with new fire containment bags specially designed to reduce the danger of mid-flight lithium-ion battery fires.

“When it comes to safety on board our aircraft, we need to act quickly,” said Tom Nunn, vice president safety for Alaska Airlines, estimating that it took about 2 months to get the bags from the concept phase to ordering them and putting them onboard aircraft.

The bright red HOT-STOP ‘L’ bags, which are made of a sturdy fire-resistant material, are designed to hold electronic devices like mobile phones and laptops that can sometimes overheat and catch fire. The bags can be shut with Velcro and heavy-duty zippers and can withstand temperatures up to 3200 degrees Fahrenheit.

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A full-time Loch Ness monster hunter in the Scottish Highlights

loch-ness-monster-hunter-steve-feltham

The Loch Ness monster hunter is making me a cup of coffee and I just can’t stop thinking about how normal he seems.

It was a little over twenty-five years ago that Steve Feltham gave up his house, his girlfriend and his job to move into a camper van at the end of a parking lot next to the stony beaches of Loch Ness in the Scottish Highlands to search for a mythical monster. He doesn’t have a single regret.

In fact, just the opposite.

This could be just a story about a man looking for a monster that he may never find. It’s more than that. It could be the story of a mad man. It’s not that either.

This is a story of a man who didn’t want to live an ordinary life—a man who wanted to look back at the end of his days and say “I did something I loved.”

And yet the first thing he says to me is quite ordinary. “Shall I put the kettle on?” he asks.

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Alaska launches DIY bag drop pilot project at LAX

Many people are familiar with self-checkout at the grocery store – it can be a speedy and simple option when there are long lines or when purchasing just a few items. Imagine that ability, but with bags at the airport. Alaska Airlines is bringing this technology to the Los Angeles International Airport by piloting a “Scan and Fly” self-bag-drop process that started this week.

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Ye will sink! Bothy camping in the Scottish Highlands

Don’t call it hiking. That was the first thing I learned about hiking in the Scottish Highlands. It’s hill walking. Don’t forget it.

“Hill walking! It makes more sense, love. It’s just walking in hills. Why do you Americans need another word for it?” a coffee barista in Edinburgh corrected me when I told her I planned to begin hiking the next day.

I’m not sure why my friend Glynnis agreed to come along when I told her my plans to hike through the Scottish Highlands a week shy of my 36th birthday. Hill walking in one of the least sparsely populated regions of Europe seemed to offer just the right amount of adventure for two girls looking to escape the busyness of work and city life for a little while. I’d just finished writing a book and had given it over to my editor. Glynnis was just starting one. We desperately needed to be somewhere without our computers, even for a few days.

“It will be like Little House on the Prairie meets Brigadoon,” I’d offered as a way of making it seem more appealing to my friend.

“Both of those stories eventually had a happy ending!” Glynnis replied cautiously. “Kind of.”

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Limitless: Alaska’s new ad campaign thanks customers, focuses on the benefits of Mileage Plan

Kent Brooten will never forget the moment he hit one million miles on an Alaska Airlines flight.

Two and a half years ago, as he was flying from Seattle to Los Angeles after a visit with his fiancé, the pilot came on the intercom with this message “We are 227 south of Seattle. The person sitting in seat 3d has just reached one million miles.”

Brooten made sure to document that moment.

“I recorded it on my iPhone of course,” he said. The model Alaska Boeing-737 aircraft that Booten received to commemorate the milestone still sits on his desk.

Brooten became a Mileage Plan member 33 years ago, and today has 1,331,597 miles in his account – hard earned by a job that took him across the United States and a passion for climbing mountains that took him across the globe.

He is one of eight Mileage Plan members featured in Alaska’s latest ad campaign – a thank you to loyal fliers – which focuses on the draws of Alaska’s frequent flier program.

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Seattle music scene: Macklemore’s local roots

By Albert Rodriguez for Alaska Beyond Magazine

On a cold, drizzly February evening outside Neumos, a small concert venue in Seattle’s buzzing Capitol Hill neighborhood, 500 fans stood in line for hours to see Macklemore & Ryan Lewis. It was a tiny crowd in comparison to the nearly 50,000 who attended the three sold-out concerts at Seattle Center’s KeyArena in 2013, when the hip-hop duo closed out an extensive world tour in their own backyard. But the Neumos show was an unexpected treat—a free bonus show for hometown fans that had been kept under wraps until just two days beforehand. The concert was streamed globally via Amazon Music to celebrate the release of the album “This Unruly Mess I’ve Made.” But for those who packed the floor of Neumos, it was a chance to share a few relatively intimate moments with one of the hottest acts in hip-hop.

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35 years after first flight, Horizon Air still known for service (and free drinks*)

This week, Horizon Air is celebrating the 35th anniversary of its inaugural flight on Sept. 1, 1981.

Although Horizon Air and Alaska Airlines remain separately managed to this day, the two companies have been closely linked for nearly 30 years.

Both are subsidiaries of Alaska Air Group, and all Horizon flights are marketed and sold by Alaska. Since 2011, Horizon’s Q400 aircraft have featured Alaska’s familiar livery with the Alaska Native on the tail.

“Horizon has a strong legacy in the Northwest and beyond because of our exceptional delivery of service and the great people who make it happen seamlessly and safely every day,” says Dave Campbell, Horizon president and CEO. “Our growth over the years is something all of our team members should be extremely proud of, and as a member of the Alaska Air Group family I’m greatly looking forward to the coming years at Horizon. To our customers, I’d like to say thank you for your continued loyalty. It truly is our privilege to serve you.”

A new way of doing things

Passengers board Horizon Air's first flight in 1981.
Passengers board Horizon Air’s first flight in 1981.

When it launched in 1981, Horizon was one of hundreds of new air carriers to pop up around this time in response to the Airline Deregulation Act of 1978. Many large airlines discontinued shorter routes across the U.S. in response to the act, creating a gap in the market that many people were eager to fill. One of those people was entrepreneur Milt Kuolt.

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Weekend Wanderer: San Jose, California To Edmonton, Alberta

Based out of San Jose, California, Wayne Nguyen is a travel and landscape photographer who has an eye for capturing extraordinary moments through his lens. He just returned from an Instagram takeover in Edmonton, Alberta as part of Alaska Airlines’ Weekend Wanderer series. For more Weekend Wanderer posts, make sure you’re following Alaska Airlines on Instagram.
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