Hawaii and Midwest Brides Take Note!

Alaska launching service

to Minneapolis and Kona

New routes part of network evaluation

to serve the most profitable markets

 

May 20, 2008

 

Alaska Airlines today announced it will inaugurate service between Seattle and Minneapolis and Seattle and Kona on the Big Island of Hawaii. The airline also announced it is expanding its seasonal service between Anchorage and Maui. The flights will be available for purchase starting May 22.

 

Alaska Airlines will offer year-round twice-daily flights between Seattle and Minneapolis starting Oct. 26, and year-round once-a-day service between Seattle and Kona beginning Nov. 17. Seasonal flights between Anchorage and Kahului on the island of Maui are increasing from twice to three times weekly from Oct. 31 to April 25, 2009.

 

Minneapolis, along with twin city St. Paul, are known for their lakes, Scandinavian heritage, arts and culture and the Mall of America, which includes an indoor amusement park.

 

For the new service, Seattle-Minneapolis flights will depart at 6:50 a.m. and 6:40 p.m. Pacific Time and arrive at 12:05 p.m. and 11:55 p.m. Central Time, respectively. Return flights will depart at 7:40 a.m. and 1:05 p.m. Central Time and arrive at 9:15 a.m. and 2:40 p.m. Pacific Time, respectively.

 

Seattle-Kona flights will depart at 8:40 a.m. Pacific Time and arrive at 1 p.m. Hawaii Time. Return flights will depart at 2 p.m. Hawaii Time and arrive at 9:40 p.m. Pacific Time.

 

Alaska will operate the flights with Boeing 737-800s. Vendors will provide below-the-wing service at the two new stations and customer service agents will likely be staffed through partnerships with other airlines, however, Harrison said those details “will be sorted out in the next five months.”

 

To inaugurate its new service, Alaska Airlines is offering introductory one-way fares of $139 between Seattle and Minneapolis and $229 between Seattle and Kona. Customers must purchase their tickets by June 5, 2008, and travel by Feb. 12, 2009. Additional restrictions and blackout dates apply.

 

Alaska Airlines Vacations also offers a full line of vacation packages for travel to the Big Island of Hawaii, as well as to Oahu, Kauai and Maui. Packages include air transportation, hotel accommodations, ground transportation and tours.

 

In addition, Alaska customers can earn double Mileage Plan miles on flights between Seattle and Minneapolis from Oct. 26 to Dec. 31, 2008. To receive the double miles, customers need to register at alaskaair.com, starting May 21.

I saw the title & had to read your post. You don't usually see "Hawaii & Midwest brides" mentioned inthe same sentence.

haha, i thought it would be an attention grabber

Abbie I love how you're our Alaska Air liason...lol Anything new with them gets to us through you, you're like an Alaskan TA

haha, jamy if only i could tell you how i really feel personal feelings against the company i work for aside, i do think it's great that we are starting to offer hawaii flights, they are ALWAYS full, so obviously it was a good move. also i think its cool we are starting MSP service, it offers those girls an alternative connection/airline on their way to the western part of mexico, and hawaii as well.

 

plus, now i can finally go check out the mall of america on an overnight trip!

haha I know all about work aggression! It is cool for the midwest folks though...I take for granted that I live near several major airports with lots of choices. This is big news for them!

hhmmm Abbie - what about coming from the East Coast? does it make sense to fly to Seattle and connect to Kona?

well, when i just checked the flights out of PHL, the top three hits for connections that i came up with are phoenix, chicago, and LAX, on US Airways, United, and AA/UA and US/DL combos, respectively.

there is also a NONSTOP flight newark to honolulu, sorry i'm map challenged and not sure how for it is from philly to nj, but it it EWR-HNL then a quick hawaiian air hop to KOA.

anyways, i think if you can get a nonstop flight from PHL to SEA, and then a nonstop from there to KOA then you'd be set, but i think it might take longer to go across to SEA, then down to hawaii, rather than down to cali and over, kwim?

that makes sense! we already have our tix booked but i was thinking for our guests...newark is about 1 hour from PHL so not too bad

thanks