Video: Alaska employee brings passengers to tears with moving tribute to a fallen soldier

On Oct. 16, Julia Jette was half asleep in the Anchorage airport, waiting to board a red eye flight to Seattle, when she heard something unexpected. “We thought it was the announcement to start boarding, “ Jette said. Instead it was customer service agent Denise Snow, letting her passengers know that a fallen soldier’s ashes…

Yes THAT Nordstrom tire story

By Paul Frichtl, Alaska Airlines Magazine As a 16-year-old Nordstrom sales associate in the late 1970s, Craig Trounce was a legend in the making. That’s when he was working in the retailer’s Fairbanks store, and an old miner walked in with a pair of dirty, worn tires. The man had purchased the tires several years…

Keep your camera ready: Coastal train from Anchorage to Seward offers panoramic views of wild Alaska

Winding through snow-capped mountains and lush green fields decorated with an array of colorful wildflowers is Alaska Railroad’s Coastal Classic Train. The four-hour, one-way train trip carries passengers from Anchorage to Seward in the summer months (May 9 to Sept. 13) and offers views of stunning glaciers and ample opportunity for photos and wildlife viewing.

The adventures of Piglet and Aurora: Two lost toys have an Alaskan adventure

A simple ferry ride turned into an Alaskan adventure for two fuzzy stuffed animals named Piglet and Aurora, when their owner accidentally left them behind. Petersburg, Alaska resident Lizzie Thompson had exchanged stuffed animals with family friends in Virginia for the summer, so their children could learn about each other’s homes through their stuffed animals’…

Alaska Airlines helping fire efforts in state of Alaska

Photo via Alaska Dept. of Natural Resources Twitter (@AK_Forestry) An unusual number of wildfires in the state of Alaska over the past two weeks has required evacuations of many residents and some have lost their homes. Alaska Airlines’ operations in the state of Alaska have not been impacted to date, but the airline is doing…

Here there be Vikings: Petersburg’s Little Norway Festival brings fun, shenanigans to Southeast Alaska

Tucked beneath the clouds that often cover Southeast Alaska is the small fishing town of Petersburg, located on Mitkof Island. With a population of 3,209 year-round residents, there are three canneries that bring in an additional 800 people during the summer months. And at first glance, there appears to be more boats in the harbor…

Seattle hospital patient requests special meal from North Pole – Alaska delivers

As Phil Pope recovered from a stroke at a hospital near Seattle, the retired Alaska Airlines captain had a hankering for one particular thing: Chinese food from Pagoda Restaurant in North Pole, Alaska. That’s where he and wife Jackie Pope, an Alaska Airlines flight attendant, planned to celebrate their 25th wedding anniversary Feb. 11, near the rustic…

Throwback Thursday: It’s a bird. It’s a plane. It’s got skis?

Alaska Airlines has been known for a lot of firsts. First airline to offer booking tickets on the Internet and first airline to guarantee your bags arrive on time. But passengers today would do a double-take if they had seen one of Alaska’s early firsts—first airline certified by the FAA to take off and land…

Video: Alaska flight attendant gets big surprise with inflight marriage proposal

Alaska Airlines flight attendant Brandy Hollenbeck began her March 18 flight from Seattle to Juneau, Alaska like any other. As she worked the flight, the first leg of Alaska’s ‘milk run’ through Southeast Alaska, she had no idea that behind the scenes her boyfriend and her fellow flight attendants were scheming to give her a…

‘Have an ice day’ at the World Ice Art Championships in Fairbanks, Alaska

A pirate ship, a superhero scene, a faucet with a round, glistening drop of water. These are just some of the otherworldly ice sculptures on display through the end of the month at Ice Alaska: 2015 BP World Ice Art Championships in Fairbanks, Alaska. Artists travel from all around the world for the chance to…

Pulling together: In the ‘last great race on Earth,’ sled dogs are family

Two days before the ceremonial start of the 2015 Iditarod, 78 mushers gathered for a welcome in a hotel conference room in Anchorage, Alaska. In among the sweatshirt, bivy sack and other pre-race swag given to the mushers is a small but very important notebook: the vet book. It is in this notebook that a…

Throwback Thursday: Windshield sushi – Alaska Airlines jet really did hit a fish in midair

The airplane that hit a fish is one of the most legendary stories in Alaska Airlines lore. Like all great fish tales, the size of the fish grows with every telling, but the story that made headlines around the world in 1987 is completely true. (Although it probably didn’t help that newspapers published the story…

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