Alaska Airlines Seattle, seven years: the West Coast option, the Hawaii and Alaska flying, the union contract and the body in the Pacific time zones
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#1 Alaska Airlines, Seattle, seven years, and I put 'the West Coast option' in my bio because the US carrier conversation on here is always Delta, United, American, and there is a whole other airline with a whole other life on the Pacific side.
What Alaska is
A major US carrier based in Seattle with hubs in Portland, San Francisco, Los Angeles and Anchorage, flying the whole West Coast, the entire state of Alaska (which is its own world), Hawaii, Mexico, Costa Rica, and across the country. 737s mostly, with the Hawaiian merger bringing widebodies and the islands into the picture. A strong union contract and, by US standards, a crew culture that is warmer and smaller than the big three.
The flying
A typical Seattle line: a three day trip with a Hawaii turn (Seattle to Maui and back is a long day), a two day with an Anchorage night stop, a bunch of California turns. The Alaska state flying is unlike anything else in the US: Juneau, Fairbanks, Nome, Kotzebue, small airports, real weather, passengers who are going home to villages. In winter it is dark and cold and the crews who bid it love it. The Hawaii flying is the reward and the trap, like leisure flying everywhere.
The contract
Union (AFA), an hourly rate that is competitive with the majors after the recent agreements, per diem, a reserve system that at Seattle is shorter than JFK or Newark because the base is big and growing. I held a line in year two. Seniority moves faster here than at the big three's big bases, and that is the honest reason to consider Alaska over them if you have the choice and want the West Coast.
The body in the Pacific time zones
The advantage: most of our flying is within three time zones, and the Hawaii swing is three hours. Compared to the international crews on this forum, our jet lag is small. The cost is different: early sign ons (the East Coast red eyes come home at 6am Pacific), long duty days on the Hawaii turns, and the winter darkness on the Alaska routes. I sleep better than my international friends and I am on my feet more hours.
Seattle
Expensive. The crew live in the suburbs or commute from Portland or Spokane or even Boise, and the commuter culture is strong. The base itself is friendly, the union is active, the company is a Seattle institution and it feels like one.
Who it suits
Someone on the West Coast, who wants a US major without the Newark or JFK reserve years, who likes domestic and near international flying, who would rather do Maui and Juneau than London and Tokyo, and who wants a crew culture that knows your name.
Who should look at the big three instead
Someone who wants the whole world. Someone who wants Paris. The Hawaiian merger is changing what Alaska can offer but it is not Delta's network and does not pretend to be.
Ask me about Anchorage in December. It is the flying I am proudest of.
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#2 United SFO, and Alaska is the airline half my base wonders about at 2am on a Tokyo layover. The 'held a line in year two' sentence will make people at Newark weep. Fair post.
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#3 United LAX, and I nearly went to Alaska in 2019. The West Coast life is real and the seniority math is exactly as Jen says. I chose the international network. Some months I regret it.
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#5 US carrier, East Coast, and the 'within three time zones' point is the thing I had never thought about. My body would like to bid Alaska.
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#6 Las Vegas based, different carrier, and the Alaska flying to the state itself is genuinely a different job. I have friends who bid Nome and Kotzebue by choice and describe it the way Fiona described the Scottish islands on the other thread: the crew member, singular, real weather, passengers you know.
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#7 Ten years, US major, and I want to add that the Alaska crew culture reputation is deserved. I have jumpseated with them and it is a different room. Smaller, warmer, more Seattle.
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#8 JFK, and I am not going to comment on the reserve years except to say that reading 'held a line in year two' caused a physical reaction. Congratulations to the West Coast.