It’s been rumored for what seems like forever, and Alaska Airlines has finally announced service to Hawaii.
- Seattle-Honolulu starts October 12th;
- Seattle-Lihu’e begins October 28th;
- Anchorage-Honolulu starts December 9th.
They have some great introductory fares of $109+tax each way, but don’t count on finding any seats left (after a day!) at that price. Instead, fares of around $160+tax each way are still available — which is pretty darn good. Alaska will apparently allow use of the Bank of America Visa $50 companion tickets on these routes, and the flights are upgradeable with miles and MVP Gold Guest upgrade certificates.
If you have or can score a $50 companion ticket on a $350-ish all-in ticket, and there’s upgrade availability, two people can fly first class from Seattle to Hawaii for $450 or so roundtrip + 40,000 frequent flyer miles. At least for bookings made by August 1.
Alaska’s award chart has been updated to reflect these new flights as well. And since these flights were literally just loaded into reservation systems, very few award seats have been taken yet… (Note that Continental, American, Delta, and Northwest frequent flyers can all redeem miles with Alaska…)
