Twenty years ago Alaska Airlines seriously considered eliminating first class altogether, but determined that they could better monetize the product instead. Now they’re betting more heavily on premium.

They don’t have lie flat seats even for cross country flights, and they eliminated Virgin America’s superior first class product after the merger, but they’re planning to add a row of first class to Boeing 737-800s and add a row of extra legroom coach (“premium class”) to their 737-900ER and 737 MAX 9s.

Aircraft	First Class	Premium Class	Number of aircraft being retrofitted	Timing
737-800	Increasing from 12 to 16 seats	30 seats will remain	59	Conversions will begin in early 2025; to be completed by summer 2026
737-900ER	16 seats will remain	Increasing from 24 to 30 seats	79	Conversions will begin in fall 2024; to be completed by summer 2025
737-9 MAX	16 seats will remain	Increasing from 24 to 30 seats	80	Conversions will begin in spring 2025; to be completed by summer 2026

 

The news isn’t all new here. We already knew that Alaska would increase first class on 737-800s back to 16 seats. And it’s not all good news, either. Space on an aircraft has to come from somewhere! For instance,

• The Boeing 737-9 and MAX 9 will have the same number of rows as before, with all of the changes in front of the emergency exit. That means the space comes by squeezing premium seating for the three inches needed to convert a row of regular coach to premium.
• While Alaska is going from 12 to 16 seats in first class on the Boeing 737-800, we’ll almost certainly see reduced legroom in first class to fund it.

They may also gain space with their new Recaro first class seats on the 737-800, which I assume will be less padded while “boast[ing] the most legroom and features include a calf rest, new seatback device holder, 6-way headrest with neck support and USB-C charging capabilities.”

Coach on that aircraft gets “new device holders with built in cup holders, USB-C charging and a 6-way headrest with dedicated neck support.” 737-900s get an “interior refresh” with device holders for coach seats.

Alaska is largely matching some of its competitors as it adds premium seats in a world where that’s the product that more and more customers have wanted to buy. Just as American Airlines has missed out on consumer demand for long haul travel, having retired too many widebody aircraft during the pandemic, and Southwest has missed out on customers wanting to buy more than just a standard coach experience, Alaska found itself missing out on the ability to sell customers what they were looking for.

Where Alaska really does shine is in its onboard catering, at least relative to its U.S. competition. Meals in first class on Alaska are generally better than on Delta, American or United.