Alaska Airlines Unveils Premium Cabin Overhaul Across Alaska and Hawaiian

Alaska's Boeing 787 Dreamliners will get 34 lie-flat suites in a new offering it is calling Aurora. The 787-9 and 787-10 will also have 35 seats in a new premium-economy section called Premium Reserve, starting in 2028. At least 25 of the yet-to-be-certified Boeing 737 Max 10s will have 12 lie-flat Aurora suites and premium-economy seats, a bid to compete with other airlines on lucrative cross-country routes. Hawaiian Airlines' 24 Airbus A330s will each get 22 all-new first-class suites with sliding doors, starting in 2028, and their first premium-economy section, with 28 seats. The new options will bring the total count down to 254 seats from 278 on those planes. Shane Jones, Alaska's head of fleet, told CNBC that the A330s, used for flights to Hawaii, Asia and Oceania, have "aging interiors."

Alaska will open a new 41,000-square-foot Alaska lounge at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, with dedicated space for Aurora suites flyers, similar to the tiered lounge system Delta Air Lines, United Airlines and American Airlines have. Hawaiian is building an almost 13,000-square-foot lounge in Honolulu's Terminal 1, slated to open in early 2028. U.S. airlines have been spending the past few years revamping their cabins to add more premium seats, often at the expense of coach seats, since first-class fares can go for many times more than an economy-class ticket, and customers keep paying to sit closer to the front. Alaska is far from the first carrier to remodel its cabins, but Henry Harteveldt, founder of travel consulting firm Atmosphere Research Group, said, "There is an advantage to being the last mover in that you've seen what your competitors have and if you want to you can try to one-up them."

Jones said the new options will give Alaska a range of premium choices, from the honeymoon splurge to repeat Hawaii visitors looking for a step-up from coach. He told CNBC that the airline spent months looking at fabric samples at the company's headquarters in Seattle under different types of lighting to pick the right one. Some shades were too bright pink, while others were too drab. The airline wanted to evoke the colors and mood of tropical escapes to Hawaii with a wave pattern sewn into the seat, and it evaluated how many waves were enough because too many could be dizzying.

Hawaiian Airlines CEO Diana Birkett Rakow said more than half of Hawaii's visitors are traveling from the West Coast of the U.S., a customer base that is "valuable to us from an economic perspective, just in terms of their income, their travel budget, their spending patterns, their flying patterns. And so this gives us an opportunity to elevate the experience." Alaska has been expanding its international flying from Seattle, including to London, Iceland and Italy, with more destinations slated to begin this fall. International travel demand has held up despite surging fuel prices, airline executives have said.

Alaska is also planning to launch early next year a rewards debit card for its Atmos loyalty program, expanding the carrier's co-branded cards it offers with Bank of America. Airlines, including Southwest Airlines and United Airlines, have started offering similar rewards cards through their partner, JPMorgan Chase. Alaska said the new debit card is aimed at younger and new arrivals in the U.S. and said it "expands the program's reach beyond traditional credit products." Starting on Thursday, Atmos frequent flyer program members will have to choose between earning miles by distance traveled, price of the ticket or segments flown. Airlines have largely moved away from distance-based earnings, instead prioritizing how much travelers spend on the airline or on rewards credit cards.