Spheres
About →

Newsletter →

Tag: AS

  • Alaska’s new international safety video features three destinations the airline is already flying to… and Sydney

    Alaska, today:

    Never in its 94-year history has Alaska Airlines created an onboard safety video. Until now.

    The new safety video will be shown prior to departure on the seatback entertainment systems of Alaska’s widebody, long-haul Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner aircraft, connecting the airline’s growing global gateway in Seattle to an expanding number of international destinations.

    Decent video. Strikes a nice balance between the cinematic and just-the-facts approaches that airlines have been wresting with in recent years.

    If you watch all the way through, you’ll notice that the video was shot in five places: Seattle, London, Rome, Mount Fuji (Japan), and Sydney.

    Alaska has announced flights to three of those destinations with the 787 already (London, Rome, and Tokyo; the airline is also flying to Seoul). That leaves Sydney, a city that Executive Traveller has been speculating is next on Alaska’s list since last year.

    There has never been a direct flight between Seattle and Sydney on any commercial airline.

  • And then there were 16: Hawaiian joins oneworld

    Yesterday came and went without an announcement, but now it’s official:

    oneworld® has welcomed Hawaiian Airlines as its newest member airline, becoming the third US-based carrier alongside Alaska Airlines and American Airlines and adding Honolulu as a global hub.

    oneworld refers to Hawaiian both as a member airline and an affiliate on its website (the difference doesn’t matter as far as travelers are concerned), but the logo gets top billing in alliance branding:

  • Hawaii wants to diversify its economy

    Christine Hitt, reporting for SFGate:

    “There’s still been growth in visitor numbers but the per person in real inflation-adjusted terms, spending was at its highest actually in 1988, so it means tourists now are spending less than they did individually in 1988,” Steven Bond-Smith, an economist at the Economic Research Organization at the University of Hawaii, told SFGATE by phone.

    Bond-Smith said a healthy economy in the US averages about 2% growth over long periods of time, but Hawaii is averaging much lower, at around 0.6%. Because the state hasn’t kept pace with the continent, residents are driven to leave.

    “You need higher- and higher-value jobs and activities being done here,” Bond-Smith said. The jobs that tend to offer higher wages are in very large US cities and they’re particularly in tech or biotech, he explained. “The main activity here is obviously tourism, and it hasn’t had that kind of income growth that other places have had.”

    Simple Flying, reporting on Alaska’s hub strategy after acquiring Hawaiian:

    Following the airlines’ merger, more than 20% more seats are now on offer between Seattle and Honolulu, with three of the six daily flights operated by widebody aircraft. Further down the coast, Portland now sees three daily nonstop flights to Hawaii, representing an increase of 25% more seats.

    Two daily flights now take off between San Diego and Maui, with new routes from San Francisco to Kona and Lihue. This will see the group now offer four daily nonstop flights from San Francisco to the main airports in the state. The Hawaiian A330 will also add a once-daily service between Honolulu and Sacramento.

    So, one upshot of Alaska’s purchase – so far – has been more seats between Hawaii and both Seattle and San Francisco, two cities with thriving tech sectors. Approving that acquisition was a no-brainer.

  • TSA expands Touchless ID to 65 airports

    Rollout will be complete by Spring. Full list, per the TSA:

    • Alaska Airlines: ATL, DCA, DEN, JFK, LAS, LAX, ORD, PDX, SEA, SFO, SLC
    • American Airlines: ATL, CTL, DCA, DEN, DFW, EWR, IAD, IAH, JFK, LAS, LAX, LGA, MSP, ORD, PBI, PDX, PHL, SFO, SEA, SLC
    • Delta Air Lines: ATL, DCA, DEN, DTW, EWR, JFK, LAS, LAX, LGA, ORD, PDX, SEA, SFO, SLC
    • Southwest Airlines: ATL, DEN, LAX, LGA, ORD, PDX, SEA, SFO, SLC
    • United Airlines: ATL, DCA, DEN, EWR, LAS, LAX, LGA, ORD, PDX, SEA, SFO, SLC

    Alaska and American passengers with TSA PreCheck can participate, but unlike a KTN, you can’t just add this to a booking. You have to be a member of that airline’s loyalty program and opt in from your account settings (which means you can’t use this if you’re with Alaska and flying American, or vice versa, or you’re with another oneworld airline, flying either).

  • oneworld in 2026

    (If you’re new here, welcome. Spheres is where I post news and commentary about flying with oneworld and whatever goes along with that. You can also get these posts in a free newsletter. One email per week.)

    Here are the routes, planes, services, and other changes that caught my eye for 2026.

    oneworld

    Alaska

    American

    British

    Cathay

    Fiji

    Finnair

    Iberia

    JAL

    Malaysia

    Oman

    • New routes from Muscat to Singapore, Copenhagen (via Baghdad), and Taif
    • Retiring the B737-800 and 900-ER

    Qantas

    • New routes between the Gold Coast to Auckland; Sydney to Samoa (via Auckland), and Port Moresby
    • New lounges: refurbished Business lounge in Los Angeles,4 new lounge in Hobart, and refurbished regional lounges
    • Free wifi on international routes flown by the A330, B787, and A380
    • Project Sunrise test flights

    Qatar

    Royal Air Maroc

    Royal Jordanian

    SriLankan

    —

    1. If there is a new member airline from India, it will be IndiGo. The only other major airline, Air India, is a Star Alliance member. IndiGo partnered with four SkyTeam members in June, but it also has ties with American, British, JAL, Qantas, and Qatar. ↩︎
    2. Alaska and American are following the same playbook for wifi: it’s free because a cellular network is sponsoring it, and you’ll only get it if you’re a member of the airline’s loyalty program. I hope they’ll spare members of each other’s programs or non-US oneworld airlines from having to sign up for an account that will never get used. ↩︎
    3. Ditto. ↩︎
    4. The concept photo suggests that the iconic Eames Lounge Chairs aren’t coming along for the ride. ↩︎

  • American has the lowest drinking water quality, maybe

    A new report circulating on travel sites and Reddit has bad news for American fliers:

    The 2026 Airline Water Study ranks 10 major and 11 regional airlines by the quality of water they provided onboard flights during a three-year study period (October 1, 2022 through September 30, 2025). Each airline was given a “Water Safety Score” (5.00 = highest rating, 0.00 = lowest) based on five weighted criteria, including violations per aircraft, Maximum Contaminant Level violations for E. coli, indicator-positive rates, public notices, and disinfecting and flushing frequency. A score of 3.5 or better indicates that the airline has relatively safe, clean water and earns a Grade A or B.

    “Delta Air Lines and Frontier Airlines win the top spots with the safest water in the sky, and Alaska Airlines finishes No. 3,” says Charles Platkin, PhD, JD, MPH, director of the Center for Food as Medicine and Longevity.

    The airlines with the worst score are American Airlines and JetBlue, the study shows. “Nearly all regional airlines need to improve their onboard water safety, with the exception of GoJet Airlines,” Platkin says.

    The study is based on records submitted to the EPA by the airlines under the Aircraft Drinking Water Rule, as outlined by the author in a lengthy methodology statement.

    Still, we don’t know much about the non-profit behind the study. I couldn’t find references to it in any major news publication; the only report it publishes that seems to get any traction is this annual study. It has some legitimate advisors, but its website also has photo after photo of unlabeled AI slop.

    Even putting this study aside, travelers regularly wonder where the drinking water and ice comes from on airplanes.

    Seems like the perfect place for American’s new Customer Experience unit to go to work. Reassure customers that drinking water comes from a safe source instead of letting reports like these do the work for them. If there is a problem, it’s relatively cheap to solve. There are new champagne and coffee partnerships. Why not the most ubiquitous drink on board as well?

  • Alaska expands on the West Coast

    Lots of new routes on Alaska starting April 22, 2026 (already a big day for the airline), per Ishrion Aviation:

    California

    • Burbank ↔ Honolulu
    • San Diego ↔ Dallas Fort Worth
    • San Diego ↔ Santa Barbara
    • San Diego ↔ Raleigh-Durham

    Oregon

    • Portland ↔ Baltimore
    • Portland ↔ Philadelphia
    • Portland ↔ St Louis
    • Portland ↔ Idaho Falls

    Washington

    • Seattle ↔ Arcata
    • Seattle ↔ Tulsa

    UPDATE: Simple Flying has a complete table of new and discontinued routes. 13 new, 16 gone. The bulk of the cuts are in San Francisco, including routes to Austin, Boston, Burbank, Newark, Orlando, Phoenix, and Salt Lake City. Alaska sees more opportunity in Portland and San Diego.