As Alaska sets out to begin its biggest growth spurt ever with the acquisition of Hawaiian Airlines, it is making several interesting moves in quite literally opposite directions. The Seattle based airline, due to acquire Hawaiian about a year from now, has just launched a series of new routes to tropical destinations. These flights are from among the most popular mainland to Hawaii gateways. The new routes are to tropical destinations not entirely different than the islands. But these new routes are not to Hawaii!
It will be interesting to see how well these routes do and whether they will become part of Alaska’s broader tropical destination strategy. Today we coincidentally received a related comment from Jack that caught our attention. It was about the cost of a Hawaii vacation. “Hawaii will be stricken from our travel plans… yes, the flight time is double or triple, but the flight cost is not, and the currency conversion is quite favorable. At this rate, nearly any other warm-weather destination will be superior to the “Aloha State.”
Alaska Airlines: Los Angeles to Nassau, Bahamas
Starting today, Alaska Airlines will fly to Nassau from Los Angeles year-round. The route will operate four times a week through April 15, 2024. After that, it is scheduled to operate just once a week. All of that is subject to demand, of course, so we’ll keep an eye on how this pans out. The 2,525 mile trip will depart LAX at 10:50 am and arrive NAS at 7:10 pm. The return departs Nassau at 11:00 am and arrives Los Angeles at 1:54 pm. The plane used is their newest Boeing 737 MAX 9.
The cost of this route starts at $354 round trip, including all taxes and fees, which makes it accessible at about the same price, and the same flight time as flying to Hawaii. Alaska will operate the only nonstop service on this new route.
Alaska Airlines: Seattle to Nassau, Bahamas
You’ll also be able to fly from Alaska’s home town airport, Seattle, nonstop to Nassau starting today. That route is operating three times weekly, on a year-round basis. That flight spans a distance of 2,887 miles, making it one of the airline’s longest routes. Their very longest, however, remains the one between Anchorage and New York, which is a distance of 3,385 miles. This is the only nonstop service and will operate using Alaska’s Boeing 737 MAX 9.
Flights on this round start at $416 round trip including taxes and fees.
Alaska Airlines: Las Vegas to Cabo San Lucas
The cost of this new route to exotic Cabo San Lucas starts at $279 round trip, including all taxes and fees. Once again, that puts it at a similar price point to Hawaii, albeit in about half the time with a duration of just over 2 1/2 hours each way. This is the only nonstop service and will operate using Alaska’s Boeing 737 MAX 9. This route is scheduled until April 15. It is operate as Alaska Skywest using an E175 jet.
Round trip airfares is from $309 round trip.
Alaska Airlines: Las Vegas to Puerto Vallarta
The airline is heading to the Mexican mainland in addition to Baja California. The route is only scheduled to operate four times weekly through April 14 at this point. At a distance of just 1,463 miles, the flight will take just over 3 hours.
The price starts at $278 round trip. It is operate as Alaska Skywest using an E175 jet.
What’s your take on Alaska Airlines’ expansion to the Caribbean and to Mexico?
This isn’t really a shift in strategy, they’ve been adding tropical destinations for at least a couple of years.