Alaska Airlines is expanding service to New York City, by starting service between Seattle, Washington and New York JFK airport on September 16, 2015. This new route will complement Alaska Airlines current double daily service to Newark Liberty airport in New Jersey and will connect Alaska Airline passengers to not only the city of New York, but expand travel options beyond New York, as JFK is one of the United States busiest international airports with more partner connections for Alaska Airline flyers.
Alaska Airlines JFK service will start March 16, 2015 and will be offered on a Next Generation 737 aircraft with 16 standard first class reclining seats. Although Seattle to New York is a long transcontinental flight, Seattle has not seen the competition or had the demand for lay flat seats between the two cities like LA and SF have. Delta’s botched their attempt to bring lay flat seats to the Seattle Transcontinental market and has actually back pedaled on its launch of DeltaOne (Formerly Delta BusinessElite) between Seattle and NY JFK and reverted back to primary Boeing 737 service between the two markets.
The new Seattle-JFK flight will compliment Alaska’s current schedule to the New York area and offer the first red eye by Alaska Airlines between the two markets.
| City Pair | Depart | Arrival |
| Sea-JFK | 9:45 pm | 6:00am |
| JFK- Sea | 7:15am | 10:15am |
Other Seattle to New York Area flights operated by Alaska Airlines and partners*:
| Operator | City Pair | Depart | Arrival |
| Alaska | Sea – Newark | 9:05am | 5:30pm |
| Alaska | Sea- Newark | 3:05pm | 11:15pm |
| American | Sea – JFK | 7:00 am | 3:26pm |
| Delta | Sea – JFK | 7:15am | 3:35am |
| Delta | Sea – JFK | 11:15am | 7:40pm |
| Delta | Sea – JFK | 2:20pm | 1050pm |
| Delta | Sea – JFK | 10:45pm | 7:00am |
*I added Delta to this time table, but Alaska and Delta do not codeshare on routes they both operate on, furthermore, by the time Alaska launches this route, their partnership is likely to be dissolved.
The new flights are a great addition to the Alaska Airlines network and will fit perfectly into Alaska’s New York area schedule. I am elated to see Alaska to finally serve New York JFK, and have been waiting for the change from Newark to JFK ever since Continental and Alaska severed their partnership before the CO-UA merger. The flight is timed perfectly to connect to partner flights such as British Airways morning flights to London Heathrow, AA flights to the Caribbean, Emirates flight to Dubai, and more. Currently Alaska has not announced what terminal they will use at JFK, but I am hoping it will be American’s Terminal to make connection to AA and LAN easier.
Today’s announcement also came with praise from politicians including Washington Senator Marie Cantwell and Seattle’s Mayor Ed Murray:
“Alaska does a tremendous job getting Northwest travelers to where they need to go, whether for business or personal travel,” said Seattle Mayor Ed Murray. “Adding direct flights to JFK is another example of them helping Seattle flyers connect conveniently not just to New York City, but destinations around the globe.”
“The New York area is an important destination for Pacific Northwest travelers, and I’m glad to see Alaska add this key route. Alaska’s extensive network continues to be a key component of the Seattle area’s economic growth engine,” said U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell, (D-WA), ranking member on the Senate Subcommittee on aviation, operations and security.
To celebrate new service, Alaska is offering introductory fares for just $149 each way and double miles for flights between September 16 and October 28, 2015
