From today’s press release:
Alaska Airlines is thoughtfully and safely expanding food and beverage service on our flights, part of a process that started earlier this year. With our reinvigorated service, we’re now offering an expanded selection of freshly prepared, West Coast-inspired First Class meals on all flights more than 670 miles and hot meals on flights longer than 1,100 miles. Premium Class and main cabin guests can pre-order freshly prepared wraps or our famous Fruit and Cheese platter on all flights over 1,100 miles and packaged snacks on shorter flights. A full beverage service including Starbucks Coffee, Teavana Tea, individual cans of soda, craft beer West Coast wines and premium spirits are available in all cabins on flights more than 400 miles.
“We’re excited to welcome our guests back on board and want them to have a great experience with us,” said Todd Traynor-Corey, managing director of guest products at Alaska Airlines. “We’ve put a lot of thought and planning into safely adding additional food and beverage service on our flights, while getting back to fresh and local menu items that our guests love.”
Enhancing The Food And Beverage Experience
Here is the new food and beverage protocol for Alaska Airlines flights:
- Expanded hot meal options in First Class during breakfast, lunch and dinner service on mainline flights longer than 1,100 miles. New seasonal entrees include Guajillo Chile-Lime Salad with ancient grains, roasted broccoli and sweet potato with a roasted lemon crema, and Miso Marinated Cod with sesame garlic farro, sauteed yu choy, bell peppers and shitake mushrooms in a sesame-miso butter sauce. Guests can choose from three menu selections on all meal flights.
- Full tray service in First Class – including Schoenwald porcelain and compostable linen and silverware – has resumed on routes longer than 670 miles
- We offer a full selection of alcohol and non-alcoholic beverages available in all cabins with multiple cart services on flights more than 1,100 miles. We feature craft beer by Fremont Brewing, and as a new summer beer option, we’re serving Kona Longboard Island Lager on board. Plus, we serve West Coast wines curated exclusively for us from Broken Earth Winery in Paso Robles, California, and Canoe Ridge Vineyard in Columbia Valley, Washington.
- We make pre-ordering easy so our guests can rest assured they’ll get their favorites. With our industry-leading pre-order program, selecting First Class and main cabin meals from our mobile app can happen two weeks before a flight and up to one hour prior to departure. That includes pre-ordering our popular Fruit and Cheese Platter.
- On our shorter flights between 670-1,099 miles, we’ve added more snacks. We’ve brought back our popular Northwest Deli Picnic Pack which includes Deep River potato chips, Old Wisconsin Turkey Stick, Madi K’s Whole Natural Almonds, Gilman White Cheddar Cheese Stick and Mandy’s Dark Chocolate Cookie Thins. The picnic packs can be pre-ordered up to one hour before departure and can also be purchased on board with a credit card or stored form of payment.
- In First Class, guests are treated to a fully recyclable, box-shaped carton of water, sealed with a plant-based cap. Each Boxed Water carton is made from sustainably harvested trees and the multi-filtered water goes through a proprietary eight-step purification – giving it a clean, crisp taste.
“BOB” Is Back
Since the pandemic began, those traveling in economy had no access to “BOB” – Buy On Board food options. Those in economy that planned ahead did have access to pre-ordering food that would be catered aboard the aircraft for their orders. Now, you can purchase food onboard your flight. Alaska Airlines uses a cashless onboard purchase environment. Those paying with the Alaska Airlines Visa credit card can enjoy:
- A 20% discount for onboard purchases and
- A 50% discount on Alaska Airlines Lounge day passes.
Final Thoughts
Yes, hot food options are coming back to first class. For most of 2020, the choice in first class was the fruit and cheese platter or nothing. Alaska had brought in cold-food options to the fruit and cheese platter but hotter is better. Alaska had recently begun restoring hot meals on trans-con flights and now they will be available for flights longer than 1,100 miles.
For those traveling in economy, “BOB” is returning along with food pre-order from the Alaska Airlines app or full web page.
Thank you Alaska Airlines for ramping up the food and beverage service.
