“An airline merger and life-long love affair…”
So when I saw this photo of a vintage Alaskan Airlines MD-11 jet, and an ad commemorating the merger of 2 US airlines each renowned for their having 5-star service in every cabin (try that on for size, Delta!), a flood of memories were brought forth:
Specifically that I flew Alaskan so much as an unaccompanied minor that I’d perfected the art of 3D paper airplanes by age 8: a half reem of printer paper and 2 rolls Scotch tape (from Dad’s office) can get you a pretty stellar MD-80 Alaskan jet, once I free-hand the Eskimo from the vertical stabilizer (his name is actually “Chester”) using Crayola fine-tipped markers from my school supplies box, and print out *just* the right sized-and-spaced “ALASKA” using Microsoft Word to affix to the fuselage, or side of my paper-airplane-on-steroids. With tons and tons of yes- Scotch tape.
Ask me the font style of the wording of this vintage Alaskan aircraft in the photo, because I’ll never forget it: “Arial Bold”.
Glossy 8x10 pics of McDonnel Douglas (now Boeing) jetliners could be found adorning my walls as a teenager; my first model airliner was an Alaskan Airlines MD-80 that I sheepishly bought from the toys section of a SEATAC gift shop as a teenager.
Mounted on its base, it was banked in a turn and pitched at a steep 20 degrees like it was about to take off from its plastic holder and roar over the Cascade mountains in the Pacific Northwest, destination unknown.
My buddies and I knew every flight number, origin and destination of the airplanes flying overhead our neighborhood and once I had the pre-flight safety speech down pat aka completely memorized at age 12, using the garage door remote as my makeshift aircraft cabin PA system while my parents backed the car out of the garage- in my mind, the way an airplane is pushed back from the gate, I knew I was going to be a flight attendant someday.
You can bet that still, yes- someday, mark my words, I will be paid to pass out pretzels (they used to be peanuts- honey-roasted if you were lucky) and pour diet cokes in the cabin of an airliner before I retire. More than offering refreshments and ensuring the safety of my passengers I look forward to giving some traveling kiddos their wings and ensuring the same “magical” experience I had each and every time while flying Alaskan. This role as anyone of my cousins, parents or childhood friends can attest to has been written and seen in the stars (well, the sky anyway) for as long as I can remember.
So stop making fun of me for always flying first class, (or don’t, I can take it) because even though I am a bit of a snob, maybe in that way only, (maybe not), I’ve earned my wings, miles and upgrades and have been working my way up to the front of the plane for nearly 30 years now (I’m 42), and I’m not done yet.
I might be a Delta SkyMiles girl now, since relocating to the Midwest from San Francisco nearly a decade ago, but as my former-travel-agent bestie reminds me, Alaska Airlines hands-down had the best mileage rewards programs back in the day and that is likely because they were known as the classiest of all airlines, probably because they were just that: a class act. Flight attendants had the most conservative or “dressy” uniforms in the industry, yet the atmosphere onboard was more relaxing than any of the other airlines. From a kids perspective, I think it had something to do with their “cool” color scheme of teal, navy blue and silver- you know, vintage-Seattle-Seahawks-uniform-colors. Must be a Seattle thing.
I know this is cheesy, but I come from a family of pilots so I am in good company when I say, “Congratulations, Alaska Airlines, on your “marriage” (or merger) to Hawaiian Airlines!”
This merger makes so much sense for travelers (nonstop Seattle to Honolulu, here we come!) and other stakeholders, but also to a geeky kid (who turned out to be anything *but* geeky) who quite clearly still gets excited over the possibility of some beautiful new looking livery (aircraft speak for paint jobs, yes- like that which I worked so hard on as a kid emulating on paper airplanes) when “Chester” the Alaskan Eskimo and “Miss Aloha” essentially combine into a new design, inside and out.
Happy travels everyone 🌺❤️✈️
(…and to the lady who gave up her first class seat from JFK to SFO to me because I was inconsolably homesick for California the summer of 1992, thank you! You have no idea how badly that would spoil me for the rest of my life. 😆)
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