Imagine my surprise when I saw that my flight from New York to San Francisco last night was showing as leaving on time, but my arrival was delayed by 46 minutes. I'd never seen that before, and it turns out the jet stream is making for some very unusual flights lately. My flight ended up getting in only about a half hour late, but it was a long flight. A whopping seven hours from coast to coast, it was longer than trips to Europe I've had. And it's all about the jet stream.
Alaska Airlines unveils a new longest route connecting New York City with Anchorage
20.10.2023 - 18:37 / thepointsguy.com / John F.Kennedy
Alaska Airlines is betting that you won't mind spending nearly eight hours holed up in a domestic jet on its new longest route.
The Seattle-based carrier announced on Friday brand-new service between New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK) and Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport (ANC) in Anchorage, Alaska.
New daily seasonal service will commence on June 13, 2024, on board one of Alaska's new Boeing 737 MAX 8 jets. This route will operate through Aug. 19.
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Additionally, Alaska will launch once-weekly flights on Saturdays between San Diego and Anchorage. This route will be operated by the standard version of the Boeing 737.
At 3,386 miles, Alaska's New York-to-Anchorage flight will become the longest in the carrier's network. The airline is blocking it for seven hours and 45 minutes in the westbound direction and seven hours and five minutes in the eastbound direction.
You'll find the full schedule at the bottom of this post, but the timetable is roughly what you'd expect for an eight-hour domestic flight. It departs in the morning from New York and arrives in the midafternoon in Alaska. It returns to New York as a red-eye, leaving at 8 p.m. — a bit early to start falling asleep — and landing the next morning at 7:05 a.m.
Shifting loyalties? Alaska Airlines targets Delta with lucrative status match offer
Before announcing this new flight, Alaska's three longest flights were as follows, based on Cirium schedules:
As you can see, Alaska's new route will be over 500 miles longer than the next-longest route. It'll be interesting to see if the airline modifies its inflight service to more closely resemble a long-haul flight. (After all, New York to London — a proper long-haul route — is just 65 miles longer.)
Note that Alaska is set to receive the Boeing 737 MAX 8 in the coming months. The carrier has 15 of these jets on order, and the cabin configuration hasn't been unveiled yet.
Stretch your legs: The world's longest nonstop flights, updated
While this announcement might be splashy for Alaska, the carrier will go up against some serious competition on the other side of New York City. That's because United Airlines already offers daily summer seasonal service between Newark and Anchorage.
Interestingly, United also deploys a Boeing 737 MAX 8 on the route (it used to operate a lie-flat-equipped Boeing 757 on this flight), but the carrier's westbound schedule is not quite the same as Alaska's. United's Newark-to-Anchorage service departs at around 3:15 p.m. in the afternoon and lands in Alaska at 6:58 p.m. It returns as a red-eye flight, also departing at 8 p.m.
Two years ago, Delta Air Lines
The website maxtravelz.com is an aggregator of news from open sources. The source is indicated at the beginning and at the end of the announcement. You can send a complaint on the news if you find it unreliable.
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