For the next few days, the bigger the swell the bigger the discount on Alaska Airlines’ sunshine flights. Alaska Airlines is teaming up with global surf forecasting site Surfline and linking forecasted wave heights around Hawaii and northern and southern California to discounted flight tickets to those destinations. Sounds complicated? Not so, think the bigger the waves, the bigger the discount.
The sale, which can see fares discounted by as much as 30%, applies to Alaska Airlines flights to Hawaii and 12 destinations in California. The Californian destinations include Santa Rosa, Oakland, San Francisco, San Jose, Monterey, San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, Burbank, Los Angeles, Ontario, Santa Ana. and San Diego.
“Our guests love the outdoors and staying active despite the pandemic, so we’re harnessing the power of data to support their passions – and make it even more affordable to visit top surfing spots for 2020,” said Alaska Airlines’ Natalie Bowman.
This is a repeat of a promotion Alaska Airlines ran last year. It’s a little cute that an airline out of the chilliest state in the United States is deploying sun and surf as a sales tactic. But hey, as the nights get colder up north, why wouldn’t a week in southern California or Hawaii look good?
This sale runs between October 20 and October 23 for flights from October 20 through to February 10, 2021. Alaska Airlines says the discount level is dynamic, aligned to the size of the swell around different locations Surfline monitors. Across the four days of the sale, Alaska Airlines will adjust the discount daily (at 17:00 PDT) based on the maximum swell heights that day tracked by Surfline.
Data will come from five locations around the Hawaiian Islands as well as locations around California. The discounts will be as follows:
- 0-3 feet = 10% off
- 4-6 feet = 15% off
- 7-12 feet = 20% off
- 13+ feet = 30% off
To keep the sun and surf theme going, Alaska Airlines will waive oversize and overweight fees for sports equipment, including surfboards. When they say ‘waive,’ they don’t mean free. Rather, any surfboards will get charged the price of a regular checked bag ($30) rather than the oversized luggage cost.
Sale all about driving traffic on Alaska Airlines sunshine routes
Of course, this neat little sale is all about driving passenger traffic onto flights, particularly Hawaii flights. Hawaii relaxed its quarantine regime last week, allowing passengers who’ve tested negative to COVID-19 at an approved site within 72 hours of travel to skip the 14-dayWavesHawaii self-quarantine requirement.
That’s seen Alaska Airlines partner with a private health provider to offer discounted COVID-19 testing at its clinics across the big West Coast cities. Armed with a negative test result, Alaska Airlines is keen to lure you aboard one of its twice-daily Hawaii bound services out of Seattle. Also, from November 1, services to Hawaii will resume from Portland, San Jose, and San Diego. From mid-November, Alaska Airlines will begin flying to Hawaii from both Los Angeles and Anchorage.
Alaska Airlines is continuing to block the middle seat on their planes. Currently, this policy is in force until November 30. In addition, the airline has a mask policy. They will also need passengers to confirm at check-in that they are not experiencing COVID-19 symptoms. All up, Alaska Airlines has over 100 safety measures in place to keep passengers and employees safe.
They hope that this, combined with their discounted fares and the siren call of some sunshine, will encourage passengers back onboard, helping the airline shake off the 2020 blues.
