Alaska’s media and investor day was just a few hours, but it seemed much longer. That’s probably because it was action-packed with some time spent listening to talks, tasting food, and experiencing cabin plans. As if that wasn’t enough to fill the day, Brian Sumers, Jon Ostrower, and I then headed over to a separate venue for our very first live recording of The Air Show podcast. A full house showed up to see us interview Alaska President and Chief Financial Officer Shane Tackett. Let me walk you through the day so you can see what I learned. Or you can skip right ahead and listen to the podcast.

Listen on Spotify Listen on Apple Podcasts

Disclosure: Alaska provided travel for attendees, including me

After breakfast at the hotel, several of us hopped in a Lyft for the half hour ride down to a non-descript building in a light industrial area east of SeaTac airport. This building, it turns out, used to be owned by Boeing, but the whole area was repurposed. Alaska took it over and built its Global Training Center there. There was a ton going on, and it is an impressively large facility filled with small rooms doing things like evacuation traning and up to a massive auditorium where our main event was held. And oh yes, there’s a company store.

The day really began with the dog and pony show where CEO Ben Minicucci and the team went over all the enhancements that had already been provided to us via press releases. (That’s what I had already written about earlier this week.) But this did allow them to better frame the initiatives with a veneer of coolness and… luxury. Premium was absolutely the theme of the day.

Once we finished, they took the influencers out of the room to go see a grand tour, and then the rest of us media hung around for a panel discussion with several execs. Once that was done, it was our turn to go take a look.

The first stop was the Atmos room where they told us about the new debit card and a few other things, but Atmos really wasn’t the star of this show.

Next was the new Hawaiian A330 experience. These seats were definitely not ready for primetime, and that was clearly explained. The new Leihōkū suites aren’t certified yet, and these seats did not have actual finishes or materials that will be used. But we could still get the idea.

Right behind was a version of the new Premium Reserve (premium economy) seat. No need to show that, because it’s actually the First Class seat on the A321neo today.

After, we shuffled off to the Aurora room where the new B787 suites were shown. It turns out that the B787-9s will just get their seats and finishes recovered/reskinned but the seat will be the same as it is today. The B787-10s will get the new seats. The differences are very minimal, I’m told, with the biggest change being that on the -9 the center seats angle toward the aisle and on the -10, they will angle toward the center.

They also had the Premium Reserve seats on the B787s, and those are very different from what Hawaiian will be using..

Once we were done there, it was off to the food area where we could stuff our faces and meet some of the chefs. There was also a lounge space, and they had samples of drinks available from the bar. This is when I learned about the Summit Sunset. Alaska has created a drink that its bartenders will only make if you have the Summit credit card. (That’s the expensive one.) I asked what they would do if I, with my lowly Ascent card, asked for it. I was told they would politely tell me I couldn’t have it but they might also pass on an application.

This, for some reason, absolutely enraged me. This credit card thing has just gone too far. But loyalty/credit cards/lounges/premium all go together, and that is where Alaska sees the opportunity now… well, Alaska and every other hub-and-spoke carrier.

We were then directed back to the media room where they had a live feed of the investor portion of the event along with their Q&A at the end. At this point, we were done with the main program, so Jon and I gathered to start mapping out the plans for our interview with Shane Tacket on the podcast that night.

There was a happy hour with the execs a bit later, and we stayed there until about 5:15pm. That’s when we went over to the Boeing Customer Experience Center (CEC). Boeing was kind enough to offer up the CEC as a venue for us to use even though it’s usually more for Boeing to woo airlines and walk through cabin layouts. This building is in a light industrial park, and it’s a flexible space.

Our long-time partner Bullpen Strategies and our producer Leo Duran had been there much of the day getting it ready to go. By the time we showed up, it looked fantastic. All we needed was for the people to show up. And show up, they did.

We were told the space would max out at 125 people, so we sold out 100 tickets and we had another 25 available to give to partners. There were very few no-shows, and we had a couple of people who showed up even though they weren’t on the list. In the end, it was a packed house to see the three of us first talk about our impressions, and then bring Shane Tackett out to answer our questions.

I could go into details, but why would I do that when you can just listen yourself?

Even though Shane must have been exhausted, he was in a good mood and answered all of our questions. You really do not want to miss this episode.

Once the show was done, Shane really gave the audience a thrill. They should already have been feeling good thanks to Stumptown coffee, Fremont Brewing beer, Browne Family Vineyards wine, Straightaway cocktails, jcoco chocolates, a coupon for a free Evergreens meal at the airport, and more. But Shane came with gifts.

Oh sure, Alaska had swag bags for everyone, but Shane gave away 50,000 Atmos points to a winner — and no, Alaska employees were not allowed to win. He also handed out two pairs of roundtrip tickets in ANY cabin ANYWHERE Alaska flew. One winner said she was planning a trip with her dad to Rome next year, so this was a huge win. I’m guessing the other winner just wants to fly coach to Spokane.

The Alaska team also came with gifts for us, including very comfy Atmos Rewards pullovers, a fresh fruit and cheese plate which listeners of the pod know made Brian very happy. Knowing how little I care about lounges, they gave me some lounge passes to use so I could change my mind. Well-played, Alaska. At least we know they listen to the podcast.

Once we wrapped up, people started to filter out, but we had to stick around to do the hard work of cleaning the place up and putting furniture back where we found it. Sometime around 11pm, I stumbled into Sharps Roasthouse with a friend who had come to the taping for a very late meal.

I will likely have more to say on Alaska’s plans at some point, but for now, I just need to get a good night’s sleep. Listen to The Air Show and let me know what you think in the comments here.