Alaska Airlines announced it will install premium suites and premium economy seats because apparently flying in a metal tube at 35,000 feet wasn't expensive enough already. The airline is overhauling both its Alaska and Hawaiian cabins. They're calling this a race. Against whom? Other airlines that also realized rich people have money?
Premium economy. That's the class where you pay double to get six more inches of legroom and a free drink you could've bought for eight dollars. Genius business model. Take the same seat. Move it back three degrees. Charge four hundred dollars more. Call it innovation.
The suites are described as top-tier. Top-tier on a domestic carrier means you get a door that closes halfway and a flight attendant who remembers your name once. You're still eating a turkey sandwich at 6 AM while some guy in 32B watches TikToks on full volume. But sure. Suites.
This is all part of the high-end travel race, which is what airlines call the realization that broke people will keep flying Spirit no matter what and rich people will pay anything to avoid sitting near them. Alaska figured this out. Hawaiian figured this out. Every airline figured this out in 2019. We're just announcing it again because someone needed a press release.
The overhaul affects both brands, which Alaska owns, which means they're going to install the same seats twice and call it a strategic differentiation. Investors will nod. Analysts will upgrade the stock. Retail traders will buy calls because they saw someone on Twitter say the word premium next to an airline ticker.
None of this matters. The stock will move based on oil prices and whatever the Fed does next month. But congratulations to Alaska Airlines for joining the premium cabin arms race seven years late with features every competitor already has.
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