Alaska Airlines announced today
that it will begin offering meals for purchase on many of its Mexico
flights beginning Jan. 9, 2005. Debuting on non-stop flights from Seattle and California to Los Cabos,
Mazatlan, Puerto Vallarta, Manzanillo, Loreto and Ixtapa/Zihuatanejo,
Mexico, the new program will give passengers who previously were offered
snack and beverage service the opportunity to buy a freshly-made meal for
their flight.

“The new service is all about giving customers a choice,” said Tom Romary,
vice president of marketing at Alaska Airlines. “Getting through customs
and making connections equates to a very long travel day, and having the
option to buy a meal during the flight makes sense.”

Romary noted that the carrier’s initial testing of the buy-on-board meal
service has been encouraging, with up to 50 percent of customers opting to
purchase a meal. The meals are all high quality, fresh and hearty,
consistent with Alaska’s renowned inflight service offerings. Meals will
be priced at $5 cash and can be purchased directly from Alaska’s flight
attendants.

The meal service, branded “LSG Sky Chefs’ In-flight Cafe,” is offered in
conjunction with the airline’s caterer. It is exclusively for Alaska
Airlines’ main cabin passengers traveling to and from Mexico in the
markets mentioned above, and will not impact first-class service or other
markets.
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