Alaska Airlines announced (09-Jun-2020) the expansion of its Next-Level Care programme to accommodate nearly 100 different measures related to health and safety, including the following:
- Blocking middle seats and capping capacity at 65% until 31-Jul-2020;
- Requiring face masks for all airline employees and passengers aged 12 and over;
- Boarding by row numbers from back to front;
- Reducing inflight food and beverage service and all seatback content with the exception of the safety card;
- Waiving of change and cancellation fees for tickets purchased before 30-Jun-2020, and extension of current elite status until 2021. Elite qualifying miles earned between Jan-2020 and Apr-2020 will be extended into 2021 as well, and all active lounge memberships as of 01-Apr-2020 will be rolled out by six months.
Alaska Airlines will also require passengers to complete a health agreement during check in from 30-Jun-2020, and urges travellers to utilise the mobile app for a contactless trip. [more - original PR]