Alaska Upgrades Seoul To 787: Finally

Intro

Not too long ago, we saw Alaska/Hawaiian (whatever ha) launch its first-ever long-haul flight from Seattle to Narita, as well as announce that it would be flying a 787 to Europe come next year. Well, there is exciting news, as Alaska has realized that the A330 isn't competitive enough on their Seoul route, and has changed it to the 787-9!

The Details

Come September 12th, Alaska will be launching flights from Seattle to Seoul, and what was supposed to be an A330 will now be a 787-9. The route will be operated with the following schedule, 5x weekly:

HA871: Seattle-Seoul departing at 2:50 pm and arriving at 6:35 pm (+1 day)

HA872: Seoul-Seattle departing at 8:35 pm and arriving at 2:45 pm

Is truly a beautiful aircraft!

So while Seoul is going to be getting these new jets, it seems that there are no plans in the near future for Narita to receive them, which honestly, doesn't make a lot of sense.

What Does This Mean For Passengers?

As consumers (or most of us), there are a couple of good aspects and a couple of bad aspects about this switch.

Those flying business class will be happy to find their brand new product being offered on this route. Featuring all the bells and whistles, as well as direct aisle access, this will be a huge upgrade in almost every way, minus mileage redemptions. Everyone loves new aircraft, and this makes it especially hard to find mileage space in Business for this route.

However, for economy passengers (and couples mainly), this is a significant downgrade. Seats go from a 2-4-2 configuration to a 3-3-3 configuration, meaning that if you are a couple, there will most likely be a third person joining you.

Oh yeah, no wifi on these new birds either, which is just flat-out ridiculous.

Final Thoughts

Alaska/Hawaiian has decided that they will deploy their latest aircraft, the 787-9, on the Seattle to Seoul route when it launches on September 12th. While this is a significant upgrade in most regards, economy passengers might be the brunt of it a touch.