SEATTLE, Apr 4, 2002 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- Alaska Airlines (NYSE:ALK) began Seattle-Boston service this morning, connecting America's coffee bean Mecca with the city known fondly as Beantown.

"I can't think of anything that goes better with Boston baked beans that a cup of strong, Seattle coffee," quipped Gregg Saretsky, Alaska's executive vice president of marketing and planning. "We're delighted to launch this new service and add Boston to our route system as an Alaska Airlines' city."

From Seattle, the new route provides convenient connections to destinations throughout the Pacific Northwest, California, Alaska and Western Canada served by Alaska and its affiliate, Horizon Air.

And from Boston, the route provides connections through a codeshare agreement with American Eagle to 16 cities: Baltimore, Bangor, Columbus, Islip, Nashville, Newark, New York (JFK), Norfolk, Philadelphia, Portland (Maine), Quebec City, Raleigh/Durham, Richmond, Toronto and Washington, D.C. (Reagan National), and Westchester County, Penn.

Alaska will operate the route using 120-seat Next Generation Boeing 737-700s.

The eastbound flight, Alaska Flight 12, departs Seattle at 8:35 a.m. PT and arrives in Boston at 5 p.m. ET. The westbound flight, Alaska Flight 15, departs Boston at 5:50 p.m. ET and arrives in Seattle at 9:15 p.m. PT.

The nation's ninth largest carrier, Alaska celebrates its 70th anniversary this year. The carrier is consistently recognized for customer service in passenger surveys, and was most recently voted "World's Best Domestic Airline" by readers of Travel+Leisure magazine.

For reservations, visit www.alaskaair.com, call Alaska's toll-free reservations line at 1-800-ALASKAAIR (1-800-252-7522), or call your travel agent. For news and information, visit the Alaska Airlines Newsroom on the Internet at http://newsroom.alaskaair.com.

CONTACT:          Alaska Airlines
                  Jack Walsh, 206/901-8753
                  Jack Evans, 206/433-3134

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