Alaska Airlines has celebrated Mother’s Day this year by making a dream come true for Captain Michelle Miles and her son, First Officer Jeff Miles, by arranging for the mother-son pilot duo to fly together just months before Michelle will hand up her pilot wings for good and retire.
This wasn’t, of course, a chance event that Michelle and Jeff ended up flying together, and the airline fully admits that its chief pilot’s office had to get involved to sync up their schedules so that they could fly together just before Mother’s Day.
This is, though, perhaps the last chance that the pair will get the opportunity to fly together in the cockpit of an Alaska Airlines Boeing 737, and given Michelle’s extraordinary career, it only seemed befitting to give her this special moment.
Michelle joined Alaska Airlines back in 1988 after serving in the U.S. Air Force. At the time, she was only the Seattle-based carrier’s 17th female pilot and the only female aviator with a military background.
She followed in her first steps of her father, Ski, who retired as a Navy pilot and joined Alaska Airlines in 1981. And now, Jeff is following in the first steps of his mother, after initially working for Alaska’s regional subsidiary Skywest.
“I’ve waited 27 years for this moment,” Jeff said after the pair finally got to fly together last week on a flight from Seattle to Kahului, Maui. “They say you don’t get to meet your heroes, but I’ve known mine since I was born,” Jeff continued.
For Michelle, this was the second time she’s flown with a family member during her career, having already worked with her father for a ‘Take Your Daughter to Work Day’ celebration 29 years ago.
“I can’t really put into words what this all means to me. It’s all come full circle since flying with my dad. My career at Alaska Airlines has been an incredible experience,” Michelle said.
Alaska Airlines has been around for more than 90 years but this is the first time ever that a mother and son pilot team have worked in the cockpit together.
“She knew from the start how much I wanted to fly. Ever since I was little, she was always patient and giving me the right nudges on how to get to where I am now,” Jeff explains.
After completing an aviation program at Big Bend Community College in Moses Lake, Washington, Jeff worked as a flight instructor before joining Skywest and then being recruited into Alaska Airlines in 2023.
Thankfully, schedulers were able to work their magic to get Michelle and Jeff to fly together before she retires this Fall.
