In less than 100 days, Alaska Airlines will launch its first-ever widebody long-haul flights to Europe, and, as you might expect, there is quite a bit of excitement amongst frequent flyers and the airline’s employees ahead of the inaugural flight.
Getting on this special first flight from Seattle to Rome, Italy, is still possible, although the cheapest fares for a one-way ticket are currently selling at $1,779 in Economy, so it’s definitely not cheap.
That being said, airline employees can use their ‘non-rev’ privileges to buy a massively discounted space available seat on board. There’s just one problem… There is a lot of competition to get on this flight.
Staggering number of employees want to travel on the inaugural flight
On April 28, 2026, Alaska Airlines will launch its first non-stop flight to Europe from its hub in Seattle with a new daily summer seasonal flight to Rome, Italy.
The flight will be operated by a Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner, which once belonged to Hawaiian Airlines before the two airlines merged and Alaska Airlines created its new global brand.
The flight is set to depart Seattle-Tacoma Airport at 5:30 pm and arrive in Rome the following day at 1:15 pm. On board the inaugural service, you can expect company executives, members of the media, and ‘AV Geeks’ who want to experience the new Alaska Airlines long-haul experience.
Likely a world record for number of standby passengers on a flight (AS180 SEA-FCO 28 Apr 2026)
byu/youyouxue inAlaskaAirlines
It also turns out that there are a fair number of airline employees who also want to witness this moment in history. In fact, a staggering number of employees are trying to get on this flight, according to a screenshot of Alaska’s non-rev booking site, which was leaked on Reddit.
So far, there are already 526 non-rev travelers listed for the inaugural flight – which is nearly twice as many seats as there are on board if it were to fly without any commercial passengers.
What are the chances of employees getting on this flight?
Aside from a salary, non-rev tickets are one of the best benefits that airline employees have, but using these massively discounted tickets can require a lot of patience and flexibility.
Getting on any given flight requires spare seats to be available, and commercial passengers always come first. Non-rev travelers will often ‘list’ themselves on an oversold flight in the hope that a commercial passenger doesn’t show up, but clearly, there are going to be a lot of losers in this case.
Those employees who stand the highest chance of getting on board the inaugural flight are those who have worked for the airline for a long time. Seats are assigned based on seniority, with active airline employees giving priority, ahead of other airline employees and so-called ‘buddy pass’ holders.
While airline employees enjoy non-rev benefits, there’s no denying that the whole experience can be stressful, and having a Plan B, as well as a Plan C, and even a Plan D, is advisable.
Alaska Airlines launching flights to Rome, London and Reykjavik
If employees have no luck getting on the first flight from Seattle to Rome, then they could try two other new routes that Alaska Airlines is set to launch this Spring.
- On May 21, a new year-round service to London Heathrow will launch
- On May 28, a summer seasonal service to Reykjavik, Iceland, will launch
Like, Rome, flights to London Heathrow will be served on a Boeing 787-9, while summer seasonal flights to Reykjavik will be flown on a single-aisle Boeing 737 MAX-8.
Alaska Airlines has also already launched flights to Seoul Incheon, South Korea, and Tokyo Narita, Japan.
Five brand new Boeing 787 Dreamliner will expand Alaska’a global ambitions
Earlier this month, Alaska Airlines announced its largest-ever aircraft order for 105 Boeing 737 MAX-10 aircraft and five new Boeing 787 Dreamliners.
Alaska Airlines is already operating five Boeing 787s that belonged to Hawaiian Airlines, and the new agreement brings the airline’s total order book for Dreamliners to 12 aircraft.
The airline currently plans for five of these new Dreamliners to be the larger 787-10 model, while the remaining aircraft will be the 787-9 variant.
The new Dreamliners will be used to launch at least 12 global destinations by 2030, although we’ll have to wait a little longer to see where these routes will be heading.
