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Alaska Airlines, America’s seventh-largest carrier in terms of passenger traffic, said on Wednesday that it would end a decades-old tradition of handing out prayer cards with its in-flight meals.

The prayer cards, which the Seattle-based airline began offering in the 1970s after an executive spotted them on another airline, were intended to serve as a marketing strategy and to put passengers at ease, a spokeswoman said.

The airline sent an e-mail to its frequent flyers on Wednesday explaining the change, which takes effect February 1.

source: Reuters

An Alaska Airlines plane landed safely on Monday at Oakland International Airport after a bomb threat against the flight was found on a handwritten note in San Francisco, but no bomb was found, the airline said.

Officials notified the airline of a bomb threat found on a piece of paper in San Francisco International Airport specifically referencing Alaska Airlines flight 342, airline spokeswoman Bobbie Egan said.

The airline learned of the bomb threat while the flight, bound from Seattle to Oakland with 126 passengers and six crew on board, was in the air.

source: MSNBC

Alaska Airlines is dumping paper flight manuals for its pilots in favor of electronic documents stored on company-issued iPads.

The Seattle-based carrier will be the first major U.S. airline to make the switch from paper to iPad when all its pilots receive a tablet by mid-June. Alaska is making the switch “as part of an ongoing effort to use technology to enhance flight safety, improve efficiency and protect the environment,” according to a statement from the airline.

Apparently the iPad was the first device to impress Alaska higher-ups enough to consider going digital.

source: PC World

An Alaska Airlines flight had to return to the gate at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport when a rat was spotted on the plane.

Flight 676 was headed to Denver and had just pulled away from the gate at Sea-Tac when a passenger reported seeing the rat scurrying around the cabin.

The 737 aircraft returned to the terminal, and the crew and passengers boarded another plane for Denver about 90 minutes later.

source: Aol