Alaska Airlines is Launching New Flights from the West Coast to NYC

Alaska Airlines has long been a great domestic option for Seattle-based travelers and those on the West Coast looking to get to Hawaii, and despite some recent devaluations its award chart still offers some great value. That said, the carrier has never been an obvious choice for flights to New York — but it looks like that could soon change.

The airline just announced that it will begin daily service to Newark from three West Coast cities: Portland, San Diego and San Jose. Service from Portland and San Diego will launch in November 2016, while flights from San Jose will commence in March 2017. Alaska will up the frequency of its existing Seattle-Newark route in May 2017, moving to a total of three daily flights. The carrier will operate all of these transcontinental routes with its 737 aircraft.

These new routes may seem a bit random for a predominantly West Coast airline, but they're clearly the result of the FAA's decision to ease slot restrictions at EWR. This opens the airport up to more carriers, and we've already seen an exciting new Newark-Puerto Rico flight on Southwest announced as a result.

Here are the details for the Portland-Newark flight, which will be the only daytime nonstop on this route once it launches on November 10:

• Portland (PDX) 6:55am Departure ⇒ Newark (EWR) 2:55pm Arrival
• Newark (EWR) 3:55pm Departure ⇒ Portland (PDX) 7:05pm Arrival

Newark will be the third East Coast destination reachable from San Diego on Alaska metal, joining Boston and Orlando. That flight will launch on November 21 with the following schedule:

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• San Diego (SAN) 9:55am Departure ⇒ Newark (EWR) 5:55pm Arrival
• Newark (EWR) 7:00pm Departure ⇒ San Diego (SAN) 10:00pm Arrival

Alaska's San Jose-Newark route will be the first nonstop option connecting these two destinations. Here are the details for the flight, which begins on March 12, 2017:

• San Jose (SJC) 6:30am Departure ⇒ Newark (EWR) 2:55pm Arrival
• Newark (EWR) 4:05pm Departure ⇒ San Jose (SJC) 7:40pm Arrival

Finally, Alaska already offers service between Seattle and Newark, but it will be adding a third daily option starting May 14, 2017 for the outbound from Seattle and May 15 for the return from Newark:

• Seattle (SEA) 11:50pm Departure ⇒ Newark (EWR) 8:06am Arrival
• Newark (EWR) 9:30am Departure ⇒ Seattle (SEA) 12:25pm Arrival

Tickets for these new routes will go on sale starting July 25, and there's no reason to think you won't be able to redeem Mileage Plan miles for these flights as well. Overall, more flights from the West Coast to the New York City area is good news for travelers — and they'll provide some great opportunities to use the Alaska Airlines Visa Signature companion fare.

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