Bases, pay, training, hiring windows and the interview process — from dated sources.
Last updated August 2026 — dated facts carry their own as-of dates below.
Alaska Airlines is now the flagship brand of Alaska Air Group, which acquired Hawaiian Airlines in September 2024 and has operated both carriers under a single FAA operating certificate since October 28, 2025 (Horizon Air is the regional). For applicants, the practical picture as of August 2026: Alaska and Hawaiian hire through one portal (careers.alaskaair.com) but as separate airline hiring and training programs with separate contracts and seniority lists. And to head off a common expectation: there is no flight-attendant "flow-through" from Horizon or Hawaiian into Alaska mainline — flow-through is a pilot-program concept; each FA program hires on its own. Do not blend Horizon's program (its own bases, 4-week paid Portland training) into Alaska's.
Hiring-window status (as of August 2026): CLOSED. Alaska's careers page is explicit: "Applications will only be accepted during posted hiring windows." The most recent window opened July 20, 2026 at 9:00 am PT and closed July 22 at 7:00 pm PDT — roughly three days. The window length is itself the signal: Alaska closes fast because volume fills fast. No audited applicant totals exist for the July window, so ignore any competition ratios you see quoted. Between windows, the evergreen move is joining the Flight Attendant Talent Community on the Alaska portal to get notified when the next window posts.
Baseline requirements from the careers page (checked August 2026): minimum age 21; high school diploma or equivalent plus two years of customer or community service experience — that explicit two-year line is stricter than most comparable carriers, so weigh your resume against it before the window opens. U.S. work authorization and unrestricted international flight eligibility are required; no specific passport-validity month count was published on the page as checked, so verify the live posting. There is no minimum height — the physical gate is the reach test (details below). No bilingual/LOD-style track was advertised in the July 2026 wave; English proficiency is required.
Alaska Airlines FA bases per the careers page (checked August 2026): Anchorage, Los Angeles, Portland, San Diego, San Francisco, Seattle.
You must be willing to relocate to any assigned base — the base is assigned during training by operational need, and the careers page says commuting is "allowed but not guaranteed."
Horizon Air (the regional) runs a separate FA program with its own base list (SEA/PDX/BOI/GEG/ANC/Everett/LAS) — applying to Alaska mainline is not applying to Horizon, and vice versa.
Merger watch item: the single operating certificate unlocked cross-carrier domicile openings under a Merger Transition Protocol agreement, and a Hawaiian FA Seattle domicile opened from early 2026. Today the base lists remain per-airline; a future joint contract could change that.
Alaska pays per TFP — "Trip for Pay," a flight-credit unit roughly analogous to a flight-hour credit — not per duty hour. The trap is the same as at every carrier: never compute "salary" from a 160-hour office month. A realistic month is about 75–90 credit hours.
Numbers below are from the contract ratified February 28, 2025 and the careers page as checked August 2026 — re-verify before you rely on them:
Reserve reality: expect reserve/on-call as a new hire, with schedules awarded by seniority. The careers page guarantees "a minimum of twelve days off per month." How long you sit reserve varies by base and is not published — no verified months-on-reserve figures exist, so treat any specific number you read elsewhere as invented.
Alaska requires applicants to be at least 21, have a high school diploma or equivalent and two years of customer or community service experience, and pass an in-person reach assessment.
Requirements change between hiring windows — confirm them on the Alaska Airlines careers page before you apply.
Data compiled from airline careers pages, union publications, industry press, and candidate-reported interview intel — wave-dependent facts carry as-of dates. Candidate reports are unofficial; confirm requirements on the airline's own careers site.