Alaska Airlines has nicely been investing in its network of Alaska Lounges, including refreshing and expanding existing lounges, and opening new ones. There’s now a positive update for one of the company’s smaller lounges, which is also the carrier’s only lounge in the state that it’s named after.
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Alaska Lounge Anchorage undergoes significant expansion
The newly expanded and renovated Alaska Lounge has just opened at Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport (ANC). This has historically been one of the carrier’s smallest lounges, though with these updates, the space has been expanded by 2,600 square feet, with capacity increasing from 65 guests to 140 guests.
The lounge is located in Concourse C, near gate C1, and is open daily from 5AM until 1AM. With the expansion, it offers a variety of comfy chairs and furniture, including the carrier’s signature loungers, positioned for views of the apron and beyond. There’s also an increase in the number of seats near power outlets.
As before, the lounge offers a selection of seasonal food items and premium beverages. There’s barista coffee, made with locally roasted beans from Kaladi Brothers, alongside a selection of West Coast wines, craft brews, and custom cocktails.
The Alaska Lounge in Anchorage also has more local art than before, with plans to showcase different art each year, which “captures the essence of the state in their work.”
This new lounge follows nearly a year of development and construction, so will no doubt be a welcome change for travelers through the state. Here’s how Todd Traynor-Corey, Alaska’s VP of Guest Products and Experiences, describes this:
“The Anchorage Lounge is one of the busiest in our network, and we can’t wait to welcome back guests to this newly refreshed space as they travel through Anchorage. This remodel is part of our Great Land Investment Plan, which involves $60 million in projects throughout the state of Alaska over the next few years. Providing an elevated travel experience is just one way to show we care for our guests and thank them for their loyalty.”
Below are some media pictures that Alaska has shared of the new lounge. Look, I’m sure the people in the pictures are all lovely folks, and they look great. But am I the only one who chuckles a little bit at how heavily Alaska focuses on people rather than the lounge as such in these pictures? Like, are you showing off the lounge, or doing a glam photoshoot for the individuals?
Look how happy the people in the below picture look. People in lounges don’t look this happy… they’re supposed to be disheveled, on conference calls, downing some sort of liqour, and scoffing down cubed cheese!! You have the lady in the background, with amazing posture, smiling on her laptop. Then you have the two people in the forefront, who also look way too happy. And then you have the lady in the back left, who is pointing at something, but I’m not sure who she’s pointing for.
How to access Alaska Lounges
When it comes to Alaska Lounge access, there are a variety of ways you can access the lounges:
- Alaska Lounges are open to those on a paid Alaska first class ticket on a flight of over 2,100 miles
- Alaska Lounges are open to those who are members of the Alaska Lounge or American Admirals Club networks; a membership can even be selected through the milestone perks program
- Since Alaska is in oneworld, Alaska Lounges follow standard oneworld lounge access policies, including for oneworld Sapphire and oneworld Emerald members on eligible itineraries
Bottom line
The expanded and renovated Alaska Lounge Anchorage has just opened, bringing some much needed lounge capacity to the airport. It’s my understanding that the lounge was absolutely slammed over peak hours — it’ll likely still be busy during banked periods, but not as bad before.
It’s nice to see Alaska continuing to invest in its lounge network, as there’s a lot more exciting stuff on the horizon. For example, the airline is also planning new lounges for Honolulu (HNL) and San Diego (SAN), plus a new flagship lounge in Seattle (SEA), for long haul business class passengers.
What do you make of the expanded Alaska Lounge Anchorage?
In addition to the new lounges in SEA, HNL and SAN, a new Alaska lounge is coming to PDX in 2026, once the second phase of the new terminal is completed.
Was every person asked to wear a pair of dark blue jeans before their flight? Maybe blue jeans in Anchorage are like Vuori in Austin.