Alaska Airlines Begins Nonstop Flights Between Seattle and Rome

Big news out of the Pacific Northwest this morning: Alaska Airlines has started its first nonstop flight between its Seattle (SEA) hub and Rome (FCO).

“Serving Rome nonstop from Seattle is a dream come true. As an Italian American whose parents emigrated from Italy, this is a particularly meaningful addition to our network. Rome has been at the top of the list ever since we announced our new global gateway out of Seattle. Our guests have been asking for an easy way to get to Italy for years, and we’re thrilled to provide it to people in the Northwest and beyond,” said Alaska Airlines CEO Ben Minicucci.

First-Ever Nonstop Flights Between Seattle and Rome

This new Alaska Airlines flight between Seattle (SEA) and Rome (FCO) is the first time the 2 cities have been connected with nonstop service and Alaska’s first-ever flight serving Europe.

Alaska says the Italian capital is the largest market (in terms of passenger demand) currently not served nonstop from Seattle and among the most-asked-for destinations by its Mileage Plan members.

Flights will initially operate 4 times weekly according to the following schedule:

Now this is where things get interesting. Flights will be operated by Boeing 787-9 Dreamliners. However, unlike Alaska’s other newly launched long-haul routes to Asia that are operated by Hawaiian Airlines, the Seattle-Rome route will be operated by Alaska Airlines’ own wide-body jets. For these, the airline is introducing an entirely new long-haul international passenger experience.

Until this point, Alaska Airlines has had to rely on Hawaiian’s existing fleet of long-haul aircraft to fuel its long-haul expansion, which includes an already operational route between Seattle and Tokyo (NRT) and service between Seattle and Seoul (ICN).

Moving forward, Alaska plans to operate all long-haul flying out of Seattle with Alaska-branded Dreamliners, which were ordered by Hawaiian Airlines before it merged with Alaska.

How To Book

Tickets for the new flight are available via alaskaair.com and hawaiianairlines.com.

We’re seeing tickets starting at $618 one-way in economy in May, while business class starts at $3,916 on a few dates in July.

If you’re using Atmos Rewards points, economy tickets start at 30,000 points each way. Business pricing is ugly from Seattle to Rome. We can’t find a single award costing less than 150,000 points right now.

However, flights are available for 95,000 points from Rome back to Seattle, plus $65 in taxes and fees.

Final Thoughts

Alaska Airlines definitely looks different than it used to. The airline has famously maintained a narrow-body-only fleet for decades, which has only allowed it to operate domestic and shorter international routes.

Now, the airline offers an all-new long-haul product, ushered in with the launch of this new nonstop route between Seattle and Rome.