You can watch the entire news conference with SEA director, Lance Lyttle, and Alaska Airlines VP, Shane Jones in the video below:
You’ll want to give yourself plenty of extra time if your summer travel includes flying through SeaTac airport because of some big changes in the works in the main terminal.
In a few years, you’ll see a revamped Alaska Airlines ticketing and baggage drop area, but for now, you’ll see barricades and construction walls.
Alaska vice president Shane Jones says that doesn’t necessarily mean the work will slow down your check in, especially as they replace their self-serve kiosks with bag tag printing stations Jones says will make the bag drop and the whole process run more smoothly. “The goal is to get through the lobby in less than 5 minutes when everything is complete,” Jones says, “That’s using our new bag tag stations. That’s using new automated bag drops that are going to be coming as part of this project, and we also want 90% of people to be able to basically be able to go through the lobby with that experience of ‘I’m simply tagging my bag and dropping my bag.” Jones says the addition of automation for the bag check process will not mean Alaska Airlines will cut the number of employees. He says the plan is meant to free up employees to come out from behind the counter and actually engage with flyers, especially those they see who might need some extra help.
When the construction is finished in 2026, there will be a hundred of those bag tag terminals. The work also includes expanding security checkpoint #5, which is the TSA checkpoint nearest Alaska’s check-in area you likely use if you’re flying Alaska, especially if you’re flying from one of the “N” gates in a separate building accessible by SeaTac’s terminal train system.
Airport officials say you can save yourself a lot of time if you check in electronically and get your boarding pass, reserve your parking space, use spot saver or Pre-Check for the TSA line and even pre-order food at one of the airport’s vendors before you leave home and head to SeaTac for your trip.
