Skift Take
At the typical airline, revenue managers take themselves very seriously. They don't like to do anything that could dilute their numbers. It's nice to see Alaska taking a fresh approach.
For many Americans, a Hawaii vacation leads the travel bucket list. But most of those travelers book early, leading airlines to scramble to fill seats near departure.
It's not easy. You might think travelers would jump at cheap last-minute sales. Some buy them, but airlines often struggle to persuade people to take a vacation they might prefer to plan for six months or more.
Alaska Airlines last year tried a more creative approach. For a four-day period in early November, the airline offered discounts based on wave heights, as measured by monitoring stations at 14 locations across the Hawaiian Islands. Discounts, which were good for flights throughout much of November, ranged from 10 percent for 10 foot swells, to 30 percent for swells bigger than 21 feet.
Ostensibly, this was a promotion for surfers. More broadly, Alaska wanted a unique idea that would excite last-minute travelers, many of whom do not surf. Typically, these leisure travelers might ignore even the best fare sale, but Alaska calculated the promotion would generate more buzz than a typical off-peak discount.
"We generated hundreds of millions of media impressions with that deal," Natalie Bowman, managing director of brand and marketing communications, said in an interview. "We defi
