Online and mobile check-in is available between 24 hours and one hour before a flight is scheduled to depart. There are check-in kiosks at all of the airports Alaska and its sister airline Horizon fly from. Old-fashioned check-in-at-the-counter is available too, but if you're checking-in luggage, this is only accepted within four hours of the scheduled departure time (three hours before departure at Vancouver and two hours at Calgary).

Hand Luggage: one carry-on bag, which can measure up to 25cm high x 43cm wide x 61cm long (10in high x 17in wide x 24in long), plus a personal item, such as a purse or laptop computer. There's a fee of $25 per piece for items that exceed the free allowance.

Checked: "Regular" travellers (not members of mileage plans such as Club 49, Elite Level Mileage Plan, Delta Medallion or American AAdvantage) are charged $20 each for the first, second and third piece of luggage. The fourth bag is charged at $50. Each piece of checked baggage can weigh up to 23kg (50lb) and be 158cm (62in) long. 

Excess: a piece of luggage that weighs between 23kg and 46kg (51-100lb) is charged at $50. Oversized bags between 160 and 203 linear cm (63-80in) are charged a fee of $50; between 206cm and 292 cm (81-115in), $75.

Seat pitch: in Coach Class the seat pitch varies between 79 and 81cm (31 and 32in).

Seats may be selected or changed via the Manage Reservation page. Exit-row seats may be requested by some types of passengers such as Elite Level Mileage Plan members, customers with Full Flex tickets or customers redeeming Full Flex Coach Mileage Plan Awards.

Not all fares will be refundable or changeable. Best Deal fares are not and there will be change fees but Full Flex fares are fully refundable and have no change fees. Alaska Airlines levies a $100 per person change fee for changing a confirmed itinerary through an Alaska Airlines/Horizon Air Reservations Call Centre or Airport Ticket Counter and a $75 (USD) per person change fee for changes made at alaskaair.com. Any applicable changes in fare or taxes also apply. There's no change fee if travel is within the state of Alaska on flights operated by Alaska Airlines.

Infants up to the age of two may travel free of charge if seated on an adult's lap. Lap infants travelling to an international destination (outside North America) are charged 10 per cent of the accompanying adult's fare.

There's no discount for older travellers.

There is limited space for animals onboard or in the cargo compartment and passengers wishing to bring pets are requested to contact Reservations to arrange this. Bringing a pet onboard in a kennel counts as one piece of carry-on. Pet embargos are in place for travel to Hawaii and during holidays (21-29 November and 16 December-3 January). Pets should be small enough to fit in a kennel under the seat. The fee for a pet in the cabin is $100 per flight and the fee for a pet in Baggage is also $100.

Standard baggage allowance limitations apply. A separate seat can be purchased to carry a large instrument instead of checking it.

Coach Class has a Northern Bites menu, which is available for purchase. On flights longer than two-and-a-half hours a hot meal is available to buy. Breakfast sandwiches and snack packs cost about $6. Soft drinks are complimentary and beers, wine and liquors cost about $6 each. Nearly all of Alaska Airlines' aircraft (flying within the 48 Lower US states and some parts of Alaska) have Gogo Inflight Internet. The cost for up to one-and-a-half hours is about $5, up to three hours is about $10, flights longer than three hours cost $13.

Alaska Airlines, together with Horizon Air, operates a frequent-flyer programme called Mileage Plan.

There’s nothing like heading up in the skies to work up an appetite. Check out the airline’s menu before you fly so you can decide if you need to bring any extras. See sample meals and the Northern Bites Picnic Pack at Alaska's Meal Service page; or read reviews of meals and see photographs taken by other flyers onAirlineMeals.net.

Moby Dick, War and Peace, Bleak House … Do you need to pack a weighty tome or will the in-flight magazine keep you happily occupied for the duration of the flight? Alaska Airlines Magazine is available on all flights. You can see a sample magazine online and read some of the articles.

Alaska Air is not a member of any of the big airline alliances, but has partnerships with British Airways, Cathay Pacific, KLM, Air France, Delta, Korean Air, Air Pacific, Era Alaska, LAN, American Airlines, Icelandair, Pen Air, Kenmore Air and Qantas.

Alaska Airlines traces its roots back to the bush pilots who flew Alaskan wilderness routes in the 1930s. Alaska Airlines and sister carrier Horizon Air provide passenger and cargo services to more than 90 cities in Alaska, the Lower 48 States, Hawaii, Canada, and Mexico.