Alaska Airlines will fly nonstop from Seattle to Athens beginning May 12, 2027, and from Seattle to Paris beginning May 25, 2027. Both are seasonal, both run on the Boeing 787-9, and both are on sale now at alaskaair.com. Alaska announced the routes in its own newsroom, and the Athens flight will be the longest route the airline has ever operated.
For Atmos Rewards members, the interesting part is not the ribbon cutting. It is that Seattle now has seven intercontinental destinations on one carrier, and award space on a brand-new long-haul route is usually at its loosest in the months after schedules load.
What Alaska Announced
Alaska published the schedule in full, so there is no need to infer any of it.
| Route | Starts | Ends | Departs | Arrives | Frequency |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Seattle to Athens | May 12, 2027 | October 2027 | 4:30 p.m. | 2:20 p.m. next day | 3x weekly |
| Athens to Seattle | May 13, 2027 | October 2027 | 4:20 p.m. | 6:55 p.m. | 3x weekly |
| Seattle to Paris | May 25, 2027 | October 2027 | 5:25 p.m. | 12:25 p.m. next day | 5x weekly |
| Paris to Seattle | May 26, 2027 | October 2027 | 2:25 p.m. | 3:50 p.m. | 5x weekly |
Athens is flight AS196, which Alaska says is a nod to 1896 and the first modern Olympic Games. Paris is AS136, for the city's 136 museums. Flight numbers as marketing is a small thing, but it tells you how much weight the airline is putting behind these two.
Alaska describes the Athens route as a first: no airline has connected Seattle and Athens nonstop before, and when it launches it will be the only nonstop service to Greece from the West Coast. On Paris, Alaska says it will become the first oneworld airline to fly nonstop between the West Coast and Charles de Gaulle.
"We fly where our guests aspire to go, and Athens and Paris have been high on that list for years," CEO Ben Minicucci said in the announcement. Alaska says it is building toward more than 12 international long-haul routes from Seattle in the coming years.
The Aircraft and the Cabin
Both routes are 787-9 Dreamliners in Alaska's new long-haul international configuration. That means lie-flat Suites in international business class, multi-course dining, and amenities from Filson and Salt and Stone.
Starlink Wi-Fi is included for Atmos Rewards members, though Alaska is careful about the tense here. The airline says installation continues across the Alaska and Hawaiian fleet through 2027, so a specific aircraft on a specific day is a question for the seat map rather than a guarantee.
The 787-9 matters for a second reason. It is the aircraft Alaska is using to build Seattle into a long-haul hub, and the routes it can serve are the routes that will exist. Athens at more than 6,000 miles is the current ceiling.
What This Means for Atmos Rewards
Alaska says Atmos Rewards members can earn and redeem on both routes, and that the network allows same-day Honolulu to Paris connections through Seattle. That second detail is the one Hawaii-based readers should file.
Three practical points for anyone thinking about award seats.
Book early on a first-season route. Award inventory on a new long-haul route tends to be most available when the schedule first loads and least available once the route has a season of demand behind it. Alaska is selling these now for May 2027.
The seasonality is real. Both routes end in October 2027. A shoulder-season trip in late September has a different competitive picture from mid-July.
Partners widen the map. Alaska points to its oneworld membership and additional partners for onward connections across Europe. Our guide to Alaska partner award sweet spots covers where that has paid off historically, and the changes Alaska made to earning and partners this year are in our Atmos Rewards 2026 rundown.
What Alaska Did Not Say
Two things worth naming, because their absence is the honest part of this story.
Alaska published no award pricing for either route. Atmos Rewards prices dynamically on Alaska's own flights, so the mileage cost on opening day is a question for the booking engine rather than for a chart.
Alaska also announced an introductory roundtrip Main Cabin fare from $999, available for purchase in the U.S. through August 26. That window has closed. If you see that number quoted as a live fare anywhere, it is a stale copy of the same release.
The Practical Read
Seattle now has Athens, Paris, Reykjavik, London, Rome, Seoul and Tokyo on one airline, with at least five more intercontinental destinations planned by 2030. For West Coast readers who have been connecting through a partner hub to reach Europe, that is a genuine change to the routing question rather than a press release.
If Alaska is already the airline you fly, the Alaska Airlines Visa is the card that earns the currency these seats price in, and our Alaska card lineup covers which version fits which flyer.
Set a reminder for schedule loading rather than for the launch date. The seats worth having on a new route are gone long before the first flight leaves.
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