It’s that time again. Tomorrow is the last day of class for the Spring semester, which means Finals week is right around the corner… I’m in need of a break from studying, so I decided to fill everyone in on what I will be doing this summer!

First of all, it has been my goal all year to get an internship with an airline this summer. I had interviewed with many airlines, but none of the positions I applied for were the right fit for me. Most of them did not incorporate what I was interested in. Needless to say, by March, I was losing hope in getting an internship for the summer, since it seemed like all positions had already been filled. However, I knew I still had one last shot… And it was at my dream company.

I applied for an Alaska Airlines summer internship in the beginning of March, and was contacted for a phone interview a couple weeks later. After I completed the phone interview, I was fortunate enough to move onto the in-person interview. Unfortunately, I was not able to fly out to Alaska Airlines’ headquarters in Seattle, so I was able to do a Skype interview, instead. Thankfully, the Skype interview went well, and I was chosen to be flown out to Seattle.

So, one of the first Sundays in April, I hopped on an Alaska Airlines flight from MCO to SEA. After 5.5 hours, I finally made it to Washington. I was so excited to be in Washington, even if it was just for the day, since Washington is home to me. Monday morning I woke up and went to Alaska Airlines headquarters. I had been to the headquarters last summer, as the Port of Seattle interns had the opportunity to visit and take a tour. Once I got to headquarters, I was ecstatic. I had been dreaming about having an internship with Alaska Airlines for almost two years! I was eager to meet the managers who I had spoken with over Skype a week earlier.

It turns out I picked a pretty good day to visit headquarters, as it was the day that Alaska Airlines announced it was acquiring Virgin America. There were news cameras everywhere, and I got to see the CEO speaking in the press conference through the window. Everyone was buzzing with excitement! There was even an employee rally to discuss the acquisition. The moment I walked into the building and felt the excitement and energy, I knew Alaska Airlines was the company for me. Lucky enough for me, I was offered the internship position after I left headquarters. I cannot even describe how excited I was when I got the call!

I will be starting my summer internship with Alaska Airlines in May. The position I will be in is the Schedule Planning intern. A brief overview of the position is: working with the Alaska and Horizon schedules months in advance before they are published, benchmarking Alaska Airlines against other carriers, and other related tasks. Ever since I took the Airline Management class last semester, I have been fascinated with Schedule and Network Planning for airlines, so I am ecstatic that I will be able to gain some experience this summer!

Needless to say, things seem to work out for a reason. I had almost lost all hope in a summer internship, but just when I was about to give up, the opportunity I had been hoping for presented itself. I am humbled and grateful that this opportunity came my way, and I can’t wait to get started on it.

I will definitely keep you updated with how my internship is going! Hopefully I will also get to share some travel pictures from new destinations this summer!

Until next time,

Lindsey