Hawaiian Airlines attendants told to drop leis on Seattle routes
About 250 Hawaiian airlines flight attendants were told they cannot always wear leis, floral hairpieces and aloha shirts on certain Alaska-branded flights from Seattle. The change applies to international long-haul routes from Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, including some flights operated on Boeing 787-9 Dreamliners.
Alisa Onishi, managing director of Hawaii marketing for Hawaiian and Alaska, said: "We had to make difficult decisions that will be hard for our employees to adjust to, but ultimately as we explain why we are making these decisions the employees will understand."
Seattle-Tacoma flights
The restriction applies to flights marketed under Alaska's branding, not to every route handled by the merged operation. Onishi's role places her at the center of how the two airline identities are being presented to customers while Alaska Air Group folds Hawaiian into its wider structure.
Direct Hawaii routes remain different. On those flights, Hawaiian cultural elements still are allowed even when aircraft assignments or scheduling systems are shared. That leaves one set of rules for routes tied directly to Hawaii and another for some long-haul international service from Seattle.
Uniform rules by route
The affected uniform items were specific: floral hairpieces, lei and aloha shirts. The change reaches about 250 attendants who were trained in Hawaiian's service culture and now have to adapt their presentation depending on which brand is on the flight.
The company is not blending every detail at once. Instead, it is separating branding by route, aircraft type and market served, which keeps the Hawaiian look in some places and removes it in others.
Hawaiian and Alaska branding
The decision shows how the combined operation is managing two distinct airline identities under one corporate system. For flight attendants, that means the uniform they wear can now depend on whether a route is sold as Hawaiian or as Alaska, even when the work is part of the same larger airline group.
What matters next for employees is adjustment: the rule change is already in place on the affected Seattle flights, and Onishi said the company expects staff to understand the reasoning as it is explained. For passengers, the visible result is simpler — the Hawaiian look will not appear on every flight even when the service is part of the same broader operation.
