Airlines: Flight of the Samovar

Seattle-based Alaska Airlines counts only four jets and 13 prop planes in its passenger fleet, but it has more than its share of panache. Since 1967, stewardesses have worn Gay Nineties costumes, and pilots have been required to sing some flight announcements to the tune of Calamity Jane. All that has changed. Now the "Golden Nugget" flights have become the "Golden Samovar." Stewardesses in boots and Cossack minitunics serve borsch, beef stroganoff and "Bolshoi Golden Troikas" (coffee, vodka and coffee liqueur) from gilded samovars.

In June, barring any last-minute hitches, Alaska Airlines...

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