 During this time , Alaska Air faced some tough competition with other airlines such as Northwest Airlines , Pan Am and Pacific Northern Airlines , the latter being an Alaska @-@ based air carrier operating Boeing 720 jetliners which was subsequently acquired by and merged into Western Airlines in 1967 . Northwest and Pan Am at different times operated Boeing 747 wide body jetliners on their services to Alaska with Northwest flying Seattle @-@ Anchorage nonstop with the jumbo jet and Pan Am flying Seattle @-@ Fairbanks nonstop with the 747 . To set itself apart from the competition , Alaska Air turned to some cheap but imaginative gimmicks such as having safety instructions read as rhymes , staging fashion shows in the aisles and having bingo games on board while en route . 
