Alaska Airlines Pilot Interview Prep: Interview Day, CRM Scenario, Questions (2026 Guide)

Last updated: 21 October 2026

Alaska Airlines hires its pilots as First Officers onto two seniority lists, Alaska’s and Hawaiian’s, and at the last check, on 13 October 2026, its own careers site listed First Officer postings for the Alaska list at six domiciles. Both lists ask for 1,500 hours total and 500 hours of fixed-wing turbine time. Alaska does not publish its selection stages in detail, so this guide adds what candidates report: those who interviewed between October 2025 and March 2026 describe a one-day interview with a group session, a CRM scenario worked in a group and individual interviews with a pilot and talent acquisition staff, and none of them a simulator.

Note on the certificate: the Alaska list does not ask for the ATP certificate itself. An FAA Commercial with Instrument–Airplane, all the ATP aeronautical experience of 14 CFR 61.159 and a current ATP written meet it, with the ATP preferred. The Hawaiian list asks for the ATP. No type rating is needed on either list, and no direct-entry Captain route is offered.

At the last check, on 13 October 2026, Alaska’s own careers site listed First Officer postings for the Alaska seniority list at Seattle, Anchorage, Portland, San Francisco, Los Angeles and San Diego, and its pilot page set out separate First Officer requirements for the Hawaiian list. We saw them in search results rather than on the portal itself, and search results on 21 October 2026 showed nothing that changes this, so confirm that a posting is open before you apply. Check the airline pilot jobs board for the current position.

About Alaska Airlines

Alaska Airlines and Hawaiian Airlines are one group, flying under a single FAA operating certificate since October 2025 (ALPA, October 2025), but their pilots are still on two seniority lists, each with its own requirements and domiciles. The Alaska list’s domiciles are Seattle, Los Angeles, Anchorage, Portland, San Diego and San Francisco, the San Diego base having been announced in December 2025 to open on 1 June 2026; the Hawaiian list’s are Seattle, Honolulu and Cincinnati. ALPA, the union of both pilot groups, describes the integration of the two lists as the step that follows the ratification of their joint contract; in August 2026 it said the negotiations were still under way, and we found no ratified contract at the last check.

The fleets came together with the airlines. Alaska’s own is the Boeing 737, from the 737-700 to the MAX 9; Hawaiian brought the Airbus A330-200, the A321neo and the Boeing 717; the group flies the 787-9, five of them in January 2026, when it ordered 105 737-10s and five more 787s; and Horizon Air, the group’s regional airline, flies the Embraer E175. We could not confirm which type a new First Officer on each list is trained on, so read the type in your posting before you choose what to revise. Every pilot joins as a First Officer: Alaska offers no direct-entry Captain route.

Which list, and which door your hours fit

Three words decide most direct-entry applications. Current: on the Alaska list the ATP written must be current, and the test can be taken only after the ATP-CTP course, so a pilot who reaches 1,500 hours without both does not yet meet the posting (our FAA ATP written test guide covers the course and the test). Turbine: the 500 hours are fixed-wing turbine time, airplane and powered-lift combined, so turboprop hours count beside jet hours and piston twins do not. Preferred: a four-year degree, 500 hours multi-engine, 500 hours turbine PIC and at least 50 hours in the last 12 months are preferences on both lists, not requirements, and the ATP certificate is a preference on the Alaska list.

The other conditions are a current FAA First Class medical on both lists, an age of 23 or over, authorization to work in the US and a high school diploma or equivalent, and on the Alaska list a driver’s license issued by a US state or territory and a passport with at least six months of validity when you are hired. The restricted ATP’s lower totals do not meet the Alaska posting as written, which asks for the full experience of 61.159 (the restricted ATP explained sets out the difference).

What sets Alaska apart for a pilot

• Two lists, two sets of requirements. Each posting names its list, its certificate requirement and its domiciles, so read the one you apply to rather than the other.
• The ATP written, not always the ATP. On the Alaska list a current ATP written, with the Commercial and the ATP experience, meets the requirement; the Hawaiian list asks for the certificate.
• Turbine time is a requirement. 500 hours of fixed-wing turbine time on both lists, beside the 1,500 total.
• No type rating, no direct-entry command. The type comes with training, and every pilot joins in the right-hand seat.
• A regional route of its own. Horizon pilots move to Alaska through the Pilot Pathways Program, and a candidate applying to Horizon has the Horizon and Alaska interviews on the same day.
• An interview day built on crew skills. As candidates describe it, a group session, a CRM scenario worked in a group and individual interviews, with little technical content and no simulator.

The selection stages

Alaska does not describe its selection in detail on its careers pages: you apply online through its pilot job site, and the interview is known from candidates. The rows below follow the order our jobs board records for Alaska, an online application, a review of your records, an interview and an offer; the second column is preparation advice, not a description of Alaska’s format, and the interview row draws on candidate reports.

Two things follow from the order. Your records are reviewed before you meet anyone, so the figures you enter must survive a comparison with your logbook. And the interview, as candidates describe it, tests how you work with other pilots more than what you know, so prepare the group parts as seriously as the one-to-one questions.

After the offer

At a US airline the offer is followed by checks: in the Library’s description of airline pilot recruitment and selection, a review of the FAA’s Pilot Records Database, the history of your drug and alcohol testing with previous employers, a criminal history check, employment and education checks, and verification of your FAA certificates and medical. Declare anything in your record yourself, before you are asked.

Is there a simulator?

Alaska publishes no simulator stage, and none of the candidate reports we read, from October 2025 to March 2026, describes one. Some preparation sites list a simulator evaluation at Alaska’s training center in Seattle, but they cite no candidate reports, and another preparation site notes that no consistent candidate report from 2025 or 2026 confirms a simulator ride. Plan on the interview day candidates describe, and ask the recruiter if your invitation says otherwise.

The skills a simulator assessment tests still matter. The CRM scenario asks you to manage a flight aloud with other pilots, which is the same thinking: brief, anticipate the threats, handle the non-normal as a crew, decide. And once hired you train on a type you may never have flown, so the habits the Library’s guide to the airline simulator assessment describes, a raw-data scan, briefings, callouts and the engine failure after V1, are the ones your type rating course builds on.

The group session and the interviews

Alaska does not describe its interview, so this section rests on candidate reports on a pilot interview site, dated from October 2025 to March 2026. They describe one day in three parts:

• A group session. After a presentation from the recruiters, each candidate introduces themselves and answers a “tell me about a time” question, read aloud from a card, in front of a panel of pilots and talent acquisition staff and the other candidates.
• A CRM scenario. The candidates work a flight scenario together, such as a flight in gusty weather with an inexperienced First Officer, while the panel watches.
• Individual interviews. One or two candidates at a time with a pilot and talent acquisition staff, about 20 to 25 minutes in one report (a preparation site gives 30 to 45), mostly on crew resource management and decision-making, with little technical content. One candidate reported being told the result the same day.

The behavioral questions

Expect “tell me about a time” questions, which ask for a real past event rather than an opinion: a mistake you made, a disagreement with a Captain, a time you saw something unsafe, a decision on incomplete information. Answer with the STAR structure (situation, task, action, result), keep each story short and true, and show ownership rather than blame. Prepare eight to ten stories that cover the common themes, and practice telling them aloud in front of other people, since in the group session the other candidates hear your answer too. The Library sets out the method in competency-based pilot interviews.

Questions particular to Alaska

• Why Alaska? Three specific reasons that are true for both sides. Not led by pay, and never a criticism of your present employer.
• The five values. Alaska names five: own safety, do the right thing, be kind-hearted, deliver performance and be remarkable. Have a true story ready for each.
• Which list, and which domicile? Know why you chose the list you applied to, and have a realistic plan for reporting on time from its domiciles, from Anchorage to Honolulu or Cincinnati. If asked about the merger, say what is known, two lists whose integration follows a joint contract, rather than guess.
• For Horizon pilots. A candidate who had a Pathways interview in June 2026 advised treating it like any other major airline’s interview rather than as a sure thing (reported by a candidate): prepare as fully as for direct entry.
• A Captain joining as a First Officer. If you command elsewhere, expect to be asked how you will support a Captain who may have less experience than you (the Library covers the authority gradient).

The CRM scenario

A group scenario puts several candidates around a flight problem while the panel watches how each one contributes, listens and helps the group reach a decision, not who reaches the answer first. Dominating the discussion and staying silent both leave the panel without evidence. Make sure everyone understands the problem, make your point once with a reason, build on other people’s ideas, bring a quieter member in, keep an eye on the time, and support the decision once it is made. The Library’s crew resource management and threat and error management give you the words for what you are doing.

Technical questions

Candidates describe little technical content, and Alaska publishes no technical test. Prepare anyway: a CRM scenario is worked with technical knowledge, the individual interview can turn to it, and the type comes in training soon after. Start with the rules every US airline pilot is expected to know, then the type in your posting. If you do not know an answer, say so, then explain what you do know and where you would find the rest.

US rules and operations

1. The 1-2-3 rule: when must you file an alternate, and what weather must the alternate forecast? (see alternate aerodromes)
2. You lose two-way radio communications in instrument conditions: which route and which altitude do you fly under 14 CFR 91.185? (see radio communication failure)
3. What limits your flight time and flight duty period under Part 117, and how much rest must come before a duty period? (see fatigue)
4. What are the standard takeoff minimums, how does a Part 121 carrier go lower, and when do you need a takeoff alternate? (see aerodrome operating minima)

Weather and terrain on the network

1. Ground de-icing: what a holdover time means, and what you do when it runs out before takeoff (see ground de-icing and anti-icing)
2. Mountain waves: where they form, how to recognize them and what they do to a cruise or an approach (see mountain waves)
3. Volcanic ash: the signs of an encounter, and why you turn rather than climb out of it (see volcanic ash)

737 questions

1. Systems A and B and the standby system: what does each power, and how is the aircraft flown if A and B are both lost? (see the 737 hydraulic system)
2. What do the two STAB TRIM cutout switches do, and what changed in the pitch system from the 737NG to the MAX? (see pitch control and stabilizer trim and the 737 NG to MAX module on MCAS and stabilizer trim)
3. How is the 737 pressurized, and what do you do if the cabin altitude climbs in the cruise? (see 737 pressurization)
4. The 737-700, -800, -900ER, MAX 8 and MAX 9 share one type rating: what differs for the crew? (see the 737 NG to MAX course)

The group’s other types

1. A321neo: normal, alternate and direct law, what takes you from one to the next, and which protections you lose (see A320 flight control laws and protections)
2. 787-9: the 787 has almost no bleed air, so how is the cabin pressurized and how are the engines started? (see the 787 no-bleed architecture)
3. E175: which flight controls are fly-by-wire and which keep cables, and what changes between the normal and direct modes? (see E-Jet flight controls)

What v1prep has for Alaska’s fleet

Where Alaska candidates go wrong

1. Applying to the wrong list. Each posting names its list, its certificate requirement and its domiciles; read the one you apply to.
2. An ATP written that is not current. The Alaska list asks for a current written, which needs the ATP-CTP course first; plan both into your last months of hour building.
3. Counting the wrong hours as turbine. Turboprop time counts toward the 500 hours of fixed-wing turbine; piston twin time does not.
4. Reading “preferred” as “required”, or the reverse. The degree, the multi-engine and turbine PIC hours and the recent hours are preferences; the 1,500 and the 500 turbine are the floor.
5. Treating the group session as a warm-up. As candidates describe it, the panel listens from your first answer, in front of the other candidates.
6. Dominating, or disappearing, in the CRM scenario. The panel watches how you contribute, listen and help the group decide; both extremes fail that test.
7. Stories that do not survive a follow-up question. Keep them true, specific and your own.
8. Paperwork left late. A current First Class medical, and for the Alaska list a US driver’s license and a passport that will still have six months to run when you are hired.

From application to a class date

Alaska publishes no timings for its selection. What is known:

Preparation sites reported in 2026 that Alaska had paused new interviews early in the year, with a restart planned for later in 2026; we found no statement from Alaska, and candidates reported Pathways interviews in March and June 2026, so ask the recruiter about timing rather than rely on either.

Plan for a range, not a date. Keep your medical valid, your ATP written current and your passport and driver’s license in date while you wait.

Alaska Airlines pilot hiring: common questions

The hours, certificates, medical and domiciles of each list are on our Alaska Airlines pilot requirements page; the questions below are about the selection itself.

What is the Alaska Airlines pilot hiring process?

Alaska does not publish its selection stages in detail; you apply online through its pilot job site. Candidates who interviewed between October 2025 and March 2026 describe a one-day interview with a group session, a CRM scenario worked in a group and individual interviews with a pilot and talent acquisition staff, and the offer is followed by the record and background checks of a US airline.

Does Alaska Airlines have a simulator assessment?

Alaska publishes none, and none of the candidate reports we read, from October 2025 to March 2026, describes one. Some preparation sites list a simulator evaluation in Seattle without citing candidate reports, so ask the recruiter if your invitation mentions one.

What is the CRM scenario in the Alaska Airlines interview?

As candidates describe it, a flight scenario that a group of candidates works through together in front of the panel, such as a flight in gusty weather with an inexperienced First Officer. The panel watches how each candidate contributes, listens and helps the group reach a decision, so make your point once with a reason, build on others and bring a quieter member in.

Which seniority list should I apply to at Alaska Airlines?

The one whose domiciles and certificate requirement fit you. The Alaska list, with domiciles in Seattle, Los Angeles, Anchorage, Portland, San Diego and San Francisco, takes the FAA Commercial with Instrument–Airplane, the ATP experience and a current ATP written; the Hawaiian list, with domiciles in Seattle, Honolulu and Cincinnati, asks for the ATP. At the last check, on 13 October 2026, the pilots’ joint contract, which comes before the lists are integrated, had not been ratified.

How do Horizon Air pilots interview for Alaska Airlines?

Through the Pilot Pathways Program. A Horizon pilot who passes the Pathways interview joins the Pathways List in Horizon seniority order and becomes eligible for an Alaska class date after 1,000 hours as pilot in command at Horizon; Alaska’s Ascend Pathways page also asks for 2,000 hours in total at Horizon, and we could not confirm which threshold applies today. A candidate applying to Horizon has the Horizon and Alaska interviews on the same day.