I am not an employee, nor do i know any current employees. However, I do know quite a few people that have put in their time at the airlines (not alaska in particular though). Here is a generic answer regarding non-revenue travel for nearly any airline, and it may not be specific enough. I hope it does not upset anyone
Each airline is different, contact them directly.
Usually an airline will not provide these benefits to you immediately. You will need to put in some time for these to take effect.
Travel is typically standby and space available -- which means you may not get a seat on a plane. this can be bad if there is very low frequency and can become a big waste of time if not planned for properly.
Usually airlines do not put caps on this type of activity, but there are going to be many limiting factors:
a) your actual time off for travel
b) your tax burden (IRS considers it a certain type of income, port taxes usually are paid)
c) availability on the flight
d) being able to afford all the other incidentals traveling causes (airport parking, rental cars, hotel, eating out, etc)
e) scheduling conflict
After all this, my friends found that while you might score an occasional, lucky trip at the right time during your time off, it was not quite often. You also have significant risk in making it back home in time for your shift if you choose a bad time to fly. not showing up to work is a great way to get fired.
There are all sorts of little perks that different airlines give, including discounted travel passes on other partner/non-partner airlines. The system is generally quite complicated and it varies so much.
other folks in the travel industry (non-airline related) obtain access to these discounts too, such as travel agents, cruise lines, etc. but they are usually not as good. But this is another option too.