He's no Abe Lincoln. It's clearly Jerry Garcia. Just trippin' man.

So - Who Is It?
 

Ok, so now I read through the whole thread - and confirmed that minor possession of cannibis IS legal in Alaska...
BUT - Who is on the tail???:confused: :confused:

According to Alaska Airlines, it's an Eskimo face that doesn't represent any one person. Various stories circulate around the internet about it's origin, but that's the official company line.

That's it.

If we ever get national health coverage, it's going to have to include vision coverage.

I thought it was a guy in an Afro. For years I couldn't figure out why that would be a relevant symbol for Alaska Airlines.

who'd have thought this would end up with 2 pages of people as messed up in the head as myself?

You'll find everything you need to know about the eskimo on the tail at this link:

http://oregonmag.com/MyEskimo.htm

I had a pilot from a competing airline tell me that Alaska was so proud of their flight attendants that they put a picture of their prettiest one on the tail. Ouch....

This is my favorite part of that article...

Postscript: Wednesday, January 02, 2002: When informed of the existence of this story, Alaska Airlines Manager of External Communications, Jack Evans, sent the following email to Oregon Magazine, and I quote: "Fascinating. Yet another person who claims responsibility for the Eskimo!"

I agree that at a quick glance the face looks like Abe.

Are you talking about the fat Abe Lincoln from the Las Vegas tour or the skinny president we all knew and loved.:p

All joking aside, I think AS has a branding problem. I'm a fairly intelligent software guy and I had no idea what the freaky tail guy was until a nice lady from Alaska filled me in.

I think you have to be from Alaska to pass this particular Roschach test. Not quite enough hits in my history to get this.

-KF

To finally solve the mystery of the face on Alaska's planes, the answer is in Kay Guthrie's new book, SELLING ALASKA, from Epicenter Press in Kenmore, Washington.

According to Guthrie, the face was modeled on the late Chester Seveck of Kotzebue, Alaska who used to greet tourists arriving on Alaska Airlines tours to the Arctic. Seveck was a local Eskimo dancer and reindeer herder who was apparently very popular with the tourists.

When I first moved to Alaska in 1972, their planes carried four tail logos - a sourdough from the Gold Rush, a totem from Southeast Alaska, a Russian church, and Chester's portrait. Eventually, things were simplified and Chester's face became the symbol.

In the 1980s, Alaska Airlines proposed to change the face to a stylized depiction of a mountain. Locals would have none of it and the legislature even passed a resolution keeping the smiling Eskimo as their logo. The rest is history.

Now you know.

Talk about putting a topic to rest! Thanks! You know we love all that detail on FT. :)

Do you remember when?
 

If you are a long term flyer of AS you will recall when the Happy Eskimo wore sunglasses - part of they promotion of expansion into Southern destinations. Some time in the early '90s I believe.