The flights are booked through a corporate website. This really should not matter. My AS number gets applied appropriately. Sadly, my seat selections do not and it doesn't show up in the Trips section of the website.
Are these AS-only itins, or are they codeshare? This is what I see when I have codeshare itins and the record locator is from another carrier. I get mileage credit, but the AS site doesn't see the trip in My Trips and seat selection often gets messed up (not just U availability but also elite seating may not be available) unless I call AS directly.
Applying your MP number to the reservation is not the same as putting the PNR in your "mytrips". Going via mytrips is the only way to ensure things are done right, and the only way to request an upgrade. If you don't request an upgrade, you're not going to get one, hence the reason you're not getting them. Put the PNR in your "mytrips" and solve this nonsense. I'm not defending AS here, but you've complained about this several times in the past and I don't think AS is entirely to blame here. Do it the way that works for everyone else that frequents this board (and have been telling you) and it should work for you. If you don't at least try, then good luck and happy travels.
The flights are booked through a corporate website. This really should not matter. My AS number gets applied appropriately. Sadly, my seat selections do not and it doesn't show up in the Trips section of the website.
My company uses AMEX travel and despite the fact that my AS MVP Gold # is in my AMEX travel profile, it never flows through to Alaska's system and I always have to do two things:
1. On the Alaska website, I have to do a manual search by the confirmation number and last name so it appears in "my trips". This usually enables me to make seat selections on the Alaska website, but...IMPORTANT NOTE: just doing this adds your FF# to the PNR, but it does not get you in the upgrade queue.
2. I always have to call and manually ask to be added to the upgrade queue. Even after associating my FF# with the PNR in step 1, that does not put me on the upgrade waitlist.
I, too, was dismayed at my lack of upgrades for a long time until I realized that just using the website to put my FF# in my reservation did not put me in the upgrade queue on tickets purchased through my corporate travel website. So now, I always make the call. Yes, it is a pain. Yes, it takes time. Yes, I wish it were different. Luckily, the phone agents are used to this "corporate travel agency" thing and are very helpful in getting me in the queue and on my way as quickly as possible.
My wife even got upgrades on those routes routinely (even ANC) while even a lowly MVP. With MVPG, (and my attention to flying the right non elite heavy flights), we never end up with a coach seat.
Programs: AS MVPG - AA NW CO UA US. Marriott Silver
Posts: 796
I make my reservations through a corporate travel web site. They put my number in, but I always get my AS locator number (MVP gold line can help you with that if your travel agent doesn't), and get into my reservation and change my seats. For some reason the travel agency we use cannot get Gold seats open at all.
Next, are you ticketed IMMEDIATELY or just before departure? If you're not ticketed at the time of reservation, you won't get the option to upgrade until the ticket is paid for. Once a ticket is paid for you can add it to your my trips, and there will be a link to request an upgrade...click it and you'll be put on the list.
Sorry things aren't done instantaneously for you. Dontcha hate it when you have to do something for yourself?
Transcons are hard to get bumped up on. This morning I was #14 on the upgrade list DCA-SEA, so I was back in my middle exit row. I was about that far down on the outbound as well....that's a tough route to get bumped up on anymore...so I just enjoy the first one on them and not worry about it (though today I could have done without the jokes from the cabin crew...this is NOT Southwest). I was however, able to get up on both legs out and back to EWR earlier this year.
Programs: AS MVP (withering away due to insane fares), UA, AA, AGR, NPS passport, Costco Exec
Posts: 5,190
Quote:
Originally Posted by thegeneral
I can't put into words how aggravating it is to give a company this much business and not have your name even on an upgrade list...ever. It's so nice of them to add it at the gate, but by that time it's a trivial endeavor....
I spend a good amount of money going on AS over the other Southworst and Virgin. Having to have me call them after I make travel arrangements each and every time seems like BS. With NW/CO, I'd make the res and I'd be either upgraded or on the standby list.
It is a bit aggravating, but as I pointed out above, it can be fixed in under 90 seconds. It wouldn't even be an issue if you could book on the Alaska Airlines website--the complicating factor is that you have to have your corporate travel agent book.
It was mentioned at a Gold luncheon a year or so ago that AS was working on making it so that upgrades are automatically requested whenever an AS MVP/G books (a la NW/DL). Unfortunately, the AS IT team tends to, er, take a LONG time to get things working (and working right). But eventually, you should get the results you want: upgrades without having to call. For now, call the MVPG line, hit option 4, enter your number, and tell the agent you'd like to request your MVPG complimentary upgrades and be placed on the waitlist. He/she'll ask you for your PNR and take care of it--all in less than 90 seconds. Seems like a small price to pay.
Quote:
Originally Posted by marinersdave
My company uses AMEX travel and despite the fact that my AS MVP Gold # is in my AMEX travel profile, it never flows through to Alaska's system and I always have to do two things:
1. On the Alaska website, I have to do a manual search by the confirmation number and last name so it appears in "my trips". This usually enables me to make seat selections on the Alaska website, but...IMPORTANT NOTE: just doing this adds your FF# to the PNR, but it does not get you in the upgrade queue.
2. I always have to call and manually ask to be added to the upgrade queue. Even after associating my FF# with the PNR in step 1, that does not put me on the upgrade waitlist.
I, too, was dismayed at my lack of upgrades for a long time until I realized that just using the website to put my FF# in my reservation did not put me in the upgrade queue on tickets purchased through my corporate travel website. So now, I always make the call. Yes, it is a pain. Yes, it takes time. Yes, I wish it were different. Luckily, the phone agents are used to this "corporate travel agency" thing and are very helpful in getting me in the queue and on my way as quickly as possible.
It is what it is.
You should be able to do either 1 OR 2--you shouldn't need to do both.
If you do option 1, you should see a link to "Request Complimentary Upgrades" right above the flight information. If you do option 2, you can probably completely bypass the website (unless you want to add the PNR in My Trips for tracking purposes). There should be no need to do both--it's kind of redundant.
If the link to "Request Complimentary Upgrades" is not available when logged in to the My Trips section with your MVP/G number attached to your PNR, then there may be something else going on.
thegeneral, one more dumb question.... do you travel alone? I've seen some wacky stuff happen with multiple fliers, especially if they have different statuses.
The flights are booked through a corporate website. This really should not matter. My AS number gets applied appropriately. Sadly, my seat selections do not and it doesn't show up in the Trips section of the website.
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Well it does matter. If you dont book at alaskaair.com it wont be in your my trips. Actually if you book without logging into your account or someone books for you on alaskaair.com it wont be in your my trips either. You need to manually add them to your trips. It only takes a minute or 2 to get your reservation on my trips or a minute or 2 to get on the upgrade list by calling. If thats too much inconvenience for you to spend 2 minutes for a chance to get in F then I guess continue enjoying coach class service
Ive got no problem at all calling to get on the list manually. In fact as soon as I hit purchase on a travel site or corporate travel site that I know wont add the link, Im dialing the gold desk in the other hand
Programs: AS MVP (withering away due to insane fares), UA, AA, AGR, NPS passport, Costco Exec
Posts: 5,190
Quote:
Originally Posted by ANC
Well it does matter. If you dont book at alaskaair.com it wont be in your my trips. Actually if you book without logging into your account or someone books for you on alaskaair.com it wont be in your my trips either. You need to manually add them to your trips. It only takes a minute or 2 to get your reservation on my trips or a minute or 2 to get on the upgrade list by calling. If thats too much inconvenience for you to spend 2 minutes for a chance to get in F then I guess continue enjoying coach class service
Ive got no problem at all calling to get on the list manually. In fact as soon as I hit purchase on a travel site or corporate travel site that I know wont add the link, Im dialing the gold desk in the other hand
To be fair, it would be nice if the My Trips section of the site automatically listed all PNRs with your Mileage Plan number. That's actually not an unreasonable expectation.
But this is AS's IT department we're talking about here, and the availability of a pretty quick workaround makes it relatively painless to deal with, so I'm not going to start a letter-writing campaign over these issues. (Still, if ASTechGuy or someone is paying attention, please be adding these suggestions to your to-do lists! )
To be fair, it would be nice if the My Trips section of the site automatically listed all PNRs with your Mileage Plan number. That's actually not an unreasonable expectation.
Well that is certainly true and plenty of other airlines are that way. In ways its a shame that an airline that pioneered a lot of firsts for domestic airlines on the world wide web and e technology now puts their concern for new web technologies as a secondary concern. The only reason I vote for AS in the Freddies for best web site is simply because when you search it shows all fare classes at once and lets you choose what you want unlike most other legacy carriers where you have to search each fare class separately which is extremely cumbersome
Programs: AS MVP Gold (83K), AS BR [3 year renewal], Maika`i Card, CO
Posts: 11,071
Quote:
Originally Posted by ANC
Well that is certainly true and plenty of other airlines are that way. In ways its a shame that an airline that pioneered a lot of firsts for domestic airlines on the world wide web and e technology now puts their concern for new web technologies as a secondary concern. The only reason I vote for AS in the Freddies for best web site is simply because when you search it shows all fare classes at once and lets you choose what you want unlike most other legacy carriers where you have to search each fare class separately which is extremely cumbersome
Don't worry about the freddies next year... they are no longer
But agree with the bulk of the posters, yes it takes a little more effort on your part, but you can ensure you are on the waitlist with a quick friendly phone call to the MVP/G desk, and by adding it to 'my trips' its a convenient place to keep track of upcoming trips, and the subsequent schedule changes...
To be fair, it would be nice if the My Trips section of the site automatically listed all PNRs with your Mileage Plan number. That's actually not an unreasonable expectation.
But this is AS's IT department we're talking about here, and the availability of a pretty quick workaround makes it relatively painless to deal with, so I'm not going to start a letter-writing campaign over these issues. (Still, if ASTechGuy or someone is paying attention, please be adding these suggestions to your to-do lists! )
Oh trust me, they're on several 'to-do' lists. It's really as simple as how much the airline is spending on IT these days and where any particular issue falls on the priority list. We take the people and resources we have and just keep working from the top of the never-ending issues list on down. Eventually, we should get to smaller stuff like this (except for the never-ending shuffling and adding to stuff at the top-end of the list).
It's like any organization, I suppose. They want a lot of bang for their IT buck, so they generally want to focus on bigger items which either generate revenue or reduce expenses. Something like this, which is only a minor annoyance for a small group of customers (particularly since it's focus is on a give-away) doesn't normally rise to the top. It doesn't mean that we don't want to work on it...
Programs: AS MVP (withering away due to insane fares), UA, AA, AGR, NPS passport, Costco Exec
Posts: 5,190
Quote:
Originally Posted by ASTechGuy
Oh trust me, they're on several 'to-do' lists. It's really as simple as how much the airline is spending on IT these days and where any particular issue falls on the priority list. We take the people and resources we have and just keep working from the top of the never-ending issues list on down. Eventually, we should get to smaller stuff like this (except for the never-ending shuffling and adding to stuff at the top-end of the list).
It's like any organization, I suppose. They want a lot of bang for their IT buck, so they generally want to focus on bigger items which either generate revenue or reduce expenses. Something like this, which is only a minor annoyance for a small group of customers (particularly since it's focus is on a give-away) doesn't normally rise to the top. It doesn't mean that we don't want to work on it...
Hey! He breathes!
No offense intended, and I do realize that it's not always the IT department's fault.
Still, it'd be nice if AS could counter the negative perception many of us have that really started when the Mileage Plan system was upgraded, and when many other airlines have working processes that AS just has such a hard time implementing, it's rather frustrating...
Right, upgrading of the MP was the tipping point. I'm personally not seeing much benefit from the upgrade compared to the old way and then coparing it back to paper. Certs were cool in their day, the gold upgrades are cool now - both got me upgraded.
This issue here, essentially needing a live customer service agent to field a call and manually enter the traveler on the upgrade list, isn't so bad in my eyes. I need customer service agents to help me when I'm in a jam - so keep 'em around - they are needed!
I think the sales department probably had some hand in the upgrading the MP process. Selling the concept before the idea matured. The technical part is always the hardest. I can just see the conference room of sales guys lathering themselves up and IT shuddering in their dungeon
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