Alaska and Emirates Booking Problems
Mar 7, 2012, 6:24 pm
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Nov 2010
Posts: 2
Alaska and Emirates Booking Problems
I am an Alaska Airlines MVP Gold Member and after reading the recent news about the partnership I decided to try to book my trip on the Emirates website since I could not book it from the Alaska Website.
First of all you can't choose Alaska Airlines easily if you want to travel from SMF-SEA-DXB-MAA. You have to choose them by individual segments and then choose Alaska from SMF-SEA and then the others.
Here are some problems I encountered:
1) You can't pick your meal preference from Emirates website if Alaska Airlines flight happens to be the first segment.
2) You can't pick your seats on Alaska and you have to call Alaska to tell them of your reservation since the Emirates system for some reason does not put your Alaska Mileage Plus number into the Alaska Airlines Reservation system so you won't be eligible to be upgraded on Alaska unless you call Alaska.
3) If the Emirates flight happens to be somewhat full you can't pick a seat unless you use your Skywards number. I did this and they sent a cancellation to my Alaska reservation and I lost the first class upgrade from Alaska.
4) You can't print boarding passes if you use your Alaska FF number in the Emirates reservation system, and you can't print your boarding passes from Alaska Airlines, you have to go to the airport.
5) When checking bags from SMF...they were unable to see the last segment and were going to check them to DXB instead of MAA. I had to tell them and they had to punch in some more stuff to be able to route it all the way to MAA.
6) Since I did not want to lose my seat assignment on Emirates, I had to wait until I got to the gate in SEA to have them switch the FF number to Alaska Airlines from Skywards.
7) Emirates does not honor your MVP or MVP Gold for early boarding. I am a Skywards Silver and that allowed me early boarding.
Just curious if anyone else has experienced similar issues and if these are going to be fixed at some point or is this something we have to live with.
First of all you can't choose Alaska Airlines easily if you want to travel from SMF-SEA-DXB-MAA. You have to choose them by individual segments and then choose Alaska from SMF-SEA and then the others.
Here are some problems I encountered:
1) You can't pick your meal preference from Emirates website if Alaska Airlines flight happens to be the first segment.
2) You can't pick your seats on Alaska and you have to call Alaska to tell them of your reservation since the Emirates system for some reason does not put your Alaska Mileage Plus number into the Alaska Airlines Reservation system so you won't be eligible to be upgraded on Alaska unless you call Alaska.
3) If the Emirates flight happens to be somewhat full you can't pick a seat unless you use your Skywards number. I did this and they sent a cancellation to my Alaska reservation and I lost the first class upgrade from Alaska.
4) You can't print boarding passes if you use your Alaska FF number in the Emirates reservation system, and you can't print your boarding passes from Alaska Airlines, you have to go to the airport.
5) When checking bags from SMF...they were unable to see the last segment and were going to check them to DXB instead of MAA. I had to tell them and they had to punch in some more stuff to be able to route it all the way to MAA.
6) Since I did not want to lose my seat assignment on Emirates, I had to wait until I got to the gate in SEA to have them switch the FF number to Alaska Airlines from Skywards.
7) Emirates does not honor your MVP or MVP Gold for early boarding. I am a Skywards Silver and that allowed me early boarding.
Just curious if anyone else has experienced similar issues and if these are going to be fixed at some point or is this something we have to live with.
Mar 7, 2012, 8:24 pm
#2
Join Date: Jan 2010
Location: Seattle, WA
Programs: AS 75k, SPG Plat, HHonors Diamond
Posts: 394
I don't mean to sound like a jerk but it looks like most of your issues are with Emirates and their IT systems. Perhaps you should post this in that forum?
I'll comment on similar experiences I've had with AS on other international partners.
This is true for all of Alaska's international partners. Alaska does not market international flights (outside of North America) on partner airlines. It has nothing to do with Emirates and everything to do with AS' policies. That is not likely to change anytime soon, if ever.
True of many partners, sometimes even domestic partners. For instance, when I book an AS segment on Delta, I usually have to call Alaska to get the Alaska confirmation # and input my MP#. It's annoying, but since I didn't book the ticket on Alaska, it's hard for me to get annoyed at them for it.
Did you try pulling up the reservation with your Alaska confirmation # on alaskaair.com? Often that works for partners, but not always. I recently flew AS connecting to CX and could not print my AS boarding pass at home. At the airport they said it was because it was an international itinerary. Not sure if that's the whole truth, but in any case for international flights you have to arrive at the airport early and you have to show an agent your passport (even on the 1st domestic segment), so not being able to waste your printer paper in advance isn't a severe burden.
This is the one legitimate Alaska-related issue, so I'd email AS customer service to bring it to their attention. I've heard of it happening on other itineraries as well (especially ones with several segments), and it's certainly inconvenient.
All the rest are problems with Emirates. Perhaps emailing their customer service will help bring it to their attention.
I'll comment on similar experiences I've had with AS on other international partners.
2) You can't pick your seats on Alaska and you have to call Alaska to tell them of your reservation since the Emirates system for some reason does not put your Alaska Mileage Plus number into the Alaska Airlines Reservation system so you won't be eligible to be upgraded on Alaska unless you call Alaska.
4) You can't print boarding passes if you use your Alaska FF number in the Emirates reservation system, and you can't print your boarding passes from Alaska Airlines, you have to go to the airport.
5) When checking bags from SMF...they were unable to see the last segment and were going to check them to DXB instead of MAA. I had to tell them and they had to punch in some more stuff to be able to route it all the way to MAA.
All the rest are problems with Emirates. Perhaps emailing their customer service will help bring it to their attention.
First of all you can't choose Alaska Airlines easily if you want to travel from SMF-SEA-DXB-MAA. You have to choose them by individual segments and then choose Alaska from SMF-SEA and then the others.
Here are some problems I encountered:
1) You can't pick your meal preference from Emirates website if Alaska Airlines flight happens to be the first segment.
[...]
3) If the Emirates flight happens to be somewhat full you can't pick a seat unless you use your Skywards number. I did this and they sent a cancellation to my Alaska reservation and I lost the first class upgrade from Alaska.
[...]
6) Since I did not want to lose my seat assignment on Emirates, I had to wait until I got to the gate in SEA to have them switch the FF number to Alaska Airlines from Skywards.
7) Emirates does not honor your MVP or MVP Gold for early boarding. I am a Skywards Silver and that allowed me early boarding.
Just curious if anyone else has experienced similar issues and if these are going to be fixed at some point or is this something we have to live with.
Here are some problems I encountered:
1) You can't pick your meal preference from Emirates website if Alaska Airlines flight happens to be the first segment.
[...]
3) If the Emirates flight happens to be somewhat full you can't pick a seat unless you use your Skywards number. I did this and they sent a cancellation to my Alaska reservation and I lost the first class upgrade from Alaska.
[...]
6) Since I did not want to lose my seat assignment on Emirates, I had to wait until I got to the gate in SEA to have them switch the FF number to Alaska Airlines from Skywards.
7) Emirates does not honor your MVP or MVP Gold for early boarding. I am a Skywards Silver and that allowed me early boarding.
Just curious if anyone else has experienced similar issues and if these are going to be fixed at some point or is this something we have to live with.
Mar 8, 2012, 12:13 pm
#3
Original Poster
Join Date: Nov 2010
Posts: 2
I guess you are right..a lot of the issues are with Emirates. Thanks for clarifying and sharing your experiences. I just thought that since Alaska was talking about this partnership that their IT systems would be connected in a more seamless manner than the current way it works.
Being in the IT field I am surprised as to why their systems cant be set up to communicate in a way that's easy on the customer. It must be due to their legacy setup.
Being in the IT field I am surprised as to why their systems cant be set up to communicate in a way that's easy on the customer. It must be due to their legacy setup.