bostonbali

I was chatting with a senior lead flight attendant on a AS flight today.
She mentioned that FA's got word of some changes coming down the pike that won't make Elites happy, here they are:

* As of Feb 1, if a First Class passenger wants a meal from coach instead of his first class meal (such as cheese & fruit plate), that passenger will have to PAY for the meal. No more free swaps in lieu of the FC meal.

* In addition, at some point, AS will no longer allow children under 5 in the FC cabin (I have a hard time believing this).

* AS will also be headed down the same road as the other major domestic airlines, rewarding miles based on revenue, not distance flown.

* Most importantly, due to the upcoming reduction in FC seats (primarily on the 738), AS will do away with complimentary upgrades from MVP and MVPG. 75K and Million Milers will still be eligible for upgrades.

Has anybody else heard these rumors (which the FA confirmed are ‘set in stone?’) If so, this could mark the end of AS as we know it – and gives very little reason to stick around with AS and all of its quirkiness we’ve put up with. Hopefully the FA was just hearing/passing on rumors and none of these changes are true.

beckoa

Wirelessly posted (beckoa's BB: Mozilla/5.0 (BB10; Kbd) AppleWebKit/537.35+ (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/10.3.2.858 Mobile Safari/537.35+)

The first point pertaining to Y meals has been confirmed on FT already. Uncertain about the others.

Finkface

If true (the end of the upgrades part), then that spells the end of my loyalty to AS. All my travel is leisure and self-funded and I choose AS 100% exclusively even when other carriers are cheaper and more convenient. I easily make Gold every year but have no chance to even get close to 75K, and the upgrades are the sole reason I value Gold. Without them, while I love AS for other reasons such as the staff, the on-time performance etc., there is no reason for me to pay more and fly less convenient routes and times for the sole purpose of loyalty and making Gold if that benefit is gone. I sure hope this is just rumor.

missamo80

I have a hard time believing they need to explicitly remove complimentary upgrades for MVP and MVPG. They can manage access to F via availability of U space. They can, for example, not make U space available on the 738s if they are worried about losing revenue from selling those seats.

Neil

3ur0tr45h

Oh man I hope those rumors aren't true. If they are, adios AS.

flyupfrnt

While FF Program devaluation is pretty much an eventuality - We've seen it from many programs including our beloved Mileage Plan.

I doubt they take away the complimentary upgrades from MVP / MVPG. Why on earth would they be comping status, running fast tracks to status and rolling over excess miles above your highest earned status. All to varied groups of course. Only to yank the major motivation of holding such status in the near future.

Sounds like mostly conjecture to me. I think they know better than to enact such a drastic change.

Just my 2 cents though

Seat 2A

I apologize in advance for being a bit out of the loop on this, but could you enlighten us a bit as to some of the "quirkiness" you've had to put up with from Alaska?

pdxtraveller

"* As of Feb 1, if a First Class passenger wants a meal from coach instead of his first class meal (such as cheese & fruit plate), that passenger will have to PAY for the meal. No more free swaps in lieu of the FC meal."
I experienced this on a flight from TUS-SEA on 2/1. The FA was very apologetic and encouraged me to contact AS. As an aside, she also said that AS will be introducing a different meal concept on transcons. Sort of a "Tapas" idea where you can choose 3 of 5 items--that sounds good!

Westcoaster

I won't say adios if they are true but I certainly will change my flying habits. No more reason to pick AS over other carriers in a number of situations. If they make these changes, especially with regards to upgrades, then they obviously expect that things will be better for them with a lot fewer lower level elites. They'll have a gazillion 75Ks and that may be just what they want. And life goes on...

lalala

I'm okay with paying for my cheese plate, I am not okay with banning small children from the F cabin.
I don't even have children.

bostonbali

I can think of 3 things right off the bat:
1) prioritizing upgrades within an elite lelev based on purchase date, not fare class - rewards lower-paying leisure travelers, not last-minute, high-fare paying pax

2). No seat-back ife where once can watch a movie or TV comfortably, not to mention a moving flight map. I'm familiar with the tablets and the Alaska Beyond app, those don't quite count

3) way too many turbo props with non-reclining seats. Horizon planes are a novelty the first few times you fly them, not enjoyable beyond that (or on 2+ hour flights, where they're still being used while DL, for example, uses CRJs with FC on some of the same routes.

I call theae quirky...

Chugach

With all due respect to flight attendants everywhere, flight attendant rumors tend to be about as reliable as beachfront property in Yuma.

One of my personal favorite FA rumors was AS starting FAI-MSP nonstop.

mczlaw

I'm not OK with paying for Y meal if the F meal is crappy (pasta primavera again). I am totally OK banning tiny screamers in F cabin. And I have a child (now 18).

Chugach

The idea of AS (or any US-based airline) banning small children from F is downright comical. The bad press alone makes it a non-starter, never mind alienating your elites (and just about anyone else) who have kids.

sltlyamusd

Agree. As soon as I saw the part about banning children under 5, I thought that the rest could not be taken seriously. I also don't see them taking away comp upgrades to lower level elites...f is not going to fill up with paid pax on short hops...