SR99

I tried to book Christmas air tickets to Hawaii by Alaska Airline.

I checked Alaska Airline web site and there are only refundable tickets available and it costs $1500 round trip.

However, when I search for the same itinerary on American Airline website, the same flight (with AA code share) only costs $920.

It's kind of strange. Why the same Alaska Airline tickets is sold at much cheaper price by a partner? Is this normal for Alaska Airline tickets?

Thanks.

3Cforme

American Airlines and Alaska Airlines can't coordinate pricing. AA prices its inventory on AS-operated flights any way it wants.

flytoeat

Completely normal with airlines that codeshare. AS often sells cheaper AA flights as well.

channa

Keep in mind the marketing carrier controls the ticket, and their policies apply.

AA's change rules are not as generous as AS's. But this is a significant amount of money, so if you feel confident in your plans, it's definitely worth it.

Paul5795

I am trying to do exactly the same thing. But Alaska'a prices are almost double what AA charges for the codeshare for my Xmas dates!! But i dont want the codeshare because I want to use the Alaska companion fare. So will have to wait. Could be because Christmas is still out near the end of Alaskas schedule.

czpdx

There's research that I've seen on other threads that mentions that the best time to find the cheapest price on a ticket is roughly around eight weeks out from the travel date (with wild variations on this rule for different routes and dates, of course), so the AS flights are almost certain to drop between now and Christmas (before they go up again at the last minute). Keep in mind that companion tickets are eligible for the low fare guarantee, so you can buy it now and get a wallet credit on the paid ticket if the price drops. I've done that many times.

MonThruThurs

Glad this topic was brought up.

Recently bought a ticket: PIT - DFW - SEA, all on AA paper and b/c it was cheaper than booking directly through AS. PIT - DFW is operated by AA, DFW - SEA is operated by AS

There is Guest Upgrade availability on my DFW - SEA flight but for some reason I can't redeem my certs. Is this normal?

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+)

I've run into this before for AA issued tickets with no luck. One is still eligible for upgrades within the appropriate upgrade window, but make sure it shows you're waitlisted on AS' site.

MonThruThurs

It's a Sunday flight, so I'll have to hope for that. Not a huge loss, seated in 6F, but it would be nice to be up front!

Bretmd

Christmas and Thanksgiving flights can often be the exception to the above rule.

Last year I booked my thanksgiving trip to TPA and Christmas to NYC about ten months out. In both cases, the fare never dropped - at least none of the times I checked. The fares definitely did rise though.

There's little harm to booking it now. You can grab a fare credit if the price goes down, although this requires you to monitor the price frequently. You also wouldn't incur a change fee if made before the 60 day window... So if a different flight goes down in price, you could change to that.

Paul5795

Sounds like good advice. In have noticed that these end-of-schedule Hawaii fares are fluctuating some each day, and generally in a downward direction. So I may wait a week or two before pulling the trigger. And I will buy the tix in my wife's account -- she is a 75k Gold elite, so I presume we will have maximum flexibility to change the dates and/or take advantage of dropping fares after the date of purchase.

Bretmd

This year's Christmas fares are starting much higher than previous years - at least on the SEA-EWR route that I usually look at. United is about half of the price, and as mentioned above, an American codeshare of the same Alaska flight is significantly cheaper, as well.

I think Alaska prices aggressively higher on flights where the companion fare is popular. This year's prices are crazy though - The united price is cheaper than Alaska even when the companion fare is factored in!

dprocuk

Can someone elaborate? I'm looking at December flights as well and I'm ready to book as they are probably as low as they will go (or at least as low as I'm comfortable paying for).

The flight is priced the same for both AS and AA. It is a non-refundable fare. The flight is on AS metal. I am indifferent on where my points accumulate between the programs, but more loyalty is with AA than AS. No elite status.

If it is more advantageous of me to book directly on AS for the flight rather than AA solely to get the AA miles, can someone explain the difference in change fees and why it is better to go with AS direct?

When reading online, it appears I can book on AS.com and make changes or cancellations free of charge if done so 60 days or more prior to travel. Paid amount will go to to my AS wallet for a future flight, not back to my payment source (credit card). AA does not offer such generosity. Is this the big difference?

That being said, I can book now, and if the fare reduces prior to 60 days out, I can cancel, have funds sent to my AS wallet, and then use those funds to immediately re-book the same flight at the lower fee...all with no additional out of pocket expense? Seems like a no brainer - correct?

If I have the funds in my AS wallet, can I use the funds to book travel on a partner flight, say AA?

I'm looking SNA to SJD (Cabo) for new years. AS and Southwest are the only providers servicing the route non-stop. SW flight and far calendar for Dec 2016 not available yet, so I'm looking to secure something, and have some flexibility in case fare drops or SW fare is cheaper, which also includes free checked bags.

Bretmd

With Alaska, there will be no change fee until 60 days before departure. After that, it's $125 per passenger.

AA will charge at least $200 per passenger as a change fee - not sure what it would be for Cabo, you could book a dummy flight and look at the fine print.

The other benefit of booking AS is that if the price goes down, you can get a fare credit for the difference.

If elite status doesn't matter to you, it seems like AS is a better bet. If it did matter, booking the AA codeshare would earn you more AA EQMS. It looks like redeemable miles will be the same either way, however.

dprocuk

Thanks BretMD.

If I book a flight from my Mileage account for my wife and daughter, do the cancellation benefits still apply, even if I am not travelling? Should I make a separate account for my wife and put the booking under her number?

If we then book under her account, and cancel prior to 60 days, are the funds which are redistributed into her account eligible to be spent on travel that she perhaps books for me?