Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan - What perk will Alaska Air cut next?

With the last two major cuts in perks, one being charged baggage fees on F/C upgrades and the second now being the 1000 bonus disappearing ....

What perk in your opinion will be cut next?

My guess will be they'll start charging for Aisle or window seats. Since everything else seem to be bares bones standard now.

Per a recent posting in another thread, the bag-charging for U tix "has gone back to the drawing board" so for now, the heat is off on that one.

And I shudder when I otherwise consider your question.

The easiest way to tell what AS will do is to look at what other legacy carriers (especially DL) have already started doing. AS seems to be 5-10 years behind the "enhancements" that have crept over the rest of the industry.

My predictions:
1) restrictions on the companion fare: both fare class (no G/T fares) and mileage earning (none for companion). I honestly believe the only reason AS hasn't done this already is because the IT work required to enforce it.
2) elimination of the change fee waiver. This is the single biggest benefit to me of flying AS, and no other domestic airline has anything like it. It will be a sad, sad, day when this goes away, and I will probably stop flying AS when it does.
3) reduced mileage earning for lower tiers. MVP down to 25% earning, perhaps even Golds to 50% earning?

The 1,000 mile bonus on the credit card was more likely a cut made by Band of America, rather than Alaska. You don't thing AS just gives away buttloads of miles to BofA do you? BofA purchases those miles from AS, as doesn't create them just for fun.

Please direct your ire at Bank of America.

Maybe they should go the way of RyanAir a few years back and charge for bathroom use...could even issue collectible Eskimo Tokens that cost $1 each.

Heck - rig the DigE Players so that you have to put $12 in tokens for them to work!

2) elimination of the change fee waiver. This is the single biggest benefit to me of flying AS, and no other domestic airline has anything like it.

'Nuff said

2) elimination of the change fee waiver. This is the single biggest benefit to me of flying AS, and no other domestic airline has anything like it. It will be a sad, sad, day when this goes away, and I will probably stop flying AS when it does.


Stop flying AS so you can be charged another airline's higher change fee?

Stop flying AS so you can be charged another airline's higher change fee?

I'm not a business traveler. I can't afford change fees at all. When I change my flights on AS, it's often because I want to, not because I need to. It's a benefit that improves the quality of my life, not one that saves me money, so the dollar amount of the change fee isn't particularly relevant unless it's negligible.

Losing the change fee benefit means I would probably fly whatever airline was the cheapest for any given trip, rather than looking for AS and partners first and often paying a premium to do so.

I've wondered how long AS will continue to allow Golds to upgrade someone else with them. Is that benefit potentially in danger based on the practice of competitors?

Stop flying AS so you can be charged another airline's higher change fee?

Not at all. For me, I often pay 25% to 30% more than I would on DL or AA to purchase my original flight from AS, on AS metal. I do this for the luxury of being able to change my flight if I want to or need to. Should AS institute a change fee for 75Ks, I will defect in a split second to the airline that is selling me the cheapest ticket - which right now, isn't AS by a longshot.

I concure, the day they take away the no change fee is the day I stop flying them.

As far as the original question - I agree with the previous thought that it will be changing the MVP to only 25% bonus on miles and Golds to 50%. This would also differentiate 75K more, which is something that I am surprised they have not done yet. I predict this will be an "enhancement" rolled out for 2013.

My guess will be they'll start charging for Aisle or window seats. Since everything else seem to be bares bones standard now.

So AS proposes charging bag fees on paid UGs and you think they're heading the way of WN?

So AS proposes charging bag fees on paid UGs and you think they're heading the way of WN?

Good point. WN has far fewer junk fees for all travelers - no change fees or baggage fees for anyone. If only they flew to AK... I'm sure everyone will jump in and argue upgrades at this point...which is a moot point for some of us - my upgrade success has steadily dwindled to near nill since first qualifying for MVP in 2004.

Good point. WN has far fewer junk fees for all travelers - no change fees or baggage fees for anyone. If only they flew to AK... I'm sure everyone will jump in and argue upgrades at this point...which is a moot point for some of us - my upgrade success has steadily dwindled to near nill since first qualifying for MVP in 2004.like I mentioned before if WN starts going to AK or HI the AS management will soil their pants....then they will try ti retract a bunch of their nickel and dime fees but by then the seeds will have been sown.

The 1,000 mile bonus on the credit card was more likely a cut made by Band of America, rather than Alaska. You don't thing AS just gives away buttloads of miles to BofA do you? BofA purchases those miles from AS, as doesn't create them just for fun.

Please direct your ire at Bank of America.

I was very surprised when they had a 40,000 mile offer for their branded card.

Stop flying AS so you can be charged another airline's higher change fee?

I've only flown them 1X but don't they waive the fee or let you cancel for free or something along that route?

Good point. WN has far fewer junk fees for all travelers - no change fees or baggage fees for anyone. If only they flew to AK... I'm sure everyone will jump in and argue upgrades at this point...which is a moot point for some of us - my upgrade success has steadily dwindled to near nill since first qualifying for MVP in 2004.

The main reason WN doesn't charge change or baggage fees is that it can't - the reservation systems don't support it.

Once WN roles out a new reservation system in 2013 or so, I would expect the attitude towards fees to change.

Good point. WN has far fewer junk fees for all travelers - no change fees or baggage fees for anyone. If only they flew to AK... I'm sure everyone will jump in and argue upgrades at this point...which is a moot point for some of us - my upgrade success has steadily dwindled to near nill since first qualifying for MVP in 2004.

If both your revenue and award travel are limited to North America, then WN is a valid option.

If they do start Hawaii service, don't forget to pack some food along. 5-6 hours is a long time to subsist ona couple packs of peanuts.

And no redeeming miles for far off destinations... much less premium cabin travel to far off destinations

like I mentioned before if WN starts going to AK or HI the AS management will soil their pants....then they will try ti retract a bunch of their nickel and dime fees but by then the seeds will have been sown.AS already competes with WN on a large number of routes, "nickel and dime fees" and all. And is there anyone who does not expect WN to go to Hawaii? I'm sure the AS management realizes full well that Southwest did not go to the trouble to get ETOPS 737-800s just to fly between Key West and Corpus Christi. So no, I do not think your guess about how AS would react to additional competition from WN is correct.

Stop flying AS so you can be charged another airline's higher change fee?

And you think business travelers really care about saving $75, or $150 with the waiver?

When a company/client needs their employee to be somewhere at a certain time, they will pay for it. $150 is chump change in the grand scheme of things and they are not going to book AS because of the possibility of saving $150 if plans change.

This benefit is huge for leisure travelers and very small businesses, the rest do not really care. If that is your customer base and the kind of customer AS wants to "recruit", then keep the $75 rate and the waiver for Golds.

Lower change fees is not what most business travelers are looking for or want.

And you think business travelers really care about saving $75, or $150 with the waiver?

When a company/client needs their employee to be somewhere at a certain time, they will pay for it. $150 is chump change in the grand scheme of things and they are not going to book AS because of the possibility of saving $150 if plans change.

This benefit is huge for leisure travelers and very small businesses, the rest do not really care. If that is your customer base and the kind of customer AS wants to "recruit", then keep the $75 rate and the waiver for Golds.

Lower change fees is not what most business travelers are looking for or want.

Actually, I work for a relatively large company, and one of the questions when setting up my online travel profile was whether or not I was AS MVPG/75K. By answering yes, it does factor in AS as a preferred carrier - presumably due to the change fee waiver...

If both your revenue and award travel are limited to North America, then WN is a valid option.

If they do start Hawaii service, don't forget to pack some food along. 5-6 hours is a long time to subsist ona couple packs of peanuts.

And no redeeming miles for far off destinations... much less premium cabin travel to far off destinations

Well...it wouldn't have to be all or none, you realize. The point is, the change fee waiver keeps me on AS and partners for my domestic and international travel with the goal of earning MVPG. If the waiver goes away, then a reasonable 2nd strategy might be to use WN for domestic travel due to flexibility, and use a global carrier that actually flies to my international destinations (rather than always partner) to maintain low level status there...of course, for me currently this is a moot point since WN does not fly to Alaska. However...a realisitic strategy (and what is likely to happen) is a switch of loyalty to a carrier that actually flies to the destinations I frequent (Central America and Europe) to spend more time on my primary carrier, and less on partners...

As for food...I don't think the convenience of BoB food options on AS would really affect my decision on what carrier to take. It is quite easy to grab something in the airport or pack some snacks in the carryon.

Well...it wouldn't have to be all or none, you realize. The point is, the change fee waiver keeps me on AS and partners for my domestic and international travel with the goal of earning MVPG.

I completely agree: with my work schedule, it helps to know that when I am doing either business or leisure travel, I can tweak my flights to accommodate last minute changes without my wallet getting completely assaulted.

The main reason WN doesn't charge change or baggage fees is that it can't - the reservation systems don't support it.

Once WN roles out a new reservation system in 2013 or so, I would expect the attitude towards fees to change.

I have never heard that before. What are you basing this on? I guess I find it hard to believe that WN hasn't implemented such changes in years because of their reservations system... Think about it, EVERY carrier has completely changed their baggage restrictions and fees as well as their ticket change fees in the past 10 years...and all of their other fees for that matter. All of them had to make IT/system changes to do so. I guess I just find it hard to believe that WN hasn't found a way to make these revenue generating IT changes in years that it is apparently dying to make. Don't get me wrong, I wouldn't be shocked if they eventually did follow suit; however I do think the delay has been intentional - just my hunch...

I have never heard that before. What are you basing this on? I guess I find it hard to believe that WN hasn't implemented such changes in years because of their reservations system... Think about it, EVERY carrier has completely changed their baggage restrictions and fees as well as their ticket change fees in the past 10 years...and all of their other fees for that matter. All of them had to make IT/system changes to do so. I guess I just find it hard to believe that WN hasn't found a way to make these revenue generating IT changes in years that it is apparently dying to make. Don't get me wrong, I wouldn't be shocked if they eventually did follow suit; however I do think the delay has been intentional - just my hunch...

Southwest has publicly acknowledged their reservation system, which is fundamentally different than the systems used by other carriers, can't accommodate those fees (or codeshares, or non-USD ticket sales, etc). They've been talking about a new reservation system for many years, but it continues to slide to the right.

AAnd is there anyone who does not expect WN to go to Hawaii? I'm sure the AS management realizes full well that Southwest did not go to the trouble to get ETOPS 737-800s just to fly between Key West and Corpus Christi.

+1. ETOPS aircraft and developing their ETOPS program. It's not if they come to Hawaii, but when.

If they do start Hawaii service, don't forget to pack some food along. 5-6 hours is a long time to subsist ona couple packs of peanuts.

WN currently flies BWI-SAN. SFO area & LAX area - Hawaii are not that much further. No baggage fee goes a long ways towards a food budget. Now WN doesn't sound like that much fun to me for sectors like that, but lots of people love WN. Each chip may drive more people to them.

I'm not sure I like this thread, I hate to give them any ideas. :eek:

When you see 30 or 40 UG requests on the board at the gate I would think that they would continue to tinker with the UG system by rewarding the most expensive ticket holder with the highest position on the UG request lineup no matter how far in advance one purchased their tixs.... I think the change made last year to freeze out the lower class of tixs purchases is a sign of what the thinking is: reward the high value, last minute business traveler and step on the penny pinching frequent flyers like me.....

Actually, I work for a relatively large company, and one of the questions when setting up my online travel profile was whether or not I was AS MVPG/75K. By answering yes, it does factor in AS as a preferred carrier - presumably due to the change fee waiver...

Interesting, even if AS is rountinely more expensive [at least more than $150] and they don't fly to the destinations you usually need to travel to for work?

To be honest, you are pretty stuck with AS being based in ANC :P

I know Procter and Gamble does not care about change fees nor does my company.

Interesting, even if AS is rountinely more expensive [at least more than $150] and they don't fly to the destinations you usually need to travel to for work?

To be honest, you are pretty stuck with AS being based in ANC :P

I know Procter and Gamble does not care about change fees nor does my company.

Hmm so companies don't care about paying $100-150 change fee but are price sensitive when they first make the ticket that very well can be changed multiple times? Then again if they don't make changes often...

And yes we are 'stuck' on AS in ANC... granted I'd rather be stuck on AS rather then UA or WN :eek:

Lower change fees is not what most business travelers are looking for or want.

I was about to dash off a reply to the effect of "speak for yourself" when I realized that this actually fits my own pattern. I mean, all other things being equal, I'd love to have lower (or no) change fees. It would change how I make reservations. But given the choice between a) much higher upgrade rate + international upgrades, but with change fees (UA) and b) much lower upgrade rate + no international upgrades, but with no change fees (AS), this year I'm voting with my wallet.

Air travel is mass transit. Some of y'all should lower your expectations like I did and you will be much happier. ;)

I like AS and will continue to give them my business as long as their fares are competitive and their service members perform at an adequate level.

Anything they offer me as a Gold75 currently I think is a bonus and really don't expect much more. Nothing that has been changed has changed my opinion of them.

Doubt other airlines would provide a huge difference in benefits to make me switch.

+1. ETOPS aircraft and developing their ETOPS program. It's not if they come to Hawaii, but when.

Not anytime soon. Last I heard they delayed the orders on the remaining ETOPS certified planes for a few years.

Not anytime soon. Last I heard they delayed the orders on the remaining ETOPS certified planes for a few years.

:cool:

Then AS can continue beefing up its Hawaii market ;)

Maybe AS will take them instead- oh wait AS is switching to 739ER :D

+1. ETOPS aircraft and developing their ETOPS program. It's not if they come to Hawaii, but when.

I wouldn't be surprised at all to see Southwest not fly to Hawaii. All the low hanging fruit has been picked by other airlines. Hawaii isn't the only place they could fly those planes with ETOPs. They could use them to operate flights to the Caribbean more efficiently. They can also use them to operate to South America efficiently from various points. I'm not convinced Southwest is going to be interested in duking it out with Hawaiian, Alaska, Allegiant, United, Delta, US Airways and American on flights from the west coast to Hawaii.

Hmm so companies don't care about paying $100-150 change fee but are price sensitive when they first make the ticket that very well can be changed multiple times? Then again if they don't make changes often...


Some of the examples of what most business travelers care about:

1. Route network that meets their needs and offers multiple options [i.e. 4-10x flights per day or 30-40 options via connections].

2. Times. I need to be there on that day at that time and I need to leave at that day at that time. They will book on the flights that meets the time criteria irregardless of the price. They are not going to tell a multi-million dollar client that I won't be at your site until 3pm on Monday instead of the 9am you were expecting, because the later flight was $300 cheaper. I need to be there at that time, what flights meets that criteria? Within the options I have which flight minimizes my travel time [i.e. no 4+ hours connections, nonstop option available within reasonable range? My preferred airline is an option? You see, price is not the #1 priority here, or are change fees.]

3. Flexibility on day of travel for SDC [i.e. favorable 24 hours policies], multiple flight options they can rebook on, etc. They are not going to book on AS to fly SEA-SAT when there is only one flight each day knowing they might need to take a later flight or knowing that they might be able to leave several hours earlier if things goes well.

4. An airline that takes care of them on the day of travel, even if that means booking them on OAL carriers to ensure they get to their destination on the same day [not pulling the "oh, the next available flight I can rebook you on is tomorrow when OAL carriers do have seats available today" excuse]. This is where elite benefits comes in as well and those benefits help minimize time waste, increases productivity [lounges to work in, E+/upgrades, quicker access to the reservations/customer support line or to an agent at the airport, etc], lowers the stress of traveling, etc.

5. Not as common as in the past, but route contracts with the airline. Some companies do contract with the airlines on certain routes or the company has a list of preferred carriers and the system sometimes will limit the employee to those options even if there is a cheaper option available.

Companies are encouraging employees to book the lowest fare, or within reasonable range of the lowest fare, but they will not expect you to take flight options that are unreasonable or does not suit the need of the company.

As for the potential to change multiple times, most companies will book you on a refundable ticket. Remember, change fees are chump change, it is the fare difference that is the killer here. Every time, an employee changes chances are high he/she will be paying hundreds of dollars out of pocket for the fare difference. Keep in mind about the hassle of having to go through the entire rebooking process to up-fare every time, which equals lost time their employees can be working on other competing priorities.

Here is an example, let's use WAS-LAX... AS only has one flight to LAX at 9am. Let's say the employee is already expecting to be in WAS from Sunday evening through Wednesday evening, but there is a 50/50 chance the client will need the employee to stay on site through Thursday afternoon. Now, if the employee books on UA, they can book Wednesday evening and if the need to spend Thursday morning at the client site the will have the option of flying back home on Thursday evening, while on AS he/she is stuck until Friday morning and they will have to fork more money for another night of hotel, pay for an additional day of renting a car, pay an additional day worth of per diems, and Friday is going to be a waste productivity wise when if the employee could get back on Thursday night and be in the office on Friday morning. That does not factor in the possibility of the AS flight being booked solid on Friday morning when the employee has to make changes at the last minute, while on UA odds are much higher that there will be something available in the WAS-LAX market on Thursday evening and worse case on Friday morning. Do you think in this situation, which is VERY common [consultants, lawyers, project managers, executives, etc], the company cares about the change fee waiver?

Bottom line, there are tons of factors involved in the decision making process of what flights to book and change fee is not one of the top priorities in the mind of many business travelers. Yes, it is nice when an employee can save $75-150 in change fees, but many companies will not expect their employee to book on AS just for the potential to save a few bucks on change fees.

ETA: Don't get me wrong, change fee waivers are nice and I know many of us value this benefit, but thinking that you can water down the program without touching the change fee waiver will keep business travelers who works for Fortune 500 companies flying on AS is just flawed. There are a lot more to it than just change fees.

Some of the examples of what most business travelers care about:

1. Route network that meets their needs and offers multiple options [i.e. 4-10x flights per day or 30-40 options via connections].

2. Times. I need to be there on that day at that time and I need to leave at that day at that time. They will book on the flights that meets the time criteria irregardless of the price. They are not going to tell a multi-million dollar client that I won't be at your site until 3pm on Monday instead of the 9am you were expecting, because the later flight was $300 cheaper. I need to be there at that time, what flights meets that criteria? Within the options I have which flight minimizes my travel time [i.e. no 4+ hours connections, nonstop option available within reasonable range? My preferred airline is an option? You see, price is not the #1 priority here, or are change fees.]

3. Flexibility on day of travel for SDC [i.e. favorable 24 hours policies], multiple flight options they can rebook on, etc. They are not going to book on AS to fly SEA-SAT when there is only one flight each day knowing they might need to take a later flight or knowing that they might be able to leave several hours earlier if things goes well.

4. An airline that takes care of them on the day of travel, even if that means booking them on OAL carriers to ensure they get to their destination on the same day [not pulling the "oh, the next available flight I can rebook you on is tomorrow when OAL carriers do have seats available today" excuse]. This is where elite benefits comes in as well and those benefits help minimize time waste, increases productivity [lounges to work in, E+/upgrades, quicker access to the reservations/customer support line or to an agent at the airport, etc], lowers the stress of traveling, etc.

5. Not as common as in the past, but route contracts with the airline. Some companies do contract with the airlines on certain routes or the company has a list of preferred carriers and the system sometimes will limit the employee to those options even if there is a cheaper option available.

Companies are encouraging employees to book the lowest fare, or within reasonable range of the lowest fare, but they will not expect you to take flight options that are unreasonable or does not suit the need of the company.

As for the potential to change multiple times, most companies will book you on a refundable ticket. Remember, change fees are chump change, it is the fare difference that is the killer here. Every time, an employee changes chances are high he/she will be paying hundreds of dollars out of pocket for the fare difference. Keep in mind about the hassle of having to go through the entire rebooking process to up-fare every time, which equals lost time their employees can be working on other competing priorities.

Here is an example, let's use WAS-LAX... AS only has one flight to LAX at 9am. Let's say the employee is already expecting to be in WAS from Sunday evening through Wednesday evening, but there is a 50/50 chance the client will need the employee to stay on site through Thursday afternoon. Now, if the employee books on UA, they can book Wednesday evening and if the need to spend Thursday morning at the client site the will have the option of flying back home on Thursday evening, while on AS he/she is stuck until Friday morning and they will have to fork more money for another night of hotel, pay for an additional day of renting a car, pay an additional day worth of per diems, and Friday is going to be a waste productivity wise when if the employee could get back on Thursday night and be in the office on Friday morning. That does not factor in the possibility of the AS flight being booked solid on Friday morning when the employee has to make changes at the last minute, while on UA odds are much higher that there will be something available in the WAS-LAX market on Thursday evening and worse case on Friday morning. Do you think in this situation, which is VERY common [consultants, lawyers, project managers, executives, etc], the company cares about the change fee waiver?

Bottom line, there are tons of factors involved in the decision making process of what flights to book and change fee is not one of the top priorities in the mind of many business travelers. Yes, it is nice when an employee can save $75-150 in change fees, but many companies will not expect their employee to book on AS just for the potential to save a few bucks on change fees.

ETA: Don't get me wrong, change fee waivers are nice and I know many of us value this benefit, but thinking that you can water down the program without touching the change fee waiver will keep business travelers who works for Fortune 500 companies flying on AS is just flawed. There are a lot more to it than just change fees.

Without weighing in on the whole change fee controversy (because I don't know that much about it), your theory on business travel has some holes in it. It has to. While frequency has to be important, there are a number of business travelers for whom it is not as important. Alaska has one flight a day to ATL, MCO, AUS, PHL, etc. Those flights are full of business travelers. Flight options has to be a big factor for many business travelers but if that were as important to most as you suggest, AS' network to the midwest/south/east/southwest wouldn't do as well as it does.

Without weighing in on the whole change fee controversy (because I don't know that much about it), your theory on business travel has some holes in it. It has to. While frequency has to be important, there are a number of business travelers for whom it is not as important. Alaska has one flight a day to ATL, MCO, AUS, PHL, etc. Those flights are full of business travelers. Flight options has to be a big factor for many business travelers but if that were as important to most as you suggest, AS' network to the midwest/south/east/southwest wouldn't do as well as it does.

One simple answer: nonstop.

If a biz traveler's schedule is set and the AS flight times work they will fly on AS. Even if it costs more, because often when traveling for work time is of the essence. I am sure a couple routes have quite few DL/AA customers [ATL, AUS, etc] as well and maybe some UA/US/WN customers who feel their primary airline's options are not viable or favorable options schedule-wise.

Additionally, the ratio of business travelers flying from SEA-ATL per flight on AS with only has one flight per day will be higher than DL with 4-6 flights per day. However, the aggregate market share of business travelers flying on DL with 4-6 flights per day will be higher. Also, with AS all business travelers heading to ATL will be funneled onto one flight, while with DL many customers will be dispersed across the 4-6 flights on the route or via other hubs. If DL only had one flight per day on ATL-SEA, I'd bet that the upgrade list will be north of 100 most of the time :p

I am just saying, change fees [waived, $75 less than the competition, or $100 more than the competition] are not the primary reason why a business traveler flies on AS. My list was just a hash list of many other priorities business travelers have in mind and some of it might apply to some, some of it might not, and there may be a unique priority for some that I did not mention. Simply put, if there were a survey for business travelers with change fee waivers listed among frequencies, elite benefits, choices via primary airline and its partners, route network, and many other things, the change fee waiver will not be one of the top priorities. It will probably be viewed as a nice bonus, but not a game-changing benefit for many.

A perfect example here is davew-krdm...

I'm not sure I like this thread, I hate to give them any ideas. :eek:

I agree. @:-)

I wouldn't be surprised at all to see Southwest not fly to Hawaii. All the low hanging fruit has been picked by other airlines. Hawaii isn't the only place they could fly those planes with ETOPs. They could use them to operate flights to the Caribbean more efficiently. They can also use them to operate to South America efficiently from various points. I'm not convinced Southwest is going to be interested in duking it out with Hawaiian, Alaska, Allegiant, United, Delta, US Airways and American on flights from the west coast to Hawaii.

International flights will be allowed out of Hobby in a few years. I would also not be surprised if they spent the focus on South America instead

Next benefit cut? I agree with the others who suggested $0 change fee for golds. The Vegas over / under line is 12 months. I'll take the under.

My predictions:3) reduced mileage earning for lower tiers. MVP down to 25% earning, perhaps even Golds to 50% earning?

AS has been pretty emphatic that they want to keep and show the value of the Gold members and not cut benefits. We shall see how that woks out.

AS has been pretty emphatic that they want to keep and show the value of the Gold members and not cut benefits. We shall see how that woks out.

That must be why they enhanced the value of the upgrade coupons this year. :rolleyes:

Wirelessly posted (beckoa's PWP wondrousdevice3.0: Mozilla/5.0 (BlackBerry; U; BlackBerry 9810; en-US) AppleWebKit/534.11+ (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/7.0.0.583 Mobile Safari/534.11+)

Perhaps AS will cut the upgrade checkin loophole?

Yes it still exists :mad:

I have it from the horse's mouth that they have no desire to kill the change fee waiver. (The exact response was more or less a wide-eyed "Um, are you seriously even asking that? Why would you think we'd kill it?")

Unfortunately, I personally have a suspicion that the order will come from the horse's master over the horse's objections. In fact, if you were to ask the horse off-the-record about all of the recent cuts, I suspect said horse would be sad, disappointed, and opposed to the changes that have been coming down the pike, but the horse's master is a beancounter, and we're now reaping the benefits of beancounting. :(

The only reason why my company allows me to book travel on AS "no questions asked" is the change fee waiver. Makes no difference to me (in terms of money out of my pocket), but eliminat the change fee waiver, and I don't have a leg to stand on in terms of booking travel on AS anymore. That's not to say that AS won't get my business from time to time - just will come down to whoever's least expensive.

Given that I've already travelled 90K on Alaska this year (and we only just started July), I can't imagine that would be a good thing for AS.

The only reason why my company allows me to book travel on AS "no questions asked" is the change fee waiver. Makes no difference to me (in terms of money out of my pocket), but eliminat the change fee waiver, and I don't have a leg to stand on in terms of booking travel on AS anymore. That's not to say that AS won't get my business from time to time - just will come down to whoever's least expensive.

Given that I've already travelled 90K on Alaska this year (and we only just started July), I can't imagine that would be a good thing for AS.

What he said. I just fought just this week to not fly JetBlue ANC-LAS-ANC. The price was $250 less but the connections sucked. No change fee made the difference worthwhile.

That's not to say that AS won't get my business from time to time - just will come down to whoever's least expensive.

Won't happen very often:(

I have it from the horse's mouth that they have no desire to kill the change fee waiver. (The exact response was more or less a wide-eyed "Um, are you seriously even asking that? Why would you think we'd kill it?") ....


The response was probably surprise that the information had leaked already. ;)

Nah, they killed F tickets using a companion code instead.

I'm not convinced Southwest is going to be interested in duking it out with Hawaiian, Alaska, Allegiant, United, Delta, US Airways and American on flights from the west coast to Hawaii.

With the exception of a handful of US, DL, UA and AA flights, people east of Las Vegas and Phoenix can't easily get to Hawaii. Ever look at how full the one DL flight is from ATL to HNL?

If someone in ABQ wants to get to Hawaii, they have to take a limited DL/AA schedule to SLC or LAX or backtrack to DFW and get out from there. On WN they could (theoretically) go to LAX, OAK, SAN, SEA etc.

As for Alaska: if they ever drop the change fee waiver for Golds, I'm back to 100% WN. I flew WN exclusively for 5 years and I'd be more than happy to go back.

I can tell you with almost 100% certainty that WN will be flying form the West Coast to HI.

My former college roommates wife is a flight attendant with them and they recently relocated to HI (Kaui) for her job. Wouldn't think of any other reason than they will have flights there.

He says it will happen by years end.

Wirelessly posted (beckoa's PWP wondrousdevice3.0: Mozilla/5.0 (BlackBerry; U; BlackBerry 9810; en-US) AppleWebKit/534.11+ (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/7.0.0.583 Mobile Safari/534.11+)

I can tell you with almost 100% certainty that WN will be flying form the West Coast to HI.

My former college roommates wife is a flight attendant with them and they recently relocated to HI (Kaui) for her job. Wouldn't think of any other reason than they will have flights there.

He says it will happen by years end.

I've seen WN pilots that live in Alaska...

Did WN relocate her or did she relocate herself and commutes?

Wirelessly posted (beckoa's PWP wondrousdevice3.0: Mozilla/5.0 (BlackBerry; U; BlackBerry 9810; en-US) AppleWebKit/534.11+ (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/7.0.0.583 Mobile Safari/534.11+)



I've seen WN pilots that live in Alaska...

Did WN relocate her or did she relocate herself and commutes?

I will double check but he told me they relocated her about a month ago. He used to work for WN in the corporate office and told me about the Houston Hobby international announcement a few weeks before it hit the airwaves. So he has been spot on in the past.

Nah, they killed F tickets using a companion code instead.

Alaska is on a roll! A downhill roll!

Starting 8/1/12 ????

There's a whole other thread on it but you will not be able to buy F tix with a companion fare code that was issued after August 1, 2012. Any codes issued before that date will be held harmless from the change.

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; CPU iPhone OS 5_1_1 like Mac OS X) AppleWebKit/534.46 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.1 Mobile/9B206 Safari/7534.48.3)

I'm not convinced Southwest is going to be interested in duking it out with Hawaiian, Alaska, Allegiant, United, Delta, US Airways and American on flights from the west coast to Hawaii.

With the exception of a handful of US, DL, UA and AA flights, people east of Las Vegas and Phoenix can't easily get to Hawaii. Ever look at how full the one DL flight is from ATL to HNL?

If someone in ABQ wants to get to Hawaii, they have to take a limited DL/AA schedule to SLC or LAX or backtrack to DFW and get out from there. On WN they could (theoretically) go to LAX, OAK, SAN, SEA etc.

As for Alaska: if they ever drop the change fee waiver for Golds, I'm back to 100% WN. I flew WN exclusively for 5 years and I'd be more than happy to go back.

My tipping point will be the change fee waiver as well. I'd probably still fly them enough intra-Alaska and to PDX to maintain MVP, but I'd have no more incentive to get to MVPG. The upgrades aren't enough of an incentive as AS first class is below the competition. My other, non-PDX flying would probably get farmed out to UA and DL due to E+/EC, respectively.

I can tell you with almost 100% certainty that WN will be flying form the West Coast to HI.

My former college roommates wife is a flight attendant with them and they recently relocated to HI (Kaui) for her job. Wouldn't think of any other reason than they will have flights there.

He says it will happen by years end.

I can tell you with 1000% certainty that WN did not relocate your friend. Their FA's haven't even reached an agreement with the company that will allow them to fly to Hawaii. They aren't ETOP's qualified as yet and there would be no reason what so ever to have any FA's relocated to Hawaii as there aren't even whispers of a Hawaii base of any kind. Any move your friends wife made was a choice she made that had nothing to do with Southwest relocating her. Of that I am more than certain.

With the last two major cuts in perks, one being charged baggage fees on F/C upgrades and the second now being the 1000 bonus disappearing ....

What perk in your opinion will be cut next?

My guess will be they'll start charging for Aisle or window seats. Since everything else seem to be bares bones standard now.I can forsee fee increases....the annual signature card fee going up to $95 or higher. Coupled with change fee price hikes to $150....after all it costs the airline $100 for a CSR to spend 5 minutes changing your flight already. Gotta keep up with the Jone's in the race to the bottom and charge as high of fees as the next carrier

I can tell you with 1000% certainty that WN did not relocate your friend. Their FA's haven't even reached an agreement with the company that will allow them to fly to Hawaii. They aren't ETOP's qualified as yet and there would be no reason what so ever to have any FA's relocated to Hawaii as there aren't even whispers of a Hawaii base of any kind. Any move your friends wife made was a choice she made that had nothing to do with Southwest relocating her. Of that I am more than certain.They have ETOPS certified planes in the fleet

They have ETOPS certified planes in the fleet

Not exactly. WN has ETOPS capable planes (the 738s), but they currently do not have an ETOPS program. Some of their 738s come with raft compartments (that are empty for now) amongst other things needed for ETOPS operation.

Not exactly. WN has ETOPS capable planes (the 738s), but they currently do not have an ETOPS program. Some of their 738s come with raft compartments (that are empty for now) amongst other things needed for ETOPS operation.

Thank you

I'm guessing AS/partners will continue to mount restrictions on which fare classes earn full miles on partners, or even with AS G/T fares.