BOB W

Not much new came up at the breakfast meeting today. A few points:

1. AS is still working on retiring the MD-80's. Should have just 6-7 ac by spring

2. Flight times to Hawaii have been modified to give pax better connections for inter-island

3. High speed internet will be tested in one "700" by spring

4. They are working on a second location for a BR in Seattle. Possibly open by end of "08". No talk of a location

5. None (or very few) new cities being added for "08".

6. The most important goal at AS for the forseeable future is on-time performance. As they stated it "We can't go through another summer like this (07) again". Amen to that.

7. The word "Platinum" did not come up even once.

The biggest concerns brought up by MVPG's were around what sounds like major problems with BofA & their new Signature card switch. Also, AS needs to have better control of ticketing AS flights through AA.

AS is working hard to get the FA's to recognize Golds in coach, but they will only offer one complimentary drink. No free food or Digi-players are to be given out without charge.

If I think of anything else, I'll add to the post.

Perhaps someone that went to the luncheon can add their take.

Dave89077

Thanks for the information. I am often already acknowledged and thanked on many coach flights. It's not much, but a free drink is a nice gesture.

mattime

The biggest concern was the credit card? Sounds like the Golds are happy in ANC.

No new routes...interesting. Does that go for Horizon as well?

BOB W

I can't say we are happy. I think we've just become numb to the on-time issues & can only hope they get better some day soon. Plus AS direct flights to Hawaii from ANC go a long way towards making us very happy campers.

Horizon was not brought up............sorry. But, Horizon does not fly into AK.

Bottom line from what I saw, AS is still better than the competition with one exception. CO has taken the lead in F product & AS is making changes to catch up.

AA as a whole took a lot of bashing for lack of interest in AS in general.

ChuckArtic

Did anyone mention that the Anchorage Board room is severly under staffed?

SnoopyAK

The only thing I have to add from the Luncheon is:

1. AS purchased Hawaiian Vacations, will probably become Alaska Airlines Vacations.

2. An "E-wallet" feature in "my account" on alaskaair.com should happen in early to mid '08. This will work in conjunction with the reservation change feature to store any $$ differences in fares to apply to future flight resv.

3. The next biggest issue amongst the luncheon group, next to the BofA switch, was overall baggage handling. Lost luggage issues, damage/mis-treatment issues, wait time issues. AS brass said they have a team of folks evaluating this situation.

4. I asked our table representative about the future of Tim the Moose. She said she had heard the rumors about 'his being sent to pasture', too. But said she was told that he is to remain in his current role. She said everyone loves Tim way too much!

All in all, it was a pretty mild gathering. When compared to the other airlines out there, I think most of us Golds are pretty content. Not to mention a nice lunch, too. Thank you Alaska Airlines!! Keep up the good work! ^

BOB W

No.

sltlyamusd

Off-topic, deleted

BOB W

One more thing. Someone asked about the possibility of getting pre-departure drink service again in F. The response was that it would not happen because it slows down boarding.

I wanted to be a wise a** but bit my lip. I have gotten pre-departure drinks lately, but it was due to delays on the ground. They started with soft drinks after an hour delay & served mixed drinks at 1.5 hour delay. The last time was on a flight to DEN that was delayed on the ground for over two hours due to mechanical.

TravelMann

I actually talked to Rhonda L. who used to be in the Seattle BR but is now a regional manager or some such (she is an absolute doll of a lady, btw) and I addressed the mention of expanded BR hours at ANC that came up and keeps coming up. They seemed interested in our pleas to keep the BR open longer but no promises. I have not experienced an understaffing situation at the ANC room.

Platinum came up at my table (I was seated with Pam the MVP line supervisor from Phoenix) and the dreaded Advisory Board came up (from Pam). I just don't see anything happening with Platinum. There are always so many excuses why they aren't doing it yet.

I agree with Bob about CO vs AS and F product plus CO is $100 cheaper each way (ANC-SEA market) except I am not sure AS is catching up. I'll pay in excess of $500 each way SEA-EWR (and even then I'd rather do it that on CO) but not ANC-SEA for an inferior F product. I just flew MSP-SEA (which is approx the same time and dist as ANC-SEA) and the F service was way better than AS on similar routes. It's a sad when you long for the days of the 'stellar' F service of that tiny fruit/cheese plate they used to serve on late flights SEA-ANC. I got nuts and one drink (and a snippy FA to whom I didn't even want to speak again) on my most recent flight up to ANC.

NOTE: AS likes to use profitablility vs. bankruptcy (and they did so at the ANC luncheon) to justify a lot of things the other airlines do better like service and price. It's mularkey. If AS is really selling way way more F seats, surely there is enough money to put $5 more into the F meal product?

They say we should rely on battery tech for our in-flight power (this also came up at the Gold lunch). What arrogance. I can NEVER finish my work on my laptop (and it's brand new so it's the most recent tech but failure with my previous one too) on even ANC-SEA flights. Plus when I land somewhere and I am in a rental car and occasionally have to turn on the laptop to get directions or information it would be nice to actually have some power left). That's if the rental agent could find my reservation as sometimes I've had to fire up the laptop at the rental counter just to retrieve the rez code--yeah yeah, a more organized person with a Palm pilot would not have these dilemmas... Power ports even in certain premium coach and F seats would be much appreciated as it's not just about the power right there on the aircraft.

brarrr

I don't know... my laptop works for 4 hours on its standard battery and is just about a year old. That is long enough for all but the mid-tran-con flights, and leaves me with extra at the end. I've never been left wanting for power unless I do something silly like watch a dvd and then try to work for another hour or two. I'd rather see fares low than something extra that such a small percentage of people would use.

BillScann

The correct term is not 'silly', it's called 'normal use of a laptop computer'. I'm tired of watching two month-old DigiNothing movies and would like to see plug-ins in first, too.