Originally Posted by
MellieAZ
Has anyone else had problems NOT being notified of changes/cancellations when booking Alaska flights with Avios points? This has happened to us on our last 2 flights.
Last year, we showed up at the airport and the agent couldn't even find our reservation - although DH had checked on it via phone the night before and the phone agent made no mention of a cancellation. Agent at the airport said our flight had been cancelled a month before. We eventually got home but our planned leisurely trip became long and stressful.
Yesterday, I checked a reservation made in December only to find that we had been moved to very inconvenient flights. It appears that AK cancelled our previous flights and now has only 1 non-stop a day PHX-PDX and back. Fortunately we are still on the non-stop flights but the new seat assignments are not what we originally had. Phone agent said several changes have been made to our reservation since March but we never received ANY notices!
After our previous experience, I was checking this reservation periodically until the beginning of March when some family problems and travel distracted me. I will be checking it regularly from now until flight time.
I can't tell if the problem is with Alaska or BA (both phone agents said "you should have received notice, I don't know why you didn't ...") I will complain to both but in the meantime wanted to warn everyone to keep checking your reservation so you don't get any nasty surprises like we did last year.
Something similar happened to us. Our family flew from SEA->ANC on Alaska Airlines, but my kids and I booked with AK Air miles, and my husband used his BA Avios to book the same flight. My husband had to call BA to book the flight with Avios (wasn't able to do it online), and he was able to book the flight with no problems at all.... we all got seats together, even though 3 of us were booked through AK Airlines, and 1 was booked through BA.
BUT, while we were up in Anchorage a few days before our return, I got an email from Alaska Airlines saying our return flight to SEA had been cancelled and they had moved my 2 boys and me to a new flight (and they emailed all the new flight info, etc). Well, my husband got no email from BA about a cancelled flight, nor did AK Airlines send him an email (understandably, since he was booked through BA). So, I called Alaska Airlines first to inquire about my husband's ticket, and if they could see if he was re-booked on this new flight. The AK agent told me that she did not see him re-booked on that flight, but BA had to be the ones to move him to that flight, and AK Airlines had no way of accessing his booking since it was through BA.
SO, I called the BA agent, and the BA agents said that Alaska Airlines had not sent them any notice that this flight had been cancelled, so they had no reason to move him to a new flight, and if they did move him, they'd have to charge me a "flight change fee". BA told me that AK is who would have to make the change to my husband's ticket since it was an AK flight. So, BA told me to call AK back and tell them what BA said. So, I called AK back and told them what BA told me. AK told me BA definitely should see in their system this flight was cancelled and AK had absolutely no way of accessing my husband's booking since it was all in the BA system. AK said there was nothing they could do. This was a BA issue. So, I called BA AGAIN and got the same song and dance, that the BA system did not show that this flight was cancelled, and this was AK's issue, etc. etc.
It was rediculous. Luckily, where we were staying in Anchorage was very close to the airport, and so I just went to the airport and talked to an AK Airlines ticket agent in person, and had my husband's ticket info with me. They were very helpful and gave me some code to give to BA, and she told me exactly what to tell BA.... but she said she could not make changes to his ticket since it was booked through BA.
So, I called BA AGAIN, this time talked to an agent who was super helpful and empathetic for the complete runaround I had gotten, and this agent was able to talk to a manager, and they figured out the problem (I don't know what the problem on their end was), and they did now see that the flight was cancelled, and they were able to book my husband on the new flight with us. Phew!
It was a huge pain.
Just that experiece alone has made us to never want to use avios to book on Alaska Airlines again.