Originally Posted by
westcoastman
I did a SDC years ago at the kiosk for a flight to LAS through PDX, where both legs were different flight numbers. It allowed me to get into PDX earlier for $25 but did not give me a non-stop option but my original flight to PDX had a big delay.
Exactly, both legs need to have the same flight number. This is called a "direct" flight, and Alaska will allow you to change to a nonstop if there is space.
You had a connecting flight, which Alaska does not allow you to SDC to a nonstop. So your experience exactly matched Alaska's policy.
Wonder if things have changed or if you get better results from talking to a human.
Hasn't been my experience but never hurts to ask I suppose.