Originally Posted by
Often1
Second, look at options as above. Train OAK-SMF is a pretty horrible option even for two adults. With an infant, forget it.
How do you mean? Schedule or comfort? I've never ridden the Capitol Corridor trains, but I've ridden Amtrak with an infant many, many times on the Empire Builder (a short portion of a long haul train) and on Northeast Corridor/Keystone trains with one or two parents. It's very easy and comfortable, far easier and more comfortable than driving (no need to deal with a car seat, and we can interact with the infant whenever needed) or flying, even in first class (no seat belt signs, get up and walk whenever we want, larger and more comfortable seats than domestic F). So as I noted, the schedule of the OGG-OAK flight is not good with the midnight arrival, but with 8 trains a day from the OAK airport to Sacramento, the Amtrak schedule looks pretty good. Dunno about reliability. I'd certainly do train over renting a car in Oakland, assuming AS will pay for either option.
Third, don't bother with the blocked seat, on that service the seat will almost certainly be needed and the best you will wind up with is trading with the middle seat guy for the aisle and that's not good. Better to see what AS can do about two adjoining aisles or even aisles which are a row apart (which people often forget about, but are pretty good with an infant).
I don't understand the logic behind this suggestion either. You may well be right that the odds of an empty seat sticking around aren't great, but why not try?
You get a blocked seat automatically if there's an empty seat next to you; you don't have to do anything to request it on AS once the lap infant is in the reservation. Swapping an aisle or window for a middle is never a problem, and I don't think it's at all rude to make the request. I've never had a passenger who would prefer to sit in the middle between two parents with a lap infant than in either the aisle or the window; we always give the middle seat passenger the choice of aisle or window, and they always defer to us. And two seats next to each other (middle/window or middle/aisle) is always preferable with a lap infant (to me) to across the aisle or consecutive rows. Yes, 21CD or 21C/22C (for example) will do in a pinch, but I'll always prefer 21BC or 21AB.
Originally Posted by
The smallest state
This really surprises me. It doesn't sound like Alaska at all. I have always had fantastic interactions. I would ask to be routed through PDX, SAN or see if the ticket can be used on AA. I would also ask for a voucher if they do downgrade you in addition to the fare difference.
I'm really sorry this is happening to you
+1
No two ways about it; this sucks. I hope there are enough no-shows to accommodate you on the OGG-SMF flight in F, which is obviously the best choice. My second choice, personally, would absolutely be to on that flight in coach, and I'd push them to not sell the extra seat so you have three, even if it means no refund of the fare difference (since you did pay for F, it seems fair). Dunno if they'll agree. But my third choice would probably be nonstop to OAK in coach plus train (with the late arrival being the thing that may make me say otherwise).