Bumped to a downgraded seat on VX due to ticketing issue with Alaska.
I’ve recently had a run of bad luck with Alaska/Virgin on my past JFK->SFO->JFK round trip tickets. While I assumed the earlier ones were caused by weather and the meltdown of their JFK operations, this most recent instance was puzzling.
On my return leg from SFO to JFK I had called the Alaska MVP line to make sure I was on the upgrade list for MCS, as seats were available and on my outbound they had mentioned I wasn’t on the list at check-in (despite having opted in when purchasing the tickets.) The Alaska Rep confirmed I was on and shortly after I was on and shortly thereafter was able to select a MCS seat. (2 in row 3 and all 6 in row 10 were available.)
I proceeded to check in at the counter about 6 hours prior to departure (as the app was throwing an error but it seems to always do so) and was confirmed in 10A. At check-in she mentioned they’d left off the ticket number but had it added and all was well. My boarding pass was printed, seat confirmed, with the app showing the same.
I boarded, sat down and about 5 minutes prior to door close another individual mentioned I was in his seat. The FA took both of our boarding passes and returned at door close with a new ticket stating I was to be bumped back to Main Cabin and explained quickly that Alaska had messed up my ticket so they had to downgrade me to the main cabin in the back and that they’ll compensate me.
This is the latest in a string of problems I’ve had flying Alaska/VX JFK to SFO (this isn’t counting having to deal with T7, which is in and of itself a colossal problem), but this one is probably the screwiest as I’d checked in with VX ahead of time to make sure everything was OK as I really just don’t trust their ticketing system anymore. This goes along with the IDB on the outbound and a similar issue a month prior where VX had assigned my seat to someone else because I didn’t check in earlier. Somehow as an MVP Gold I’m flying in the last row middle seat a lot.
(Side note, has anyone who has had this happen to them had any luck writng Alaska/Virgin CS and getting their RED tab comp’d?)