I don't think that Alaska is at all competitive for shuttle markets. Flexibility is extremely valuable on flights like that, which is probably why WN dominates despite, shall we say, a sub-par product. People are willing to sit in the equivalent of a flying city bus for an hour if it means that they can cancel their flight with no penalty.
We have people in our office who live in LA and commute (to SFO) for the week 2-3x per month. Sometimes they have to stay late. Sometimes they are dond early and want to get home to their families for the weekend a bit earlier. Flights get moved around a lot. I don't think that our company is unique in this regard.
Offering a use-it-or-lose it fare to "compete" with WN shows a complete misunderstanding of this market.
On longer flights it's less of a big deal. Transcons are a PITA to change anyway. But offering the choice of use-it-or-lose it, or a 60% fare increase, on a 1 hr flight seems like they are just giving that market away.
If they think that this makes them "competitive"... that's just clueless.