I love Alaska Airlines, but I'm flying United (shudder) next week
Today I booked a flight SFO PDX on Alaska in Y one direction and F on the way back. I had forgotten to add my American # to the reservation so I could select premium seating on the coach leg, and tried calling their 800#. Oh my God, 4 hour wait, and no way to do this on the website without canceling the itinerary and rebooking. So I tweet them and after about 45 minutes an agent adds the mileage number to my reservation. While I'm waiting for this to happen, I check United (never fly them) and they have a R/T itinerary in F for less than my mixed class itinerary on AS, and they actually pick up the phone when you call them. Then I started thinking, AS pilots unhappy, lots of news coverage about potential strikes etc, and nothing I have read gives me any confidence that AS management is figuring this out. I've read on this forum that cancellations and long hold times are now the norm. Why do I risk this for a short flight?
On top of that, the Twitter agent told me that there's no way to add myself to the F wait list, that is done when I check in, but that's at 24 hours and I think as a One World Emerald I should clear before that time (potentially).
Yes even without the other stuff, a cheaper flight in F trumps a more expensive flight in F/Y, but I would have taken the latter, maybe cleared since F is almost empty, and enjoyed my AA status on AS and the wonderful service that AS provides (I know United will be a cluster).
It's really sad to see this happening to this wonderful airline and I hope that they can pull it together soon. Right now it's not tthe AS I have grown to love over the years.