I am aware of the many reports. My last AS flight was on May 16th, the SEA-YYZ inagural. They held back the last F seat until OLCI and I got the upgrade shortly thereafter.

My point was that the upgrade process, as we know it now, is contrary to their stated benefit policy. I don't think there is much desire to "fix" the process; little potatoes to bringing HA into the mix. As a path of least resistance, they should update the website to specify "from" T-48/72/120 hours.

James

I believe there is a more significant motivation for the overt, intentional change: I'm guessing they've created an incremental revenue gold mine selling those upgrades with their up-fare offers. Two significant groups of people are the target for these offers: business travelers who are required to purchase economy, and people using companion fares who can't purchase the front cabin. Brilliant move on AAG's part. Elites may squawk, but where are they going to go?

The problem with the business traveler argument is that due to Alaska's shonky IT, any reservation done through a third party is ostensibly locked out from changes unless Alaska specifically takes control of the reservation. This means things like the Gold Guest Upgrades and the In-app upgrade button don't work on these tickets. My employer doesn't forbid me from flying First but they won't pay for it. I can pay the fare difference out of pocket and do from time to time. With UA and DL, the First upgrade appears right in the reservation even on tickets booked through the travel agents. With AS, the upgrade button only appears on tickets I have booked through AS meaning my personal travel.

So from your post it is not Alaska policy to deny GGU's but the fact their IT cannot process them if booked outside of AS? (AA in my case).

How much appetite is there to purchase in-app seat upgrades when the offer is the delta between the Main fare & the First fare on the day? AS has some ridiculous First fares. For y-up fares to F you are better off just purchasing the F upgrade at booking and earning the COS bonus & lounge access on 2000+ mile flights. If they were dynamically priced, like AA, it could change the calculus.

Furthermore, in-app seat upgrades are per segment. If you have a multi-segment itinerary that was purchased as a through fare, the addition of the cumulative individual seat upgrade cost over your purchased fare are often more than the F fare on the original itinerary or the upgrade offer provided at booking.

You are correct that you can't book into F with Companion Certificates, however you can upgrade at booking, or later, with GGUs. The added benefit being that since the Companion fare is fixed at $99, upfaring from a discount Main fare to a fare class that allows GGU application only applies to the primary passenger. I have a six segment itinerary in December to Costa Rica booked with a Companion Certificate. All segments are now upgraded with 2 GGUs each including the LAX-YLW inaugural.

I will fly business (called First) if the fare makes cents. If I get an upgrade, great! If not, I will happily fly in Premium Class as a benefit of my status on the best Main cabin fare I purchased.

James

If I want to use a GGU on a reservation booked through my corporate travel agent where there is upgrade space available, I have to call AS and have them apply the GGU upgrade. The newer agents cannot do it or say I need to go to the website (wrong answer). It is usually a laborious 20 minute phone call that often requires Customer Care to intervene. I have been told it is due to the limitations or control around the ticket from the third party travel agent.

Post purchase, a call is required anyway if you are on the waitlist as you cannot apply a GGU to a flight you are waitlisted for. If you aren’t on any waitlist, then, yes, you can upgrade with GGUs online.

I don't use third-party teavel agents or OTAs so I can't speak on that. Agents with less experience seem to be SEA based. I generally call late night and get the PHX, BOI or if very lucky the SAT call centre's. From my experience, agents there are more knowlegable and a little more relaxed. Chris in SAT is awesome, too.

James

#12 of 13 on upgrade list as 100K
 

Never encountered this before, I'm showing as #12 of 13 on the upgrade list for a milk run flight tomorrow as a 100K on a Y fare. Seems highly unlikely that the 11 people in front of me on the list are 100k Million Milers (I'm not a million miler) or 100Ks on Y tickets. Spoke with customer support and she confirmed my status was correctly attached, couldn't figure out why I'd be so far back on the list. She sent a ticket to IT but I'm thinking it's unlikely it gets resolved prior to my flight. Anyone else experienced this?

All the "policy" says is that if space is available, you will be upgraded.

Where in the policy does it say that the number of seats available in U class has anything to do with the number of seats that are available for complimentary upgrades? That's right, absolutely nowhere.

:rolleyes: Okay Got it! That is quite the stretch.

Can you explain when U>0 an upgrade will be offered to someone purchasing an eligible fare within their upgrade window? If it is available to them, why not someone already on the upgrade waitlist? When is U>0 not upgrade availability?

James

c’mon, you know the answer as well as anyone … it’s when the upgrade professor and the upgrade intern automagically decide to prioritize a new purchase over a metaphorical glance at the waitlist

As a travel agent AND frequent flyer, in order to apply a GGU to a booking made by an agency is to NOT input your Alaska Mileage plan # in the reservation on the GDS (agency) side. Alaska has multiple layers of bots that will add coding and whatnot to a reservation, which then makes it almost impossible for a basic res agent to apply a GGU or could block it. This has to do with your upgrade perk when on a revenue ticket.

A well seasoned AS res agent will know which codes to remove/delete to apply the GGU, and then go re-add whatever is needed once the GGU has been processed.

I'm a 100K and I'm being offered fairly ridiculously priced upgrades 5 weeks out from a SEA-SAN flight, something like a $200-300 premium over what I would have paid to buy F at time of booking. I can only imagine that enough will bite to make this lucrative. Sad, but not surprised.

That's pretty pricey in my book...I got a $70 offer on SAN-PDX and that's a low saver award ticket.
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I can't and will not attempt to. Alaska is under no obligation to make it transparent to me why or how upgrades are processed.

Or was there some part of the "policy" that implied otherwise?

(I will mention that I never suggested that I agree with this or like it, but that's orthogonal to the question of whether what Alaska is doing is in any way contrary to whatever policies they have publicly posted)