Things AS competitors do better that AS could implement
 

Full disclosure: Stole this thread idea from the AA forum but I thought it was interesting so here we go...

1. Ability to print paper boarding passes from kiosks without having to ask an agent
2. Having at least one agent in the Alaska Lounges with the ability to help with irrops
3. Sundaes and bread baskets in F on premium transcon and Hawaii routes

App like UA

How about a functioning website even when I am overseas?
I have to turn on my VPN here in Hong Kong just to access the website and can't even view seat map.
I have to use EF to do it.

What in the UA app specifically are you looking for?

IT

(too short, so I will add that we don’t have to rehash all the problems covered elsewhere)

Agreed.

Coming from being a UA elite when I lived in Houston and did a lot of business travel I am often baffled at Alaska's IT issues when I try to do things like change a flight, or seats, or even check in.

We would be here all day if we had to list every UA app feature. How about accessing wallet funds and lounge passes?

I appreciate how UA's SDC allows you to select different routings online if there are seats available without have to call.

Lounge access at IAD for those traveling domestically.

I’ll second restoring the ability to print a BP at a kiosk, as well as empowering Lounge staff to assist with reticketing issues

not sure whether this falls into the same “other airlines do it better” category, but AS also ought to reverse the recent “enhancement” that forces any change to an award ticket to be an entirely new booking … losing the ability to make a change to a single segment is a massive devaluation

Yeah, lol, what an impossible question. The UA app is unique in that it lets you access almost every function/feature of the airline in a fully native experience that never pops you into a web browser, and they’re consistently adding useful features.

AS absolutely has could do this with the right investments, they just have to choose to do it.

Just as UA cares little to offer a lounge in ANC I don't think this should be at the top of the priority list for AS

Good lord, how many of these “crashing and burning” petty complaint threads do we need?

I have a few ideas.

AS Flight attendants are too pleasant. I’d much rather interact with taciturn FA’s from the competitors.

AS customer service representatives pick up the phone quickly, are happy to chat, and solve the problem. I’d rather spend hours listening to hold music.

AS should stop investing so much into new flagship lounges. Why can’t we be more like WN so I can spend more time rubbing shoulders at the gate?

AS should have shown less ambition. Instead of going from a small regional airline to a TATL and TPAC carrier, they should have let themselves get absorbed like Continental, US Air (Airways) / America West, NWA, Reno Air, etc. and lose all identity!

:):p

DL’s in-app baggage status is so far ahead of AS. It’s much more accurate, when something goes wrong there’s better resolution paths and statusing, it just feels slicker.

I echo having CS agents in lounges that are empowered to help solve IROPS.