How would you rate AS FF program?
 

I've done most of my award travel on UA and think it is a great program. We've ALWAYS been able to get the exact days that we want to travel. Not always the exact flt. but at least the exact day. We start 330 days in advance and 'waitlist' if our preferred flt. is not immediately available. So, how do would y'all rate the AS program?

I've been searching the last couple days for SAVER award flts from BOI>PVR and BOI>NYC area for 2007. Very disappointing. The BOI>PVR flts., for 30K miles, usually require an overnight stay somewhere. The BOI>NYC area flts. often require an extra 5K miles and a leg on a Partner. :(

Is it hard to get 20K mile Saver awards w/in the 48 states if I start 330 days out? How about 30K mile awards to Mexico w/o an overnight stay in LAX, PDX or SEA? Any tips or suggestions appreciated.

TIA,
Phil

It really depends on what you are using the program for. It seems like F awards on AS aren't too hard to get, and partner availability is variable, but generally not much worse than the members of the various partner programs deal with.

I have to say that you appear to have been very lucky with UA. The problem you'll end up with on AS for transcons is that they just don't have that many seats. I could go on for quite some time about the program, but if you are looking for saver Y seats, AS is probably no better or worse than average.

Thanks. Yes, we'd be interested in transcon, HI or MX.We pay for our shorter flts. If I'm reading you correctly I can expect a tough time getting Y saver seats on transcon flts? Even at 330 days out? Similar to CO or DL?

Phil

I know this probably wasn't the answer you're looking for, but it really all depends. The yield management gurus continually monitor and update the award availability to reflect historical performance of that flight, current booking levels, and other factors. They have the capability to open up additional saver award seats if the situation warrants, even as it gets closer to departure. If you're not having luck online, try giving Reservations a call. They have a "scan" function in the software they use where they can scan several days of availability at a time looking for saver space. Good luck!

:-: I participate in FlyerTalk on my own time and do not represent Alaska Airlines in any official capacity.

Saver awards seem few and far between lately.
 

Funny story last night actually.

My cousin called for some advice on how he should book his SEA - Bos RT. for three people.

He's going to use a $50 comp fare for 2 then he's stuck with either paying full fare for another ticket or using miles. I said I would use the miles. Then he goes online and tries to book a saver on that flight.

Now I know that there was only 4 seats sold on 1 of the flights. It was possible that all 4 seats sold were in fact savers though. So he can't find a saver award anywhere on AS but there was 40000 mile peak awards available. IMO not worth it. Come to find out he could also book a saver F/C award for the same 40,000 miles. Let me think what I would do. Anyways they are traveling with a child so I said if you are going to book using F/C saver just book your F/C seat and whenever the person who is suppose to sit between your wife and you just tell them it's there lucky day. Tell them if you give them the seat they were suppose to sit in to their daughter then there is a F/C seat waiting for them up in F/C. After we laughed about how the lucky that person would be and have a story to tell when they got home he decided to use the 15,000 mile 1/2 price ticket instead...Not the best choice in my book. I would rather pay full and keep my miles for the elusive coach saver ticket.

Caveat: My experiences as a UA elite are several years old, so things may have changed.

My last time traveling regularly for work was in the 1999-2002 range; I then had a non-traveling job, and starting at the end of 2005 I started traveling extensively again. During that last stint, I went 100% UA; for this one, I've gone 100% Alaska.

For me, when I'm traveling like this, I'm more interested in how they treat their elite members than I am about redemption possibilities. I think Alaska wins on that. I like the idea that upgrades are automatic with AS; on United, there was always a cost/value equation of "do I want to use my upgrades for this flight or save them for another flight?"

I haven't had any real "nightmare scenarios" with irregular ops yet with AS; UA always did a good job taking care of me when I was a 1K over there and things went to .....

My favorite thing about being an MVPG, though, is the waiver of the $50 change fee. That, alone, makes my life 10x easier. I will often want to plan personal weekend trips a few weeks or months in advance, but I also know that my work schedule can throw all of that into disarray. Not having to deal with change fees makes it that much easier to change plans. It's great for work, too, though the change fees aren't coming out of my pocket.

Strange. For several years, I made the same trip, on the same weekend. The one time I used an AS 20,000 mile award, there were plenty of choices of flights shown on AS' web site.

When I tried to use a UA 25,000 mile award, I never was able to find one on UA's web site. I eventually had to call UA to get an award itinerary, but one leg required a connection (for what is normally a non-stop flight) and a segment with a partner airline. I did not have any elite status on either airline.

So for my flight patterns, AS is much easier to redeem an award on than UA is.

I've found Saver Award availability to be excellent compared to most airlines. Naturally, the most popular flights AS flies will be tougher to get saver seats, but as a whole, I think they're better than most airlines (with the exception of the WN's original RR plan).

The Peak Award (or "Rule Buster") 40K+ seats are steep, but I'm glad they have the option when in a pinch, or need to fly on around a holiday when prices are steep.

Hard to compare directly with UA, as their most popular US/Mexico routes are different than AS. Seats readily available on certain UA flights might not be there for AS, and vice versa.

I like the AS FF program and I think their award travel is easier than ever to book and find, especially with their partners. I've booked trips ot Sao Paulo less then a month out and found my exact dates on their American Partner. For my honeymoon, I found trips to asia on Cathay Pacific without issue and even recently I've found national flights only a few weeks out.

I've had much less luck on United trying to find saver trips to Europe. It's impossible, though granted I don't look 330 days out, maybe only 4-5 months. Last year I was looking in jan for July tickets and there was basically nothing in europe available at saver prices. When I did book two seats at 80k miles (coach standard / business saver), I was hoping I'd get upgraded day of but of course they won't do that (this will however, lead you on that they will).

United also has this nasty habit of always passing the buck. If you ask somebody a question where the answer they have for you is bad, they just say "oh, you should ask the next person. i'm sure everything is fine." I find AS employees to be much better at taking responsibility and working with you.

I will say UA's first class is nicer though and I really enjoy the fact that they are a Star Alliance member. That's the only reason i'm still Primier Exec on them.

This is one of my favorite features as well. United is ALWAYS looking to nickel and dime you. Their newest 'feature' is to charge you to book award tickets within 3 weeks or something. Of course it doesn't cost them any extra if you book close to your travel time.

I would rate the AS program the best I have experienced. There is only one thing I do not like and that is how AS allocates their award seats. Many times you will notice flights to popular destinations during vacation season do not have any award seats allocated, but half the plane from SEA to ANC in January will be allocated. Thus, the saver awards don't work often for me during vacations.

When I did a bit of research, it appears regulations require a certain percentage of seats to be allocated, 10% if I remember correctly. But, the feds don't tell the airlines how to allocate them. Most airlines allocate a fixed number of seats per flight, but not AS. They stack some flights (flights which will likely not sell out) heavier to allow for no allocated seats on other flights which will probably sell out.

That said, everything else is great.

Can you expand on this? I've worked with many of the AS Partner airlines and they all do it a little differently.. but I don't know any of them that simply allot a fixed number of seats per flight without regard to destination or connections.