Delta should be able to check you in for all of your flights in MSP. You may even be able to check in online with Delta, though some posters have reported difficulty with that.

Alaska sometimes offers a challenge to "fallen" elites who had a higher status but didn't quite make it again, but nothing (that I've ever seen) to allow someone who has never had a given level of status before reach that status.

The closest I've come is hearing that AS has occasionally made an exception and allowed someone within maybe less than 100 miles of the tier to make the tier, but even then, it's never a certain thing.

The only way to make sure you'll get status is to do a mileage run and fly the necessary miles. With only 3,000 to go, I would definitely make the effort to go for the Gold!

You should receive all of your boarding passes at MSP.

Alaska Airlines "Special Services" mileage deposit of 20k miles
 

Has anyone heard of miles being deposited 20,000 at a time and listed as "special services" on an Alaska Airlines mileage activity statement for no apparent reason? Several one way tickets have been purchased but not sure if there is a connection to the one way travel and the sudden deposit of miles in question.

There was a thread recently where one of our fellow posters had 100,000 miles deposited in his account and didn't understand why. Turns out it was a technical glitch that, sadly, got resolved, i.e., the 100,000 miles were eventually deducted from his MP balance.

Perhaps your situation is a glitch, too. Seems the other situation got resolved in a day or so. Maybe you should just wait and see.

Well while I can't answer the question myself :p I'd like to welcome you to Flyertalk and the Alaska Airlines Forum DrPhysics ^.

I'd say its generally an upward direction though :p (well for takeoff and normal cruise) ;)

Welcome to Flyertalk flyinalaska and to the Alaska Airlines Forum. dave1013 has a good guess as there has been some odd things happening with some accounts. (nothing to mine though)

20,000 is also a rather large number, and not characteristic of a service gesture (unless something really went wrong, or you helped AS in a big way). Did you perhaps sign up for an AS Credit Card recently?

And what was the 2nd line of Special Services? Typically it'll say Special Services, and then the line below that will have what it was, like "WEB PURCHASE BONUS WITH BANK CARD" or "BAG SERVICE GUARANTEE 2500 MILES" and even "50K MVP GOLD PREMIUM BONUS".

Those were a couple that were in myaccount. So there typically is more of a description... :D

Three Questions
 

I am MVPG and working towards MVPG75K and am pretty familiar with AK Air website, but new to FlyerTalk. I have been reading through the forum and I have three questions:

1) I see lots of folks referring to F2 U0 kinds of things when looking to see if they can get upgraded....just wondering where they see that or how they know. I usually just pull up the same itinerary as a new reservation to see if seats are available but am wondering if there is a better way.

2) I am frustrated that I can't seem to use my 4 upgrade coupons easily.....seems like it was easier in the past....do they only work on the flights that have the U on the fare choice list. I never paid that close attention to that in the past but I may have just been lucky. I tried to use my coupons for two upcoming MR trips and was told that I could not for any of those legs which is a bummer. Any secrets here?

3) How are folks adding their mileage plan and program info to their profiles? I am looking through the profile info and am not seeing it.

Thanks in advance....this is a great forum and I am learning lots from it.
:-:

Welcome!

These are fare class inventory availability codes that you can find through GDSes (text-based reservations systems used by travel agents). Those of us who aren't travel agents can find this information out usually through a paid service like ExpertFlyer. F2 means there are two more F seats for sale, and U0 means none of those F seats is available for upgrade (yet! :D We constantly hold out hope they will be released...). Such knowledge gives us an idea of our upgrade chances. F1 U0 is pretty hopeless, whereas F7 U0 is pretty decent, and I would much rather book an F7 U0 flight than an F1 U0 flight.

F7 U7 73 hours before departure is exciting, since at 72 hours out, one of those F seats could very well become mine!

(7 is the most AS shows, so F7 means there could be 7, 8, 10, or even all 16 seats available for sale.)

Yes, you do need to pick flights that have U on the fare choice list (U meaning, again, that Upgradeable First space is open). If you can't pick flights with U class available initially, a paid service like Expertflyer as mentioned above (or a free site like http://lmoffice.com) will allow you to set alerts that will email you when U class is opened up (Alaska periodically releases seats from F into U, so watching that like a hawk can be the difference between confirming your upgrade and not) so you can then call in and confirm your upgrades before anyone else does.

It's under the Quick Links menu on the navigation bar at the top--click Edit Profile. Or just click here: http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/profi...do=editprofile

Again, welcome to FlyerTalk!

I just looked through the last 2 years of my account activity. I have received miles under the "special services" category multiple times, but always with a VERY clear explanation. In fact, only 3 very clear explanations in my case (listed in the 2nd line below "special services":

DELTA AIRLINES DOUBLE MILE PROMOTION
ALASKA/HORIZON AIRLINES DOUBLE MILE PROMOTION
WEB PURCHASE BONUS WITH BANK CARD

Awesome.. thanks for the info!

If you look above in post #61, you'll see my details about why I don't think AS will offer the challenge to you. Just wanted to be sure you saw my post in case you need to book some extra travel this year.

I did see it, thank you! I don't really have the opportunity to do a mileage run, unfortunately. I'll keep my fingers crossed and call the mileage desk to see if I can finagle my way into the challenge.. ;)

I'll keep y'all posted!

Possible reasons behind "Airport Check-In Required" error
 

Hi folks,

I'm trying to check in for a PDX-SEA-IAH flight starting tomorrow, and am getting an odd message. (For what it's worth, I'll note this flight is all QX/AS metal.)

Does this mean something has gone wrong/very badly with my flight or ??? Or is this a new glitch post-AS website upgrade?

I guess I wanted to check in earlier in hopes that I might be bumped up a bit higher on the F waitlist for SEA-IAH.

Were you by any chance trying to use an Upgrade Cert to get up front? That message will come up since they want to collect the cert at the check in counter.

If not, call and ask why you are seeing the message. it may be as simple as a slight schedule change that they can fix right away.

Good luck

The ONLY thing checking in earlier does is put you lower down on the list for IDBs (i.e. you're less likely to be IDB'd the earlier you check in, regardless of status)--something that's pretty much not an issue these days because AS has lowered their overbooking percentages.

Check-in time has no bearing on upgrade waitlist position.