dgreen12

I believe you should be at 95%, since the only seats it doesn't beat would be exit rows.

golfingboy

Hey there, I was trying to throw AS a bone!

I counted in the bulkhead seats

dgreen12

I'd rather be in E+ than bulkhead (for the legroom).

golfingboy

Agreed. As a matter of fact, I'd rather be in a regular 32" pitch Y seat than in a bulkhead row with a fixed bulkhead. I get a little claustrophobic for some reason, when I can't stretch my legs out. On the sCO birds, the 737 bulkheads have a 6 inches cut-out at the bottom, plus the bottom half of the wall cuves towards the F cabin to ensure there is plentiful knee space and legroom.

tusphotog

Of course they offer better routings. They have 620 more planes than Alaska.

Lanny

I too received the same canned letter today in response to my emails to Alaska management talking about how great they still are blah blah blah.

Its irritating to not get a real response from someone when so many of us are voicing our concerns.

One part that really killed me was:
"The changes to the credit card program benefits were made to maintain the program's financial viability while also protecting what we felt were the most important components of the value that it offers to cardholders like you"

Protecting what WE felt were the most important components... what about what your CUSTOMERS feel are the most important parts? We're the Alaska customer focus groups asked about these changes at all? Anyhow... I'm still all the more so convinced I'm done with AS.

It was a good run Alaska... but you broke our relationship.

finnster

we own property in hawaii and regularly fly there, at least 3 trips a year - we have a stop over, so 4 segments per person, per trip (2 segments each way). 4 person family = 3 trips a year, which equals 48 segments. We always have flown Alaska despite the lack of direct flights because that way we get the miles and can use companion certs and get first class on at least 1 flight.

In addition, I fly additional 2 business trips a year. my in laws have the other 2 cards and also fly, so in all the segments actually exceed what is quoted.

not sure I want to publish the actual route because I dont' see the relevance to the discussion.

golfingboy

True, but if one SEA-BUR flight was downgauged to a CR7, AS would not rebook me on one of the two other 737 flights.

Bottom line, AS has to differentiate themselves if they want to be the primary airline for high yield frequent travelers to offset their small route network that only has 1-2x flight per day to most business destinations west of Colorado. I view AS as Apple in the PC market.

The companion certificate was something that truly differentiated AS, so was their old SDC policy, the 1,000 booking bonus, unrestricted MVPG Gold Upgrade Certificate, their solid F product, MVPG cookies, AS50, etc. AS managed to un-differentiate themselves in less than three years.

Right now, only two things that differentiates AS from the competition is the change fee waiver and the front line employees, specifically the FAs ^

I want to stay with AS, but they are making it impossible. Heck, my info here still lists AS first.

HikerT

I'm not overly impressed with their FAs, at least not in first class. About average, if anything.

sxf24

Isn't having non-stop service in markets where this is no non-stop service, or a better schedule out of smaller connecting cities, a pretty significant differentiator?

As someone who mostly travels for business, I could care less about the changes the SDC policy, the loss of the booking bonus, or no cookies. Yes, there are other changes that sting, but they're not enough to outweigh the benefits.

I find the complaints from posters outside of AS' core markets to be quite interesting. While MP has some advantages for everyone, I really don't know why you'd pursue elite status on AS unless your travel was focused on the cities AS serves non-stop from your home airport.

BOB W

Another new restriction from the AS website:

"Valid for round-trip or one-way travel. Multiple stopovers not allowed."

and when shopping for a two city stopover I got:

"The Discount Code entered is valid for round-trip or one-way travel, however the itinerary selected exceeds the maximum stopovers. Clear all selections to choose other flight options."

Shuts down a lot of options

Seattlenerd

Wake up folks: You can't expect to get anything other than a canned response if everyone is voicing the same complaint. Front-line staff at any business will state a FAQ-like response if the complaint is similar. That's how first-line customer service works, and there are many good reasons for it.

While it makes me cranky that the 1K online booking bonus is gone, it makes sense if I take a step back. It's a relic. It was created in a time when it was unusual to book on the web. Now, you're penalized if you don't. So while I benefited from the bonus, I can't argue with the fact that the original reason for the incentive no longer exists.

I don't like the loss of the first class use of the companion certificate, but I only used mine once that way.

So in the grand scheme of things, the reduction in benefits is not huge. It's annoying. But it's not huge.

What's more significant to me is the crappy BofA customer service, and that's a BofA problem, not an AS problem. And it's why I still plan to cancel my cards as soon as I can can get replacements in place at BECU. I simply don't believe any BofA promises, if there are any, to make that part of the experience better.

ChugiakAk

Check it out - so far fourteen pages of flyer talk comments on another decision that lessens the uniqueness of what made Alaska Airlines special.

As a customer of AkAir since 1972 when they only owned/leased five planes, had trouble paying fuel bills, and were known as "Elastic Air", I enjoyed how they improved over the years and became known as the best carrier in the business.

Now that is being eroded away by "nit-picky" corporate decisions that supposedly have "the customer in mind". Management can say all they want in emails, letters, or the friendly stories in the monthly magazine; the fact remains that Alaska Airlines is changing again and not necessarily for the better.

Too bad those that make the decisions are tone-deaf to their loyal customers.

Eastbay1K

What you say is partially correct. The 1K for any online purchase is a relic. The 1K for using the branded credit card is a an additional $ incentive for AS.

BarryAZ

No - no status with AS (not enough flights for us to get there). I'm silver with USAirways.

I figure to dump my wife's business card first -- I added that primarily for the miles offer as well as to provide the companion fare this year (we will have used three during this year and still have one of the 'FC companion' coupons in hand (will possibly use that next year for a trip up to Victoria).

The thing is, the only time I've used the FC option is for a trip this December to Hawaii. The other times we use AS it typically is shorter haul flights (Phoenix/Portland or Phoenix/Seattle).

The other reason we have their cards is to run expenses through them for overseas matches. Last year it was LA/Nadi/Auckand and return Christchurch/Nadi/LA.

Actually, I think I'll start another thread for my next miles vacation.