Eastbay1K

The "powers that be" need to change the script, or remind "the non-powers that read" that the script has changed.

missydarlin

Can you, or anyone else that this happens to, please forward your flight numbers?

The actual script never mentioned First Class. So anyone who added it on their own is probably just so used to saying it that old habits die hard.

Seattlenerd

Well, I guess you COULD still use the Alaska Airlines VISA card for First Class ... if you purchase the entire ticket with it.

ANC

yeah go figure

beckoa

Wirelessly posted (beckoa's PWP wondrousdevice3.0: Mozilla/5.0 (BlackBerry; U; BlackBerry 9810; en-US) AppleWebKit/534.11+ (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/7.0.0.583 Mobile Safari/534.11+)

Maybe it was reversed

Sadly I don't think it was...

ChugiakAk

With all the discussion of changes in companion tickets, frequent flyer miles, and other aspects of the current state of the aviation industry, there's a new book out titled "Attention All Passengers" by William McGee that I just received in the mail (online book sellers have it). Plenty of discussion on current controversial business practices followed by the airlines. From just a cursory glance, it's not exactly complimentary to the airline industry including Alaska Airlines. Worth picking up for an interesting read that's bound to raise some eyebrows one way or the other.

bigbirdwithsilverwings

Thank you for your very kind acknowledgment w/regard to the misinterpretation. I appreciate it.
The "what will be served in First Class" stream (now towards the bottom of page 2) will soon be overtaken by this thread in terms of comments and views, as will the thread on "soup" leaving very few streams w/this level of ongoing dialogue.
I think the reason for this kind of interest on this topic is the fact that Alaska has finally crossed the line and created a true deal buster for its customers-many of which are its high dollar customers.
Frequentflyer.com stated yesterday in its weekly email that this change had so diminished the value of the Alaska VISA card that only a huge and persistent outcry might cause Alaska to reverse its decision-and it doubted any reversal no matter what. I still hold out hope that the moderators and the Alaska representatives who monitor this site will report back to the powers that be that its customers-mediocre/good/the very best are uniformly furious and that Alaska should reverse course now, and with apologies before we all fly the coop. Fingers crossed!

Jeeves

On my OAK-SEA flight today, when it came time to do the announcement about a really incredible credit card offer for free travel, they also said they would be giving gifts to current AS Visa cardholders. I believe they said they had someone on board from "Visa" and if you showed your AS Visa card you would get a special gift.

I didn't have my Visa card with me but the gift was a $5 Starbucks card. Everybody got excited about the giveaway.

baliktad

This seems to happen occasionally as a way of sparking interest in the card. I have seen BoA reps trolling through the C concourse in SEA offering $5 Starbucks cards to anyone who could produce an AS Visa, and once or twice in the SEA BR.

BOB W

WOO and HOO What would that buy.................

beckoa

1/2 a drink. Drip coffee refill was over 2.50 at *$... good grief!

thumbelina

I called MVP today and suggested that AS should announce periodic promotions when, after registering, for a period( a month, a quarter, or whatever) you could get a 1 K bonus for each flight you book using your AS Visa.

I suggested they look at how many flights were booked online since they announced the end to the 1 K bonus as I suspected it started a flurry of "buy and get the bonus while you can" There is nothing like announcing something is going away to start people "hoarding"

Similarly I repeated my suggestion that they allow MVPGs to get F companion tickets and perhaps as it is another incentive to try to maintain MVPG (similar to the Hyatt cc deal which differs between Platinums and Diamonds)

I suggested that the ending of these two perks could do two things 1) drive the best customers away or 2) if handled right, encourage even better loyalty once people value the perk more having experienced the anxiety of have the perk/perks go away


She said they were good ideas , there is a mechanism in place for her to pass them, and that she would

AS Flyer

Then don't take it. It's free for god sakes.

bigbirdwithsilverwings

Alaska strips its card of all benefits and some are looking for crumbs as a negotiating tool. Alaska ran the table and it should reverse its new policies in their entirety.

Great White North

The problem that Alaska may find is that loyalty bought over years can be destroyed very quickly. Furthermore, when consumers gt angry with a company, they tend to patronize a different company even if all other factors are equal. So gutting your loyalty program to bring it in-line with other vendors can simply drive people to those other vendors even if they don't offer anything better.

Of course, if Alaska simply wants to compete on the lowest price and not worry about loyalty, it could just cut the loyalty program completely and join the ranks of Ryan and Spirit.