eponymous_coward

It's not new, it's been around for years; you just never noticed it.

http://www.alaskaair.com/content/tra...t-changes.aspx

Same Day Confirmed Flight Change can be requested for all available flights within 6 hours of the time of the request. For example, if your original flight leaves at 7:00 p.m. and you would like to change to the 1:30 p.m. flight, you may request the change as early as 7:30 a.m.

tatterdema

So if you have a noon flight, want to change it to a 7 pm flight, you have to miss your flight and take a chance?

eponymous_coward

Not if you're MVP or better.

sltlyamusd

Yeah, I had a 6:20 AM flight from OAK and I massively overslept. I didn't get to the airport until 9:50 AM . The agent at the ticket counter said I could either standby for the next flight (1 PM) or do a same day confirmed change for $25. I did the same day confirmed and got a new boarding pass issued on the spot.

I was afraid I might have to buy a new ticket, so this worked out much better than I expected. I hesitate to even mention my experience on a public forum, b/c I wouldn't want people to think they could deliberately miss their flights. It's possible the agent was just being nice.

beckoa

One could SDC twice too...

AKCuisine

This is a situation I have not encountered in my many years of flying with AS. I've already read the SDC and standby pages on the AS website, and also have searched and read the related FT threads -- but can't find the answer to my questions.
The situation: I have an AS F award ticket that is in conjunction with international travel in F on a partner airline. The catch is the outbound ANC-SEA segment is in coach and on a combi ... which was the only option available back when I booked the ticket.

Ideally, I'd like to be able to get on a slightly earlier flight that same evening, even if it's in coach rather than first. Anything to get off of the cargo flight. (I lived in Southeast for many years and I really, REALLY detest flying on a combi ... this gal does not like having to deal with 2 sets of stairs and traipsing across the tarmac in crummy weather ...)

baliktad

I had an almost identical situation about 18 months ago... I had a SEA-YVR connection to a CX F award. The SEA-YVR segment was at an undesirable time early in the day due to award availability and as a result I had a several hour layover planned in YVR. I had planned on taking the flights as ticketed and had no problem with the layover.

Unfortunately, the day of departure, I had an urgent issue at work that I needed to complete before leaving. I hoped I would be able to check in online, SDC to the later SEA-YVR, and still fly the rest of my intl award as planned. When I checked in for the AS segment, I was not offered SDC options to any earlier/later flight, despite seeing plenty of space on flights at other times.

I ended up calling the Gold desk who did ultimately confirm that because the ticket is subject to partner contracts, SDC is NOT available for partner awards. Evidently the AS segments must come out of award availability buckets, whereas SDC allows changing to any available seat.

I did manage to plead my case to a VERY kind agent who understood my situation, confirmed that there was plenty of space on my desired flight, and took pity on me by manually changing my ticket despite lack of award space. (Effectively a manual override SDC.) I understood this was an exception and not to be expected in the future, but I was grateful for the humans at AS who did what they could to help.

bronco29

That also happened to me a few months ago when flying SEA-YVR connecting to BA F. I did not attempt to do SDC the night before but arrive early at SEA. When I told the agent to put us on an earlier SEA-YVR flight, there was no question asked. She just did it. I guess it just depends on the agent. Also, I believe if the flight that you desire has open award space, you should be able to call into partner's desk and have them re-ticket as well.

eponymous_coward

Airport agents tend to have a lot more power than phone agents (they need it to handle IRROPS at the airport).

So, OP, go to the airport a bit early and ask nicely? Worst thing that can happen is they say "no". I would think they should be able to let you stand by at least... and a 75K should pop to the top of standby.

AKCuisine

Thanks for the feedback and information, eponymous_coward, bronco29 and baliktad.

There's a regular, non-cargo flight to SEA that departs ANC within an hour or so of the award flight I'm on. I think I'll head out to TSAIA a bit earlier than usual to see if an airport AS agent can get me re-booked on that flight - even if it's in coach. And if they can make the change without causing any problems with the remainder of my F award travel on AS or EK.

djibouti

I would like a sanity check please. As far as I can tell from my reading this is legit but I haven't had enough experience and am worried that I'm missing something.

I want to take a SEA-SFO flight home late on a Sunday night. The morning flights are $73 and the flight I want is $180. I'm currently an MVP 75k so does this plan work:

*Book the 7:10 AM SEA-SFO flight for $73 for me and my wife (same PNR)
*Do a flight change for $25 at 10 PM on Saturday night to put us on the 5:35 PM SEA-SFO flight

Total cost: $98 (per person) as opposed to $180 and the only risk is that there won't be availability on the flight I want (although I'm flexible for any of the 4 latest flights so odds are good something will be available). I guess the catch is also that I'd lose any upgrades that would have cleared but I don't care that much.

Am I missing something? Is this completely within the rules?

eponymous_coward

Won't work for your wife unless she has MVP status. If she does it's $25 for her, $0 for you. You will probably lose the upgrade, and if there aren't two seats on the same flight...

djibouti

Why would it not work for her?

Source: Confirmed flight change

Also:

Elite benefits

beckoa

yup

If you got the upgrade and your PNR is split your wife cannot SDC with you- as she's on a different PNR until 6 hours before the flight. So I'd decline the upgrade request until you SDC to the preferred flight.

djibouti

Does AS split upgrades by default? I'd have assumed they'd upgrade us together or not at all on the same PNR? I'll just not request it.... thanks for the warning!