kayexalate

Hello:

The family is going on a vacation to Hawaii this summer on AS. 6 passengers (4 adults, one toddler in his own seat (>2 yo) and 1 lap infant.

I don't have status on AS but one of the adult travelers is MVP gold (just got matched).

I have already purchased 3 tickets (1 adult and 1 toddler using the B of A companion cert, and then one adult separately).

I have another B of A companion cert that I was going to use to purchase the other 2 adult travelers (I'm paying for everyone)

Here are my questions. One of the 2 adult travelers who I have yet to purchase a ticket for has MVP Gold on AS (just recently matched).

Should I have them purchase the 2 remaining tickets and use my B of A companion certificate? (I know it's not transferable, but my wife is the other adult traveler and we share the credit card, so she (we) would be paying for it and we're all traveling together so I don't think that should be an issue).

Or should I just purchase it from my account? the advantage of that is, I have $105 in "My Wallet" which I could apply to the total.

Disadvantage (if any)--I'm not sure if it is better to purchase the tickets from the account of the MVP Gold traveler? Or does it make a difference, as long as one of the travelers is MVP Gold the benefits are the same regardless of whether they purchased the ticket for themselves or someone purchased it for them?

I'm not expecting all 5 adults to be upgraded to first class and even if the MVP Gold traveler gifts their 4 MVP guest upgrade passes, that still leaves our group 1 passenger short of an upgrade even if we only do it for one way of our flight (unless the MVP Gold person banks on themselves being automatically upgraded to First Class and the other 4 adults can use the certs-but I have no idea how risky that is)

Anyway, a bit complicated, hope someone can clarify how best to approach this.

Thanks.

u2g0d

The traveler gets the MVPG benefits irrespective of who purchases the tickets. I've accrued miles and upgrades on tickets purchased by corporate travel agents etc.

ANC

You can book it on your account and use the e credit and use the companion code. You either have to be the travel arranger/buyer with the code OR be one of the 2 travelers on it unless things changed again. Doesnt matter who books the gold passenger, if theyre MP info is in the reservation they get the same benefits. Your wife would also be eligible as the companion upgrade so if everybody wants to sit together and not be upgraded, be sure to check that box off that declines to be on the upgrade list. She would also receive free bags as well so to save a few bucks you might want to make sure the gold and her both check 2 bags each 50 pounds and under and then maybe 2 other travelers wont have to check a bag and pay for it. As far as UG certificates, you probably arent going to find 5 open U spaces

missydarlin

^

kayexalate

So here is an update.

On our outbound flight I was able to get everyone into first class.

On the return flight 3 of 5 passengers are in first and 2 in Coach (the two are me and my son)

one of the 3 passengers in first was upgraded using an MVP gold upgrade certificate. We still have more we can use, however I can't upgrade myself and my son because the system (and agents that verified this) says there is only one seat left for upgrade.

Because I used the Alaska Credit card companion pass to purchase the ticket for myself and my son, it won't let me upgrade one of us (I'd upgrade him and I'd sit in coach). I'm told it has to be both of us and there is only one seat.

So I asked Alaska if we could "swap" the passenger in first who was upgraded and put them back in coach and then there would be TWO first class seats available for upgrade and then I could upgrade myself and my son.

The agent recommended against this (not because the gold upgrade certificate would be lost) but she said there is no guarantee that once the passenger who is in first is "downgraded" back to coach that the first class seat will be released as an seat available for upgrade. So we could lose that seat and be worse off.

Any suggestions and was that agent correct? I know that 72h prior I can possibly get upgraded (I made MVP gold in the interim since my last post) but it would be nice to know ahead of time that everyone is in first class.

We arent' travelling until early August and I realize my dilemma is a minor one, but would love to get any suggestions. Thanks.

Quintious

So this might be a stupid question, but....AS allows infants in 1st class?? Someone had once told me that AS didn't permit that particular brand of torment on their high-value ticket holders. Is this not the case?

kayexalate

yes, they do, and my apologies to anyone who'll be flying first class on the same flights we are

ANC

Ive flown with a few in F that behaved better than some so called adults. I think that they cant however be seated in Row 1

CDKing

As long as the traveler is MVP/MVPG/75K.