skimom

My extended family is going to Hawaii this summer and we've applied for the BOA Alaska Airlines card to get the companion passes that come along with it.

We have 9 people flying there total, so 4 of us have applied for cards to get the companion passes, figuring that we'll buy 8 of the tickets by paying for one and getting for for the roughly $100 using the companion pass and then paying for the 9th ticket by itself.

I've got a couple of newbie questions on using them:

1. I'm figuring when we go to get the tickets, we will have to do it in 4 separate transactions, correct. Each of us that has a companion pass will log into our account and purchase 2 tickets (with one of us purchasing 3).

2. My sister's application was told that it was under review. She is figuring that is because she has only been at her current job for around a year. From another thread, I saw the reconsideration line. Is that only used if you've been denied, or can she call and try to speed up her processing? I'm getting antsy and want to get the tickets booked.

3. Finally along those lines, when I check the flights we are hoping to get on, you can look and see what all seats are available. Are all of those seats able to be booked with the companion pass? I assume that the ones that are shown as refundable, preferred and the first class tickets are not. But are the rest open to be booked using the companion pass?

Thanks for any and all help! I'm hoping this all works out because it would really save us a bundle!

missydarlin

1. 5 transactions - 4 with companion, then the last one

2. If she gets denied, are you going to cancel the entire trip? If not, just book the rest of the tickets now. The worst case scenario is that she pays full price for both her tickets. There's no reason not to book the other tickets.


3. Seating chart has nothing to do with fare availability. Any coach fares can use the companion fare. However, the airline only sells so many seats at a certain fare before they run out and you have to purchase the next higher fare. So you may not be able to get every ticket for the same price, but as long as there is coach availability (even refundable) on the plane, you can use them.

fishywang

correct.

I think anything in Coach is available for companion pass (only First Class is not eligible)?

skimom

Thanks so much for your responses!

No, we definitely won't cancel trip if she's denied, so I guess that's true about booking with the certificates we have. I'll go ahead and do that tonight.

Do you think it would hurt for her to call the reconsideration line to see if she can speed it up a bit, or would that just draw unnecessary attention to her verification?

Westcoaster

As missy pointed out there are 5 transactions. The last person must have a separate reservation, not be combined in with a companion cert purchase. If there are any kids flying it would be a good idea to have an adult on this 5th separate reservation.

worldtraveller73

There is a small trick that you can purchase a 2 for 1 economy fare using the companion voucher using a more expensive upgradeable fare, then use 15,000 miles per person per direction to upgrade into F. Works like a charm if you are miles rich and are travelling a long way...

skimom

Sorry, I'm just learning - so, when I go to book with the companion voucher, it's showing my options as Coach - Lowest or Coach - Refundable.

Using your trick, which ones of these would I buy. Also, how long would I have to get the points in order to be able to upgrade. We don't have quite enough points, but could within a month.

Finkface

Look on the left side of that page under 'upgrade fare type'. Click on whichever way you'd like to upgrade. i.e. If you want to use miles, check 'mileage'; if you have Gold Guest Upgrade (GGU) certificates, check MVP Gold Guest; or if you are MVPGold and want the complimentary upgrade, check the MVP Gold box. It will then show you the price for the option you have chosen under a column called 'upgradable'.

There will also be a colored U next to the flight arrival time. Just make sure that U is not greyed out with a line through it. That means there is no upgrade (or U) space available at the moment. U inventory does change from time to time but if you want to lock in that upgrade now, U has be be available. And if U is showing available, it is available for upgrade no matter which method you use. The different color is just to show the different methods; pink U for mileage upgrade, gold U for Gold upgrade, and black U for GGU.

And make sure you are searching for 2 passengers as there must be at least 2 U seats available when using a companion code as both passengers must be upgraded at the same time regardless of the method used.

If you don't have the miles available to upgrade right now, still choose the 'mileage' upgrade box and book that fare class. Once you get the miles, you can upgrade at that time provided U space is available (do a dummy search looking for the U). If U is not available, you can not upgrade until (and if) they open up more U space.

Or you can book the lowest fare now and, when you have the miles available, call in an upfare to the required fare class and then use your miles to upgrade. You are taking the chance that prices will have gone up but on the flip side, if there is no U space, then you have saved some money by booking a lower class - but you will be sitting in coach. Personally, depending on the route, I would book the required fare right from the start (the 'mileage' upgradable fare) to lock in the price. It isn't much more when using a companion cert and you can always claim a low fare guarantee if it drops, and you are sure to get the fare bucket you will need to upgrade later.

Again, it depends on the route as some routes are easy to upgrade and there is always lots of U space (like out of BLI and maybe PDX. SEA, not so much).

ashill

And you might go ahead and book tickets for her and her companion now too to make sure the fare doesn't go up; since you're more than 60 days out, there's no change fee, so you can cancel the ticket and rebook if and when the credit card is approved.

(I don't know if the no change fee >60 days out means refundable or just a credit; if it's just a credit, this strategy will only be safe if you'd be able to use the ticket value within a year. I travel Alaska enough so that's never an issue, so I don't worry about refundable as cash vs airline credit.)

And because of this, I'd actually book the full price tickets first to be sure that your companion tickets (which are $99+tax no matter what) don't use up the availability in the cheap fare buckets. (I don't know how AS's revenue management works; there may not really be a risk of this, but no reason to take the chance.)

You have to have the miles in your account to do the upgrade when you do the upgrade, which can be anytime between booking and the flight date (as long as there's still upgrade availability when you call in to do the upgrade).

missydarlin

I dont know what the benefit is to this? If the price has gone up when she gets her companion certificate, she still pays the higher price regardless of whether she's bought a ticket now. The two full fare tickets are still nonrefundable. I would recommend against this plan.



I don't know that i'd bother with this, but I don't suppose it can hurt.

I would buy the tickets at the lowest available fare, and if upgrades become available once the miles are there, call in for the upfare and upgrade.

ashill

My point was if there's a chance she won't get the card approved and will have to buy an extra regular paid ticket, might as well do it now if she'd be able to use the fare paid for a different trip in case the price goes up between now and when she's sure that card won't be approved. The fact that it's nonrefundable (thanks for that confirmation) makes this plan less sensible for occasional travelers who don't know that they'd be able to use any value within a year anyway.

lovetotravel

Seeing that this has not been answered, yes she should call the reconsideration line to help expedite the process by answering any questions they may have. Otherwise it may take extra days for them to get back to her and they will generally not call you but may make contact by mail.

skimom

Thank you all so much for your help!

I understand the trick to get the upgradable tickets, but at this point, they are not available on some legs of our flights, so I'll probably just stick with the basic ticket at this point. I can check them to see if they become available and try to deal with it if and when it happens.

My new question about the above message that I quoted:

We have 9 tickets to book and 4 companion tickets, so we will be booking 4 times for 2 tickets using that companion tickets and 1 time just a ticket by itself.

Just to make sure I'm understanding, you're saying I should book the single ticket first to make sure that one of the companion tickets doesn't take up a "cheap" ticket, correct?

I'm assuming that I can book all 5 of the tickets that I have to pay for and then go attach the companion fares to 4 of them, right?

Again, thanks so much for all the help guiding me through this. You guys are saving us a bunch of money on our flights!

flyupfrnt

Edit: I think i more clearly understand your question upon review:

The folks are saying to purchase the seat for the 9th ( individual) traveler first so as to not get caught paying a considerably higher fare class after wiping out 8 from a lower bucket.

As you Purchase each "Pair" you will need to provide traveler names and pay for that Twosome.

There is no going back and attaching the Companion traveler later. Each purchase is a single independent transaction of 2 travelers.

Hope that add's a little clarity for you

Finkface

You have to book the tickets using the companion code. You don't book first and then go back and attach it, you use the code to make the booking.

So what you do is, sign into the Mileage Plan account of whomever has the companion code you want to use (so you will have to sign in to each person's account who is a code holder). Go to 'my account' and then to 'discount codes - valid'. You will see the companion code there. Click on 'shop now' and it will take you to the flight search page with the coupon code already populated and 2 passengers (number of pax travelling) already selected. Then just input your dates and cities and it will show you the cost with the companion discount already factored in. Easy peasey.

You can also copy and paste the code yourself into the 'discount code' box on the flight search page. Just remember the 'owner' of the code must either be one of the travellers on that particular booking or the one paying for the flights if s/he is not one of the travellers on the booking the code is being used for.