Jan 4, 2017, 7:30 pm
Last edit by: Calchas
Welcome to the Alaska Airlines Flame-Free Q&A Thread for 2017!
Anyone is welcome to ask anything, even the most basic questions, in this thread without having to fear a snarky response. In this thread, there's no such thing as a dumb question--we were all new to Alaska Airlines, FlyerTalk, and even the whole idea of mileage programs once and needed some help navigating the ropes. We're here to help you do just that!
That said, if you want to do a little reading to see if your question has been previously discussed, links to some of the most common and extensive topics in this forum are listed in our FAQ thread -- click here to check it out.
Special care will be given in this thread to trying to provide answers in a clear manner with minimal use of acronyms and jargon.
If you need to contact someone for help, here's a current list of our forum's team:
Ambassadors (Our Greeters--members who have specifically volunteered to welcome and mentor newbies and monitor this thread):
ANC RED-EYE
baliktad
beckoa
golfingboy
Moderators (Our Janitors--members who have volunteered to do housekeeping/keep the forum in order)
ryandc99
jackal
You are welcome to send a private message to any of these individuals for assistance, but you'll generally get a faster response and broader palette of answers if you simply post your inquiry here in this thread.
Note to FlyerTalk members who enjoy the ability to take advantage of loopholes--if someone posts something that exposes information you'd rather not be public, please remember this is a Flame-Free thread, and harsh or snarky posts are not permitted. Although FlyerTalk itself does not censor posts that share information, members are free to edit their own posts to remove information. If you wish to request any poster to remove information they have shared publicly, please do so politely and respectfully.
Welcome, and we look forward to providing any assistance we can!
~the Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan forum team~
For the 2016 version of this thread, please click here
Anyone is welcome to ask anything, even the most basic questions, in this thread without having to fear a snarky response. In this thread, there's no such thing as a dumb question--we were all new to Alaska Airlines, FlyerTalk, and even the whole idea of mileage programs once and needed some help navigating the ropes. We're here to help you do just that!
That said, if you want to do a little reading to see if your question has been previously discussed, links to some of the most common and extensive topics in this forum are listed in our FAQ thread -- click here to check it out.
Special care will be given in this thread to trying to provide answers in a clear manner with minimal use of acronyms and jargon.
If you need to contact someone for help, here's a current list of our forum's team:
Ambassadors (Our Greeters--members who have specifically volunteered to welcome and mentor newbies and monitor this thread):
ANC RED-EYE
baliktad
beckoa
golfingboy
Moderators (Our Janitors--members who have volunteered to do housekeeping/keep the forum in order)
ryandc99
jackal
You are welcome to send a private message to any of these individuals for assistance, but you'll generally get a faster response and broader palette of answers if you simply post your inquiry here in this thread.
Note to FlyerTalk members who enjoy the ability to take advantage of loopholes--if someone posts something that exposes information you'd rather not be public, please remember this is a Flame-Free thread, and harsh or snarky posts are not permitted. Although FlyerTalk itself does not censor posts that share information, members are free to edit their own posts to remove information. If you wish to request any poster to remove information they have shared publicly, please do so politely and respectfully.
Welcome, and we look forward to providing any assistance we can!
~the Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan forum team~
For the 2016 version of this thread, please click here
2017 Alaska Airlines *FLAME-FREE* Q&A thread: all welcome, new and old!
Nov 14, 2017, 9:16 am
#1576
Join Date: Jul 2004
Location: Seattle, Wa
Programs: AS 75K & BR Member- HHonors Diamond - Hertz PC - Marriott Titanium - IHG Ambassador
Posts: 2,379
Thanks for the info Jinglish ^
I have another question:
On Nov 7, an AS rep confirmed that I'm due an award taxes refund of $15.86.
It's been nearly a week now -- I have neither received an email of the above confirmation nor have I seen the refund on my credit card.
When I modified my award booking months ago with $16.50 additional taxes owed, I was promptly charged and sent an additional invoice in a few days time.
Do award taxes refunds take longer than a week?
I have another question:
On Nov 7, an AS rep confirmed that I'm due an award taxes refund of $15.86.
It's been nearly a week now -- I have neither received an email of the above confirmation nor have I seen the refund on my credit card.
When I modified my award booking months ago with $16.50 additional taxes owed, I was promptly charged and sent an additional invoice in a few days time.
Do award taxes refunds take longer than a week?
Refunds can take 7-10 days in my experience and the email confirmation often parallels that timeframe
Nov 14, 2017, 5:39 pm
#1578
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Original Poster
Join Date: Dec 2007
Location: BOS/ORH
Programs: AS 75K
Posts: 18,323
No EQM from hotels. Its for flying activity.
You may have to call/email in after the points post for bonus, depending on how fast the points post, they may all post before the system is updated to show MVP
Nov 19, 2017, 8:02 pm
#1579
Join Date: Jun 2005
Location: 🇸🇬 🇭🇰 🇫🇷
Programs: Many
Posts: 4,749
Nov 20, 2017, 6:47 pm
#1580
Join Date: Jul 2005
Location: San Francisco, CA
Programs: Alaska MVPG 75K
Posts: 50
Is it possible to buy an Alaska metal codeshare via Aeromexico and upgrade the flight as I normally would an Alaska flight? Or does the Aeromexico ticket ruin any upgrade chances? Thanks in advance for your reply.
Nov 21, 2017, 8:39 am
#1581
A FlyerTalk Posting Legend
Join Date: Jul 2002
Location: MCI
Programs: AA Gold 1MM, AS MVP, UA Silver, WN A-List, Marriott LT Titanium, HH Diamond
Posts: 52,542
I have an Alaska flight next week, my first one crediting to my AS account as a non-elite. (I've flown AS before, always as an AA elite.)
Fortunately this flight qualifies me for MVP, but for this one flight I have a question about seat assignments. Logged into my account, there are no coach seats available for selection. There are 6 premium seats available. When I query the flight on AS just to look at the seatmap, there are also 3 elite-eligible (non premium) seats available. The flight is showing sold-out in F, but there are two F seats that haven't been assigned.
When I get to OLCI, what is likely to happen? Will I (a) get no seat assignment and go through security with a departure management card (or whatever AS calls it), (b) be allowed to pick one of the current elite seats, (c) be allowed to pick a premium seat if the elite seats are full, or (d) be shown an F upgrade offer?
I'd buy F at its usual rate ($100-ish.) I'm not that interested in PE at $59, but might be interested at around half that. It's an E175 so I'm not too stressed about it...just wondering how the system handles it.
Fortunately this flight qualifies me for MVP, but for this one flight I have a question about seat assignments. Logged into my account, there are no coach seats available for selection. There are 6 premium seats available. When I query the flight on AS just to look at the seatmap, there are also 3 elite-eligible (non premium) seats available. The flight is showing sold-out in F, but there are two F seats that haven't been assigned.
When I get to OLCI, what is likely to happen? Will I (a) get no seat assignment and go through security with a departure management card (or whatever AS calls it), (b) be allowed to pick one of the current elite seats, (c) be allowed to pick a premium seat if the elite seats are full, or (d) be shown an F upgrade offer?
I'd buy F at its usual rate ($100-ish.) I'm not that interested in PE at $59, but might be interested at around half that. It's an E175 so I'm not too stressed about it...just wondering how the system handles it.
Nov 21, 2017, 10:14 am
#1582
Join Date: Jul 2015
Location: SEA
Programs: Hilton/Marriott Gold, Accor Silver
Posts: 2,036
When I get to OLCI, what is likely to happen? Will I (a) get no seat assignment and go through security with a departure management card (or whatever AS calls it), (b) be allowed to pick one of the current elite seats, (c) be allowed to pick a premium seat if the elite seats are full, or (d) be shown an F upgrade offer?
Nov 21, 2017, 12:57 pm
#1583
A FlyerTalk Posting Legend
Join Date: Jul 2002
Location: MCI
Programs: AA Gold 1MM, AS MVP, UA Silver, WN A-List, Marriott LT Titanium, HH Diamond
Posts: 52,542
Nov 21, 2017, 5:00 pm
#1584
Join Date: Oct 2015
Location: Pacific Wonderland
Programs: ʙᴏɴᴠo̱ʏ Au, IHG Au, HH Dia, Nexus, Pilot FlyingJ Preferred
Posts: 5,336
If F is sold out, unlikely to see a F upgrade offer because that requires U>0 and I don't think U will do that with paid F buckets are zeroed out. Maybe if the two unassigned (or others) no show, and there's no one on the upgrade list, the GA may offer it at the gate either by announcement or request, or they may just let a seat go empty to get a flight out on time.
Nov 22, 2017, 5:03 pm
#1585
Join Date: Jul 2017
Location: California
Programs: AA EXP; Hyatt Globalist; Marriott Bonvoy Titanium Elite
Posts: 1,960
I know this is a bit of a specific question, and "it depends" probably applies, but what is the possibility of being able to purchase a non-status F upgrade on revenue flight on an early Sunday morning from ONT-SEA at T-24 (737-900). With MVP upgrades getting first claim, is it with the trouble to attempt to?
Last edited by seigex; Nov 22, 2017 at 5:20 pm
Nov 22, 2017, 5:44 pm
#1586
Join Date: Oct 2015
Location: Pacific Wonderland
Programs: ʙᴏɴᴠo̱ʏ Au, IHG Au, HH Dia, Nexus, Pilot FlyingJ Preferred
Posts: 5,336
I know this is a bit of a specific question, and "it depends" probably applies, but what is the possibility of being able to purchase a non-status F upgrade on revenue flight on an early Sunday morning from ONT-SEA at T-24 (737-900). With MVP upgrades getting first claim, is it with the trouble to attempt to?
If you don't have access to the fare buckets such as ExpertFlyer, you can do a dummy booking after T-48 and select an upgrade type (MVP, Gold, doesn't really matter) and if U>0, you'll see a white F in a blue box (blue F in white box means U=0).
Prior to T-48, you can guesstimate by looking at the seatmap on a dummy booking and see how many Preferred and PC seats are taken (but with selling PC to anyone, this is more inaccurate than before).
Nov 22, 2017, 6:41 pm
#1587
Join Date: Jul 2017
Location: California
Programs: AA EXP; Hyatt Globalist; Marriott Bonvoy Titanium Elite
Posts: 1,960
Not familiar with the specific route but the time and day plus a 16 seat F all are in your favor. In order for a paid F upgrade to be available, you'll need U available and if U is available all elites should clear at T-48 or earlier (baring a weirdo situation where U=1 and the wait list only has unsplit two person reservations).
If you don't have access to the fare buckets such as ExpertFlyer, you can do a dummy booking after T-48 and select an upgrade type (MVP, Gold, doesn't really matter) and if U>0, you'll see a white F in a blue box (blue F in white box means U=0).
Prior to T-48, you can guesstimate by looking at the seatmap on a dummy booking and see how many Preferred and PC seats are taken (but with selling PC to anyone, this is more inaccurate than before).
If you don't have access to the fare buckets such as ExpertFlyer, you can do a dummy booking after T-48 and select an upgrade type (MVP, Gold, doesn't really matter) and if U>0, you'll see a white F in a blue box (blue F in white box means U=0).
Prior to T-48, you can guesstimate by looking at the seatmap on a dummy booking and see how many Preferred and PC seats are taken (but with selling PC to anyone, this is more inaccurate than before).
Nov 22, 2017, 9:46 pm
#1588
Join Date: Mar 2017
Location: British Columbia
Programs: AS MVPG100K, Marriott Marriott Titanium Elite, Hilton Gold
Posts: 7,263
For a paid upgrade the fee is $50 for flights 0-1250 miles. ONT-SEA is 956.
James
Nov 23, 2017, 1:00 am
#1589
Join Date: Jul 2017
Location: California
Programs: AA EXP; Hyatt Globalist; Marriott Bonvoy Titanium Elite
Posts: 1,960
If things are looking in your favour make sure to check-in at T-23:59. If there is a paid upgrade available you want to be the first to check-in before someone else snags it. Keep in mind that your upgrade will be U class and your Mileage Plan earnings will be based on the fare class purchased, so a paid upgrade to First Class will not get the class of service bonus. Also if you are checking baggage, you cannot get a refund of any fees you might have paid. The upgrade is only good for the flight in question so will not apply to other flights you may have on the itinerary.
For a paid upgrade the fee is $50 for flights 0-1250 miles. ONT-SEA is 956.
James
For a paid upgrade the fee is $50 for flights 0-1250 miles. ONT-SEA is 956.
James
Nov 24, 2017, 4:13 pm
#1590
Join Date: Mar 2010
Location: Seattle, WA, USA
Programs: AS MVP Gold 75K, Marriott Lifetime Titanium
Posts: 1,595
I’m MVPG. Lately my reservations are showing the Premium Class seats at a price. Did they change the policy and are now charging us for the seats? I checked the website and it says they should be complimentary. What am I missing?
