bdhaliwa

Is it me or does Alaska do much less volunteering and bumping as compared to Delta, American, and United? Last 2 weeks straight my outbound from San Jose has been delayed, leading to miss connect from Seattle to Anchorage. Upon checking in with gate agents, I have gotten a response of we can get you to Anchorage next day or day after!! Considering that Alaska has probably over 2k seats a day to ANC, I find that highly surprising that they can't accommodate a traveller like me who needs to get to a place more than what we can pay?

I did end up in ANC on same days past midnight, as standby from SEA, the whole process was highly disorganized.

As AS becomes more a network carrier in lower 48, maybe they need to act more like AA/DL?

missamo80

Just so I'm understanding, you want Alaska to get volunteers or bump someone so you personally can get where you are going when a delay happens instead of someone else?

If you keep missing a connection due to a SJC delay, why aren't you booking different flights with more buffer in Seattle?

Neil

haddon90

VDB/IDB is in oversell situations only.

if you were on AA/DL/UA, they won't ask for volunteers if the flight is full but pax are on standby because of a misconnect.

gemac

Airlines (all airlines) view flight delays and resultant misconnects as something beyond their control, therefore they should not penalize themselves to pay someone else to get off so you can get on. Weather, air traffic control, and mechanical issues all cause flight delays and misconnects.

Overbooking is something within the airlines' control. They do it intentionally to maximize revenue. Occasionally, it results in them having sold more tickets on a flight than they have seats, so they have no choice but to deny boarding to someone if they cannot induce a volunteer. This is, of course, not the situation you are describing.

Perhaps you could get the gate agent to announce on the PA that there is a passenger who really needs to get on this flight and is willing to pay a ticketed passenger X dollars to give up their seat (if it really is that important to you), but I suspect that isn't what you are wanting either.

Experienced travelers know that flight delays are part of the flying experience, and they expect to run into them, they plan to avoid them, and they have a plan B in case they do get delayed. It is frustrating when it happens, but I expect the occasional delay and try not to get upset by them.

notquiteaff

Or perhaps the OP could buy a last minute one-way full fare ticket on the desired flight if AS is willing to oversell. Then they get the situation they desired. Alas, at a significant cost to them.

PV_Premier

regardless of what your play is here, in the situation you describe (where you misconnect and end up on standby), a confirmed passenger isn't going to get bumped for you. VDB and IDB only happen when there are more confirmed passengers checked in and ready for departure than seats available. if you miss your connection and end up on SBY, you're reliant on a flight being booked less than 100% full. if you miss a connection due to MX or other AS-controlled circumstance, you can ask for rebooking on DL (or other carrier) to ANC.

3Cforme

Ding! (No reference to the Southwest service mark.)

How does Alaska order standby priority? Does it favor misconnects and higher elite status like AA?

channa

It's not unheard of for an airline to overbook a flight for a top tier when there are no reasonable viable options.

The OP is a 75K. Had he been on AA as EXP or UA as 1K, IRROPS desk may have had authorization to overbook a flight for him after he misconnected.

At a minimum, if AS had no flights for 2 days, they should have tried to get you on DL.

beckoa

If AS was sold out, there's a good chance DL was too.

SEA-ANC has been *very* full the past couple of weeks.

vgc

I feel like Alaska overbooks way less often than Delta at least. I almost exclusively fly Alaska and I have encountered an overbooking situation like twice. The past 3 out of 4 times I've flown Delta (and I only fly Delta like once a year) had them asking for volunteers. Which has been kinda nice as I've volunteered every time and used the voucher for the next flight, although they didn't need volunteers the last flight. Oh well, that was a good streak!

3Cforme

Yes, AS does less VDB than (mainline) DL, AA and UA. There are readily accessible data for this stuff, compiled and published by the DOT.

It's unlikely to fix the problem wherein you want AS to bump somebody to confirm you on a flight. It's tough to bring yourself down to the level of peasants, I know.

UAPremierExec

I believe I understand the OP's position:

some airlines will maintain an over-authorized amount of sales on a flight on day of departure - example 150 seats, they are going to sell it to 155 or 158 and pray/hope 5/8 no show; and some airlines allow supervisors/leads to OB (overbook) to help a customer, in this case the OP, which might work out well for the airline.

Alaska, as far as I know, reduces all selling authorization levels (AUs) to capacity on day of departure. I believe the Hawaii flights will even go to a lower AU level when the winds pick up, to prevent other airlines or last minute ticket sales.

For Alaska, it is easier to put you on STANDBY than to confirm you and hope/pray for a no-show. You are then on the standby list based on your status.

does that make sense? But no, I do not believe Alaska will change that practice. I know that Virgin America does the opposite, or did - they will keep selling over capacity up to 1 hour before flight.

haddon90

i don't think the OP is talking about an oversell. OP misconnects in SEA and since the next flight is full, OP wants them to bump someone so they can get a seat. i am fairy certain that SOP is the same across all airlines that in that case, they will not seek a VDB (in the off-chance a GS on UA needs to get on, i get it) . not sure if a 75K would. but that is a different discussion.

gemac

In my many years as an AA EXP, I never had IRROPS agree to kick another paying passenger who was ticketed on a flight off that flight to accommodate me on a misconnect. I was offered flights with available space or standby. YMMV.

BallardFlyer