AS IRROPS crazy making
Mar 22, 2018, 4:59 pm
#16
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Join Date: Mar 2010
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This. I have a serious new appreciation for how good we have it. There's no place like home, there's no place like home. . . . .
Mar 22, 2018, 8:11 pm
#17
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Location: FAI
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1) I feel bad for the OP. However it is good for AS they ran the flight...there were *a lot* of cancellations yesterday due to the lower ceilings...I'm lucky I made it thru.
2) I heard the string of anouncements starting around noon for this flight. Started off they wanted all pax to meet at some area 3 outside security. I looked up the flight in flightstats and saw the a/c move departure cities. The AS/VX folks were making lots of last minute changes... I had a SFO-SAN change aircraft leading to an hour plus delay with other issues arising...no flight crew...no fuel...no effective communication.
2) I heard the string of anouncements starting around noon for this flight. Started off they wanted all pax to meet at some area 3 outside security. I looked up the flight in flightstats and saw the a/c move departure cities. The AS/VX folks were making lots of last minute changes... I had a SFO-SAN change aircraft leading to an hour plus delay with other issues arising...no flight crew...no fuel...no effective communication.
Mar 23, 2018, 9:52 am
#18
Join Date: Aug 2010
Location: MUC
Programs: LT Marriott Gold, Velocity Gold, Accor Gold
Posts: 335
Yesterday was a bad weather day with windy conditions at SFO which was the cause of many problems. Flights arriving were being held at their departure cities for an average of 1 hour 49 minutes and think this had a terrible affect with planes caught out of position. My husband was on the 8.30 pm to SAN. The plane they were originally scheduled to fly was substituted with another due to the aircraft being delayed out of LAX to DAL then late from DAL to SFO. However, they ended up with a plane but no crew. Instead of departing at 8.30 p.m. it was 11.47 p.m. before they departed. However, what was disappointing was the lack of information being provided by Alaska.
Mar 23, 2018, 10:48 am
#19
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Join Date: Jul 2002
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UA is adequate...usually. AA is a mess. WN was a mess, but has recently improved their in-app rebooking capability. AS seems to lag the pack, although I haven't been seriously burned yet.
Mar 23, 2018, 11:02 am
#20
Join Date: Apr 2010
Location: SEA
Programs: AS 100K, Hilton Diamond
Posts: 876
As a Delta convert, the IT/App side is the single biggest thing I miss. Their IT backends just worked, and you could do so much stuff from within the app. It feels modern and new. Alaska's feels like its stuck in 2010 still.
Mar 23, 2018, 12:07 pm
#22
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Location: Phoenix, AZ
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But then again, I've had to inform AS GA's at SEA that the AS flight is listing the wrong gate on the airport monitors (the GA's were wondering why so many people were asking her about the gate). AS is generally "west coast" friendly, but sometimes appears very amateurish.
Mar 23, 2018, 12:21 pm
#23
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Join Date: Mar 2010
Programs: DL PM, Bonvoy Gold
Posts: 8,414
Agreed. I want to like them. A lot of my flying is on the west coast, and they are the only alternative to UA for many west coast destinations--and I still like them better than UA and won't step foot onto a UA plane unless I have to, but this does give me pause.
Mar 23, 2018, 12:36 pm
#24
Join Date: May 2003
Location: SFO, mostly
Posts: 2,203
Over the past nine years, the vast majority of my AS flights have been on-time, so I have very little IRR OPS experience with them. That said, the few times they've had major disruptions (snow/ice in SEA, the QX meltdown last summer or QX cancellations at small stations like STS), it seem like they get overwhelmed very easily. Probably something they need to invest in a bit more now that they have more flights out of SFO and SFO is one of the most delay prone airports in the country.
Mar 23, 2018, 2:00 pm
#25
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it pays to remember in these cases, you can also request a refund, and go buy a walk up ticket on OAL. with the high frequency of flights between certain destinations these days on WN, DL, AS, and UA, sometimes this is the easiest solution and not always cost prohibitive.
Mar 23, 2018, 3:02 pm
#26
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I'm only 9 months or so into flying AS and this is my thought as well. I really want to root for them - I feel like they behave in some ways how airlines did 10-ish years ago (in a good way) - but man, their IT also feels pretty 10-ish years ago...
Mar 23, 2018, 3:29 pm
#27
Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: San Francisco, CA
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I was suppose to be on AS(VX) 1952 today and that was cancelled due to WX too. They rebooked me on 1950 for tomorrow (Saturday) and the only reason I found out it was cancelled was because of TripIt.
I quite agree that DL's IRROPS handling is best of all of the US carriers but I was still disappointed that AS/VX made no attempt to contact me.
I quite agree that DL's IRROPS handling is best of all of the US carriers but I was still disappointed that AS/VX made no attempt to contact me.
Mar 23, 2018, 5:13 pm
#28
Join Date: Mar 2014
Location: US West Coast
Programs: Alaska 100K, Hyatt Gl, Marriott Ti/LTP
Posts: 353
A bit of an exaggeration, to say the least. The first iPhone was released in 2007 and the first android phone in 2008. The whole app economy just isn't that old. People just weren't using their Palm Treos like that. The mobile boarding pass standard was only finalized in 2008.
If you want an example of an airline that's way far behind in the tech times, look no further than Virgin America, which didn't have any mobile app at all until 2016. I'm hoping that once the integration work is done, and the VX systems can be jettisoned, that the AS Software team can focus on catching up with stuff like this, as well as fixing the dang upgrade processor.
If you want an example of an airline that's way far behind in the tech times, look no further than Virgin America, which didn't have any mobile app at all until 2016. I'm hoping that once the integration work is done, and the VX systems can be jettisoned, that the AS Software team can focus on catching up with stuff like this, as well as fixing the dang upgrade processor.
Mar 23, 2018, 5:48 pm
#29
Original Poster
Join Date: Mar 2010
Programs: DL PM, Bonvoy Gold
Posts: 8,414
A bit of an exaggeration, to say the least. The first iPhone was released in 2007 and the first android phone in 2008. The whole app economy just isn't that old. People just weren't using their Palm Treos like that. The mobile boarding pass standard was only finalized in 2008.
If you want an example of an airline that's way far behind in the tech times, look no further than Virgin America, which didn't have any mobile app at all until 2016. I'm hoping that once the integration work is done, and the VX systems can be jettisoned, that the AS Software team can focus on catching up with stuff like this, as well as fixing the dang upgrade processor.
If you want an example of an airline that's way far behind in the tech times, look no further than Virgin America, which didn't have any mobile app at all until 2016. I'm hoping that once the integration work is done, and the VX systems can be jettisoned, that the AS Software team can focus on catching up with stuff like this, as well as fixing the dang upgrade processor.
I'm not talking only about the app. I am talking about the complete inability to manage IRROPS without calling in or going to the airport. The website (and the internet was in full force by 2005) does not offer any options. It does not even offer up to date and useful information.
Mar 23, 2018, 5:49 pm
#30
Join Date: Jul 2015
Location: SEA
Programs: Hilton/Marriott Gold, Accor Silver
Posts: 2,036
Schedule changes are the biggest IT pain point for me. I've had to call in and talk to an agent for stuff as simple as one segment's arrival and departure times shifting by a few minutes.