May 10, 2018, 11:53 pm
Last edit by: Tokyoite
from the first post.
https://www.alaskaair.com/content/tr...es/fee-changes
Same day confirmed changes will be effective for travel that takes place on or after June 5, 2018, not ticketed by June 5.
https://www.alaskaair.com/content/mi...charts/changes
Edit: There're changes with AS award chart too.
Effective for bookings on or after June 25, 2018, you’ll see some changes to award pricing on Alaska Airlines flights, including:
Same day confirmed changes will be effective for travel that takes place on or after June 5, 2018, not ticketed by June 5.
https://www.alaskaair.com/content/mi...charts/changes
Edit: There're changes with AS award chart too.
Effective for bookings on or after June 25, 2018, you’ll see some changes to award pricing on Alaska Airlines flights, including:
- Reduced lowest award level on short-distance First Class flights
- Reduced refundable award level pricing on First Class flights shorter than 1,400 miles within the contiguous US and Alaska, and on First Class flights shorter than 2,100 miles from the US to Mexico
- A new lowest award level of just 10,000 miles on Main Cabin flights from California to select destinations in Mexico (flights shorter than 1,400 miles)
- Hawaii awards starting as low as 15,000 miles one-way
SDC Fees Increase to $50, Free 60-Day Change Eliminated, and Award Changes (6/5/2018)
Jul 17, 2018, 2:03 am
#151
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How could it not be illegal? I redeemed my miles under certain conditions, and they say - oh - sorry - we decided to change those conditions now. Too bad. That's not acceptable.
Why would any consumer just accept this?
I wasn't notified that I was entitled to only one change. How would I know this, when it clearly says on https://www.alaskaair.com/content/tr...es/fee-changes that there's no fee for changes/cancellations for tickets issued prior to June 5?
At the bottom of the page, it has a link to their current change and cancellation fees for tickets purchased on or after June 5. My ticket wasn't purchased on or after June 5. It was changed, so that shouldn't apply to me. However, when you click on that, there's a link to view change and cancellation fees for tickets purchased or last exchanged prior to June 5. There's a lack of clarity on the website, and the agents don't tell you what you need to know. I don't look at the terms and conditions on the website for fun. Who has time for that?
When I was ticketed, there was an understanding that I would be able to make changes with no fees until 60 days before travel. I don't read the terms and conditions on their website for fun. There was no notification by email or from the agent when I made the first change. This is not right.
Why would any consumer just accept this?
I wasn't notified that I was entitled to only one change. How would I know this, when it clearly says on https://www.alaskaair.com/content/tr...es/fee-changes that there's no fee for changes/cancellations for tickets issued prior to June 5?
At the bottom of the page, it has a link to their current change and cancellation fees for tickets purchased on or after June 5. My ticket wasn't purchased on or after June 5. It was changed, so that shouldn't apply to me. However, when you click on that, there's a link to view change and cancellation fees for tickets purchased or last exchanged prior to June 5. There's a lack of clarity on the website, and the agents don't tell you what you need to know. I don't look at the terms and conditions on the website for fun. Who has time for that?
When I was ticketed, there was an understanding that I would be able to make changes with no fees until 60 days before travel. I don't read the terms and conditions on their website for fun. There was no notification by email or from the agent when I made the first change. This is not right.
You received a ticket before June 5 (that could be cancelled or changed with no fee, under the old rules) that you exchanged for one issued after June 5 (under different rules). You can dance around this all you want, but it’s not the same ticket. The number is actually different if you check the confirmation emails. Alaska does not issue the same ticket on a class of service change or date/time change; they issue a new ticket.
Good luck with your provincial attorney general.
Jul 17, 2018, 2:58 am
#152
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You received a ticket before June 5 (that could be cancelled or changed with no fee, under the old rules) that you exchanged for one issued after June 5 (under different rules). You can dance around this all you want, but it’s not the same ticket. The number is actually different if you check the confirmation emails. Alaska does not issue the same ticket on a class of service change or date/time change; they issue a new ticket.
Jul 17, 2018, 12:29 pm
#154
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Lots of people believe things that are flatly wrong, and misunderstand things all the time (I will happily point you at public opinion polling where people believe all kinds of dumb things that are factually incorrect). It doesn't mean that their incorrect belief is privileged to the point of slam dunk winning a court case, or that the "contract" an airline must honor should be based on their false beliefs and incorrect understandings. But if OP wants to pursue this in the court system or whatever, by all means, pursue away.
Given that the policy was explicitly changed to not be customer-friendly (it was a takeaway from customers), that seems pretty obvious.
Jul 17, 2018, 1:14 pm
#155
Join Date: Mar 2016
Location: LAX
Programs: AS MVPG, IHG Diamond Elite
Posts: 1,445
This thread is heading down the path toward nasty, so let's all try to keep it civil everyone. That said, the OP did (whether realizing it or not) make the one free change under the old rules. Could Alaska have been more proactive about notifying folks? Possibly, though those of us here knew about the change well before, and knew to be careful.
There is one caveat here that I can think of that might help the OP get a reversal/waiver of the change fee from AS after the first re-ticket to a higher fare class, and that is that the carrier is CX, which is not eligible for booking/changes on Alaska's site. Had that change on the site been possible, new fare rules would have showed up prior to confirming the change, which the OP would have clicked through and agreed to before purchasing the new fare. Unless the agent read and confirmed these rules (unlikely, though they probably should be getting training to do this for folks, particularly when the reservation is directly impacted by the policy change - a simple "just an FYI that this reservation will now be under our new change policy and be subject to $125 change fees" would suffice), the OP (or any average flyer not reading Alaska's policy pages, blog, tweets, these forums, etc) truly may not have been aware. It may be worth shooting Alaska an email or tweet to see if they'd waive the fee because of this.
Are they under obligation to do so? No. Did they violate a "contract" with the OP for requiring change fees? Not technically, since this is a newly issued ticket, though I'd argue this change was one of the least customer-friendly policies they've implemented. Would it be a good faith effort for Alaska to show that they're still "north of expected" of the other US carriers? Definitely, and in my experience they generally can and do make some policy exceptions when there are some extenuating circumstances.
There is one caveat here that I can think of that might help the OP get a reversal/waiver of the change fee from AS after the first re-ticket to a higher fare class, and that is that the carrier is CX, which is not eligible for booking/changes on Alaska's site. Had that change on the site been possible, new fare rules would have showed up prior to confirming the change, which the OP would have clicked through and agreed to before purchasing the new fare. Unless the agent read and confirmed these rules (unlikely, though they probably should be getting training to do this for folks, particularly when the reservation is directly impacted by the policy change - a simple "just an FYI that this reservation will now be under our new change policy and be subject to $125 change fees" would suffice), the OP (or any average flyer not reading Alaska's policy pages, blog, tweets, these forums, etc) truly may not have been aware. It may be worth shooting Alaska an email or tweet to see if they'd waive the fee because of this.
Are they under obligation to do so? No. Did they violate a "contract" with the OP for requiring change fees? Not technically, since this is a newly issued ticket, though I'd argue this change was one of the least customer-friendly policies they've implemented. Would it be a good faith effort for Alaska to show that they're still "north of expected" of the other US carriers? Definitely, and in my experience they generally can and do make some policy exceptions when there are some extenuating circumstances.
Jul 17, 2018, 4:56 pm
#156
Join Date: Mar 2011
Location: Vancouver
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Posts: 39
I did end up speaking to a supervisor and had the date of my flight changed with the fee waived.
The change still sucks. Yes, I do understand that I've been re-ticketed. No, I don't agree that the new ticket should be under the new rules. It's a technicality. My original points redemption was under the old rules, so the old rules should apply until 60 days before I fly.
The change still sucks. Yes, I do understand that I've been re-ticketed. No, I don't agree that the new ticket should be under the new rules. It's a technicality. My original points redemption was under the old rules, so the old rules should apply until 60 days before I fly.
Last edited by ryandk; Jul 17, 2018 at 5:21 pm
Jul 17, 2018, 5:27 pm
#157
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Dec 2006
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Do we think that the AS agent explained “sorry, we don’t have the ability to upgrade anyone on CX, but we can cancel and book new tickets”? Maybe. Or maybe they just did the steps that effectively accomplish what the OP asked for. The OP and the agent would know. In any case it seems the OP got from the supervisor what they were looking for.
Jul 17, 2018, 6:42 pm
#158
Join Date: Mar 2014
Posts: 546
You received a ticket before June 5 (that could be cancelled or changed with no fee, under the old rules) that you exchanged for one issued after June 5 (under different rules). You can dance around this all you want, but it’s not the same ticket. The number is actually different if you check the confirmation emails. Alaska does not issue the same ticket on a class of service change or date/time change; they issue a new ticket.
Jul 17, 2018, 7:38 pm
#159
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Location: BOS/ORH
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Jul 17, 2018, 8:00 pm
#160
Join Date: Mar 2014
Posts: 546
No, I'm not AS gold and the tickets I made changes to are for family members who are also not AS gold. It's not luck either. I made changes multiple times and spoke to a number of different agents. The last change I made to one of the tickets was on July 10.
Last edited by tth6133; Jul 17, 2018 at 8:05 pm
Jul 17, 2018, 8:49 pm
#161
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What you are saying is contradictory to what Alaska stated was changing and to what happened to the other poster. Unless AS has done some silent 180, it's being waived incorrectly by the agents or they missed updating the system used to book CX awards.
Jul 17, 2018, 8:57 pm
#162
Join Date: Mar 2014
Posts: 546
I don't believe that's the case. My initial change (post June 5) was on June 7, and I subsequently made a number of changes up until July 10. I only changed the AS segments (dates and routes) but not the CX segments.
Aug 16, 2018, 4:27 pm
#163
Join Date: Jan 2013
Programs: Hyatt Glb, MR Plat
Posts: 2,577
Apologies as I must be missing something, but the terms say travelers on the same PNR inherit the status of a gold traveler, including SDC, but is this not the case? Terms below:
"The same day confirmed change fee is waived for MVP® Gold Mileage Plan™ members and those traveling in the same reservation."
"The same day confirmed change fee is waived for MVP® Gold Mileage Plan™ members and those traveling in the same reservation."
Last edited by frudd38; Aug 16, 2018 at 7:37 pm
Aug 17, 2018, 12:37 am
#164
A FlyerTalk Posting Legend, Moderator, Information Desk, Ambassador, Alaska Airlines
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Apologies as I must be missing something, but the terms say travelers on the same PNR inherit the status of a gold traveler, including SDC, but is this not the case? Terms below:
"The same day confirmed change fee is waived for MVP® Gold Mileage Plan™ members and those traveling in the same reservation."
"The same day confirmed change fee is waived for MVP® Gold Mileage Plan™ members and those traveling in the same reservation."
Aug 17, 2018, 12:42 am
#165
Join Date: Jan 2013
Programs: Hyatt Glb, MR Plat
Posts: 2,577