jrpallante

Was it previously AS policy to offer free changes without paying any fare difference? That would indeed be a great benefit, which they have now scrapped. I thought most airlines charged a change fee PLUS the fare difference.

Bretmd

Calculon

Flying for Fun

BUT AA charges more AAdvantage miles and doesn't allow any stopovers. I have booked complete itineraries on EK, CX and QF without any issues. CX has always matched what I found for availability elsewhere. This year I have flown EK J SFO-DXB/26 days/DXB-JNB 105K, CX J/F JNB-HKG//HKG-BOS 70K, redeemed my 50K MVPG75K bonus for a flight for my brother CX J YVR-HKG//HKG-DPS and have QF8 F booked for August.

I am in favour of eliminating the free change fees greater than 60 days out. In the 20+ years flying with AS (remember the MD80's?) I rarely book out more than 60 days and have never changed a reservation once booked. It will weed out those buying weekends worth of $69 transcons. They want Alaska to be loyal to them without any commitment/loyalty to Alaska. I have no problem with Mileage runs but don't speculatively book a bunch of seats you don't intend to use.

James

Kremmen

Sure. And so long as you just want to fly to/from a CX destination, that's fine. If you happen to need a connection, there may be no award space on AS.

I often book 11 months out and even that doesn't guarantee AS connections when/where you need them.

sggolf

For the 60 day free change, does this mean this benefit stops on or after 6/5 period? Or are tickets purchased before 6/5 grandfathered with a free change before 60 day window because that policy was in place at time of ticketing? Thanks.

be_rettSEA

Been discussed above and is detailed on Alaska news release. Tix purchased pre 6/5 will still allow free changes prior to 60 days out, however, once that change occurs, the ticket is re-issued with new fare rules and will block future changes.

Example: ticket purchased on 6/1 for travel in December. You could change it again in August per the current policies, however, once the ticket is changed/re-issued no further free changes will be permitted (unless MVPG or 75K change waiver).

eponymous_coward

In more than a decade of flying with AS (including time on MD-80s), I often book more than 60 days out and often change or cancel reservations once booked, and often do SDC. It has nothing to do with mileage running; it has to do with plans changing.

I'll be good for 2019 since I've taped out MVPG (this included buying GGU-eligible fares, so it's not like I spend ALL my time in G/T/R fares) but these changes plus AS cranking out their Xeroxed copy of DL Basic Economy means I'll spend the rest of 2018-2019 evaluating other options (with a bias towards WN on a lot of them- I'll miss SDC but in the end I simply don't find the carrot of an upgrade and some hummus worth chasing on short flights. I've already flown DL and spent some SkyPesos™†). I find the value proposition of having flexibility in my plans at reasonable fares to be very handy, even if I don't and won't fly enough to get Super Vibranium Über Elite with Diamond and Oak Cluster.

Loyalty is for chumps* when it comes to multibillion dollar corporations that owe their shareholders dividends and profit. In fact, chumps who will make poor economic decisions based on non-tangible values are exactly the kind of customers you want to make profits, and if you can wave shiny cards named after precious metals and stones and emotionally loaded terms like "loyalty" to get them to be chumps and hand over their wallets, so much the better. So I don't really care about loyalty. I expect Alaska Airlines to do what they think is in their best interest, and me to do what is in mine.

I want value for what I spend. I freely grant that a large multibillion dollar corporation might not find my custom valuable. I'm the best person to understand my needs and what I find value in. These changes make the program less valuable for me. In the end, I can actually use cash money to buy RDMs in AS (or other programs, even), so the "mile earned for a mile flown" factor isn't as important to me.

†I guess credit @gleff for that one.
*and @Herb687 for that one.

thefareguru

I was in the travel trade for about 30 years. Before DL came to SEA, pretending to look for an agreement, but secretly intending to wipe AS off the map, I saw DL pull a similar tactic on Austrian Airlines (I knew someone in OS' sales office), making nice scooping up all of their trade secrets, then waltzing away.

There was also an airline out of Alaska that decided to have a fare war with AS - Markair. AS drove them out of business, and there is one simple reason, and I have come to use it as an axiom: OTHER THINGS EQUAL, PEOPLE WILL BE LOYAL TO THEIR FREQUENT FLYER PLAN.

Northwest got hurt badly for exactly that reason by starting a fare war with AC on the LAX-YYZ route.
********
The punch line: I believe that AS was only acting defensively against a dishonorable competitor.

Happy

Are you saying AS changed its program to the worse, is an defensive act against DL? I dont get it. So AS stooped down to get close to DL's level as a defense against DL being a dishonorable competitor? Shouldn't it be the other way round to show customers that AS is far better an option for their $ because AS program is more customer friendly? If there is less and less differentials between AS and the US3, why should people continue to choose AS when DL flies out of SEA just fine?

AS already made a costly mistake buying VX at a very inflated price to ward off B6 getting bigger. Not only they paid it dearly they also had a lot of difficulties integrating the 2 airlines both the operations and the cultures. Now it is heading yet another wrong direction. They can at least take a page from AA which allows many free changes for everyone, no need to be elite at all. While we moan and groan on AA's scanty availability, when it is found, even on the day of travel, you can change your itinerary, for free. While AA costs more miles, AA miles are much easier to get than AS miles, cheaply even. The equation needs to be looked at on both sides. AS mow has eliminated the one big advantage it has over the other US airlines.

pcoll

Actually received a reply from Alaska Cares.
I submitted comments to them regarding the recent changes to the 60 day policy and increase of SDC fees. I indicated that the previous policy should remain intact for MVP and above members.
they replied that this was a decision they made to remain competitive with the industry.
Not sure if I buy that but, they did say our comments are passed on internally for further discussion. So , maybe , there could be a change down the road???? Not holding my breath. Also, not going to work at keeping MVP again next year.

Baze

You obviously were not a UA flyer during the UA/CO merger. Now THAT was a LOT of difficulties. This one has been a breeze for those of us that suffered that merger, which 6 years later is still a mess in my book.

Happy

I got thru the UA/CO merger. SHARE kept dropping segments, remember that?

AS and VX are much smaller airlines to integrate than UA and CO that swallowed it.

FijiBill

The 60 day cancel was a nice differentiator for AS that didn't cost the airline anything. Website reservations are automated. AS can easily resell any seat on any plane 60 days out. AS still holds on to your cash, earning interest on it, no matter what. What's not to like? SMH.

At the very least, keeping the 60 day cancel as-is would be a nice bone for lowly MVPs, who haven't had anything to celebrate lately.

WebTraveler

It's a backdoor way to increase fares, at least that's what they want it to be.

Personally, I liked the 60 day cancel period; it worked well and was a nice way to compete head to head with Southwest. It worked.

Now I dunno, it actually irks me. I am not sure how much it will affect me, but I do not think it's a good move.