tusphotog

No. I've had to pay close to $375 in "change fees" to Alaska because I (stupidly) paid for my GF to fly on the same PNR with me. I got fooled once by an agent on the phone when I called in to confirm, and I forgot a couple other times. So now, she only flies on my miles or we fly WN on my companion pass. Can't wait to have WN going to Hawaii.

Not sure what the cutoff is for AS, but I know they allow "free" changes for delayed flights. I even had AS put me on a different airline last summer when the Horizon mess was going on.

WN does have a very flexible policy on SDCs when there's delays. I've switched airports, routings etc. In my experience, the policy applies to all delayed flights too.

MiniC

Crap. First Amex stopped reimbursing the gift cards, now the book and later cancel is gone. At least I can still use it for cheap flights that I'll actually take... although it wouldn't surprise me to see this disappear as well

FlyingBear

True, that the big 3 policies aren't as generous. If that were the only factor, I would stick with Alaska. However, there's just been a list of things they are doing that encouraging me to switch to WN for personal travel, where I tend to book farther out and adjust, and business travel, where I have more non-stop options with UA. Admittedly, my comments reflect what would work best for me and I'm not the target audience, which is OK. But yeah, at the end of the day, it's the sum of the little things (fee changes, route changes, schedule changes that forced me to book another airline) rather than any single particular change. I apologize for not conveying that.

Regarding WN though, A-list does have some SDS capabilities. From the WN FAQ (https://www.southwest.com/html/gener...ers_faq.html):

For the short intra-CA flights, where I tend to use standby, this could work out just as well for those times I finish up from work early and just want to get home. It's not quite SDC, but would work. Being near OAK and realizing that my int'l travel will be limited for a while, it's probably time to take a good hard look at WN, as much as I hate to admit it.

Seattlenerd

I'm somewhat surprised this has barely been mentioned in this thread. As a lifetime Gold (Million Mile Flyer), the fee changes don't really effect me unless I'm traveling with someone without status. But the award level changes do affect me when I redeem.

While I don't use the word "devaluation" as often or as lightly as some others on FT, the redemption changes on some routes are true devaluations of the value of miles. Yes, there are some reductions in miles required for some First Class seats (if you can snag them) on flights shorter than 1,400 miles, and in some coach minimums and First Class maximums of the ranges for redemption to Mexico and Hawaii.

But there are significant increases at the maximum end of several redemption ranges, notably on US transcons and to Hawaii and Mexico.

Within the US, maximum one-way miles in coach balloon from 30,000 to 40,000 for 1,401-2,100 mile trips, and to 50,000 for 2,101+ mile trips. The Hawaii coach max jumps from 40,000 miles to 50,000 miles. The Mexico coach max jumps from 35,000 to 50,000 for 2,101+ mile trips.

The maximum end of the ranges tend to be where frequent fliers wind up if they don't book early, since the max end is not capacity controlled (if a seat is available, you can get it).

Happy

I know change has never been free on award booking but they can be canceled for free 60 days out.

Now with this policy change. it exempts revenue tickets booked before June 5th. It is not clear on award tickets from the news.

Does anyone know where to find the definite answers?

jinglish

Pardon? Paid and award tickets have the same fee rules regarding cancellation and changes. I've made plenty of award changes with no fee outside of the sixty-day window, and there's no indication that the fee waiver will be retained for awards.

eponymous_coward

tatterdema

Just something a little humorous...

I sent them an "Alaska Cares" email about these changes, just saying what I thought about the MVP status, that I thought it should retain at least the $25 SDC, and hopefully the 60 day change or cancel. I am sure it will not do any good, but it made me feel better. 10 minutes after I hit send, I got an email telling me I had been upgraded to F on my flight the next day, lol. Has me back, temporarily at least, loving AS. I will probably still try to make MVP again this year just to see what they do. The big change is when they start selling economy. If I am MVP, and cannot change to at least the Elite seats, then I definitely will not make an effort to retain it.

And just to make it clear, I am not suggesting I got the upgrade because I sent the email, it was a complete coincidence on a flight with no MVP's I guess, because there was only 1 person left on the upgrade list. I just thought it was pretty funny timing.

wwongo

Thanks for pointing this out. I somehow missed that transcon flights can now go up to 40,000 miles. I just booked several flights at the 30,000 level to bring my grad student daughter for Thanksgiving and Christmas from NY to Seattle. The cash fares are so high then that I like to use miles and its a plus that the highest award levels are instant upgrade fares for all elite levels. I guess I'll make sure that the times and dates I pick will work for her before the change in June. Next year I don't think I will want to pay 40,000 miles, so I'll have to look into other options.

Seattlenerd

Depending on where you're booking to/from, it could be as high as 50K miles each way in coach on a fully US itinerary. I'm similarly considering any transcon travel next spring and thinking through my options. Good luck!

Happy

I guess my question is not clear enough -

Does that mean tickets (award or revenue) booked before June 5th, still are fee-free to cancel / change, prior the 60 days window? In other words, we have ONE SHOT of free change/ cancellation made after June 5th, based on the 60 days window of the past if the award is booked before June 5th. Is this a correct interpretation?

eponymous_coward

CDKing

Tickets booked prior to 6/5 have no change fee, When you change/exchange tickets 6/5 or later the new fare rules become attached. So you get once change and then no more changed without the fee. So be sure when you reissue or cancel that you wont need to make any changes or just take the refund and book later

Happy

Thanks guys. Good to know we all interpret it the same way.
I have a Oct/Nov trip to Australia - outbound on CX with a stopover in HKG, inbound on QF with a stopover at LAX out of necessity due to it is Thanksgiving week - only award seats were on 11/22 on the VX metal returning to FLL. I am not certain we keep this trip. If I could optimize the schedules before 60 days out I may keep it. If not, may be just cancel it. The only loss would be the partner booking fee I gather.

Kremmen

That depends on what you book. On international award bookings, AA allows many types of changes for free. (The main one it charges for is change of main carrier from OW to non-OW or v.v.) UA has lots of partners and you can often get what you want at one time.

For international awards, AS charges an extra fee in the first place and additionally has more limited availability than other partners (on CX, etc) and terrible availability on some of its own routes. This makes it way more common with AS to need to book part of an award and then make changes to it later when connecting segments become available.