Why Does Anyone Fly Alaska? (Including Rants)
Aug 2, 2018, 7:20 pm
#31
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Nov 2013
Location: Los Angeles
Posts: 12,594
It's not bad from LA, either. I fly mostly to a few places up the coast (Bay Area, PDX) and a few cities on the east coast. I've been getting a lot of upgrades even as just an MVP.
Aug 2, 2018, 7:57 pm
#32
Join Date: May 2009
Location: Seattle, WA
Programs: DL Diamond 1.7MM, Starlux Insighter, Bonvoy Titanium, Hilton Gold, Hertz PC
Posts: 3,947
Pros and cons. When all else is equal, I book Delta over Alaska for better service every time. But there are occasional things that nudge me over to the eskimo: the MVPG cancellation policy, the more generous same day change rules, and the (at least for now) lack of basic economy nonsense.
OTOH, I can't book any of my work trips on AS, because their baggage allowance is much stingier than Delta's: my rolling tool case breaks into 3 bags, one of which is slightly over 50 lbs, and that would be crazy overage charges on AS while it's free as DL Diamond. So even when AS has a nonstop and DL has a connecting itinerary, I'm finding more and more that I end up on Delta for baggage reasons.
And international trips aren't really working out, either: AS keeps bleeding partners, and the ones they do have don't tend to grant any lounge access or onboard reciprocal privileges for elites - putting me at a huge disadvantage over picking one of the major international alliance carriers.
Dabbling with AS has been fun over the last few years, but it hasn't been rewarding: I don't see many upgrades (even when I was 75K), and when I am onboard the experience in F is decidedly mediocre (both food, beverage, and service). It's not that they're *bad*, it's that everyone else is getting better faster and they're sitting still. I'll be dropping down to a general member at the end of 2018 unless something crazy happens, and I don't think I'll be missing much...
OTOH, I can't book any of my work trips on AS, because their baggage allowance is much stingier than Delta's: my rolling tool case breaks into 3 bags, one of which is slightly over 50 lbs, and that would be crazy overage charges on AS while it's free as DL Diamond. So even when AS has a nonstop and DL has a connecting itinerary, I'm finding more and more that I end up on Delta for baggage reasons.
And international trips aren't really working out, either: AS keeps bleeding partners, and the ones they do have don't tend to grant any lounge access or onboard reciprocal privileges for elites - putting me at a huge disadvantage over picking one of the major international alliance carriers.
Dabbling with AS has been fun over the last few years, but it hasn't been rewarding: I don't see many upgrades (even when I was 75K), and when I am onboard the experience in F is decidedly mediocre (both food, beverage, and service). It's not that they're *bad*, it's that everyone else is getting better faster and they're sitting still. I'll be dropping down to a general member at the end of 2018 unless something crazy happens, and I don't think I'll be missing much...
Aug 2, 2018, 11:36 pm
#34
Suspended
Join Date: Mar 2014
Posts: 1,684
Alaska is fine. They’ve won the JD Power award for customer satisfaction something like 11 years in a row. There are areas for improvement, but FT is also a sounding board for complaining, so take some of that with a grain of salt. There is also a litany of VX flyers mad about the acquisition and subsequent gutting of their favorite airline.
Aug 2, 2018, 11:44 pm
#35
Join Date: Apr 2009
Location: YYF/YLW
Programs: AA, DL, AS, VA, WS Silver
Posts: 5,950
But I've had a few more not-great interactions recently with AS than I remember over the several years before. Not nearly enough to drive me away, but enough to make me at least think about other options. Except that living where I now do, AS is the only US carrier which serves an airport within 300 km, so not much choice!
Aug 3, 2018, 11:24 am
#36
Join Date: Feb 2017
Programs: AS MVP HHonors Gold DL MS
Posts: 48
I fly Alaska because ...
I have 3 AS BAC credit cards so 3 companion tickets to use each year
Currently - the easiest to reach status - although I suspect that will change
Why I'm flying Alaska less now -
AS doesn't fly enough places I want to visit
WAY TOO LONG of layovers in SEA to my home airport of PSC
Not enough flights between SEA & PSC - I hate getting home after midnight after flying all day
Getting rid of the free reservation change
Getting tired of having to fly West (SEA) to go east - everywhere else in the US
crummy mileage plan airline partners
I have 3 AS BAC credit cards so 3 companion tickets to use each year
Currently - the easiest to reach status - although I suspect that will change
Why I'm flying Alaska less now -
AS doesn't fly enough places I want to visit
WAY TOO LONG of layovers in SEA to my home airport of PSC
Not enough flights between SEA & PSC - I hate getting home after midnight after flying all day
Getting rid of the free reservation change
Getting tired of having to fly West (SEA) to go east - everywhere else in the US
crummy mileage plan airline partners
Aug 3, 2018, 11:53 am
#37
Join Date: Dec 2009
Location: MIA
Programs: AA EXP, Marriott Lifetime Plat
Posts: 493
It's an airline that has been completely in flux - losing DL as a partner, losing AA as a domestic partner, merging with VX, losing KL/AF as partners, a mileage deval, lowering award availability esp for F, lots of schedule changes, charging an inordinate amount for subpar transcon F, etc.
Still my preferred airline for now. Good mileage program, nicer people, nice to elites, decent aircraft.
Still my preferred airline for now. Good mileage program, nicer people, nice to elites, decent aircraft.
Aug 3, 2018, 2:03 pm
#38
Join Date: Apr 2009
Location: YYF/YLW
Programs: AA, DL, AS, VA, WS Silver
Posts: 5,950
I fly Alaska because ...
I have 3 AS BAC credit cards so 3 companion tickets to use each year
Currently - the easiest to reach status - although I suspect that will change
Why I'm flying Alaska less now -
WAY TOO LONG of layovers in SEA to my home airport of PSC
Not enough flights between SEA & PSC - I hate getting home after midnight after flying all day
Getting rid of the free reservation change
Getting tired of having to fly West (SEA) to go east - everywhere else in the US
I have 3 AS BAC credit cards so 3 companion tickets to use each year
Currently - the easiest to reach status - although I suspect that will change
Why I'm flying Alaska less now -
WAY TOO LONG of layovers in SEA to my home airport of PSC
Not enough flights between SEA & PSC - I hate getting home after midnight after flying all day
Getting rid of the free reservation change
Getting tired of having to fly West (SEA) to go east - everywhere else in the US
Aug 3, 2018, 4:06 pm
#39
Join Date: Dec 2009
Programs: Alaska MVPG, Hilton Diamond, Hertz Gold, Emerald Club Excutive
Posts: 83
I'm a big AS fan, but need to make one correction to this post, the WiFi is dreadful! Incredibly overpriced and slower than my old 14.4 baud modem (yes I'm aging myself). There has been ample talk and promotion of a much faster connectivity coming, but still no actual roll out date or price has EVER been mentioned.
Aug 4, 2018, 12:03 pm
#40
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jul 1999
Location: Ewa Beach, Hawaii
Posts: 10,908
I've been lurking here for a while now and just have to ask (and apologies if it has come up before). Why does anyone fly Alaska? Everything I see here is a litany of problems, complaints, poor experiences, and worries. Aside from normal air travel issues, crowded airports, delayed flights, etc., my experience with Alaska has been quite positive.
So sure, bad experiences happen on Alaska and as I mentioned, people are more inclined to post about bad experiences than average or good.
Aug 4, 2018, 1:42 pm
#41
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jul 1999
Location: Over the Bay Bridge, CA
Programs: Jumbo mas
Posts: 38,623
Aug 5, 2018, 10:48 am
#42
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Nov 2009
Location: SEA (the REAL Washington); occasionally in the other Washington (DCA area)
Programs: DL PM 1.57MM; AS MVPG 100K
Posts: 21,368
Newton’s First Law of the Online Forum: “For every self-proclaimed expert opinion there is at least one equal and opposite self-proclaimed expert opinion.”
Newton’s Second Law of the Online Forum: “A self-proclaimed expert opinion remains a self-proclaimed expert opinion regardless of how often it is re-posted; merely re-posting an opinion of any sort does not convert it to a fact.”
my ninth-grade geometry teacher was a stickler for correctness when doing proofs: it wasn’t so much that angles or segments were equal, it was that their measures were equal
on one test I put
1: m( / ABC) = m( / BCD) — symmetry
2: / ABC) = / BCD — equal angles are equal in measure
the test paper came back with a red line through Step 2 and a strong message: “If enough is good, more is not necessarily better!”
Aug 5, 2018, 11:10 am
#43
Join Date: May 2003
Location: SFO, mostly
Posts: 2,204
I flew UA in coach on a 739 yesterday and I’m pretty sure the experience on an AS 739 would have been better in most regards.
We had a single beverage service and a water service on a 4+ hr flight. Crew was fine but just going through the motions. Lagunitas beer was nice, however. My biggest complaint is that the powerports are hard to use in Y on UA (2 per every 3 seats and located by your legs). Powerport design on AS is better and Y legroom on AS also slightly better. And AS would offer two full drink services on a flight if that length. Same IFE and at least on UA the “private screening” was very laggy.
However for just standard Y service, DL looks pretty good these days.
We had a single beverage service and a water service on a 4+ hr flight. Crew was fine but just going through the motions. Lagunitas beer was nice, however. My biggest complaint is that the powerports are hard to use in Y on UA (2 per every 3 seats and located by your legs). Powerport design on AS is better and Y legroom on AS also slightly better. And AS would offer two full drink services on a flight if that length. Same IFE and at least on UA the “private screening” was very laggy.
However for just standard Y service, DL looks pretty good these days.
Aug 5, 2018, 11:16 am
#44
Join Date: Dec 2014
Location: Around
Programs: AS MVPG, SPG Gold
Posts: 43
I might just have really good luck with Alaska (MVPG for four years) - but my perception is they're (relatively) operationally excellent. Rarely delayed, and I've never had to worry about checked bag drama. Decent chance of upgrades, relatively easy to use upgrade codes, and loved redeeming Alaska miles on the cheap when I lived in Munich (it was cheap and easy to get to/from Philly on AA).
Aug 5, 2018, 11:46 am
#45
Moderator: Budget Travel forum & Credit Card Programs, FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Aug 2002
Location: YYJ/YVR and back on Van Isle ....... for now
Programs: UA lifetime MM / *A Gold
Posts: 14,428
I flew UA in coach on a 739 yesterday and I’m pretty sure the experience on an AS 739 would have been better in most regards.
We had a single beverage service and a water service on a 4+ hr flight. Crew was fine but just going through the motions. Lagunitas beer was nice, however. My biggest complaint is that the powerports are hard to use in Y on UA (2 per every 3 seats and located by your legs). Powerport design on AS is better and Y legroom on AS also slightly better. And AS would offer two full drink services on a flight if that length. Same IFE and at least on UA the “private screening” was very laggy.
However for just standard Y service, DL looks pretty good these days.
We had a single beverage service and a water service on a 4+ hr flight. Crew was fine but just going through the motions. Lagunitas beer was nice, however. My biggest complaint is that the powerports are hard to use in Y on UA (2 per every 3 seats and located by your legs). Powerport design on AS is better and Y legroom on AS also slightly better. And AS would offer two full drink services on a flight if that length. Same IFE and at least on UA the “private screening” was very laggy.
However for just standard Y service, DL looks pretty good these days.
Must have had a really subpar crew - I've never been on even a three hour flight where they didn't come through for second round of drinks. Most definitely agree on power outlets - many on UA forum complain about Apple power supply constantly falling from outlet. And I tend to favor Shiner Bock, a recent addition to UA line of beers
^