If you don't have status, the only other disadvantage is that saver seats are completely non-changeable and non-refundable. Regular fares allow same day change (for a fee) and changes to another date or refunds (for a fee that may exceed the cost of the ticket, depending upon the fare).

I am firm on date and time - first flight out of SEA, so I can get to the east coast by mid-afternoon. This flight would qualify me for MVPG.

I just looked up this flight and for AS 628 on November 16 it's only $10 more to get a regular Main Cabin fare. It really doesn't seem worth $10 to have any risk at all of getting stuck in a middle seat for a flight of that length, plus foregoing the possibility of so much as getting into Premium on a flight of that length.

Following day - November 17.

Edit: it looks like the timestamp of my other post was November 9; however, I was in a different time zone. Apologies for the day/time confusion. Thanks for the help.

How does this work... I can ONLY buy a saver fare?

https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...f00f2cec5f.png

@bmvaughn is this just a OW? Or do you have an X already in this itinerary? I see other options.https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...871ee84a66.jpg

I have an upcoming saver itinerary. In the past, I have been always able to reserve seats for Saver at the time of booking, but it looks like they have reduced the number of rows available for pre-select in the 739 compared to my last trip (I used to be able to select rows 28-34, but now it looks like they have limited it to 30-34).

So, my question is, does Alaska “punish” you the way AA and BA do, auto-assigning a middle seat during OLCI when booking Saver even when aisles or windows are still available? Or will the system still assign you to your preferred seat preference (if available)? Or can I actually choose my seat during OLCI if there are still unallocated non-premium seats?

I found the issue... I was accidentally booking a RT with same-day return. System default filters-out any illegal connection for Main/FC, but apparently not for Saver. If you click through, it errors out, so that's good at least

I have my first saver bookings
So do the FA's know you are saver or can you play the pick a random open seat trick using GDS seat map data?

I am sort of loathe to use X fares. But my family of 4 is making a run to LA and the savings is 25% off and there are open seats available so I know we can sit with the kids. I am MVPG and spouse is MVP. But we are not really interested in upgrades away from kids. Is there really any benefit to Main aside from back of the bus? (Its a little over 2 hours so no big deal.) I will just check bags and board with MVPG and call it good I assume.

Sounds like you're mostly fine w/ the drawbacks of saver fares vs price in this instance. Only thing to keep in mind for saver fares you didn't mention: they are non-changeable, non-refundable even for MVPG pax. So if there's a chance your plans might change, I'd book the Main (realizing you'd have to pay $125 change fees for wife/kids). If you're pretty certain these flights will work, Saver is prob fine.

Thanks - appreciate the gut check. Its $630 for four Saver tickets versus $790 for Main. For a short hop it seems silly to pay for Main.

I have booked saver a lot with parties of more than one and not selected seats at booking. Only once were we assigned seats that were not together. I have small children so I am guessing that makes a difference but even on a trip with just my wife and I we were assigned exit row seats together at the gate. I flew saver recently by myself however and was assigned a middle in row 31 even though the plane was 1/3 empty and there were plenty of open windows. Luckily there was no one in 31F so I just sat there.

I am usually booking 5 tix, so buying up to main would add up quickly.

In my case, I was traveling by myself and was auto-assigned a middle prior to online check-in at T-24. Y was pretty full (139/152 booked per the GIDS), but there were still a couple empty aisle seats on the map, which could be because upgrades were processed after my seat was auto-assigned. I wouldn’t mind so much if they would actually let me pick my own seat during OLCI.

Edit to add that on my return trip, I was auto-assigned a window, which is what I wanted. And the middle next to me stayed open, which was even better.

Might have been noted up thread, but just noticed a main cabin fare actually priced for $5 less than saver fare. I thought that was odd. Is that common? Funny that someone might pay more to get less! Probably just a fare bucket distribution/ timing thing