dholt

As someone who has accumulated a number of miles with Alaska I feel this is a blatant form of deceptive advertising. Any class action attorneys in the house? Feel free to contact me.

Eujeanie

Maybe, maybe not. How are you SURE that at 24 hours, if they haven't sold the F seats at full price, they aren't preferring to sell them (or some of them) at a discount to non-elites rather than upgrade elites for free? If it shows no U space available, you really don't know what they are doing. It happens enough to him that it can't be just luck.

CDKing

Sue over what? Nowhere does AS guarantee upgrade space.

dholt

I disagree. The program sells the use of miles for upgrades as an option. What they are doing is called "bait and switch". There are literally zero opportunities to purchase what they claim to be selling. In my case I accumulated miles through my business card, only to find out that what they were selling never really ever existed. Very illegal in the eyes of the FTC. I'm more than happy to be a lead plaintiff if an attorney out there wants to have a go at holding this airline accountable.

rustykettel

sjbsf

I can't find any U class on any flight SFO to PVR during low season (before Thanksgiving) or any time during January and February. Guest upgrades are pretty much worthless. Before the merger, Alaska had a nonstop flight and U was pretty easy. Now this route uses only Virgin aircraft with 8 F and sadly, U seems to be a thing of the past.

macfadsj

I just called Alaska Airlines Customer Care at 800-401-6012 and told them that as a result of the near complete evaporation of "U" or "Dark Blue F" seats where I can use my GGU's out of Anchorage, my wife and I (both of whom are million milers) and many of our MVP Gold friends are simply not booking trips rather than take our chances of traveling in coach. I noted that on a few days a month, when one finds Dark Blue F seats, they tend to be on late afternoon flights that do not connect to anything out of Seattle, and that the chances of finding a corresponding Dark Blue F seat the next day are remote at best. In the rare case when one might get extremely lucky and find upgradeable seats for the outbound flights, the chances of finding seats for an acceptable return date are virtually nil. Customer care listened carefully listened carefully and 10 minutes later sent me an email indicating that my concerns had been passed on to "Corporate Management"

Again, the number is 800-401-6021.

eponymous_coward

(emphasis added)

I have literally found that to be a false statement within 2 minutes of searching on alaskaair.com. I kept the receipts.



Might want to establish facts like "literally zero" before threatening lawsuits. Because it's a non-zero number. Eight of those nonstop SEA-Bay Area flights on that particular day are eligible for mileage upgrades.

Well, at some point those planes will be 12F, but yeah, I suspect this is part of the problem; if you're getting a bunch of 8F planes on routes instead of the 16/12F planes you had, whoosh, there goes a lot of U space.

be_rettSEA

Pretty sure any and all mention of upgrades / use of miles for them includes a caveat pretty clearly in the fine print that upgrades are subject to U class availability and may not be available on all flights (screenshot below from the page describing First Class upgrades). I'm not an attorney, but if I was, I'd have some serious doubts in taking on a case that's this cut and dry.



While I'd love to always get a complimentary upgrade from my AS status or burn some miles to sit up front on every flight I booked in economy, I understand that it isn't always the case, and if I want to ensure I'm flying First, I buy a First Class ticket or ensure an upgrade is available at time of purchase. If you have a good chunk of miles and want to ensure you're flying First, you could always use them to book an Award in First.

Eujeanie

I think we picked a great year to not renew our multi-year Gold - heck, we barely squeaked by with MVP. Next year after we take all our flights (already booked) using the last of our GGUs, it's going to be "who has the best price/miles at the best times", and if it's AS, then "what's the minimum miles we can use".

Robert

AS RM is playing games with me. I'm trying to use a GGU on an upcoming DCA-SEA segment. AS 1 on the date I'm flying is F6 U0, but the evening flight (AS 3) is F7 U5. On 10/8 AS 3 is F3 U3, and on the following day the same flight is F5 U2. If the RM Gods are reading, please open up U space on AS 1 on 10/6 so that I can burn a GGU. Otherwise, I'm likely to get the complimentary upgrade as a 75K on a high fare.

dayone

It's not at all uncommon for different flights on the same route on the same day to have different U availability, independent of the F availability. Think red-eyes and 6:00 am departures vs. afternoon and early evening flights.

jrl767

pushmyredbutton

AS U availability is much better the UA R availability...so I wouldn't be complaining too much. I frequently see U open on transcon routes on off-peak times. The fare-class restrictions hurt, though

wkochantx

I had an AS res agent look for any upgradable seats in July 2019 - 9+ months. the agent could not find a single one on ANY flight. Given that this was a major motivation to get MVP Gold, I am done with AS. I wrote to customer service and am awaiting a reply. Totally worthless. I suggest we all call res and have them go through the same exercise - having their agents waste time rather us that have thought had something of value.