BOB W

The total lack off communication of this change is total BS and just another example of the lack of communication of the ongoing downgrades in the AS system.

VegasGambler

I've been back and forth on this. I think I'm staying loyal until the miles get devalued and/or they move to revenue model. Then I'm probably done.

One thing I may consider doing this year is flying UA or AA in premium routes with "real" first class. I'd like to try F in the 3-class AA planes but $1400 for a 1-way transcon seems a little steep. UA does have somewhat decent F fares to OGG with the lie flats though... I will probably do that if I can find a good P fare. AS seems to be making their product worse while the big 3 are all upgrading, particularly on premium routes. I may do AS for the short hops and a real premium product on another airline for the routes where it's available.

ctporter

When I was talking to the staff at one of the AS lounges I was told that by far, most 75ks are NOT members of the AL, so the few of us that are members are the ones most hurt by this change.

wwongo

This change really mystifies me because I don't see what AS gains from it. I am one of the 75ks who does not have a membership. I have considered it since the end of priority pass but since the food offerings are poor, I don't see much value for my purposes. This change makes me less likely to buy a membership because I must use the passes myself anyway. The family members that I might give one too would never pay to get in, so all this seems to do is irritate 75ks. It just seems so customer unfriendly for no reason.

PaperGlider

the following is an educated guess.

Improving profit. This change can be explained by the organization seeking to maximize its short term profit (and some people's near term bonus/job). Increasing revenue is one way. Of course, the other way is to reduce expenses. It seems to me reducing expenses is the motivation behind this unfortunate change. Plus there could be "soft" reasons without quantification such as helping to un-crowd the lounge and, perhaps, having more of a certain type of traveler in the lounges.

This change reduces the expected expense of lounge pass redemptions. That means fewer expenses on beers, cheese cubes, and pancakes for every lounge pass not used. The source of the money to fund the lounge pass users expenses in the lounge is Alaska. In the short run, it does not reduce their revenue because they already sold the tickets by enticing people to fly. Those customers who have been given the expectation of getting the transferable lounge passes. In the short run, expenses go down.

In the long run, its to be determined whether total revenue suffers from this widespread cutting of expenses. Alaska will figure whether non-transferable passes works for them. The flying/paying customers will look out across the benefits of being loyal and we all will place some new, lesser value, on the non-transferable lounge passes (when compared to the value we placed on the transferable passes).

Single_Flyer

I think PaperGlider is probably correct in their assessment.

However, how much reduction in expenses will this bring?

Let's say there are 40,000 75k elites. I am completely just making that number up. Each of those 50,000 elites gets 4 passes (although for some reason I always get more than that (8 or 12 per year, do others also get more than 4?).

So there are 200,000 Lounge passes out there. Let's say 1/2 of those are used by 75K elites themselves. That number won't change (likely it will go up slightly).

Of the 100,000 that are left, let's say that 1/2 of those are used by passengers traveling with the elite member already. That number won't change (likely it will go up slightly).

Of the 50,000 that are left, let's say 10,000 of them expire each year. The other 40,000 are used by someone not traveling with an elite.

Some of those 40,000 will likely be used by either the 75K elite or by someone traveling with them under the rule change. So let's say that 1/2 of them (or 20,000) under the new rules expire at the end of the year.

Now, how much does the average Lounge visit actually cost Alaska? There is fixed costs that don't really change with an added passenger. Staffing, electricity, rent.

Really the only cost I would see for an individual is food and beverage. Let's say the guest has, on average, two drinks, a cookie, some snack mix, and salad. I would estimate that costs Alaska $5.

So for the 20,000 less Lounge passes used, Alaska saves $100,000 per year or $25,000 a quarter.

Does anyone think my calculation is way off?

In the third quarter of 2018, Alaska's net income was $217 million. The savings of this change would increase their net income by 0.01%. If they are nickel and dime-ing at that level, I am scared to see what other cost saving measures are on the way.

rustykettel

VegasGambler

Unfortunately that's not how it works.

Businesses are siloed. Everyone has a KPI to meet. That means, if you are a cost center you have a budget. If you are a profit center you have revenue goals. If you miss by 10%, no one says, oh, that's ok, 10% of your tiny budget is only 0.01% of the company's revenue. They say, hey, you aren't meeting your goals. That leads to a bad performance review, lower compensation (lower raises and/or bonuses), and, if it's a recurring issue, possibly termination. The goals come from above. Whether or not they help the company is irrelevant; they are just what your boss needs in order to meet his goals, which got handed to him by his boss. It doesn't have to make sense.

A long time ago I used to work for a very large company that you have heard of. At one point, early in my employment, they hired a new CFO and his first order of business was to slash costs left, right, and center. Most of it came from employee perks, which led to much internal complaining. His initiatives saved the company a lot of money, which was publicized internally. His end of year bonus ended up being about equal to the amount of money that his initiatives saved the company (compensation for executives of public companies is public, so it was not a secret). In other words, the company broke even, one rich guy got richer, and every other employee lost out. The amount of money trivial compared to the company's revenue.

Again: It doesn't have to make sense.

RaginPlainsman

I was able to use two gifted passes at the SEA D Lounge today with only the giver's name and the two pass code numbers. Must have gotten lucky in which desk agent in talked to.

PDXPremier

I wrote in about not being able to use a 75K pass at the PDX Lounge and received a reply that stated the no pass policy doesn't officially start until Jan. 1st, but some lounges have apparently been enforcing the policy early and therefore I got a $50 ecert for my trouble

PaperGlider

According to comments on million mile secrets article 12/16/18

Alaska Airlines Changing Elite Status Perks – Adds Restrictions to Airport Lounge Passes

, someone going by the name of AM writes "75K passes can be gifted, but must be initiated in person (by the 75K member) with a concierge in a Lounge or by emailing Alaska’s lounge admin. This is not an actual change in policy, just implementing the policy already in place, due to abuse of the system..."

its.all.about.the.miles

I saw the policy change on their website right when they released the X fares, which was on Black Friday 11/23. They snuck in a nice system-wide price increase to most R fares at the same time. Or, the traditionally low R fare price, was simply replaced by the new super-restrictive X fare. Huge bummer, since the biggest setbacks on the X fare aimed at Gold and Gold 75K folks.

dieselbear

@missydarlin -- I'm one of the 75K and Alaska Lounge members. Could you communicate to the AL managers that if someone is both it would be greatly appreciated if the guest passes could be used by friends and family even if they aren't traveling with the 75K / AL member? My AL membership includes my spouse. So practically speaking because we can both bring family and guests there isn't an opportunity for me to use the passes. So it's been a nice perk to give the guest codes to my parents when they leave after a visit. Disappointing if it goes away.

ctporter

I too am a 75k and an AL member, so what I would like when I want to give one of my passes away to others when I am NOT traveling with them is an easy way to gift them the access that still allows Alaska to know it is not a fraudulent use of my pass. This could be an email address (preferably) or phone number that I can reach out and say that on XX day I would like to give one (or more) of my 75k lounge pass codes to xxx so that Alaska knows I really did mean for that person to use one of my codes. When I gave a code to the woman that does my nails as a birthday gift last year she had to call me when she was in the lounge to assure the Lounge Attendants I really did give her my 75k code. (they then verified my name and MP number and granted her in) but it was just lucky that I was available by phone at the time she went to use the pass and was actually able to reach me. Hopefully, the email address would be in our mobile app, also for ease of use.

BW Flyer