CDKing

Tell your "friend" that AS IT reads FT. it cant be that hard to write a script to figure it out.

ryandc99

Does anyone know the granola bag they are serving in premium class right now? It's quite nice but didn't get a photo of the bag.

peterqstorm

williwaw , thanks for the input! I think going with AS and status hopping is always an option if I end up heading to a non-WC client after this project. But it is totally up in the air at this point. I am fine with upright first at this point--the likelihood I would get bumped up on other airlines out of JFK is exceedingly small as well.

tom911 , I have to go with economy seats. So I would guess a weekly round trip spend of $480-700 (depending on how late I buy tickets). Because I live in Queens (Long Island City), Iam definitely flying out of JFK instead of Newark--never going to touch Newark if possible. So I doubt I will go with AA at this point, but it's still on the table. But as rbAA mentions, the JFK-SFO route is extremely popular and would leave me near the bottom of the barrel.

Any thoughts on status matching AS over to other airlines if needed?

rosiss

Alaska has removed all of its late evening flights SEA-SMF and SMF-SEA as of mid February. Latest outbound is now 3:30PM and return 6:15PM, terrible for trying to get full business days in. Is there any way to persuade Alaska to reinstate later flights?

rustykettel

Can always do the letter writing to Customer Care and Alaska's corporate offices, but most effective way (and no guarantee of success at all) is for local business groups and the SMF airport to lobby AS and throw money at them.

ETA: didn't see it in mobile version, welcome to FlyerTalk rosiss!

shuttlerider

I'm booked on a LAX-SEA-YYC reward (W) ticket which I got for 7.5K. I can't go anymore but a member of my family could. When I cancel my res, does the seat go back to reward or paid inventory?
I had a look and most flights that day are going for 20K. I'd love if the seat showed up for 7.5K again but what are the chances of that?

Sky Dreamer

MVP newbie- a few questions

1) I have MVP status. I am booked in the exit row for a flight. My understanding is that they won't upgrade you from an exit row to put you in a premium class seat if one opens up (which I am good with as I prefer the exit row). How do I make sure that if I am in exit row, that I get added to the first class waitlist so I don't miss out?

2) My first time as MVP I was boarding in Group B for the first time at SEA, so they did pre-boarding, and then they called first class. I wasn't prepared...it was like a cattle call and suddenly 40 people rushed the gate and starting boarding. I know there were only like 12 seats in first class. One lady standing next to me commented that she hated when that happened and they weren't being strict on which boarding group was boarding. I'm thinking that all the MVP Golds and higher were trying to get a jump in a the gate before Boarding Group A was called. Is this a usual thing for Alaska flights for elites to board before their group is called? I should get Gold next year so I want to mentally prepare myself for this boarding strategy at the gate. Maybe this only happens at SEA? I never been MVP before so I never bothered observing how people boarding in Groups A & B but I was surprised about this rush.

3) Also for getting premium economy class seats, instead of waiting at 24 hours to check-in and be giving a PE seat when available- if my fare is a certain fare, I can go in 48 hours before as an MVP and select a Premium Class Seat free of charge myself- is that correct? I don't have to wait to be put on a waitlist at check-in?

Thanks!

Klems

Hi everyone, a bit of a newbie to Mileage Plan so apologies if this has been asked multiple times before and my search keywords are very basic so hard to find an answer.

1/I just realized I'm very close to MVP status (I understand it's not super valuable but still). I currently have 23k miles on partner airlines, so only 2k points short of 25k. But I also have 15k miles on Alaska metal.
This is a very basic question, but they do not combine at all activity taken across all airlines for MVP status qualification? Like if I'm at 19k on Alaska + 24k on partners I'm not getting anything, but if I'm at 25k on partners and 0 on Alaska I am?

2/They sent me an offer to buy MVP status for $799, but I've accumulated more miles since they sent that out. Will they revise the offer if I call in?

Thank you all so much in advance.

rustykettel

1) Correct. Must meet the threshold in any of the three categories (AS miles alone, AS+partners miles, or AS+partners segments) and getting close in one or two will not put you over. There's some data points if you're close (maybe a couple hundred miles), Customer Care may bump you up on request but may be limited to renewing or may be once in a lifetime (unpublished rule so different people have had different experiences).

2) If you click through, I believe you'll be presented with a drop down box to select the number of elite miles you wish to purchase. See more in this thread

AS offering to “sell” me Gold status

in most cases, the cost per mile is higher than simply flying the difference.

Klems

Thanks so much for the response @rustykettel. Bit disappointed for the first question, since it hardly sounds fair and even counter productive for Alaska - at this point I would chase flying on partner airlines rather than them.
And noted for 2/. I don't have the drop down, but this is way too expensive compared to flying (especially since I'm so close).
Thanks again!

Finkface

I think you are misunderstanding. The partner category is AS+Partners so it also includes your AS flown miles. So your 23k partner category miles also includes the 15k AS miles you’ve flown. Meaning you have flown 15k AS miles and 8k partner miles to make your 23k total. AS miles also count in the partner miles category.

So you can still choose to fly AS for your remaining 2k to get you to 25k to make MVP. It isn’t one or the other - partners only or AS only. It is 20k AS alone OR 25k AS + partners to make MVP.

Klems

Thank you for the precision. OK that's a lot better . I guess I got confused also because the mileage activity page on the website does not detail which parts of the various mileage bonuses (promos, etc) count towards elite status or not. But I figured it out, and all looks good.

Thanks again guys!

williwaw

It should show on your reservation that you are waitlisted. If you look online or on the app, check the passenger details and it will note what you are waitlisted for.

In SEA there are very elite heavy flights. Group B is MVP and the Premium Class passengers. So it is going to be a decent sized group. I had a flight once where a third of the plane was on the upgrade list so that meant a lot of Group A and B.

48 hours before departure you can move yourself to Premium Class. in all fares except Saver (X). In the app you can select the seat you want and it should show it costing $0.

tobikosan

And if you are MVPG75 you can do this how many hours before? I am wondering because I am MVPG on a flight with 11 1st class seats stil available, only 4 total Premium seats taken and wondering if those might all be MVPG75 ahead of me on 1st upgrade list.

rustykettel

75K can select PC at booking on any fare class, along with anyone else paying to sit in PC if not eligible for an immediate PC upgrade.

Also take a look at the elite section behind PC and ahead of the exit rows for an idea of potentially how many Golds (although MVPs are mixed in along with reservations ineligible for complimentary upgrades because there's more than two people) are in contention.