2019 Alaska Airlines *FLAME-FREE* Q&A Thread: All Welcome, New and Old!
#466
Join Date: Mar 2016
Location: LAX
Programs: AS MVPG, IHG Diamond Elite
Posts: 1,445
I’m curious: what’s the policy on accommodating passengers who are late to arrive at the gate and miss their flight?
I recently was late to arrive at SEA (as in my Uber to the airport, not an incoming flight) and got to the gate just after the door closed. The gate agent found me a seat on the next flight to PHX and gave me a new boarding pass, and I didn’t have to pay anything. I’m MVP, and was flying a main cabin fare that got complimentary upgraded to first since I ended up #1 on the waitlist (didn’t get first on the new ticket). Is it normal to get rebooked for free when one is late to the airport? I assume if I’d purchased a saver fare I’d be out of luck.
I recently was late to arrive at SEA (as in my Uber to the airport, not an incoming flight) and got to the gate just after the door closed. The gate agent found me a seat on the next flight to PHX and gave me a new boarding pass, and I didn’t have to pay anything. I’m MVP, and was flying a main cabin fare that got complimentary upgraded to first since I ended up #1 on the waitlist (didn’t get first on the new ticket). Is it normal to get rebooked for free when one is late to the airport? I assume if I’d purchased a saver fare I’d be out of luck.
#467
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Oct 2014
Posts: 10,904
There's discussion about this in another thread, but people miss flights all the time for all sorts of reasons and they are generally put on the next flight without a fee (assuming that there is space).
Technically they don't have to do this, but realistically they do. I wouldn't expect anything any different with a saver fare. It would be almost impossible to operate an airline any other way -- you would have people who missed flights who are stranded far from home with literally no way to pay for a new ticket (I'm sure that a significant percentage of travelers simply don't have the available credit limit to pay a walk-up fare for their whole family, especially at the end of a vacation). A family of 5 stranded halfway across the country because the airline wanted to charge them an extra $3500 to get home after they missed their flight makes a great fluff media story, and is not great PR. This would happen on a daily basis.
If they suspect that you are abusing the system by intentionally missing flights, you might get a different result. So, don't make a habit of it.
Technically they don't have to do this, but realistically they do. I wouldn't expect anything any different with a saver fare. It would be almost impossible to operate an airline any other way -- you would have people who missed flights who are stranded far from home with literally no way to pay for a new ticket (I'm sure that a significant percentage of travelers simply don't have the available credit limit to pay a walk-up fare for their whole family, especially at the end of a vacation). A family of 5 stranded halfway across the country because the airline wanted to charge them an extra $3500 to get home after they missed their flight makes a great fluff media story, and is not great PR. This would happen on a daily basis.
If they suspect that you are abusing the system by intentionally missing flights, you might get a different result. So, don't make a habit of it.
#468
Join Date: Apr 2019
Location: New York, NY
Posts: 17
Is there any way to see how many Alaska miles I will get once this months statement closes on the Bank of America website? I can total it myself by looking at my transactions but just wondering if they provide the data outright, similar to the way Chase provides it for the Sapphire cards. Thanks
#469
Join Date: Feb 2004
Location: Just off the Main Line
Programs: AA Lifetime PLT 2MM, DL Lifetime GM 2MM, Bonvoy Lifetime Titanium Elite, HH Diamond, IHG Amb Diamond
Posts: 880
Under the current double miles promo to the CA cities, does anyone know if you connect through them to Seattle will the double points count for the leg from California to the east coast? I assume if you do stand-alone tickets it should be safe with no problem.
#470
Join Date: Mar 2017
Location: British Columbia
Programs: AS MVPG100K, Marriott Marriott Titanium Elite, Hilton Gold
Posts: 7,263
James in Capetown.
#471
Join Date: Oct 2007
Location: Vancouver Island
Posts: 318
AA business class award
Is there any trick to finding award space to Europe on AA in Business?
Just starting to look for availability but everything seems to some back in coach.
Was looking for YVR-MAD Nov to the end of the schedule.
Just starting to look for availability but everything seems to some back in coach.
Was looking for YVR-MAD Nov to the end of the schedule.
#472
Join Date: Jan 2017
Location: Denver
Programs: AS, AA, UA, Hilton, Marriott, Caesars DE
Posts: 2,070
This isn't exclusive to AS mileage awards.
MileSAAver / SAAver award reduction / scarcity discussion
Getting to EUR on AS/AA miles/metal is extremely hard in itself. You have a better chance with BA, but will have to put up with the surcharges. AA is pretty small in terms of flying to EUR on their own metal, usually leaving the flights up to JV BA or IB/AY. Also, heavily depends when you are looking to book, if summer you may as well play the lottery and try to win, winter or less flown routes (not through LHR) will warrant better results. Since you want to get to MAD, you can only find AA metal flights which limits you in a direct route, or if you want to connect it'll be through a OW hub, like LHR, but those routes are very premium heavy and are hardly released.
Last edited by safari ari; Apr 16, 2019 at 10:37 pm
#473
Join Date: Jan 2012
Programs: AY+ Plat, Marriott Plat, Hyatt Discoverist
Posts: 2,846
I would also look at other options besides AA (even if they cost more miles—it might be worth the extra points for more availability). For example, AY recently started LAX-HEL. You can connect YVR and LAX via AS relatively easily (although the return might be somewhat tricky given the timing). HEL-MAD might be hard since there's not that many nonstop flights on AY, but once you're in Europe, getting between cities is relatively inexpensive, even if you have to buy a separate ticket. If HEL-MAD is too expensive, you could find a destination in Northern Europe that AY serves frequently, set the award destination as that, and buy a separate ticket from that destination on IB (or some other airline).
In any event, again, flexibility and creativity are the keys.
#474
Join Date: Jul 2018
Posts: 187
Forgive my ignorance. I don’t fly Alaska regularly. I have an upcoming flight next week booked in economy class R. Short flight LAX-SJC. It was booked awhile ago, but now it looks like I will have to go to San Francisco on the day of this flight and it would be more convenient to fly into SFO than land in SJC and take transit into the city. What would be the change fee for changing the flight to one to SFO? And is it better to do a same-day change or a few days in advance? If it’s quite expensive then I’ll keep my SJC flight as it’s not that far between the two cities.
#475
Join Date: Aug 2018
Location: PDX
Programs: AS MVP Gold 100K
Posts: 2,329
Forgive my ignorance. I don’t fly Alaska regularly. I have an upcoming flight next week booked in economy class R. Short flight LAX-SJC. It was booked awhile ago, but now it looks like I will have to go to San Francisco on the day of this flight and it would be more convenient to fly into SFO than land in SJC and take transit into the city. What would be the change fee for changing the flight to one to SFO? And is it better to do a same-day change or a few days in advance? If it’s quite expensive then I’ll keep my SJC flight as it’s not that far between the two cities.
#477
Join Date: Aug 2018
Location: PDX
Programs: AS MVP Gold 100K
Posts: 2,329
To qualify for a same day confirmed change:
- You must be holding confirmed reservations and tickets for flights operated by Alaska Airlines.
- You must request the change prior to the departure of your original flight.
- You must keep the same origin, destination, thru, and connection cities. Co-terminal changes are not allowed.
- Your new desired flight must depart on the same calendar day as your originally scheduled flight.
#478
Join Date: Jul 2018
Posts: 187
Ah makes sense. I could possibly move it earlier in the day I suppose if I keep SJC as my destination? That might be helpful. Thanks!
#480
Join Date: Sep 2007
Location: SFO, SJC
Programs: AS MVP 75K
Posts: 286
On my last (outbound) trip, I flew enough miles to get to MVP status, but the system didn't reflect it till 3 weeks out. My return/inbound was 6 days after the outbound, and on my mileage activity, the miles earned from the return trip don't reflect any MVP bonuses. I called Customer Care and said MVP bonuses only get applied based on when the status is updated in the system; therefore no retroactive bonus applicable for the return. The flights were on CX.
Can someone confirm this should be the case? Thanks in advance.
Can someone confirm this should be the case? Thanks in advance.