Alaska Stingy About Waiving Cancellation/Change Fees
Feb 2, 2019, 3:55 am
#46
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: SEA, but up and down the coast a lot
Programs: Oceanic Airlines Gold Elite
Posts: 20,392
it's very unfortunate that the 60-day before departure cancellation policy is no longer in place 😢
I don't like to pay the cancellation fee out of pocket because I accumulate them MILES for free from churning amd manufactured spending. I think I'm gonna a few thousand miles or convert them somehow to cash (gift cards) to compensate for the cancellation fee.
Feb 2, 2019, 6:43 am
#47
Join Date: Aug 2012
Posts: 6,752
With gaining popularity of L3 reporting, issuers can stop MS, or curtail it significantly, if they were truly motivated to so. While I'm not a big fan of MS, I place the blame on whose enabling this behavior, rather than the individual arbitrager profiting from the opportunity.
Feb 2, 2019, 9:11 am
#48
Join Date: Jul 2012
Programs: Delta Gold, Alaska Gold 75K, LATAM Black
Posts: 3,393
I don’t ever really expect a waiver, but I’ve been 75K for a few years now. last year my mom was dying and I called Alaska to change my revenue LAX BOS to LAX PHL to get home sooner, but they wanted to charge the fare difference which was like $1000 for my $149 LAX BOS flight. I was rather disappointed in them, I ended up booking an award ticket on another airline.
But they did help me after being robbed in Mexico City, I lost my phone and wallet and had only an hour before my flight. I used a phone to call Alaska to change my flight to a day later so I could find my belongings, but I made it clear to her that I had no access to my wallet and had no way to pay for the change- I was on hold for about 20 minutes and she came back on the line and told me she put me on the next days flight. This was a revenue F ticket, and I’m 75K, but it was nice of them.
But they did help me after being robbed in Mexico City, I lost my phone and wallet and had only an hour before my flight. I used a phone to call Alaska to change my flight to a day later so I could find my belongings, but I made it clear to her that I had no access to my wallet and had no way to pay for the change- I was on hold for about 20 minutes and she came back on the line and told me she put me on the next days flight. This was a revenue F ticket, and I’m 75K, but it was nice of them.
Feb 2, 2019, 11:02 am
#49
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Original Poster
Join Date: Oct 2009
Location: Kan@da
Programs: Anything with sweet spots
Posts: 1,790
With gaining popularity of L3 reporting, issuers can stop MS, or curtail it significantly, if they were truly motivated to so. While I'm not a big fan of MS, I place the blame on whose enabling this behavior, rather than the individual arbitrager profiting from the opportunity.
Feb 3, 2019, 5:31 am
#50
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: SEA, but up and down the coast a lot
Programs: Oceanic Airlines Gold Elite
Posts: 20,392
Feb 3, 2019, 6:58 pm
#52
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Original Poster
Join Date: Oct 2009
Location: Kan@da
Programs: Anything with sweet spots
Posts: 1,790
status, so the limit doesn't apply to me.
I also have a Alaska credit card, Alaska Air makes money by selling the miles to the credit card institution.
Feb 3, 2019, 10:53 pm
#53
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: SEA, but up and down the coast a lot
Programs: Oceanic Airlines Gold Elite
Posts: 20,392
I’m sure your valued custom for flying other airlines in J/F at pennies on the dollar (and complaining nobody is bending rules for you for waiving change fees) is duly noted.
Meanwhile, us suckers who just buy plane tickets will just have to keep plodding along, unable to achieve your genius.
Feb 4, 2019, 1:30 pm
#54
Join Date: Sep 2008
Programs: A3 *G, AA exePlat, AS MVP 75k Gold, JL sapphire, UA silver
Posts: 4,035
(i actually dont mind to have limit even as a 75k members as I earn my miles via flying)
Feb 4, 2019, 4:20 pm
#55
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Aug 2002
Location: Bay Area, CA
Programs: UA Plat 2MM; AS MVP Gold 75K
Posts: 35,068
Of course you have a gifted MVP account. And of course you MS AS miles.
I’m sure your valued custom for flying other airlines in J/F at pennies on the dollar (and complaining nobody is bending rules for you for waiving change fees) is duly noted.
Meanwhile, us suckers who just buy plane tickets will just have to keep plodding along, unable to achieve your genius.
I’m sure your valued custom for flying other airlines in J/F at pennies on the dollar (and complaining nobody is bending rules for you for waiving change fees) is duly noted.
Meanwhile, us suckers who just buy plane tickets will just have to keep plodding along, unable to achieve your genius.
There could be some sort of customer value metric put on each customer based on their buying habits and allow waivers accordingly. If the poster never set foot on an AS plane, the rep might take that into consideration.
Feb 4, 2019, 4:23 pm
#56
Join Date: Nov 2017
Programs: AS 100K, HH Diamond, SPG/Marriott Gold
Posts: 189
I would not be surprised at all. It seems my experience of consistently having change fees waived even before I had status is atypical, though thinking back, at the time I was admin of an EasyBiz account putting a lot of spend through AS. Would not be dissimilar to AA's Eagle-rating system.
Feb 4, 2019, 4:26 pm
#57
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Oct 2014
Posts: 10,904
I would not be surprised at all. It seems my experience of consistently having change fees waived even before I had status is atypical, though thinking back, at the time I was admin of an EasyBiz account putting a lot of spend through AS. Would not be dissimilar to AA's Eagle-rating system.
MSing and flying on the resulting miles is fine, but believing that that makes you a valued customer, and that the airline will give you any more than their stated policies is... strange, to say the least.
Feb 4, 2019, 4:46 pm
#58
Join Date: Dec 2018
Location: Seattle
Programs: Alaska airlines 100k
Posts: 923
I only wish they had another level above 75k. Perhaps 100K????
Feb 4, 2019, 4:55 pm
#59
Join Date: Jul 2015
Location: SEA
Programs: Hilton/Marriott Gold, Accor Silver
Posts: 2,036
Status doesn't come close to telling the whole story. The 75K who only buys coach tickets (or travels mainly on partner airlines) and sneaks through to requalification through transcon mileage runs on R fares is going to show up differently in internal metrics than the one who's booking F at the last minute.
Feb 4, 2019, 6:53 pm
#60
Join Date: Sep 2009
Location: Seattle
Programs: AS MM, MVPGold100k, Hilton Diamond, Hertz Presidents Circle
Posts: 1,475
Or, what about the 75k that only buys coach on AS flights (including many Q400s) No partner miles, and the coach fare are typically purchased 3-8 days out. I only have about 10 trips a year that are purchased more than 8 days out.