Free award changes/cancellation

Old May 1, 2019, 11:21 pm
  #1  
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Free award changes/cancellation

Hi there! Alaska MVP Gold, coming from Delta, still learning.

As MVP Gold there are no fees for award tickets changes, cancellation. What makes a ticket changable/refundable at no charge:
- I must be a passenger
or
- the miles used from my account
?

With Delta the status of a passenger doesn't matter. If I use my miles (I'm Diamond) for non status passenger the ticket could be changed or refunded at no charge. If a no status member use his/her miles and issue a ticket for me, then there would be standard change/redeposit fees. Is it the same with Alaska?
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Old May 2, 2019, 12:19 am
  #2  
 
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Originally Posted by urww
Hi there! Alaska MVP Gold, coming from Delta, still learning.

As MVP Gold there are no fees for award tickets changes, cancellation. What makes a ticket changable/refundable at no charge:
- I must be a passenger
or
- the miles used from my account
?
The answer is both, if you are the passenger or the miles are from your account, you are privy to free changes/refunds, the only caveat is you do not get the partner award fee refunded ($12.5 if I am not mistaken at this hour). There is an edge case where the miles are from a non-elite account and the ticket is for you, someone else may be able to give a definitive answer, but I want to say you get the same benefit as the elite.
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Old May 2, 2019, 12:22 am
  #3  
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Originally Posted by safari ari
The answer is both, if you are the passenger or the miles are from your account, you are privy to free changes/refunds, the only caveat is you do not get the partner award fee refunded ($12.5 if I am not mistaken at this hour)
safari ari, thanks! Just to make sure. If I use my partner's miles (who has no status) for an award ticket for myself, I then would be able to cancel a ticket and redeposit miles free of charge.
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Old May 2, 2019, 12:26 am
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Originally Posted by urww
safari ari, thanks! Just to make sure. If I use my partner's miles (who has no status) for an award ticket for myself, I then would be able to cancel a ticket and redeposit miles free of charge.
Looks like I was mistaken, on the second part. Please reference this thread with the use case of non-elite miles for elite member. You may be able to get some sympathy from an agent, but it is not standard practice it seems. (Note: the 60 day change policy has since been abolished and is not relevant)

MVP Gold - Waiver for Award Cancel/Change Fee
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Old May 2, 2019, 6:41 pm
  #5  
 
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Originally Posted by urww
safari ari, thanks! Just to make sure. If I use my partner's miles (who has no status) for an award ticket for myself, I then would be able to cancel a ticket and redeposit miles free of charge.
Be careful to use miles for people other than the account holder. Alaska revenue protection might cancel the tickets and lock the account.
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Old May 3, 2019, 2:31 pm
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Originally Posted by alfrie
Be careful to use miles for people other than the account holder. Alaska revenue protection might cancel the tickets and lock the account.
If you're using the miles for a family member, especially one with the same last name and who has an account, this really shouldn't be a problem.
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Old May 9, 2019, 11:54 am
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Originally Posted by alfrie
Be careful to use miles for people other than the account holder. Alaska revenue protection might cancel the tickets and lock the account.
I see this as excessive concern. I give miles tickets several times/year to family/friends, who may (or not) have the same surname. Never a problem - and as MVPG I can cancel/change those tickets as needed. A nice benefit!
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Old May 9, 2019, 12:01 pm
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My wife and I have run into this issue. I am gold and she wasn't (is now). We called in and booked an award ticket (same PNR) and pulled the miles from both accounts (technically the agent said my miles were for her and hers were pulled from mine). We had to pay a change fee for her when we changed.

Have not run into the issue when we booked separate unaffiliated tickets each other.
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Old May 9, 2019, 2:29 pm
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Originally Posted by akdancer
I see this as excessive concern. I give miles tickets several times/year to family/friends, who may (or not) have the same surname. Never a problem - and as MVPG I can cancel/change those tickets as needed. A nice benefit!
Yeah, I mean I guess anyone could potentially get tagged for this, but I think AS probably has some criteria when they're looking for people who are violating the terms by selling .

I often help friends or family out by gifting them a flight on miles because I so rarely use miles on myself since I'm I'm always chasing EQM
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Old May 17, 2019, 6:45 pm
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For non award tickets (cash revenue tickets), if the companion is not MVPG or 75k, they are responsible to pay cancellation fee/change fee even if they are book along with MVGP or 75k on the same reservation?
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Old May 17, 2019, 6:51 pm
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Originally Posted by alaskaforlife
For non award tickets (cash revenue tickets), if the companion is not MVPG or 75k, they are responsible to pay cancellation fee/change fee even if they are book along with MVGP or 75k on the same reservation?
Yes. The fee waiver on revenue tickets only applies to the Gold/75K even if on the same PNR or even if using a companion cert. In practice, there are reports that the fee has been waived on occasion but it is definitely a YMMV situation. It is the exception rather than the rule so be prepared to pay it for the non-elite passenger.
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Old May 17, 2019, 7:34 pm
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Originally Posted by Finkface
Yes. The fee waiver on revenue tickets only applies to the Gold/75K even if on the same PNR or even if using a companion cert. In practice, there are reports that the fee has been waived on occasion but it is definitely a YMMV situation. It is the exception rather than the rule so be prepared to pay it for the non-elite passenger.
Does any airline also waive it for the companion?
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Old May 17, 2019, 11:17 pm
  #13  
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Originally Posted by alaskaforlife
Does any airline also waive it for the companion?
For revenue tickets, other airlines don't even waive it for the elites themselves.
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