milypan

CSquared

Thanks for all your insights, thoughts and suggestions... this has been helpful to read and will help me figure out what to do. As for the California airport I'm based closest too - I only saw it mentioned once - SMF. Being that I'm close to the airport, getting to/from/into/out of SMF is very easy. That being said, when I tend to fly short hops, it's usually WN. And since most transcon or international flights connect somewhere and are often priced significantly higher than other CA airports, I'm more apt to shop around. To keep status with AS, I'll often times make my way to a Bay Area airport or LAX (with planning, I can get a cheap flight to LAX on WN) that has more flight options, cheaper prices, availability. BA allows me to hop a flight to Hawaii on AS metal, leveraging status for a competitive price; and LAX and SFO give me more direct options such as BA to Europe.

The real rub, and what caused me to post and get me thinking again about the status are some excellent fairs to Europe on non-AS partners like Delta or Virgin as low as $400 rt. To keep true to the AS plan, options to fly a partner, you end up paying a premium for just 50% miles. And I've just been asking myself, psychologically am I hanging on to the MVP program at the expense of saving money.

Thanks again for all the comments.

Unionruler

It may be easier to find a resolution and be at peace with it if you reframed the question as are there good reasons why you should not shift to DL. VS runs to Europe and AM discount J runs to Central America are a compelling medium term strategy. And perhaps most importantly, you would enjoy decent frequencies to DL hubs for 1 stops without being a hub captive in DL territory.

StephanP37

I understand the frustration having lived in Woodland only 11 min from your airport too but Id say if you're that close to SFO it's worth the 90 min drive to keep status but thats me.

sfozrhfco

It is rarely worth inconveniencing yourself for every trip to get the lowest level status on any airline. Pick the flights that are the most cost effective and convenient and you may well find that the benefits you were getting are more than made up for by the cost/convenience of just taking the best option for each trip. As was mentioned, getting a credit card gets most low level benefits you would lose and not having to add several hours to each trip getting to/from the airport would far outweigh any of the benefits you would get as just an MVP on Alaska.

Bretmd

VegasGambler

I think that the free agent decision really comes down to whether you are willing to give up free E+ seats. Paying for them every time can really add up.

flyingislove

One other things about free agency--the average person on FT knows more than the average flyer, which means that the experience (when to ask for seats, when to book, what time to arrive at the airport if lounge access is not a given) is much smoother. I mean, we love status (I'm a 75K and I love my experience with Alaska, personally), but there is always that question of value.

Bretmd

VegasGambler

If you're not flying into or out of SEA or PDX this is really not an issue.

Even ex-SEA and ex-PDX I was able to get E+ every time as an MVP, although it did require some work and probably some luck (setting up seat alerts in EF, and occasionally predicting who would be upgraded and preemptively asking the gate agent if I could be moved to the seat I wanted when the person got upgraded)

wolfpacktrojan

FWIW, I've flown BA LAX-LHR-EDI-LHR-SAN for $440, in addition to LAX-LHR-CDG-ORD-LAX on AA for $370 in the past year. Options to Europe via AS partners may not be what it used to, but deals still exist.

I will, however, echo what others have mentioned in saying that it isn't worth going out of your way to hang on to MVP if you aren't at least a semi-frequent flyer. Take the cheapest, most convenient flights that fit your needs.

Flying for Fun

Oh!, so in other words you "jumped the queue!" Brilliant! But AS please don't open U space far out so Elites can get complimentary upgrades on eligible fares and "jump the queue." You really are hilarious! In the case of SEA & PDX, do you cancel if you don't get E+? You are pretty adamant about not flying E- even in a window exit row! lol No need to reply!

James

VegasGambler

There is no queue. Gate agents do not have a premium class upgrade list because (despite what AS's emails tell you) it's not an upgrade. The best premium seats will often leave empty when 75ks (who selected the best premium seats at booking) get upgraded at the gate. Any elite is entitled to move to those seats when they become available. Again, there is no queue.

One could argue that logging in at midnight 2+ days before the flight leaves to select a premium seat before the processor moves people is jumping the queue. But it's not clear what process is followed there either.

Also, I have no qualms about jumping the queue.

Finally, I even as MVP, I always got E+, so it was never an issue.

On a related story, this past weekend I did fly E-. Middle seat too. I got to the gate LAX as the flight before mine was just finishing boarding (all groups were finished boarding and they were paging stragglers). I asked if they had and seats left and I decided to take 8E on LAX-SFO rather than sit at the gate for an hour waiting for my flight (and I had 6F on an airbus too! Best economy seat on that plane...) The flight I took was also a pmVX airbus (which definitely factored into my decision -- that extra inch of seat width is worth a lot in that spot -- I may have gone to a bar for a beer and waited had it been a 737) and also I was lucky enough to be seated beside two rather petite women so there was no shoulder-to-shoulder contact. I just had a small backpack (it was a 1-night trip) and I managed to find a spot for it in a bin across the aisle from my seat. For some reason, only water was catered for that flight, but I did get my chocolate bar (which I may have chosen anywhere) and we all had a good conversation for the short flight, and I got home an hour early.

That was actually my first time sitting in non-premium-economy on that plane, including all my VX flights.

James Moore

It's only one bag with the credit card though. The two bags for MVP has saved me and friends quite a bit of money on ski trips. Paying for bags to Montana from SEA can be a huge percentage of the flight price; it's annoying.

sudobuntu

Actually now that I think about it, we should probably note that Alaska is on the list of airlines that do not provide early boarding for their credit cardmembers. They join Frontier, JetBlue, and Southwest (ignoring the 4x per year based on availability on the premium card).

Of those serving SMF, only United, American, Delta, and... Spirit offer consistent priority boarding for some of their credit cardmembers, so that may be something to consider, especially as OP mentioned Southwest.