lensovet

not particularly interested in other airlines, since about 85% of our domestic travel is on AS. Yes how dare I "complain" about advertised MVP benefits!

yeah and if we bought F tickets it wouldn't be a problem either. so helpful!

btw i'm looking at MVP benefits and it says complimentary upgrades, not "complimentary upgrades if traveling alone".

i can only imagine you have access to AS ticket sales stats to be able to judge how much of an edge case we are. i don't, so i'll withhold judgement…but find it pretty unlikely.

i'm not sure where you got that impression given that i said that she rarely travels by herself…which means that we always travel together, not that i somehow travel way more than she does. both of us will just barely clear 20k this year, so no, spending another $800 to get Gold and work around AS's IT problems does not seem like a reasonable alternative.

@Snowdevil, do you have any insights here?

rustykettel

Quote:

How do Premium Class upgrades work?
Fares that qualify for immediate upgrade at booking
[…]
Note: MVP members receive upgrades for one passenger only - themselves.

It sucks, but there it is. Similar to two Golds and a non-status pax or two, or heck four Golds, all on the same reservation (like a family) will likewise be dq'd from upgrades.

lensovet

for the umpteenth time, i'm not asking for a companion upgrade. *both* of us are MVPs.

jjmadison

dude, you really need to be more respectful. Multiple people are trying to help you.

If you took the time to search the AS forums, you would see what you’re experiencing is a common situation, and well-documented. You’re MVP so having ANY 1+ on your reservation stops upgrades. It’s as simple as that.

You can complain all you want; that doesn’t change more AS tech works. There are dozens other well-documented (and frustrating) problems with AS tech. None of us on FT can fix those. Many of us submit complaints To Alaska Listens. Until AS majorly increases their investment in fixing technical debt, the best you or any of us can do is help each other with workarounds.

Flying for Fun

For the umpteenth time, a MVP is not eligible for an upgrade if they are on a PNR with another passenger who is not MVPG+. They are only eligible if they are the sole traveler on their own PNR.

For the umpteenth time, the upgrade processor isn't skipping you. You simply are not on the waitlist and never will be. Period!

Read through the thread "how complimentary upgrades work." You might be surprised to find the same answers there since you aren't grasping them here. What you are asking for is a benefit you don't have as an MVP.

If you are looking for clarification, please read my post here and pay particular attention to the highlighted text at the end of the last paragraph which is from the AS website.

eponymous_coward has provided accurate information to you. Your reply to him is fraught with errors and assumptions that could have been allieviated had you simply read the AS website which outlines the benefits for Elites with respect to complimentary upgrades.

Nothing you can say will change the fact that you are simply not eligible for upgrades if you are not the "sole" passenger on the PNR.

If you want upgrades you each need to be on seperate PNRs; just in case you still haven't grasped it. If you both need to be on the same PNR to utilize a companion certificate then you need to choose one or the other. If you want both, one needs to have a higher status. That is just how it works and how it should work. Why should someone that hasn't earned the benefit get the benefit?

James

eponymous_coward

This is how it's worked for a very long time (and the point about other airlines is "this isn't some unique problem to AS, other airlines have to split PNRs to handle upgrades too, that's just how a PNR works").

You can either complain and not change how you're booking because the moral high ground is important to you, and see if that gets you upgrades (who knows, maybe AS will change something someday), or you can use workarounds that have been pointed out to you and get your upgrades now. Your call.

lensovet

not sure why i bother here, but the only helpful and non-snarky reply on this thread has been #27 by @rustykettel.

telling me to fly an extra 40k a year is not helpful
pointing me at webpages that say nothing about MVP+MVP reservations and claiming that they prove that there's nothing wrong is not helpful
and somehow i'm the disrespectful one, lol

btw I looked at the upgrades thread after you mentioned it. 40+ pages but the top post mentions nothing about this scenario. perhaps that could be updated.

worth noting that i have (as a result of hitting this) talked to multiple AS agents in chat, at the gate, and on the phone, and all of them were puzzled by why this was happening and worked to make things right.

this is my first year where i am traveling with someone else, we both have status, and the status is on the same airline as what we're flying so upgrades are even a thing. so my apologies for not knowing that this is how it's worked for a very long time given that it's not something i had come across or something that's particularly well documented. though given that they somehow make this work for MVPG+companion without any issue, i have full confidence that if they wanted to, they could make this work for this scenario too (re: that the reservation somehow *has* to be split for upgrades to work or that two people can't be upgraded together because it's just impossible).

so to sum up:
- multiple people on the reservation are treated as "companions" and therefore will be subject to companion upgrade rules even if both can qualify individually (makes me wonder, if you have 2 adults + 2 children on the same PNR, and the adults are both MVPG, will it treat the PNR as having two companion upgrades and therefore be willing to upgrade all 4, or do you need to split it into 1 adult + 1 child per PNR?)
- if you want the upgrade, you have to talk to an agent who will happily process you if there is space available (seems to require calling in)
- this is due to an AS IT issue, not some sort of policy thing
- if AS cared, they could either fix the bug or update their site to make this clear

cheers

rustykettel

Yes, they would need to split. They would not get upgrades either (assuming U=4 or more).

GAs have a lot of power to push through things. I've known MVP+non-status companion to both be cleared into first on non-competitive routes.

Eurynom0s

If you're already hitting MVP then how are you being told to fly an extra 40k miles a year?

lensovet

Mistyped. An extra 20 is still nothing to sneeze at just to get a benefit that I’m supposed to be getting anyway.

btw another flight at t-48, same as before, called in, agent and his supervisor couldn’t figure out why the premium upgrade didn’t clear and just assigned us premium seats. Will see what happens with the gate-processed upgrades to first.

Flying for Fun

Does your email confirmation show that you are waitlisted for Premium & waitlisted for First? If it doesn't, you won't be upgraded and it shouldn't if you have another passenger on the same reservation when you are an MVP. The upgrade processor isn't skipping you, you simply are not on the waitlist because you are not eligible! If you want to be on the upgrade waitlists, you have to be the "sole" traveler on the PNR as an MVP. (umpteenth time + 1)

I don't know why you are having difficulty comprehending that fact and insisting you are eligible for a benefit that is available to MVP+ only.

Should I complain that as a 75K, I am not on the waitlist because there are 3 pax in my reservation? It wouldn't matter what permutation of Elite Staus they had including 3 75Ks. That is exactly what you are doing with 2 pax on a PNR as an MVP but somehow you think it doesn't apply to you and want special treatment.

Of course you next flight at T-48 will be the same thing. That is how it is supposed to be. IT is following policy coded into the upgrade processor.

Just realize that when you call AS to complain you aren't getting benefits you aren't entitled to and they provide the upgrade, AS is doing you a favour. I certainly hope your shenanigans haven't prevented another Elite from an upgrade who is actually eligible.

James

lensovet

Of course I’m on the waitlist. The website shows both of us as waitlisted for both premium and first, both of our names are on the waitlist once that shows up at T-24, and when seats are assigned to us it shows us with the check marks next to our names and the assigned seats shown.

this is simply a bug, nothing more, and it’s unclear to me why you guys decided to make up a policy where none exists. The benefit is complimentary upgrades for MVPs, not complimentary upgrades for MVPs traveling on individual reservations. Unless you can show me wording to the contrary (please stop claiming that the companion rules have anything to do with this – that policy clearly only applies to non-status companions), there is nothing wrong here. This is different, btw, from when I book with non-status companions (where I don’t show on the waitlist at all), which again is expected.

Flying for Fun

Whatever!

James

John26

I mostly book exit rows and wasn't aware of the no automatic premium class upgrade policy until I found this thread. I am wondering, does booking an exit row inhibit upgrades to First Class in any way? I am MVPG if it's relevant.

Also, if you are MVPG or higher (and thus already getting priority boarding similar to Premium Class and a free drink), what is the appeal of Premium Class compared to an aisle seat in row 17 (which reclines and has more space)? Other than the free snack and being a bit closer to the front to deplane / make connections / 2 minutes more lounge time, am I missing something? I don't find the exit row to be a colder temperature and when others need to use the lav I can swing my legs out of their way if the seatbelt sign is on. Am I missing something?

NoLaGent

It does not and you're not. ;-)