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2020 Alaska Airlines *FLAME-FREE* Q&A Thread: All Welcome, New and Old!

2020 Alaska Airlines *FLAME-FREE* Q&A Thread: All Welcome, New and Old!

Old Feb 6, 2020, 2:11 pm
  #136  
 
Join Date: Mar 2016
Location: LAX
Programs: AS MVPG, IHG Diamond Elite
Posts: 1,445
Originally Posted by Sleepy_Sentry
Thanks for the heads up, I'll do that! As a seasoned Alaska flyer would you keep the K more expensive fare class ticket and hope for 2 U's to open up or downgrade and hope for a complementary upgrade? I'm MVP Gold and it looks like I have a decent shot, but would prefer to secure the seats early.
I'd probably just keep it and keep fingers crossed at this point now that it's booked (especially since you're using a companion fare and those can be trickier to change/cancel without losing). For me, unless there's U open at time of booking, I tend to book the main cabin fare and hope for the best (have had pretty good odds to/from LAX vs SEA routes). I'll weigh my options for an upfare later if it does open up, though if it's close enough in, it typically is due to light elite load and I'm likely to get bumped up front anyhow.
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Old Feb 6, 2020, 3:00 pm
  #137  
Original Poster
 
Join Date: Oct 2015
Location: Pacific Wonderland
Programs: ʙᴏɴᴠo̱ʏ Au, IHG Au, HH Dia, Nexus, Pilot FlyingJ Preferred
Posts: 5,336
Originally Posted by Sleepy_Sentry
Thanks for the heads up, I'll do that! As a seasoned Alaska flyer would you keep the K more expensive fare class ticket and hope for 2 U's to open up or downgrade and hope for a complementary upgrade? I'm MVP Gold and it looks like I have a decent shot, but would prefer to secure the seats early.
Note that unless your companion is Gold or higher, the change fee would apply when changing to a less expensive fare class (unless waived by an agent).
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Old Feb 8, 2020, 12:14 pm
  #138  
 
Join Date: Aug 2018
Location: PIT
Programs: AS Peon
Posts: 201
My SO and I booked a number of flights through February and the beginning of March in January, and a majority of them are Saver fares because we fully anticipated taking them. Well, life happens, and now my SO is on the other side of the country alongside her father in the hospital, and it looks like none of these flights will be happening now.

I know that purchasing Saver means that we are unable to get anything back from calling and cancelling, I'm not trying to argue that. I knew that when I booked, and will certainly take this as a lesson to just buy main cabin in the future. However, is there any chance that I might get a rep that could offer something if I call in to cancel one/some of the flights? I don't need a full refund or anything, but just a small amount of AS credit back would take the sting away a bit. Its about $800 in flights I still have yet to cancel, plus one that has already gone by (cancelled with nothing offered). I'm also going to be flying AS to be with my SO at least a few times over the next month or so, and that flight will be more expensive (I'm looking at going this weekend and its about $500 RT).

Again, I'm not complaining about the fare rules, and I'm not begging/whining for credit. Just wondering if anyone has had a kind rep offer them anything in a similar situation.
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Old Feb 8, 2020, 7:33 pm
  #139  
 
Join Date: Sep 2017
Location: Between SFO and STS
Programs: Alaska MVP Gold, United Serf, Delta Gold
Posts: 731
Did you by chance book the tickets with a credit card offering travel insurance coverage? That would be the easiest way to recoup your money. But, calling AS and seeing what they might do for you isn't a terrible idea. You could HUCA a few times as YMMV on agents and their willingness to break rules. I have admittedly said something to the effect of "hey, don't you want your seats back so you can sell it at a higher price?" That has worked and hasn't worked. But, that was never on a saver fare. Good luck.
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Old Feb 8, 2020, 10:12 pm
  #140  
 
Join Date: Aug 2018
Location: PIT
Programs: AS Peon
Posts: 201
That's a good point, I hadn't considered the travel insurance route. I'll look into that first and see if that will work. Thank you!
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Old Feb 11, 2020, 2:00 pm
  #141  
 
Join Date: Sep 2012
Location: PSP
Programs: AS, UA, AA, HiltonHonors
Posts: 78
Newly MVP Gold - Your thoughts, please...

Hello Talkers. After several years as MVP, I finally got to Gold for 2020. I'm familiar with the drill as a "plain" MVP, what to look/ask for, what I don't have chance for, etc. And I have certainly read Alaska's page on Gold benefits, which, while helpful, doesn't always apply to "real world" situations. So - my questions: For those of you who have been or are currently Gold, what benefits of this status do you use and appreciate most? What tricks of the trade have you learned that would help newbies like me? From the little I have gleaned so far, it appears that SDCs are really popular. Ditto the change fee waivers (am I reading correctly that it makes sense to book something when it's only a glint in my eye, regardless of fare, knowing that I can change down the road at no cost if a better fare becomes available?).

Any suggestions, specific or general, from you experienced veterans will be greatly appreciated, including re-direction to a thread that discusses this in some detail (I looked, but couldn't find...).
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Old Feb 12, 2020, 9:43 pm
  #142  
 
Join Date: Jun 2011
Posts: 3,522
How long do dining rewards points take to post these days?
nall is offline  
Old Feb 12, 2020, 10:15 pm
  #143  
 
Join Date: Nov 2009
Location: Yellow Springs
Programs: AS 75k
Posts: 1,523
Originally Posted by nall
How long do dining rewards points take to post these days?
Mine have been around 10 days.
flymonthly is offline  
Old Feb 12, 2020, 10:42 pm
  #144  
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Join Date: Oct 2014
Posts: 10,904
Originally Posted by RetiredSFOATC
Hello Talkers. After several years as MVP, I finally got to Gold for 2020. I'm familiar with the drill as a "plain" MVP, what to look/ask for, what I don't have chance for, etc. And I have certainly read Alaska's page on Gold benefits, which, while helpful, doesn't always apply to "real world" situations. So - my questions: For those of you who have been or are currently Gold, what benefits of this status do you use and appreciate most? What tricks of the trade have you learned that would help newbies like me? From the little I have gleaned so far, it appears that SDCs are really popular. Ditto the change fee waivers (am I reading correctly that it makes sense to book something when it's only a glint in my eye, regardless of fare, knowing that I can change down the road at no cost if a better fare becomes available?).

Any suggestions, specific or general, from you experienced veterans will be greatly appreciated, including re-direction to a thread that discusses this in some detail (I looked, but couldn't find...).
1. Congrats!

2. Yes, SDCs. For flights with many options I like to book the cheapest flight of the day and SDC to the most convenient flight of the day. Don't forget to include co-terminals in your search! Eg, SJC-LAX is often dirt cheap, while SFO-SNA is pricy. Check the fare rules for a full list of co-terminals.

3a. General flexibility. I managed to score a cheap round trip to OGG this coming weekend. But hotel prices were through the roof (Valentine's day friday; presidents day Monday): over $1000/night everywhere I looked on Maui. No problem... I kept looking for hotels every day and yesterday someone cancelled a standard room at Hyatt, which I was able to book with points. If that hadn't popped up I would have just cancelled the flight for no fee on Friday night.

3b. General flexibility; award edition. You can build trips with stopovers 1 segment at a time as the segments become available. Same with round trips (eg KE awards). Similarly, I booked a first class trip to Tokyo, even though I couldn't find a return. A month later I found a return I liked (using a different mileage program). If I had never found a good return, I just would have cancelled the outbound.

4. No real strategy here but the 100% mileage bonus is huge!
VegasGambler is offline  
Old Feb 13, 2020, 1:26 am
  #145  
 
Join Date: Jan 2018
Programs: HYATT Globalist Alaska 100k
Posts: 121
Help me get some sense of reality here.
When I get upgraded to FC with my 6yo but got seated on two aisle seats such as 2C and 2D. Naturally, I have asked other passengers on 2A and 2F and had generally no problem but this time, I got a hard no and really reluctant yes, which at first somewhat irritated me tbh, but as I thought more about it, I came to a slow realization that I might be the one that is acting rude here. These people probably paid 5x~7x more than me and they chose their seats, which I should respect more. It was 7h-long transcon, too and pretty sure we were the only ones upgraded. The one that said no didn't even get up once the whole entire time after all.

I mean, giving up FC to be seated in PC with middle seat open would have been completely fine with me.
What would you do? What should I do?
Alexsth2011 is offline  
Old Feb 13, 2020, 1:46 am
  #146  
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Join Date: Oct 2014
Posts: 10,904
Originally Posted by Alexsth2011
Help me get some sense of reality here.
When I get upgraded to FC with my 6yo but got seated on two aisle seats such as 2C and 2D. Naturally, I have asked other passengers on 2A and 2F and had generally no problem but this time, I got a hard no and really reluctant yes, which at first somewhat irritated me tbh, but as I thought more about it, I came to a slow realization that I might be the one that is acting rude here. These people probably paid 5x~7x more than me and they chose their seats, which I should respect more. It was 7h-long transcon, too and pretty sure we were the only ones upgraded. The one that said no didn't even get up once the whole entire time after all.

I mean, giving up FC to be seated in PC with middle seat open would have been completely fine with me.
What would you do? What should I do?
I wouldn't give up a window for an aisle, under any circumstances. I don't want to be disturbed by someone in the window seat getting up.

There is nothing wrong with asking, but you are the one asking for a favor. If you do it without a sense of entitlement, it's not rude. But there's also nothing wrong with saying no.

If it's important more important that you be guaranteed of sitting together than that you get upgraded, you can always take yourself off the upgrade list. It's a matter of priorities. You are taking some risk of being split up when you get upgraded; it's up to you whether you want to take that risk.
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VegasGambler is offline  
Old Feb 14, 2020, 10:04 am
  #147  
 
Join Date: Sep 2012
Location: PSP
Programs: AS, UA, AA, HiltonHonors
Posts: 78
Originally Posted by VegasGambler
1. Congrats!

2. Yes, SDCs. For flights with many options I like to book the cheapest flight of the day and SDC to the most convenient flight of the day. Don't forget to include co-terminals in your search! Eg, SJC-LAX is often dirt cheap, while SFO-SNA is pricy. Check the fare rules for a full list of co-terminals.

3a. General flexibility. I managed to score a cheap round trip to OGG this coming weekend. But hotel prices were through the roof (Valentine's day friday; presidents day Monday): over $1000/night everywhere I looked on Maui. No problem... I kept looking for hotels every day and yesterday someone cancelled a standard room at Hyatt, which I was able to book with points. If that hadn't popped up I would have just cancelled the flight for no fee on Friday night.

3b. General flexibility; award edition. You can build trips with stopovers 1 segment at a time as the segments become available. Same with round trips (eg KE awards). Similarly, I booked a first class trip to Tokyo, even though I couldn't find a return. A month later I found a return I liked (using a different mileage program). If I had never found a good return, I just would have cancelled the outbound.

4. No real strategy here but the 100% mileage bonus is huge!
This is great, @VegasGambler; thank you for taking the time to respond and share your knowledge!
RetiredSFOATC is offline  
Old Feb 14, 2020, 10:36 am
  #148  
 
Join Date: Sep 2012
Location: PSP
Programs: AS, UA, AA, HiltonHonors
Posts: 78
Originally Posted by Alexsth2011
Help me get some sense of reality here.
When I get upgraded to FC with my 6yo but got seated on two aisle seats such as 2C and 2D. Naturally, I have asked other passengers on 2A and 2F and had generally no problem but this time, I got a hard no and really reluctant yes, which at first somewhat irritated me tbh, but as I thought more about it, I came to a slow realization that I might be the one that is acting rude here. These people probably paid 5x~7x more than me and they chose their seats, which I should respect more. It was 7h-long transcon, too and pretty sure we were the only ones upgraded. The one that said no didn't even get up once the whole entire time after all.

I mean, giving up FC to be seated in PC with middle seat open would have been completely fine with me.
What would you do? What should I do?
This is a really interesting question, and I wish it were posted in the regular threads, because I would love to see more responses. Having been asked to move before, so that families can be seated together, I sympathize with those making the request, but I also sympathize (and probably more so) with those who say "no" (assuming they are doing so politely). My rationale: First of all, where I sit is tremendously important to me, and I go to a bit of effort, starting with when I purchase the ticket, to select where I want to be. I get that things happen, like equipment changes, where seat assignments cannot be guaranteed. But I agree with VegasGambler that this is completely up to the original seat-holder, and no umbrage should be taken if s/he does not want to move.

Some people *need* to be near a window (so they don't fall over on you when they sleep), others need the aisle for restroom access, and others need a particular seat for "emotional" reasons. I get all of that, and I don't think that it's fair to expect someone to change just because they may be traveling alone. If there is a seriously important reason for being asked to move, then I will seriously consider it, depending on the seat being offered, but in the case of being asked by someone receiving a voluntary upgrade, I would generally say "I'm sorry, but no - I need this seat".

In the case of the person who said no to the OP, I get that s/he didn't get up to use the restroom after all, and that might have added to the OP's frustration, but that person may have *thought* they might need to at any urgent moment. That's not up to me to judge.... And the last thing I will say here, as a person who generally does want to help, I am never happy saying no, even when perfectly justified.
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Old Feb 14, 2020, 10:53 am
  #149  
 
Join Date: Aug 2018
Location: PDX
Programs: AS MVP Gold 100K
Posts: 2,329
Originally Posted by Alexsth2011
Help me get some sense of reality here.
When I get upgraded to FC with my 6yo but got seated on two aisle seats such as 2C and 2D. Naturally, I have asked other passengers on 2A and 2F and had generally no problem but this time, I got a hard no and really reluctant yes, which at first somewhat irritated me tbh, but as I thought more about it, I came to a slow realization that I might be the one that is acting rude here. These people probably paid 5x~7x more than me and they chose their seats, which I should respect more. It was 7h-long transcon, too and pretty sure we were the only ones upgraded. The one that said no didn't even get up once the whole entire time after all.

I mean, giving up FC to be seated in PC with middle seat open would have been completely fine with me.
What would you do? What should I do?
My honest answer:

I would give you a polite, but hard no. I will not give up my window seat for an aisle. I picked the window for a reason.

This happens from time to time and I'm always polite when I deny the request. I only become irritated when people act rude, entitled, and/or put on the DYKWIA act.
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Old Feb 14, 2020, 11:10 am
  #150  
 
Join Date: Nov 2009
Location: Yellow Springs
Programs: AS 75k
Posts: 1,523
Originally Posted by Alexsth2011
Help me get some sense of reality here.
When I get upgraded to FC with my 6yo but got seated on two aisle seats such as 2C and 2D. Naturally, I have asked other passengers on 2A and 2F and had generally no problem but this time, I got a hard no and really reluctant yes, which at first somewhat irritated me tbh, but as I thought more about it, I came to a slow realization that I might be the one that is acting rude here. These people probably paid 5x~7x more than me and they chose their seats, which I should respect more. It was 7h-long transcon, too and pretty sure we were the only ones upgraded. The one that said no didn't even get up once the whole entire time after all.

I mean, giving up FC to be seated in PC with middle seat open would have been completely fine with me.
What would you do? What should I do?
As long as you ask nicely, take a "no" graciously and are sufficiently grateful for even a reluctant "yes", I don't see a problem. If I had been sitting in the window seat next to your 6yo, I would have volunteered to switch without being asked (I've done so before). But I normally don't care about window vs. aisle when I'm in F unless I've had too much coffee/alcohol in which case I'd be grateful for the aisle.
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