ctporter

OMG, that is just so NOT what most of us know and experience with AS crews. Please, send this to Alaska listens, Customer Care, or here https://www.alaskaair.com/feedback/general-comments

Hotel_junkie

I work for a global consulting firm and we are locked down from travel to Asia and EMEA until further notice...there are going to be a lot of FF elites missing quals this year lol!

i fly mostly North America, but with San Francisco cancelling some conferences and the PNW seeing some COVID no source cases...we might be seeing a total flight lockdown soon!

VegasGambler

What will AS do with an award flight where one segment has been flown, and the next flight is cancelled during the stopover?

I was booked for EWR - SFO - HND as a JL award, with a stopover in SFO (where I live) My return from TYO was on UA, via LAX (NRT-LAX-SFO). UA suspended NRT-LAX, and rebooked me HND-SFO. But I was scared that they would suspend that too and I'd get stranded in Japan. So I cancelled my UA return and moved my SFO-HND segment out to October. So I'm flying the first segement of my award today, and the next segment in October.

If the "stuff" really hits the fan and JL has suspended SFO-HND in October, what happens? I assume that they won't refund my 70k miles because I've already flown a segment. What would my options be? Further assume that travel to Japan is not possible with another carrier (if JL is not flying it, probably no one is)

rustykettel

If it comes down to that level of interruption, I would expect that you would be able to refund the value of the unflown segment. Which is 70K plus fees (minus fees for the EWR-SFO segment), since there's no additional mileage charge for connecting AS flights on partner awards.

whitf00t

Have an upcoming layover for 3 hours at SFO and just bough my AS Lounge Membership. Maybe this is a ridiculous question, but is it easy to enter the International Terminal at SFO, hit the CX Lounge, and leave? You don't need to do customs to leave the international terminal, right? I literally would just go for the lounge. Like I said its a layover with all segments on AS.

Thanks all.

seacarl

You will not have to clear customs/immigration/CBP. However the A gates, where the CX lounge is located, are not connected behind security to the D gates where virtually all AS flights depart. So you would have to clear security twice, and have to either walk or take the train between the terminal areas. For a domestic AS departure it does not seem worth the trouble and I hope you did not purchase an AS Lounge membership for this usage.

fkd

Over the years i have collected a significant amount of Alaska miles. A relocation has resulted in me not getting or spending miles for 1.5 years - and unfortunately i cannot use miles for the next few months.

1. Can i donate say 5000 miles to an approved Alaska charity - and restart the 24 month active cycle
2. Is there a decent exchange rate to convert this miles to Marriott or Hilton

seacarl

Any account activity, including donating miles or booking an award ticket, will reset the 24 month clock. I am not sure what happens if you make a refundable award booking and then cancel that some time later. Most award bookings have a cancellation fee unless it comes from an elite account, but the high level awards are free to cancel, but I don't know if that resets the clock. If you book a partner award, and later cancel, the $12.50-25 fee does not get refunded.

VegasGambler

Sign up for mileage plan dining. Go to a local restaurant that participates and have a meal (or even a drink or an appetizer or a dessert)

FWIW MP dining is 5 miles / $ once you reach VIP status (12 dines in a year), over and above whatever you get in your credit card. It's a good deal. I often go to new places and find out that they are part of MP dining when my miles post later... always a nice surprise. So, signing up is a good idea to matter what.

Another easy option is mileage plan shopping.

fkd

Thanks VegasGambler,
The complication is that i have relocated to Toronto - so i cannot find an MP dining location. I cannot even get the magazines offer to work at this address.

seacarl

My experience with the dining programs has not been great. First, most of the restaurants that participate in dining programs are not ones that you would choose to eat at if you are paying with your own money, usually either mediocre quality restaurants or overpriced or doing lots of promotions many of which are better. And second, it is unpredictable and uncontrollable when (and whether) they will post your points. So it doesn't seem like a safe way to preserve your mileage. I would rather rent a car and credit the rental to AS or donate miles or book an award. They are all safer to get credit, with documentation, then a restaurant that is tied to a credit card processing system for which you have no verifiable receipt nor anyone to call.

VegasGambler

If you have that many miles, it might be worth a quick drive down to Niagara and across the border

You can use MP shopping for something like restaurants.com. Buy a crappy $2 coupon and be done with it.

I've never once not had miles post. The restaurant does not post the points, it's pulled straight from the credit card processor. The restaurant can't block it.

As for quality of restaurants, my favorite brunch place (a couple of blocks from my apartment) used to participate. Unfortunately they no longer do. Some of my semi-regular places do though. There is a Fogo de Chao close by that participates. Also this weekend I was visiting new York, went to a random diner close to my hotel, and was surprised to get an email from mileage plan dining! It turns out that they participate. That had happened to me once before in NY, at a fairly upscale bar.

newbie_flyer

I have been eyeing a BOS - SEA - LIR flight over the last few days for booking with miles and was planning on booking today. The BOS-SEA leg independently priced was 20K and the SEA - LIR leg independently priced was 25K. When booked as a multi-city, the price was 25K. This is generally inline with how I understand the free stopover to work. However, today the multi-city price jumped to 50K (!) while the two legs still price out independently as 20K and 25K. I've triple checked the flights are exactly the same as I sent a screenshot to my SO. Has anyone seen this and will it revert back? Or did something about the flights change in a way that I'll never see the old pricing again?

safari ari

Maybe it has to do with married segments? Where AS won't sell you the second leg at a lower mileage redemption bucket than the first?

Wonder if it is a glitch, something similar happened here: Award flights SBA-DEN now require two tickets and twice the miles

newbie_flyer

Thanks for the reply. That one does look somewhat similar, but different as my flight is not pricing out to the sum of the two separate flights (as that would be 45K). Also, AS does sell BOS-LIR flights on AS metal and my entire award is on AS metal. Another strange datapoint that I just discovered: if I add a return flight from LIR - SEA, then the outbound segments together are shown at the original price of 25K. Sadly, it won't let me only book the outbound BOS-SEA-LIR leg from that screen, and it also won't let me remove the return flight from the cart if I choose a return. And I don't have enough miles to book the return and then call to get it removed. If it doesn't correct itself in the next day or two, I'll call and see if the agents can do better than me.