rustykettel

Another year of *FLAME-FREE* questions and answers!

sshankar

I was thinking of upgrading my tickets to first class for an upcoming work trip from JFK to SFO. The fare class of the ticket is R and in the terms it says I have 30k points, is it possible to upgrade my tickets using points? Can I do it online or should I call customer care?

williwaw

It is possible to upgrade with miles but there are two conditions you need to keep an eye on: First you need upgrade or U space in first. You can search for U space by making a dummy booking with the same itinerary and select the upgrade with miles button. If the F is solid and blue you have U space. Second, if there is U space, your fare is not an upgradeable fare. You'd need to upfare to H at a minimum before you can upgrade with miles at 15,000 OW. So its worth pricing out the upfare straight to first. If there is I or even P space it could be more cost effective than upfaring to H and using miles.

CDKing

This is not related to points/elite upgrades. Its just saying change fee will be waived of one wants to pay cash difference between economy ticket and first claas

rustykettel

And to be pedantic, waived for full F, not discount I or P. Although usually the phone agents will waive the change fee on those upfares.

sshankar

Thank you for the detailed tip - for the first time I could speak to a travel agent in their language. U space was available only for one leg of the itinerary. I had to call our company's travel agency to up-fare from R to H. Once on H, I was able to upgrade using points by calling Alaska. R to H was the cheapest at 50% of the cost to cheapest I/P/F fare and that is after including the change fee.

I am amazed at Alaska's customer care, they had all the information and did everything in 5 minutes. The agent was very sweet and clear. Hoping to make MVP this year.

williwaw

Good to hear! AS customer service is one of their true strengths.

Eurynom0s

So it looks like fares went up with the new year, right?

professortim

Sorry if I am doing this wrong - I can't find a spot to post a new question.
I have an old (2015) table that I had found on the Alaska Airlines website that details bonus miles that COUNT towards your elite status and am in search for a new one (as new fares types have come out since then). It was:
Economy class cabin:
Actual flight miles: H,Q,L,V,K,G,T,R classes
Actual flight miles + 25% bonus: M, B classes
Actual flight miles + 50% bonus: Y, S classes
First class cabin:
Actual flight miles + 75%: F, P classes
The flight I just booked in first class has one leg I and one leg P - I is no where in this table.
Thanks for any help on updating this

rustykettel

Here's the current chart

https://www.alaskaair.com/content/mi...earn-on-alaska

s0ssos

Went to request the credit, cause my bag wasn't out before 20 minutes, and the agent said as long as something is coming out before 20 minutes it doesn't count.
Anybody else heard of this? I do appreciate their bags being out quickly but the expectation was that I can get my bag by 20 minutes and be out of there.

rustykettel

There are unfortunately some reports in the BSG thread of baggage agents stonewalling the guarantee. The guarantee on the website is

Quote:

If your bags are not at baggage claim within 20 minutes of your plane’s arrival at the gate

You might email Customer Care about both the missing guarantee and the baggage agent's excuse. Twitter may be able to provide the guarantee as well given the circumstances, but they've been deprecating that route.

princesakura

Are there any SJC flyers who can do weeknight or weekend mileage runs down to LAX and back?


I have a Visa Infinite card that discounts $100 off a two-person round-trip economy domestic reservation. During Alaska sales (advertised as $29 one-way SJC-LAX on alaskaair.com), I've seen SJC-LAX round trips for $2.40 or, more commonly, $13.60 for 2 people using the Visa Infinite portal. This means your out-of-pocket is $1.20 or $6.80 for 1000 miles if you already are MVP Gold (750 for MVP and 1250 for 75k).

You'd have to fly 75 of these roundtrips for 75k, but I'm just trying to pad my miles so I'm not off by too much at year's end.

If interested, please message me and we can figure out details. These sales are usually around several times a year. For example, now until February 9.

seacarl

If there are 2 pax on a reservation, one 75K and one MVPG, is the reservation treated as 75K or MVPG for upgrade purposes?

Also, to get an instant upgrade, (should elusive U space be found) do you need the 75K upgrade fare or the MVPG upgrade fare?

s0ssos

Thanks. I didn't think anything changed.
I did email them. Usually they throw some points my way, cause of my status. But it really is annoying if you say something you "guarantee" and then don't actually follow through on the guarantee.