hedoman

You can go back to April 5 on this thread to read my positive experience.

futuramadramallama

I'm imagining confetti canons going off the moment you scanned your FF card (or BP), a red-carpet pneumatically rolling out, a robot scooting out to offer you a flute of champagne, trumpeters blaring some non-existent OneWorld fanfare... (like some Willy-Wonka'esque fever dream), simultaneous to the AS staff also thanking you for choosing Alaska, etc. lolol

HeyItsMK

Oh you mean you didn't get a live performance of the Safety Dance (oneworld Remix)? /s

But actually, whether it breaks up the monotony of the speeches that I have probably committed to muscle memory at this point, the FA on my last flight seemed very excited at every mention of oneworld during their inflight speeches.

Flying Yazata

If that's how a BAEC Silver (OWS) gets greeted, I wonder what happens when I walk in at LAX and SFO as OWE.

Anyway, I think AS can only do better than AA in terms of status recognition. I personally expect just about nothing, but AA is really one of those OW carriers that give absolutely zero recognition to anybody. AA only gives attention to Concierge Key holders (and BAEC GGL, in case the CK team has time). AA passenger manifestos do include AAdvantage/OW FFP status, but there's no instructions for taking advantage of that for proactive customer care. But then again the US is somewhat abysmal, as due to the lack of pursers (or whatever title for the person in charge of cabin service), there's not anyone paying attention to the execution of the service.

Overall I think AS is really a welcome addition for improving the quality of the OW experience, when flying in North America. More alternatives to choose from, rathen than the same old AA. I'm just waiting for the tedious FFP status chase I will have this fall, with some XX AA flights booked. Not exactly looking forward to seeing all the usual AA grumpiness, when traveller access to the US will recommence from Europe.

lax.sea.jnu

Speaking of monotonous speeches, I flew AS for the first time in a year yesterday LAX-SFO and noticed the FA said "Mileage Plan members will earn at least 337 miles on this flight." Are they getting rid of the 500 mile minimum?

SEA777GUY

I am curious as to what benefits AS employees receive from the OW entry? An FA was quite excited as she said the benefits were awesome, but she didn't have time to elaborate.

icelandman2

Total spitballing here, but perhaps better nonrev access, priority, or pricing? iirc, international nonrev deals are airline by airline, and vary in which taxes you have to pay versus which are absorbed by your employer, as well as in nonrev priority when on other metal, etc.

futuramadramallama

Even if it was just reciprocity with AA (in a way, their "closest" partner in OW) and including their intl routes, that should dramatically widen their non-rev options; SYD, HKG, GRU, LHR, etc. That's got to be quite the boost in options.

chrisl137

I've had a couple flights into SEA come into B8 where it took them 20 minutes to get someone over to drive the jetway. And at least one flight (I think PDX) where I swear the ramp driver on the ground was had to be drunk, blind, and a trainee. They showed up on time, but the ramp just zig zagged back and forth forever because they couldn't line it up with the door. If I'd had checked bags they could have claimed 2500 miles for my delay in getting to the carousel.

icelandman2

I believe they had access to AA inventory even pre-OW - the difference would be if AS now covered taxes/fees (often ~$200 pp on international ID90 tickets) or gave them higher priority when 40 are listed for the flight (huge if you need to fly home on-time for your next trip!)

SOCguy

Agreements were already in place with most (if not all) OW carriers prior to entry. After OW, the rates for space available tickets on several of the member airlines dropped to a cheaper tier. It isn't in place yet but eventually travel on AA will be free (I think that's the one most folks are excited about). I'm definitely not the expert here - I think the last time I traveled space available was over two years ago.

Xrayman

flew to cabo over the weekend and had those “Orange priority “ tags on all 4 of my family suitcases.

well over 20 minutes (but international) for me to get to baggage area. Our bags were well into mid to late part. I didn’t see many of the orange tags. During my 30 minutes of observation.

we don’t generally check bags but I wanted to test the waters since had friends that weren’t going to arrive for 30 minutes later so it didn’t affect our ground transportation

SanDiego1K

I was searching for award seats on a route where I expected to see Qatar. I saw Emirates and BA but not Qatar. Is the AS site able to see Qatar award availability or do I need to call?

eponymous_coward

https://www.alaskaair.com/content/mi...partners-qatar

Updated wiki since I reckon 54452634636567 people will probably ask about this over Summer 2021 (none of AS's new OW partners are bookable on awards right now).

futuramadramallama

Are non-rev agreements part of any sort of partnership (be that code-sharing, inter-lining, a joint venture, etc.)? (You seem to be informed)

A.k.a. As AS independently struck partnerships with BA, CX, QF, etc., over the preceding years, did that generally include non-rev opportunities in some form?