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Old May 10, 2020, 2:55 pm
FlyerTalk Forums Expert How-Tos and Guides
Last edit by: rustykettel
Alaska Airlines schedule change options and refund policy
Schedule changes are defined in Alaska's Contract of Carriage Rule 1:

Schedule Change means:
  1. The cancellation of a scheduled flight where no Alaska flight of comparable routing is available within sixty (60) minutes of the original time of departure; or
  2. A change in the scheduled departure time of an Alaska flight which exceeds sixty (60) minutes; or
  3. A change in the routing of a scheduled Alaska flight which adds one (1) or more stops to the original itinerary; or
  4. A change in the routing of an Alaska scheduled flight that results in a scheduled arrival time more than sixty (60) minutes later than the original scheduled arrival time; or
  5. Any change in the arrival time of an Alaska flight that results in a misconnection to any flight shown in the same reservation and Ticket.
Note that IRROPS has separate definitions (as "Schedule Irregularity") and different options in Rule 8C.

Schedule Change options are in Rule 8D

D. Change in Schedule: Flight schedules are subject to change without notice, and the times shown on Alaska's published schedules, Tickets, timetable and advertising are not guaranteed and form no part of this Contract of Carriage. At times, without prior notice to Passengers, Alaska may need to substitute other aircraft and may change, add, or omit intermediate stops. Alaska cannot guarantee that Passengers will make Connections to other flights by Alaska or by other Carriers. In the event of flight Schedule Changes or service withdrawals, Alaska will attempt to notify affected Passengers as early as possible. Alaska will promptly provide Passengers the best available information regarding known delays, cancellations, misconnections and diversions, but Alaska is not liable for any misstatements or other errors or omissions in connection with providing such information. No employee, agent or representative of Alaska can bind Alaska legally by reason of any statements relating to flight status or other information.

When a ticketed, confirmed Passenger will be delayed because of a change in Alaska's schedule as defined in Rule 1 (Schedule Change), Alaska will arrange to:
  1. Transport the Passenger to his/her destination or next ticketed Stopover point on another Alaska flight on which space is available in the same or higher class of service than reflected on the Passenger's Ticket at no additional charge; or
  2. Refund according to Rule 17.
    Exception 1: When an Alaska Schedule Change results in the cancellation of all Alaska service between two cities, Alaska will reroute Passengers holding confirmed reservations on Alaska between such cities over the lines of one or more other Carriers at no additional cost to the Passenger.
    Exception 2: Change in schedule does not include Force Majeure Events.




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Refunds on Flights Cancelled by Alaska

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Old Apr 8, 2020, 11:52 am
  #61  
 
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Originally Posted by tfizzle
Just to be sure. I had a direct PDX EWR flight leaving at 6am and arriving at 3pm. I got notice this morning that the rebooked me for PDX-SEA-EWR, that leaves at 9am and gets in 4 hours later. Is that a significant schedule change enough to warrant a full refund?
Yes, that is the flight that got canceled on me and I received a refund when I called in.
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Old Apr 8, 2020, 12:23 pm
  #62  
 
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Originally Posted by woolfson
There you go. Yes, the airlines are supposed to give you a refund. And yes, I just filed a lawsuit today against Alaska Airlines.
So, are you ever going to share any details around your situation?
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Old Apr 8, 2020, 4:36 pm
  #63  
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Originally Posted by JacksonFlyer
I am not sure where you are going with this. The enforcement notice clearly states that you get a refund if the flight is canceled or significantly changed. My non-stop trans-con for next week was canceled and I was routed to a one stop flight to get to my destination. I called the gold line to say I did not want anything else than a non-stop and I was asked "do you wish a refund or credit in your wallet/" No hassle, very friendly agent....I opted for the refund. If your flight is canceled or significantly changed you get a refund....good luck with the lawsuit.
Right now we have flights SJC-OGG/OGG-SJC on 4/21 and 4/25. Westin/Marriott just cancelled our room reservations. I had been holding out slim hope, but giving in now.

At the moment flights are unchanged. As MVP Gold, one thought is to change to flights closer in with the expectation that these are more likely to cancel/change significantly. At that point I could presumably get a full refund.

Pretty sure this should work despite my change, yes?
However, is this gaming the system to much and borderline slimy?

Cheers.
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Old Apr 8, 2020, 4:52 pm
  #64  
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SJC-OGG flights have been cancelled through April 30th. You shouldn't have problems getting a refund.
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Old Apr 8, 2020, 4:54 pm
  #65  
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Originally Posted by xliioper
SJC-OGG flights have been cancelled through April 30th. You shouldn't have problems getting a refund.
Well, not yet since I'm clearly incompetent and wrote the wrong dates. What I actually meant was 5/21 and 5.25 (I misspelled '5').
So, still contemplating the "change to earlier" option.

Cheers.

Last edited by brp; Apr 8, 2020 at 6:30 pm
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Old Apr 8, 2020, 6:51 pm
  #66  
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Originally Posted by brp
Well, not yet since I'm clearly incompetent and wrote the wrong dates. What I actually meant was 5/21 and 5.25 (I misspelled '5').
So, still contemplating the "change to earlier" option.

Cheers.
I'd wait if looking for a refund. If May, I'd be tempted to hold out hope for travel, but not sure OGG will be accepting inbound vacationers by then To be continued...
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Old Apr 8, 2020, 6:57 pm
  #67  
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Originally Posted by beckoa
I'd wait if looking for a refund. If May, I'd be tempted to hold out hope for travel, but not sure OGG will be accepting inbound vacationers by then To be continued...
Naw. Our hotel's been cancelled. Now holding out zero hope. Plus, we no longer need these AS flights for MVP Gold for next year And we have KOA in November. We're damned well gonna be there.
But we have too much banked AS credit at this point, so cash is not a bad idea.

(Now just need AA to extend status...last major holdout...)

Cheers
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Old Apr 9, 2020, 1:22 pm
  #68  
 
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Originally Posted by tfizzle
Just to be sure. I had a direct PDX EWR flight leaving at 6am and arriving at 3pm. I got notice this morning that the rebooked me for PDX-SEA-EWR, that leaves at 9am and gets in 4 hours later. Is that a significant schedule change enough to warrant a full refund?
Originally Posted by pcoll
yes
What if the flight was paid for by My Wallet and those My Wallet funds can be traced to one purchased flight?
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Old Apr 9, 2020, 2:07 pm
  #69  
 
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Originally Posted by A318neo
What if the flight was paid for by My Wallet and those My Wallet funds can be traced to one purchased flight?
I've been really curious about this too. My assumption has been that Alaska would consider My Wallet the "original payment method" for the cancelled flight and you'd not be eligible for refund to a credit card, but curious if others have had success w/ tracing back to an original card purchase and getting a refund.
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Old Apr 9, 2020, 2:10 pm
  #70  
 
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Originally Posted by A318neo
What if the flight was paid for by My Wallet and those My Wallet funds can be traced to one purchased flight?
I've cancelled flights and credited to my wallet. Bought new flights using wallet funds and then subsequently ended up cancelling those with no problems. They were credited back to my wallet, which is fine by me. I also just did it online and was not given the option to refund to any original form of payment.

So, you'll definitely get a wallet credit.

Actual refund though? Who knows. I don't know how they'd trace that back.
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Old Apr 10, 2020, 7:38 am
  #71  
 
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Originally Posted by clarrkkent
I've cancelled flights and credited to my wallet. Bought new flights using wallet funds and then subsequently ended up cancelling those with no problems. They were credited back to my wallet, which is fine by me. I also just did it online and was not given the option to refund to any original form of payment.

So, you'll definitely get a wallet credit.

Actual refund though? Who knows. I don't know how they'd trace that back.
Very simple. There's no difficulty determining payment method or amount. Portion of payment via wallet goes back to wallet. Portion of payment via credit card goes back to credit card. Have done this twice now.
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Old Apr 10, 2020, 7:52 am
  #72  
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Originally Posted by brp
Naw. Our hotel's been cancelled. Now holding out zero hope. Plus, we no longer need these AS flights for MVP Gold for next year And we have KOA in November. We're damned well gonna be there.
But we have too much banked AS credit at this point, so cash is not a bad idea.

(Now just need AA to extend status...last major holdout...)

Cheers
You won't be able to change your existing tickets to a date on which the flight has already been cancelled. You could change to an earlier date where the flight is still scheduled and AS is selling seats, if you believe that earlier flights are more likely to be cancelled. Otherwise, hang on and if your flights are cancelled, you get a refund to your original form(s) of payment. If not, then you at least get a credit.
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Old Apr 10, 2020, 8:20 am
  #73  
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Originally Posted by Often1
You won't be able to change your existing tickets to a date on which the flight has already been cancelled. You could change to an earlier date where the flight is still scheduled and AS is selling seats, if you believe that earlier flights are more likely to be cancelled. Otherwise, hang on and if your flights are cancelled, you get a refund to your original form(s) of payment. If not, then you at least get a credit.
Oh yes, exactly this. Yeah, I have to be able to buy it for this to work. I've found similarly-priced flights (I booked as one-ways) in early May a few bucks either way. I would certainly expect early May to cancel before late May. As for travel, hotel already cancelled by Marriott, and pretty sure Hawaii won't want us by then, so we're not going.

Sounds like this should work, then.Any good reason to wait and not do this?
Cheers.
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Old Apr 10, 2020, 10:25 am
  #74  
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What if AS happens to operate a few flights and you pick the wrong one, e.g. the one that operates?

No way to predict these things as the likelihood is that it will not be all or nothing, e.g. AS will not simply turn its schedule back on. If & when the mandatory quarantine ends, there will be all manner of demand for routine business travel to & from HI.
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Old Apr 10, 2020, 10:40 am
  #75  
brp
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Originally Posted by Often1
What if AS happens to operate a few flights and you pick the wrong one, e.g. the one that operates?

No way to predict these things as the likelihood is that it will not be all or nothing, e.g. AS will not simply turn its schedule back on. If & when the mandatory quarantine ends, there will be all manner of demand for routine business travel to & from HI.
Good point.For the dates in April, the SJC-OGG non-stop is cancelled every day I checked (and that's what I'd book), so that's more likely one that they would drop but, yeah, there is risk

Cheers.
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