PlatinumCat

Hello fellow Flyers. I wonder if anybody had similar out of the hell experience flying Alaska Airlines SJC - KOA.
I bought 2 tix in December, for direct flights SJC-KOA. A week before departure got email, our flight schedule was changed: instead direct flight we were supposed to fly SJC-SEA-KOA now.
We were not happy but accepted the change, changed arrangements for hotels + car, and continued to prepare for our vacations.

On the day of the flight however, another email came, in the night, appr. 12 hours before the flight:Alaska Air then went incommunicado for the next 12 hours: their phone lines were busy, website stated that our reservation needed to be changed manually. Our departure time passed when a lady from Alaska called, apologized profusely, gave no real explanation though.
In the meantime, to save our vacations, I made reservation with American, we will get to KOA 2 days later then planned.
Are we entitled to a compensation for this horrible experience, time and money lost ? How to get it ?
I know airlines based in Europe are obliged by the EU law to compensate for delay, we got once e500 for a flight that didn't departure SFO-LHR. This situation is even worse, as we were in a limbo for 12 hours.

Any ideas highly appreciated !
Thank you.

RedPanda5

No ideas, but I commiserate with you. We lucked out and flew to HNL before AS canceled all directs from the bay area, our friends are flying in tomorrow and also have to connect through LAX.

I hope you are able to make your flight and alaska compensates you, for reference one time my OAK->HNL (yes back when they flew out of OAK...) went mechanical and we lost a day of vacation (landed around 10pm instead of noon HST) and ended up with 700-800 ecerts. I would expect much more in your situation

PlatinumCat

Thank you.
How did you get ecerts ? how they can be used ? This is the first (and last) time we used AS, have no idea about them.

RedPanda5

same as AA eVouchers, there is a CS forum you can fill out and request an explicit response. you should be clear the trouble it has caused you and suggest a reasonable accommodation:
https://www.alaskaair.com/feedback/general-comments

eponymous_coward

If it’s the last time you will ever fly them, e-certs will not be what you want because they are free travel on Alaska (in the dollar amount issued).

If all you want is cash, your tickets should be refundable. This isn’t the EU so you do not have a right to cash compensation established by law. The Alaska contract of carriage you agreed to with your ticket purchase specifically does not allow for consequential damages: https://www.alaskaair.com/content/le...ct-of-carriage




If you want to pursue legal action, you should probably consult a lawyer.

If Alaska isn’t refunding you, try filing a DOT complaint: https://airconsumer.dot.gov/escompla...nsumerForm.cfm

PlatinumCat

Thank you gents, I'm shocked how little recourse I have. I will look into my options after returning from vacations.

olouie

US airlines have almost no legal obligations for delays or cancellations to customers unless flying to/from the EU. It’s the same across the board. Alaska is usually nicer when it comes to customer service but recently they have fallen flat. If a plane has a mechanical issue or cancellations is last minute you might get a hotel and food (usually if you aren’t near your home). Airline credit is sometimes offered as well and hopefully they do that here due to their continued meltdown.

Kacee

US airlines have no obligation (except to offer a refund) flying to the EU either. EC261 applies only to EU based carriers and EU departing flights.

xliioper

AS is going through some rough times right now due to Covid related staffing shortages -- Changing flight schedule
The current issues with cancellations (which should hopefully be over in a couple weeks) is not really typical of their operation. They loaded mid-month schedule reductions over this past weekend for the Jan 20th - Feb 1st period to try to get ahead of the curve and avoid the very last minute cancellations that have been hitting recently.

WrightHI

Yeah, flying the other direction (HNL-SFO) this week has not been a typical AS experience, but a lot better than OP’s. Nonstop HNL-SFO was canceled <48 hours out and we were auto booked on an unpalatable alternative (HNL-SEA red eye), but my call was answered quickly (as a 75k calling very late at night west coast time), we were rebooked on the alternative I preferred through PDX, and our upgrades were preserved (2/3) or re-cleared well in advance. Also had a baggage glitch that was a PITA, but followed up appropriately and kindly by SFO ground staff. Looks very much like an organization that’s stretched too thin with omicron absences and prioritizing its FFs for the resources it has. That’s really unfortunate for OP and I sympathize, but I wouldn’t draw too many conclusions about the quality of the airline from what’s happening right now.

olouie

And sometimes US carriers don’t even like to refund you haha. Alaska is pretty good about this but I’ve had to flight UA in the past.

Eastbay1K

No, not "typical," but compounded upon the Pac NW weather meltdown, and also, the last minute nature of these cancellations (i.e., they didn't need to be quite as "last minute")* it presents quite the opportunity for not warm and fuzzy feelings for the flying public. I suppose the 'good news" for AS is that pretty much every airline has been suffering some sort of repeated meltdown over the past few years.

*The only reason I knew something was amiss for my upcoming flight was because FT reports of things being 0'd out for upcoming flights. It took about 3 days for the actual cancellations ... 3 valuable days to make alternate arrangements as seats fill and fares rise on last minute travel.

QT31415

This is so true! FT and the app Flighty were much more useful in finding out about the repeated cancellations. I'm ok with a cancellation and reschedule, but repeated cancellations of the rebooked flights and the continued unavailability of AS via phone, twitter, or text on the weekend/week of Jan 8 felt like abandonment! Hoping that AS has a backup plan for the next time this happens. In our industry, our covid positive and asymptomatic staff can work from home, and as many of the AS call center people also work from home I was surprised to have zero help from AS after all these cancellations. Even reaching out to customer care has not resulted in a return email after ten days.

eponymous_coward

Delta’s IT is way less prone to meltdown in the passenger side in IROPS than AS’s (not that it hasn’t kept them from meltdowns, everyone has gotten their turn). Sounds like something they should invest in. A bit late for OP though, and their willingness to stomach this.

tattikat2

"We lucked out and flew to HNL before AS canceled all directs from the bay area",

Since AS cancelled it's direct flights from SFO/OAK to KOA etc, it's been the end of our using AS and the BofA Visa credit card as well ( now cancelled )

Shame as I enjoyed flying with them.