WestSideBilly

Wow, $35, how could you say no?

I got the email for an upcoming flight this weekend. For $25. The soonest flight they're offering me is 24 hours later and currently selling for $150 less than what I paid for my current flight. And my current flight isn't even that full!

This has to be a trial program. And frankly, it's insulting.

WestSideBilly

VDBing people for $1000 is ultimately a lot cheaper than IDBing the wrong person who throws a tantrum, gets a lot of BS media attention, and then sues the airline for a 7 figure payday...

flytoeat

Example of this actually happening?

VegasGambler

I assume he is referring to Dr Dao, but that's disingenuous because there was no IDB; he was allowed to board and UA later changed their minds (which is specifically against DOT policy, though admittedly they didn't clarify that until after the incident) and then they decided to get local police to act as their private security (and the police somehow agreed), which was the cause of the 7 figure settlement. It was a total cluster.

maradori

Speculative update - I'm sitting at the gate and looking at the flight status. I think a bunch of previous posters is correct, that AS is probably experimenting with something new.

First, the cynical software engineer in me thinks that the email subject of "exclusive" basically is just a sugar coated way to say "we're trying out something new with a small subset of users". Second, the paltry $35 offer (keeps any costs of this "experiment" to the minimum). Third - if you check the flight status for AS1400, they've assigned 10 seats, with 2 people waiting, and if you check with the seat map, there are still 7 seats available on the plane so it's not like this is an oversold flight

Or maybe enough people took Alaska up on a $35 offer LOL

Again, this is just speculation

WestSideBilly

Yes, this is what I was referring to. And even though he was already on the plane, it's still technically an IDB. I don't know if it's changed, but in the aughts the regional carriers routinely had to bump people off the plane after they were boarded ("due to weight & balance, we need 2 volunteers to take the next flight; we're offering $100 travel voucher" was a fairly common announcement). The regionals were severely constrained by their mainline partner in how much compensation they could offer, so IDB was not that uncommon. It was also very unpleasant. A lot of the airports I used only had 1 or 2 flights a day, so "the next flight" was usually tomorrow, and you didn't get a hotel voucher or anything, so it would actually cost the passengers money to take the VDB.

There's a price point where someone will volunteer to get off the plane. For Dao, $800 wasn't it, and for my upcoming travel, $25 DEFINITELY isn't it.

Xrayman

Had the similar email offer from ORD home to SEA 2 -3 weeks ago but offered $95. Took the offer as it was the next day and allowed me one more day of work and saved me a trip the following week.

jhurwitz

I got a similar offer a few weeks ago. $35 to switch from a daytime flight to a red-eye on an eastbound transcon, emailed out 3 days before departure. I kept my original flight, and (at least as of the day of departure) it was not overbooked.

dw

I got this e-mail with the $35 offer for my SFO-JFK flight on Monday. Oddly, I checked Expertflyer and all five of the flights that day are still showing up as J7 and Y7.

isaacchambers

Havent seen this before from Alaska this far out from a scheduled flight.

I got an email offering $35 voucher for flexible plans to change to a flight a day later.

My current itinerary: AS 1023 / 13 JUL / SFO >> ANC - 6F premium
Offered: AS 1044 / 14 JUL / SFO >> ANC - (no premium windows; only exit row window in main is available)

I called in...there was no apparent aircraft swap, no schedule change and the flight isnt oversold. The rez agent was baffled.

Any idea what is going on here? They wouldnt be offering me money (i certainly decline it given a full day later for not even a good dinner let along the lost hotel bookings that could far exceed the 35 dollars!) if there wasnt an apparent issue brewing.

Should i expect to be sent through SEA next week with scheduled cancellations coming down the pipe?

sltlyamusd

I received this offer for my SEA-ORD flight about four days prior to departure. $35 offered and several options the day prior or the next day. Weirdly, when I clicked on the link the next day, the message read “sorry, this was a limited time offer which has now expired.” Also, the flight ended up going out with about 20 empty seats, so it was a bit unclear why they needed people to switch in the first place, unless it ended up lighter due to misconnect/last minute changes.

PHLGovFlyer

For SEA-ANC in paid F last month I got an email about 8 days prior to the flight stating that they they were looking for volunteers to take a different flight. It turns out that they had subbed the aircraft to one with fewer F seats and were oversold. I called and they offered a $350 voucher for switching to SEA-JNU-ANC getting me in to ANC about 2 hours later than my original flight. Not bad... I got to see JNU for the first time and the view of the coast was spectacular.

SeaLuggageLover

That's great! It's nice to see AS being proactive like that. I'd definitely take the $350 under those circumstances.

anhuang19

Offered $25 to switch PDX-SFO, 2 passengers, award flight, 100k if it means anything. Notice came 6 days before original departure.

The alternate flights offered were all over the place, but for sure there was options leaving 1 day earlier, or 3 days later, see image below:



Ended up changing the flight to take advantage of more time with family and friends.

PDXPremier

I would have switched to that routing for free