NWAlaskaFlyer

As I book the few flights I will make this year I notice that there is never an instant upgrade option for me anymore. Mostly SEA-DTW and SEA-BWI. I used to regularly get these as a 75K. Not only that but purchases paid first class has become ridiculous. Generally over $1K each leg. I get that operating costs are up but there seems to be a pretty big disconnect to me and it is definitely further diminishing my travel. Anyone else see or have thoughts on this. <flame suit engaged>

eponymous_coward

Alaska Airlines thinks they can make money selling F as opposed to offering instant upgrades from Y. They'll figure out if this is a way to optimize their profits pretty fast.

jrl767

I've seen SEA-WAS in the ~$579 range 6-7 months out ... it's typically limited to one or two seats; then it jumps to ~$899 for one or two seats, then into four digits

that being said, I've also seen it revert to $709 a week out ... a $349 company-paid coach ticket means $360 out of pocket to upfare; that's a bit more than the $1/minute metric that DL regulars tend to espouse, but in the absence of all PC seats I've been ponying up

NWAlaskaFlyer

I get the revenue component of this. AS has to monetize. I do wonder if they think about the impact to business travelers who's travel is more discretionary.

NWAlaskaFlyer

Yep been watching week to week on my next potential trip too.

jsguyrus

Planes are packed full and Alaska cant expand or add flights due to inability to hire enough staff. While disappointing, it makes sense that upgrades are few and far between.

SFOPhD

The industry is seeing high demand in the midst of low supply. It's almost expected that instant upgrades will be more rare compared to business as usual.

mpeterson78

How can you tell if a fare is eligible for an instant upgrade? This happened to me on a very expensive coach ticket and I wasn't sure if it was a mistake, but now it makes sense.

anteater

https://www.alaskaair.com/content/mi...ntary-upgrades

mpeterson78

Thanks, is there a quicker and easier way to quickly check what fare class it is booking into without selecting the flight and waiting to see on the checkout screen what class it is?

MapleLeaf93

I assume you mean whether you'll be booked into an instant-upgrade fare class if you choose the Main fare? You can infer it by choosing the MVP/Gold/75k/100k radio buttons (on the left) and then looking at the Premium Class Upgrade and First Class Upgrade columns. If the Main fare is greater than or equal to one of those, then you know that if you book the Main fare, you'll get an instant upgrade to either PC or F at that status level. So for example, if you select "MVP Gold" and then you see that the Main fare is the same as the "First Class Upgrade" fare, you know that Main must be booking into the K fare class or greater. So if you select the Main fare *and* U space is available, you'll get an instant upgrade to F if you're MVP Gold or higher.

Still a bit cumbersome to have to select the radio buttons (and possibly several of them to narrow it down), but faster than having to add it to your cart in order to see the fare class.

mpeterson78

But you still have to select the higher "First Class Upgrade" fare in order to get instant upgraded, right, not just "Main"? In addition to having the blue F.

MapleLeaf93

I don't think it matters, but I don't know for sure. I think the MVP/Gold/75k/100k buttons are just syntactic sugar for the underlying fare class you'll be booked into, which ultimately is what drives whether you'll be instant-upgraded or not (assuming sufficient status and availability of "U" space). So I think that if Main and First Class Upgrade end up booking you into the same class, you'll be instant-upgraded regardless of which column you chose (again, assuming sufficient status and availability of "U" space). But having said that, I've never actually put it to the test.

dayone

They were selling upgrades at the gate on today's SFO-HNL for $199 a pop. I think one couple took them up on the offer.

The flight went out with 5 open F and I think there might have been 2 non-revs in F.

James Moore

Is that changing? I was thinking about changing my flight today and looked at seats for other flights - tons of availability SAN => SEA on the other options. I stuck with my original after getting mail saying I was upgraded to first class.