dtc

Hello - this is my very first time using the Alaska Companion Pass, and I'm a bit confused.

I'm trying to book a reservation for 3 pax: me + spouse + kid. Obviously, the companion pass applies only to 1 pax, but still the UI tells me that I'm only allowed to have 2 pax on the reservation.

Does this mean that I must book two reservations? One for me + kid, and one for spouse? This feels kind of weird, so I'm wondering if I'm doing this wrong.

If I do need to book two reservations, using my Alaska Visa card will my spouse get 1 checked bag free?

Thanks!

beckoa

This requires 2 reservations. The 3rd person therefore will not get the baggage benefit from the AS visa.

glitchy

If your spouse is also an authorized card user (which I think equates to having their own card on the account) they also get the free bag benefit without having you directly on the reservation. Getting secondary cards is easy but make sure the secondary card also has the secondary user's MP number on it, not yours.

That's relatively new (secondary cards used to have the primary user's MP number and no bag benefit) and there was a small bit of PR when they made the change. I would not trust this to work if the flight is within a few weeks and I believe the card Ts&Cs are also explicit about that. (Annoyingly I don't think there's any way to check in advance if it's all sorted out absent a phone call; I get multiply-redundant free bags (card+status) and everything I see before the actual flight still shows bag fees.)

ashill

Yes, you need separate reservations. It’s easiest if you book the kid on the companion ticket reservation with an adult so you don’t have to convince the system that the kid is not an unaccompanied minor.

However, if you do book the kid on a separate reservation (I do that if one ticket is award and I want the adults to be the ones accruing frequent flyer miles, for example), book the adult ticket first. Then when you book the kid’s ticket, towards the end of the booking process, there’s an option to provide the record locator for the adults to tell the system that the kid is travelling with adults. It’s actually quite slick, something I haven’t seen on other airlines.

ashill

Isn’t that no longer the case? From BofA, at least for new cards (but pretty sure this applies to older cards too:
No longer a requirement that the cardholder be traveling if the ticket is purchased with the card.

StrandedinLA

​​​​​​Have some experience here. It doesn't matter if the primary card holders mileage plan number is on the secondary card, but what does matter is that the card is used. If you pay only with wallet for ticket (or fees if reward), then partner card with your number does not get free bags.

dtc

Fascinating. I'd never thought to try booking a kid's ticket alone, and I just discovered this popup:



I sure hope linking reservations works. Otherwise an iropps could be a hot mess!

dtc

I don't follow this reasoning: the adult would earn miles regardless whether they are my Companion Pass or are a separate reservation, right? So it seems like easiest course of action is for me to book Me+Kid and then Spouse. I'm failing to see the advantage of Me+Spouse, then Kid.

glitchy

I'm with you--if (at least) one of the adults has status you can put that one in solo for a potential upgrade and put the other adult plus the kid on the other reservation, and it makes it a lot more reliable that if everything really goes to hell you'll still have at least one adult with the kid.

czpdx

The reason quoted is why I do this all the time. Use miles for the kid and let the miles and status accrue for the adults.

dtc

Ah, I see - you were referring to award travel. Got it. My use case was around the companion pass where the person also earns miles.

ashill

The booking goes exactly as described. The "linking" of reservations is minimal: I think it's effectively just a note in the record. But it means that when I call in (eg in IRROPS) the agent immediately sees the other record and can work on them both easily. Also, when you view the reservation on alaskaair.com, there's a direct link to the linked record(s) so you don't have to lookup the other confirmation code. I don't believe automated rebooking tools connect the records. I don't recall having trouble because of that, though I don't remember if I've had IRROPS when traveling on a companion fare (or other ticket) booked like this.

willoL

I'm a lucky person overall, so can't speak too much to IRROPS, but I have routinely booked myself and my kids on separate bookings, dating back to when Unaccompanied Minor service would've been required if they were truly alone, and "Linking" the reservations has always been sufficient for customer service to see both and do any necessary adjustments for the entire party. Never once was there an issue that the kids seemed alone when they could not be.

This frequently involves us being in different cabins, so I think I'd have heard about it if there were any doubt they were actually accompanied. (I did sit with them almost all the time before middle school, but, by the time the kids hit puberty, they'd rather sit many rows away from a parent anyway.)

In my case, my spouse won't use status nearly as much as my kid will. (DH hates to travel, though he's invited all over the world because of his work.) So sometimes it the kid should earn miles and the adult should be the companion.

But it was not uncommon that one kid's schedule would change, or the other would visit Grandma a little longer and then fly home with her... From my point of view, you can trust the linking of reservations

czpdx

I'll add a DP to linking kids' reservations. If you have to change the ticket, the fact that they're linked doesn't prevent you from doing so online. I typically change the adult reservation first, then go back and change the kids'. At no point does it prompt to re-link the reservation or alert me that I'm severing a linked reservation. Sort of seems like a flaw, but it does mean I can move things around without calling.