stephem

I havent really been paying attention and just realized that as AA Platinum I have better status than my AS MVP. I already booked some flights, if I change my FF # to my AA one, will the reservations "update" and potentially give me access to a Premium seat for me and my companion?

Eujeanie

It's tricky. My husband is AA Gold, so he puts his AA number in so we can get Exit Row. This doesn't qualify us for "Premium Seats", we would still have pay for those, but Exit Row is in the category of "Alaska and One World Elites". I'm not sure what a Plat would get.

However, there is a trade-off, and I'm not sure how it would affect a Plat...he gets fewer miles than I do for the trips we take, but we're ok with that since we like the Exit Row.

What you could do is put your AA number in, see what you get, and if it's not what you want, switch back to your AS number.

tfizzle

I just booked PDX-DFW-MEM rt. I'm EXP (Until Mar 2023)

PDX-DFW on AS and DFW-MEM on AA.

Best price booked through AS and I put in my AA FF#. Sadly because of the AA segment, I couldn't use the AS companion fare.

Went through booking and selected regular economy seats. 30 minutes later, I logged on to AS and they have moved me to "premium class) then logged into AA and selected MCE seats.

DSM Flyer

I'm planning to book a flight on AS and enter my AA number during booking so I can use my AA status and earn LP's. AS doesn't serve my home airport and I don't see more AS flights in my immediate future, so I see no need to join the AS Mileage plan, right? It looks like I could pull up my flight info with the reservation number on the AS app, although I suppose it may be easier to just sign up for an AS account (not Mileage plan). Are there any drawbacks I'm not seeing to doing this without an AS Mileage plan since I want it all to be tied to AA?

SeaLuggageLover

It would be helpful to have an AS mileage plan account even if you're using your AA number when you fly so that you have any easy place for miles/credits to be deposited should you encounter a situation deserving of compensation.

chrisny2

I dunno -- what good would 5000 or 10000 orphaned miles do?

DSM Flyer

That's fair, and really there's no reason not to have a mileage acct if I'm also registering a user account for the app. Just like to avoid having another account to keep track of, but it'd be no different from 3000 orphaned miles sitting in my United account, haha.

Maybe a better question in the AS forum, but since I'm here, have I just found an oddity in pricing? I'm assuming Main and Premium Upgrade are the same price since I checked MVP Gold and Premium Upgrades are available at booking like MCE. First Class is only $37 more so I may book that. But what is up with the First Class Upgrade, $98 more? That option didn't appear before MVP Gold was checked, but it is more than full first class. Is it equivalent to the in-app upgrades on AA and the pricing is just wonky?

HiAperture

those are higher fare classes that are eligible for Alaska’s own guest upgrade certificates/mileage upgrades (and instant upgrades for some AS elites if available). That has nothing to do with using your AA status to get a Premium seat or be on an upgrade list.

*edit* I forget that lower level elites don’t get premium on every fare class except X (saver). So if you are AA plat for instance that would help you make sure you are getting a fare class that is eligible for a premium class upgrade just following booking.

if this is a long enough flight to get a decent meal I’d look at the $37 to just buy first. Plus you get more AA miles on an F ticket (high % of distance flown).

DSM Flyer

That makes sense, still seems like a steep difference for First Class Upgrade (to be eligible to upgrade a companion?) but maybe I'm not fully understanding it. I don't see any indication that the "Main" is a Saver fare, but if I don't do First I'll do Premium, to ensure I (PPro) am eligible for the upgrade. It's a 2 hour (450 mi) flight on an ERJ operated by Horizon, so not expecting anything more than a snack basket in First. I may do First just for the 50% increase in miles (LP's) anyways.

HiAperture

As an SEA based AA member I fly AS pretty frequently and credit to AA. So I don’t know a lot about AS’s own program. I do know about the AA benefits on AS though.
In short, per my experience (glad to learn if there is something I dont know) as a PPro you can ignore all that “upgrade” stuff you pulled up.

As a PPro ALL main cabin bookings (except saver X fares, their version of basic economy, which comes up as its own column where offered with all the typical disclaimers) are eligible for a free upgrade for you and one companion after booking. I say after booking because during the ticket purchase seat selection will not show free premium seats. AFTER you have the ticket, reflecting your AA status, you can go back in and select the premium seats.

Likewise you and one companion are eligible for complementary upgrades to first, which could clear in advance (mine seem to clear around T-48) or at the gate on the waitlist. as you see here though, AS often sells up to First pretty affordably, so it is worth considering the additional miles earned. Especially when some of their lower economy fares have horrid earning rates.

All that works fine if you are flying solo or with one companion. If you have two or more companions all you will get access to is the “one world” section, which includes exit rows. No premium class (although I have had luck getting a phone agent to assign me and me only a premium seat anyway) and no first upgrade.

Do note as a OW emerald you get a complementary hard drink in economy, so if premium is full or only a middle is available, the exit row is not a bad alternative at all.

For your case, every seat is pretty good on an E175, but I would pay the upgrade to secure one of the solo seats up front.

econ

It's possible to have one without the other?

In any case, I prefer booking AS flights when logged onto my AS MP account (even though I'm mostly crediting to AA) since I can keep track of all my AS flights on the website.

Another reason is that I can keep track of cancelled flight credits in my AS Wallet.

HiAperture

You an add booked flights into the Alaska app no matter who or how they were booked so long as you have the PNR and last time. You can even put a friend, co-worker, or relative's trip in your app, without you even being on the ticket.

Flying for Fun

It looks wonky, but really isn't. The First Class fare is a Y-up from Main to First that requires dual inventory in the underlying Main Fare Class & First Class buckets; purchasing Main gets you into First and has all the same benefits.

For 75K & 100K, eligible fare classes for immediate upgrades, space available, are Y, B, H, K & M. When selecting the Elite tier upgrade type, the results returned are the lowest "eligible fare" for your Elite Status.

If the First Class fare is cheaper then the y-up Main selling class is lower than the lowest eligible fare class for your status that allows the immediate upgrade. The First Class fare, in this instance, is likely an underlying S fare.

James

GNRMatt

First time flying Alaska since LP was implemented. For a trip on a "D" fare, it states earning 100% base miles and 50% cabin bonus. Does this mean for a 1,000 mile trip, it would earn 1,500 miles and 1,500 LP's? And there are no status bonuses?

Thanks!
-Matt

donotblink

I thought your status multiplier was on top of that so an exp would earn 3,300 with the 120% bonus.