It was nice while it lasted - Changes to Alaska Airlines

[klpca]

They have joined the race to the bottom. I have been a pretty loyal customer. Not any more. I'm sad. I hoped for better. Southwest is looking better and better all the time.

https://thepointsguy.com/news/alask...itorial&utm_campaign=FACEBOOK-100000218957978

 

[WalnutBaron]

Agreed. I plan to use up my accumulated miles on Alaska over the next year or so, and then cash out. Alaska took out a wonderful airline for us West Coasters when Virgin America was acquired, and now they're making, as you say, their race to the bottom.

Time to embrace Southwest for West Coast and Midwest travel and JetBlue (my personal favorite) for East Coast travel. Bye bye, Alaska.

 

[klpca]

Exactly. I don't have any loyalty to them anymore because they certainly don't have any loyalty to us.

 

[vacationtime1]

Exactly. I don't have any loyalty to them anymore because they certainly don't have any loyalty to us.

They recently changed the routing for tickets we had already purchased -- from a first-class, non-stop flight to an itinerary requiring changing planes including a coach segment (OAK -> LIH).

We can no longer trust them. We will cancel our Alaska VISA, use up our miles, and then shop elsewhere.

 

[taterhed]

Well, I hear your complaints, but consider the alternative: They could keep what they have and bleed money to the ULCC's that continue to erode the quality and price of air travel.

Lets face it: we can only blame ourselves. The average consumer loyalty to an airline is estimated at $5 on the low end. I am utterly amazed and amused when passengers arrive at the gate on the 'basics' ticket and are told 'no carry-ons' followed by 'no, pre-departure carry-on bags were $30, now, it's $50, each' Sadly, high-end travelers aren't paying the bills these days. Thus, prices will drop (while average total ticket cost rises....bags, seats, food, upgrades, changes) and quality will evaporate.

SWA is a great airline with a great niche. But, just remember the story of Icarus.....

 

[Luanne]

One thing the article said was Alaska was going to start charging more for exit row seats. I thought they were already doing that?

 

[Sapper]

Well, there goes my favorite airline. Depending on how they implement the changes, it might not be so bad... Or, it could be horrid. Wait and see I guess.

For flights from the West Coast out to Hawaii, might I suggest Hawaiian Airlines.

 

[x3 skier]

I only have flown Alaska a few times back in the 90’s when I would travel up/down the west coast.

Actually, the changes I read in the article are far from the bottom. More like matching the majors than the LCC’s, like Allegiant, Frontier, Ryan Air. I fly mostly American and the Alaska changes listed are in line with how American prices travel. Last time I flew Delta, they were also similar. I always fly at least premium economy (which surprisingly is often only a few bucks cheaper than first) and First or Business on miles.

The cost difference between steerage and First wasn’t that big a hit all in when I bought the last few tickets and is definitely worth it to me. Certainly it might prohibitive for a family but solo or with a friend, bearable for me.

Cheers

 

[Luanne]

At this point what would deter me from using Alaska would be itinerary (times and locations of flights) and price. If I can still get, and use, a companion pass and the itinerary is good, I'll still fly them.

 

[klpca]

I only have flown Alaska a few times back in the 90’s when I would travel up/down the west coast.

Actually, the changes I read in the article are far from the bottom. More like matching the majors than the LCC’s, like Allegiant, Frontier, Ryan Air. I fly mostly American and the Alaska changes listed are in line with how American prices travel. Last time I flew Delta, they were also similar. I always fly at least premium economy (which surprisingly is often only a few bucks cheaper than first) and First or Business on miles.

The cost difference between steerage and First wasn’t that big a hit all in when I bought the last few tickets and is definitely worth it to me. Certainly it might prohibitive for a family but solo or with a friend, bearable for me.

Cheers

Part of the disappointment comes from the fact that they have been customer friendly for years. I expect crappy service from United, American, Delta (and I have flown all three) but I have had wonderful service from Alaska. As a timeshare owner, I especially have enjoyed not paying to change the dates of our tickets as long as we were 60 days out. Now that will set you back $125, not an insignificant upcharge.

I have to ask (not to be confrontational at all ) I never see any "deals" on first. I just looked at random dates and first is about 4x the cost of economy. Why don't I ever see any deals, lol.

And one more thing - because I wanted to look at what FC fares are going for, I logged in to the Alaska site and saw a fare reduction on one of my upcoming flights. So I did the low cost guarantee (yay!) and got a credit in my account. I haven't seen what they are planning to do about that - I can hope that that feature is staying around, but I imagine it's going away as well.

 

[x3 skier]

I have to ask (not to be confrontational at all ) I never see any "deals" on first. I just looked at random dates and first is about 4x the cost of economy. Why don't I ever see any deals, lol.

That difference between basic economy and First doesn’t surprise me. The small differences I’ve found were between premium economy and First and only on selected flights. As an example, I recently bought two tix from DAY to FLL. Moving from premium economy to First was about a 25% bump. The same route at a different time the same day was 100% more between the two classes of fares.

Seems a lot depends on type of equipment and date/time. The mainline AA planes are slowly converting to three class seating while the commuter planes are either one or two classes except the larger ones. Since I’m pretty flexible in my travel, not owning fixed weeks in the Raintree system, and can travel other places pretty much at will, I can usually find some reasonable deals to ride in the front of the bus

How long it lasts is unknown but as long as it does, I’ll keep looking and frequently enjoying the ride.

Cheers

 

[DaveNV]

Sidebar: Those of you with Alaska Visa cards may want to check your accounts. It may be more an issue with Bank of America than Alaska Airlines, but the interest rate on my Alaska Visa has been raised twice so far - just this year. Once in January, and again in March. That's ridiculous. Alaska has been depreciating the value of their Mileage Program (in my experience) for some time, and they've just about lost me as a customer overall. I know I'm about done with the Alaska Visa card. This latest round of price upcharges and such only adds to the discontent.

The Visa used to get a Companion fare for any purchased seat - including First Class. That went away a few years ago. Then the miles required to book a flight went up, to the point that for me, as an average card user, the miles were rarely enough to do anything. The available itineraries to book with a Companion fare are reduced, until they are no longer convenient times and routes. There just isn't much point in trying to use their program anymore. I don't want to work so hard to try and support my "local" airline. They certainly don't do anything to support me.

Dave

 

[x3 skier]

Sidebar: Those of you with Alaska Visa cards may want to check your accounts. It may be more an issue with Bank of America than Alaska Airlines, but the interest rate on my Alaska Visa has been raised twice so far - just this year. Once in January, and again in March. That's ridiculous. Alaska has been depreciating the value of their Mileage Program (in my experience) for some time, and they've just about lost me as a customer overall. I know I'm about done with the Alaska Visa card. This latest round of price upcharges and such only adds to the discontent.

The Visa used to get a Companion fare for any purchased seat - including First Class. That went away a few years ago. Then the miles required to book a flight went up, to the point that for me, as an average card user, the miles were rarely enough to do anything. The available itineraries to book with a Companion fare are reduced, until they are no longer convenient times and routes. There just isn't much point in trying to use their program anymore. I don't want to work so hard to try and support my "local" airline. They certainly don't do anything to support me.

Dave

Another view on why the interest rates may be raised is how the perks are funded. The banks buy miles and other things from the airline to “give” to the card holders.

The airline may have starting raising the cost to the bank. The bank may be getting greedy. Both may be happening. If the airline doesn’t perceive they are getting enough from the bank, they could switch banks which I would guess is why Hilton changed from Citi to AMEX and Costco also switched cards.

Cheers

 

[Luanne]

Sidebar: Those of you with Alaska Visa cards may want to check your accounts. It may be more an issue with Bank of America than Alaska Airlines, but the interest rate on my Alaska Visa has been raised twice so far - just this year. Once in January, and again in March. That's ridiculous. Alaska has been depreciating the value of their Mileage Program (in my experience) for some time, and they've just about lost me as a customer overall. I know I'm about done with the Alaska Visa card. This latest round of price upcharges and such only adds to the discontent.

The Visa used to get a Companion fare for any purchased seat - including First Class. That went away a few years ago. Then the miles required to book a flight went up, to the point that for me, as an average card user, the miles were rarely enough to do anything. The available itineraries to book with a Companion fare are reduced, until they are no longer convenient times and routes. There just isn't much point in trying to use their program anymore. I don't want to work so hard to try and support my "local" airline. They certainly don't do anything to support me.

Dave

Honestly I don't check the interest rates on my credit cards since I tend to pay them in full each month.

Right now we have only been using Alaska Airlines to fly from the west coast (Oakland) to Hawaii. I hadn't noticed any difference in availability in routes with, or without, the companion pass. We are also using Alaska Airlines to fly from Albuquerque to Vancouver next month. We are using them because I could use a companion fare, again the availability of routes didn't seem to differ. The issue we've had with this trip is that the flight for one leg has been cancelled, and the re-booking puts us into Albuquerque at 9 p.m. instead of early afternoon.

 

[easyrider]

Alaska Airline changes hopefully will not affect me too much. I really like the free checked luggage and very often free pre check. I also use the companion tickets every year. We have two accounts.

I guess the biggest reason we use Alaska is they are the only airline that services our city.

Bill

 

[CalGalTraveler]

This is disappointing news. We liked Alaska companion fare for HI. AK will die as customers shift to SWA and JetBlue. Their change policy differentiated them and I didn't mind paying a bit more for it, but now they are just like the other airlines so selection will be based on price and schedule.

IMHO...the points game for most airlines has 'jumped the shark' I get tired of trying to find mileage awards that don't take me through odd connections at odd times.

We will deplete remaining points or give them to our kids. Will use our Chase Sapphire Awards until they eventually devalue them into oblivion...now transitioning to cash cards until the economy falters and travel providers realize that they need to sweeten the offers.

 

[LannyPC]

We will cancel our Alaska VISA, use up our miles, and then shop elsewhere.

We just canceled our Alaska Air Master Card (a Canadian card) earlier this year because we no longer wanted to pay the annual fee. We then got a different cash-back card with no annual fee.

 

[T_R_Oglodyte]

One way to look at it. Their usual coach ticket pricing hasn't gone away. They've added a new, frill-less economy fare that they didn't have before.

So if you don't like the new coach fare, skip the new fare and buy what you've always bought. But some people might like having that new cheaper fare option.

 

[davidvel]

Sidebar: Those of you with Alaska Visa cards may want to check your accounts. It may be more an issue with Bank of America than Alaska Airlines, but the interest rate on my Alaska Visa has been raised twice so far - just this year. Once in January, and again in March. That's ridiculous. Alaska has been depreciating the value of their Mileage Program (in my experience) for some time, and they've just about lost me as a customer overall. I know I'm about done with the Alaska Visa card. This latest round of price upcharges and such only adds to the discontent.

The Visa used to get a Companion fare for any purchased seat - including First Class. That went away a few years ago. Then the miles required to book a flight went up, to the point that for me, as an average card user, the miles were rarely enough to do anything. The available itineraries to book with a Companion fare are reduced, until they are no longer convenient times and routes. There just isn't much point in trying to use their program anymore. I don't want to work so hard to try and support my "local" airline. They certainly don't do anything to support me.

Dave

I thought all available flights/seats (other than 1st) were available for companion fares.

 

[Lydlady]

I thought all available flights/seats (other than 1st) were available for companion fares.

Not the codeshare ones. For instance flying out of LAX to Hawaii, I see lots of flights on the Alaska Air website but the flights are actually on American Airlines. Those don't count for the companion fares.

 

[davidvel]

Not the codeshare ones. For instance flying out of LAX to Hawaii, I see lots of flights on the Alaska Air website but the flights are actually on American Airlines. Those don't count for the companion fares.

Codeshare flights never have been good for the companion fare, so that's a different issue than "devaluing." Always had to be on Alaska flight.

 

[CalGalTraveler]

Biggest issue for me is the addition of the change fee after 24 hours. Now they are one of the 'pack' where best price and schedule will prevail - no more loyalty except for SWA which is now our primary go to airline.

 

[Chrispee]

Yes, the free changes up to 60 days prior to flight were one of the main reasons I was loyal to Alaska. I’ll probably still get good value out of the annual companion fare, but as a Canadian they will move down my airline choices list given they can’t fly direct to Hawaii and the Canadian competition can. Too bad really as Alaska has been my primary airline for the past decade.

 

[isisdave]

Two years ago we got the Alaska card, mostly for the points and companion fare. Last November we got the Southwest card for the points and the free year of companion fares.

I've booked three trips this year, and two are on Alaska, and cost $99 (one way SAN-MSP) and $160 (rt SAN-PDX). I had one expiring companion fare I used on the rt, but it saved almost nothing. The third is a one way FLL-SAN but not until November. Alaska was $199 so with companion 2/320; AA was 160 each. I ended up booking that one with AA miles flown on the AS nonstop.

But in all three cases, Southwest was twice as much, even for "wanna get away," and involved a 6am flight or lousy connection, whereas the others are all nonstop mid-day flights. I used to love Southwest, but I'm not usually able to find a decent fare from any SoCal airports. I've still got those 40k SW points, and I hope they'll start the Hawaii service before the companion deal ends at the end of the year.

 

[1Kflyerguy]

Sidebar: Those of you with Alaska Visa cards may want to check your accounts. It may be more an issue with Bank of America than Alaska Airlines, but the interest rate on my Alaska Visa has been raised twice so far - just this year. Once in January, and again in March. That's ridiculous. Alaska has been depreciating the value of their Mileage Program (in my experience) for some time, and they've just about lost me as a customer overall. I know I'm about done with the Alaska Visa card. This latest round of price upcharges and such only adds to the discontent.

Dave

Most of the rewards / rebate cards have variable interest rates. The rate usually something like the prime rate plus a fixed percent. So everytime the underlying index goes up, so will the rate on the credit card. Interest rates have been low for a long time. But they are moving back up, you should expect 2 or 3 more rate hikes this year.