Hats off to Alaska airlines

[DianeH]

Earlier this week I called AS to see what the exact cost would be to us if we cancelled our upcoming flight. During the discussion, the agent said there have been several changes already so you might be able to get a full refund, your companion ticket returned and your miles returned. I told him I wasn't prepared to make the decison yet but gee, I had to cancel 2 flights earlier in the month with the same itinerary for our kids so could those be refunded? All I had gotten was my miles returned and a year to use the credit to our account.

Sure enough, he returned to the phone and said its all taken care of! And our confirmations have been documented with the same approval so if we find we need to cancel, we will have no problem doing so.

I'm impressed and feeling alot better too.

Thanks Alaska

~Diane

 

[Jimster]

AS airlines

Alaska is my airline of choice. It is the airline that comes closest to what an airline should be. Unfortunately, it doesn't fly as many routes as I would like. I am an MVP Gold on Alaska so i get complimentary upgrades to first when available. BTW it is AS not AA. I was confused at first because AA is American Airlines.

 

[DianeH]

Sorry about that - I do know better, that is Alaska is AS but I was thinking AA as in Alaska Airlines.

anyhow, I'm glad you think they are great too - I was anti Alaska for years (after the dreaded horrific MD90 accident) but found they were the only way to my beloved Mazatlan.

I find their service wonderful (except when they ran out of the purchase food one row away from us) and their attendants are friendly and make you feel you are a guest.

I'm sorry they have cut routes too but we love them so much that we will drive to Seattle next March, just to fly with them to Maui.

Regards
Diane

 

[Icarus]

It's funny how peoples perceptions of airlines change over the years.

The crash of AS 261 in 2000 was directly attributable to AS maintenance procedures, and the fact that they decided to extend times between inspections of critical parts. The crash occurred because the nut that controlled the horizontal trim of the aircraft had no lubricant on it. The threads on the jackscrew were stripped, and the horizontal control surfaces were uncontrollable. The aircraft crashed into the ocean and everybody aboard was killed.

Basically the airline was trying to save money and increase their profits by skimping on maintenance.

I'm not saying that they still do this. Unfortunately, a bunch of people had to die for them to realize that skimping on maintenance was a bad idea.

This particular crash was interesting for several reasons. The main reason was the lack of lubricant was directly attributable to AS profit motive. The second factor that was exposed is that the MD-83 aircraft has no backup system for the jackscrew assembly, which remains as a weakness on that aircraft. The third factor was the FAA's lax oversight of the airlines and their maintenance procedures.

This crash was covered in depth on the show "Air Emergency" recently, and you can read about the crash and the causes if you are interested in it.

-David

 

[DianeH]

Yes I agree David. I tend to believe that the safest airline is the one that has had a horrific crash because of their negligence.

I also believe that those angels are sitting on the wings of each flight now.

Diane

 

[Icarus]

Yes I agree David. I tend to believe that the safest airline is the one that has had a horrific crash because of their negligence.

Well, even with some recent events, Qantas is still the safest airline. They haven't lost anybody yet.

-David

 

[DianeH]

Again my agreement. Unfortunately they don't fly to anywhere I plan to visit...yet.

Diane

 

[T_R_Oglodyte]

Yes I agree David. I tend to believe that the safest airline is the one that has had a horrific crash because of their negligence.

I also believe that those angels are sitting on the wings of each flight now.

Diane

I do a bit of work on process safety at chemical facilities. By far the most safety conscious facilities I worked with were former Union Carbide plants (post-Bhopal). But Bhopal is sufficiently far in the past that I suspect that on the whole most the old UC plants aren't that much different from similar facilities.