PSA Update: Dial Alaska Air phone number exactly - travel agent scammers posing as AK charge phony change fee for award reservation cancellation

[CalGalTraveler]

UPDATE: I learned later after calling Alaska again, and reviewing my call log that I had dialed one digit off the Alaska number and the people who answered were scammers who wanted me to pay a change fee. PSA: They sounded very official. As I originally thought there are no change fees on award flights. What is crazy is Chat GPT seems to support this change fee scam too.

Thank goodness I refused to pay the change fee and did not give a credit card. The Alaska rep told me there are some sleazy travel agents out there that perhaps will change your ticket but will charge you to do so. She thought perhaps this was one of them. What bothers me is that they represented themselves as Alaska. Note to self to always make sure I am dialing the correct number from the website. I reported the number to Alaska. Whew glad I missed that bullet.


Original post:
I was surprised by this fee/penalty in points - especially since my tickets are more than 2 months from departure. United and Southwest do not charge for award points tickets cancelled up until flight departure. So I mistakenly thought AK had a competitive policy. This restrictive policy this will cause us to do more business with United and Southwest going forward.

Any hacks/workarounds to get full points refunded if I need to cancel?

 

[StaceyM]

I was surprised by this fee/penalty in points - especially since my tickets are more than 2 months from departure. United and Southwest do not charge for award points tickets cancelled up until flight departure. So I mistakenly thought AK had a competitive policy. This restrictive policy this will cause us to do more business with United and Southwest going forward.

Any hacks/workarounds to get full points refunded if I need to cancel?

I've never head of that. I just booked an award last night and it said it was completely cancellable. Was it booked through Alaska or Hawaiian? HA used to have atrocious cancel policies.

 

[StaceyM]

Alaska is the easiest airline to cancel or change flights or awards. In fact, you can go to their website and just change the points reservation to the future... keep rolling it until you actually need it for something. Or change it to an inter-island Hawaiian award for 4.5k and the rest should be redeposited into your account. Then you can argue about refunding the 4.5k if that won't redeposit for free.

The only thing Alaska does that is annoying is that they always keep the "Partner booking fee" of $12.50 per one-way, so you would see a $25 loss per ticket on any round-trip awards booked on a partner airline.

 

[Luanne]

I plan to use Alaska points to book some upcoming trips. I'll see what kind of information I get about cancellation. The points I have are from a trip cancelled several years ago and I don't remember any fee to cancel at that point.

 

[CalGalTraveler]

She kept saying I had a saver award, however on a points ticket it should be refundable main. At least that is what I am seeing on the portal.

But now I see the scheduled flight has changed time so I can now cancel for full refund. IMHO I am not sure why she couldn't let me know of this. HUCA?

 

[easyrider]

I am not sure why she couldn't let me know of this.

From what I have seen, many of the younger employees are still figuring it out. Sometimes you can talk to a different person and get a better answer.

Bill

 

[CalGalTraveler]

The main page with the awards says "Refundable Main" [Update: This is correct per my original message - not deceptive] IMO this is deceptive because this only applies to cash bookings. A 25% penalty on points and fees is not a "Refundable Fare" - especially when you have multiple tickets.

I am glad we are burning down the last of our Alaska points because we will fly UA and WN in the future. Waiting for a flight schedule change is a great hack to get a flight refunded.

[Note: What is crazy is ChatGPT supports the idea that there is a penalty - Hallucination! - no change fees on award flights - can cancel up until flight similar to UA and WN. ] I asked ChatGPT and here is the breakdown. Alaska is more restrictive on award flights than cash. United and Southwest are the opposite. More restrictive on cash refunds but few restrictions on award flights.

 

[Luanne]

I am still confused about this. Everything I am seeing on the Alaska Airlines website, and under their cancellation policy for award travel, indicates you get all the points back and there is no penalty. Where did you first see that this penalty would be assessed?

What I'm seeing on their website:

If I cancel my award ticket, will I get my points back?
Yes. Once you have canceled your ticket your points will go back into your account, and any taxes paid will be refunded. The call center booking fee, and the partner award fee are nonrefundable.
If you're unable to travel, you must notify us before the flight departs. If you do not, your trip will be canceled and your ticket value forfeited

 

[CalGalTraveler]

This is what the CSR told me and then I went on ChatGPT. Crazy because I see this on the website now. That CSR wanted to charge me $200 to change my award ticket or wanted me to pay cash. I am now going to point them to this policy on their website.

 

[StaceyM]

The main page with the awards says "Refundable Main" IMO this is deceptive because this only applies to cash bookings. A 25% penalty is not a "Refundable Fare" I am glad we are burning the last of our Alaska points because I will focus on UA and WN in the future.

View attachment 118260


I asked ChatGPT and here is the breakdown. Alaska is more restrictive on award flights than cash. United and Southwest are the opposite. More restrictive on cash refunds but few restrictions on award flights.

View attachment 118259

Huh, I'm not sure I've every seen a Saver award, but usually I book partner awards and pay cash with companion passes for flights on Alaska metal.

Good news on the schedule change! But it they say it isn't significant (the rule of thumb is one hour) then here are a few options you can try in the order I would try them

0. To confirm, I assume you already tried to cancel online and got the message about 25%. If you didn't try online but called in, I would try the cancel button and see what the automatic refund is online.

1. Can you see a "change" button on your trip? If so, I would see if you can change to a Hawaiian flight like LIH-HNL on a random date and see if it will redeposit most of your miles (except the 4.5k or 5k the Hawaii flight costs). Then you can cancel the Hawaii award.

2. Ask for a one-time exception from customer care. (I put this second because I hate calling in, it might be #1 on your list.)

3. The next thing I would try is changing to a more expensive miles ticket, or the same cost but totally different city pairs. Before you confirm, check the cancellation policy to make sure you have "upgraded" to a non-saver fare, then try to cancel the new ticket for a full refund.

4. Wait until the day before the flight for more delays or schedule changes, as long as you cancel before the flight departs.

5. Nuclear option is complain to DOT. At that point the airline will respond within 24 hours and usually grant a one-time exception to get rid of you. Say that the Alaska website clearly says awards are refundable. Use the official link: https://www.alaskaair.com/content/travel-info/optional-services-fees which has the DOT-required disclosures

Alaska is usually pretty flexible, and making any changes resets conditions. Like if you have expiring wallet funds, book a new ticket and then cancel it and redeposit and it pushes out the expiration by a year. So if you manage to make any changes to the ticket, it will likely reset to the new rules.

 

[T_R_Oglodyte]

Was this a flight on Alaska metal, or was it a partner air line flight? Sometimes there are special rules for flights on partner airlines that are buried in the details.

 

[CalGalTraveler]

Alaska international to Mexico. I also see on the ticket terms that it is a fully refundable ticket. When I tried to cancel online it gave an error message. Even ChatGPT said the following after I shared the terms above. My reservation was made in Sept so technically with converted Atmos reward points. T

Update: ChatGPT is confused too.

Since Atmos Rewards officially replaced Mileage Plan in August 2025, any reservation you made in September 2025 would have been issued under the Atmos program, not Mileage Plan. That means:

• Your account balance: All your old Mileage Plan miles were automatically converted into Atmos Rewards points.
• Your reservation: Any award ticket booked after the transition (like September 2025) is technically an Atmos award reservation, even if some Alaska pages or agents still use “Mileage Plan” wording out of habit.
• Cancellation rules: The Atmos FAQ you found applies — cancel before departure and your points are redeposited (minus nonrefundable fees like call center or partner award fees). The 25% mileage penalty language is tied to the old Mileage Plan award rules, which no longer govern new Atmos reservations.

 

[easyrider]

Since Atmos Rewards officially replaced Mileage Plan in August 2025, any reservation you made in September 2025 would have been issued under the Atmos program, not Mileage Plan

I'm glad you posted this. I see the Alaska Airline website has changed. I haven't made a reservation after Sept 2025 and haven't even looked at the website for some time now.

Bill

 

[CalGalTraveler]

UPDATE: I learned later after reviewing my call log and calling Alaska again, that I had dialed one digit off the Alaska number and the people who answered were scammers who wanted me to pay a change fee. PSA: They sounded very official. As I originally thought there are no change fees on award flights. What is crazy is Chat GPT seems to support this change fee scam too when I queried it - see above.

Thank goodness I refused to pay the change fee and did not give a credit card. The Alaska rep told me there are some sleazy travel agents out there that may change your ticket but will charge you to do so. She thought perhaps this was one of them. What bothers me is that they represented themselves as Alaska. Note to self to always make sure I am dialing the correct number from the website. I reported the number to Alaska. Whew glad I missed that bullet.

 

[T_R_Oglodyte]

UPDATE: I learned later after reviewing my call log and calling Alaska again, that I had dialed one digit off the Alaska number and the people who answered were scammers who wanted me to pay a change fee. PSA: They sounded very official. As I originally thought there are no change fees on award flights. What is crazy is Chat GPT seems to support this change fee scam too when I queried it - see above.

Thank goodness I refused to pay the change fee and did not give a credit card. The Alaska rep told me there are some sleazy travel agents out there that may change your ticket but will charge you to do so. She thought perhaps this was one of them. What bothers me is that they represented themselves as Alaska. Note to self to always make sure I am dialing the correct number from the website. I reported the number to Alaska. Whew glad I missed that bullet.

Thanks for providing the update.

I have elite MVP status with Alaska, and my phone number is linked to my account. So, when I call in most of the time the person who answers already has my contact info in front of them and they usually ask a one or two questions to confirm my ID. Your note is a nice reminder to be suspicious if the person who picks up the phone doesn't have my information in front of them.

 

[beejaybee]

Scammers are so savvy.
I have a long tale of woe with a happy ending about scammers who answered a toll-free number and said they were Aer Lingus. The toll-free # of this "agency" out of India came up 1st in a search for the customer service number of Aer Lingus.
Ironically, a search for airline scams indicates this phone number come-on is how many folks end up being taken!

 

[WaikikiFirst]

. What is crazy is Chat GPT seems to support this change fee scam too.

Scammers must see chatbots as one of the best tools ever invented for them, and the people who feed / train chatbots have shown themselves to be ... well, let's say ... lacking more than a bit of integrity. The 1-digit-off technique is some wild stuff