Alaska Airlines Ending Price Match Guarantee

I just tried to get a fare recalculated after a fare dropped. Surprise there is no low price guarantee anymore as of September 1, 2018. For non-elites that was a huge benefit and now I will most certainly book away from Alaska and more towards Delta and Southwest in order to get the best fares. I don’t see the harm in having a credit issued for future travel. What was once exceptional customer service is now lacking. Sad to say.

Also, Alaska is still offering free status matches to customers from other airlines to all of their levels (including Gold75). So someone who is, say a platinum on AA, can get Gold 75 status for free, and hop over ALL the MVP's and Golds, who have remained loyal to AS for many, many years. That's just an outward slap in the face to all of the customers who have remained loyal to the program all this time. No wonder why the upgrade lists are more and more becoming 30 people deep for an already inferior first class experience. At the very least, they should have an upper tier that no one can challenge into, but is earned - like we all have. I'm PDX based, and it's now making more sense to go to Delta - it's less expensive, and is global.

As a counter to my last post (Sept. 8th), let me say that -- in all fairness -- Alaska is NOT dropping like a stone...rather, it seems to me that AS finds themselves in the same position that nearly every corporation finds itself in following the takeover/purchase/merger of another company -- the so-called "synergy" that's predicted always runs into problems due to the former paying too much for the latter; the timetable is always delayed, as it takes longer than the overly optimistic promises that were made; etc., etc., etc. It's not "dropping like a stone," so much as it's flying through what the pilot describes as a "light chop" when turning on the Fasten Seat Belt sign at 38,000 feet. It may be a little bumpy from time to time, but you're still flying towards your ultimate destination... So (for example) the price match guarantee falls by the wayside on the one hand. On the other, 9x out of my last 10 flights on AS, dating back to May of this year, I've been upgraded to F -- either at the gate or, more typically, via an email 12-24+ hours before my flight. (And I keep forgetting to use my upgrade certificates!) The same holds true for my wife when we're flying together. Also, the food has gotten significantly better on AS metal, coming much closer to what VX was serving than pre-merger AS.

Alaska Airlines is claiming that less than 10 people have complained about them not honoring the Guaranteed Airfaire Reduction (GAR). They denied a second price reduction to me because the first price reduction was after September 1st. I highly doubt the 10 person quote.

AS seems to be dropping like a rock, but I don’t have a “readily available” alternative. (Nor do I want to lose my 300k points!) For where I travel, WN domestically makes the most sense — less expensive, free bags, etc. — but I can’t use RR points to go to Europe or Asia...and as I usually fly foreign carriers, the US L3 aren’t very appealing.