Yesterday evening, Alaska Airlines held an interesting event for frequent flyers. I wanted to recap what was discussed, for those who didn’t have the chance to tune in.
Continue reading: Alaska Airlines Flyer Forum: What Was Discussed?
Share your questions, experiences, and thoughts below.
Oh I’m going to be there, I’ve had my calendar marked since I got the email, but never got follow up details. I’m going to try to win some miles and such as indicated by the email 😉
AS reached to many of us who accepted however as of this post many of us have not heard back as promised by AS sad further deterioration and lack of confidence in Alaska's current management.
There is an opening at Sky Team maybe "ben" will call them much better than OW.
Happy Holidays All
Can't wait for the "improvements" as partner redemption's get nuked from orbit.
I also plan on being there, too. I also have not received any updates since 11/14. Hope to hear from them soon so that I can get signed in.
Some of the benefits of inviting 'select' forum participants are that they are doing their best to not risk losing control of the narrative, and forestall pesky, awkward and unsympathetic questions or comment which could spoil or derail the event. All proven event-planning procedure.
As to the likely big announcement, it is clear from their words than dynamic pricing of awards is at the centre.
Whether it is reasonable or nuclear remains to be seen, but they have imposed some pretty outrageous mileage redemption rates on OneWorld partners as they trickle online. (Maybe they've taken a look at at FlyingBlue to see how crazy they could go.)
We will all know soon enough.
taking too long to get started, I DO NOT CARE ABOUT YOUR KRAKEN GUY, I DO CARE ABOUT WHAT ALASKA HAS TO SAY, and he still hasn't said anything. Good-bye!
It looks like you have to give credit card information?!?! Is this a scam??No, no updates either and did they ask you for credit card information?
For those of us who get up at 3 or so perfectly reasonable! Although I generally make it to 8
So if you didn't watch, you didn't miss anything. Literally nothing. Other than the angry million miler.
Corporate speak in a consolidated and grim industry. The whiny million mole fliers were funny. They want something for nothing.
As a former Delta Diamond gone AS 100K, this event was wildly disappointing. Going to be writing in with some suggestions myself.
AS will continue to be the industry leader for reclining seats in First Class and Gold Guest Upgrades will be frustrating for at least the next 12-18 months. Despite their devaluation, Delta made redeeming RUC’s and GUC’s straightforward, simple, and relatively available.
They've accumulated 1,000,000 miles, & you think they want something for nothing??? Do you know how many Bedsores you need to accumulate before you reach 1,000,000 miles???
However, the main questioner about the 1M fliers couldn't shut up. So challenge you on one, but "whiney" on the one guy being funny, I'll grant you.
See my response to Non mvp above.
I think that there was a little more meat on the bone than you give credit to. Actually, you may write about, in future postings about some of the minutiae that was presented.
I registered on the original email. I received a response to how to link to this at 8:20 AM PST (just looked at my in box to verify this time).
Exec praised pitch in business and premium while evading coach. .mostly a promotion that I watched to kill time at 34000 ft., EWR LAX. Waiting for email prize notification, but out of 30k online, what are the odds?
I registered on the original email. I received a response to how to link to this at 8:20 AM PST (just looked at my in box to verify this time).
And, my FA recognized CEO as I watched. She wondered what it was, then praised the first class event that the airline put on for 13,000 employees.
I only lasted to the part where the female was talking (and talking and talking) about getting through baggage drop off faster. Of course, I heard nothing about the fact that they want to charge you $70 to have this "electronic bag tag." Didn't stick around to hear the angry million miler but that would have been a highlight.
I received an invite and my rsvp was confirmed but never got any information on how to tune in. Good work Alaska.
Well if they become as crappy as everyone else why bother?
I have to go out of my way to fly Alaska
Might as well suck it up with AA UA & Delta
They have way more flight options
Alaska FC food always disappoints and the leg room in first no great shakes either
Alaska may have joined one world, but unless you fly out of Seattle or Portland good luck to u.Alaska now thinks it’s the largest carrier in the US all of a sudden.
Customer Service has nose dived too
The worst to come is likely
and all this played out wihile AS' operations in SEA have been yet another December hot mess with cancellations and delays far above the rate of other airlines.
I liked my DAL LAX trip in F on the embraer in F . The food on Alaska was decent.
It was refreshing to see an airline do something innovative, even though no “earth shattering news” was released. As long as I have been a Mileage Plan member, Alaska Airlines has been ahead of other domestic airlines in creating a culture of engagement with its loyal customers.
The takeaway can be summed up by the one line statement from CEO, Ben Minicucci: (paraphrasing) We received a wealth of customer data from all the questions/ concerns from our Mileage Plan members first-ever Flyer Forum. If history is any indication of how Alaska Airlines conducts engagement with its Mileage Plan members, we will see them address these issues.
10 years ago, I was at 700,000 miles on Delta but I defected from the Soviet Republic of Delta. Instead, I became a free agent so now I am merely at 800,000 at Delta. However, I didn't defect to Alaska except that Alaska is my somewhat preferred airline to Seattle and Anchorage and rarely SFO-JFK.
I hope Alaska and other U.S. airlines host more events like this. I agree with less fluff please. Frequent flyers don't need to hear old news. Give us something new and give more time for questions.
I also appreciate the forum. I thought it was interesting. It did feel really scripted up to the in person Q&A. I appreciate the sharing of future plans and the intention of making things better. Flying out of Portland, I get it will be better. Never had major issues in Portland though. Checking in to a flight from Cancun a few weeks ago was painful. And, I’m curious who won miles?
As to Japan Airlines, there is a great possibility of introducing new product of first class. Their fleet renewal is in progress replacing Boeing 777 with Airbus 350. For domestic service, delivery of 15 A350-900s (2019-2022) has been completed. For International service, JAL will put their first A350-1000 into service some time in 2023 though no official announcement has been made.
Who cares. Really. Nobody really cares to put names to faces. Nobody really cares about their plans unless it is confirmed. At this point points and loyalty programs are huge money makers for the companies.
Did Alaska execs address the lousy conditions in the lounges??? Dirty, not serviced properly, old and worn out seating, lazy staff, etc., etc.?
Ben - could you elaborate on your comment about elite ranks "swelling"? If they're looking to reduce the number of elites, curious why they'd offer an option in Q1 for people to requalify for status they lost this year.
Thanks for the synopsis. I listened to a few minutes of the call. Ironically, during the call, I was on an Alaska Airlines flight to Kona. Our bags did not arrive and we had to deal with that. We only caught a few minutes at the end of the call.
We asked, via chat, where the You Tube replay was. The link we were given was deleted.
I haven’t tried the link you provided, as im on another flight, soon to be landing in SEA from KOA.
Thanks.
I've always wondered about Alaska in OW, and the general relationship of the 'bottom feeders' (butts in seats, few international destinations, "first class" in name only) and the relationship with the rest of the network.
Having seeing what VS pays ANA for award tickets, I can't think the points alone are that lucrative for partners that AS pays. And no sane JMB Diamond is going to say "you know what I need? A s**ty flight between LAX and RNO" or "how about an upright seat between SFO and HNL?"
I have been top tier flier for the past 27 years, million miler, Gold 100K, am at 1.8Million actual miles and I didn't even get an invite.
My complaint is that million milers don't get anything different for day of depature upgrade priority. THe only difference between miilion miler status was a free meal from Gold 75K and that too was diminished with Gold 100K members getting the upgrade.
The one thing that none of the bloggers has pointed out is that EQM's have been sneakily put in and so the elite tier qualification is butt seat miles. Has anyone calculated how many flights it would take to get 100K butt seat miles on AS routes? It is ridiculous....
I think that AS can do more for their million milers who continue to maintain annual top tier status with comp upgrades beyond the "U" space that is always blocked out for long haul (eg transcon and Hawaii flights) and exception upgrades when redeeming awards at least 3 months out. I can't count how many times I have redeemed business class and first class partner International awards but couldn't get any award space from PDX to gateway city, but I could book the AS segment separately using a boat load of extra miles.
If AS is serious about getting feedback, why don't they set up a separate email address at minimum for frequent fliers with status.
Your link to Youtube indicated that the video is private. Is there any way you can send it to me?
The Youtube link you provided indicates the video is "private".
Any chance you the video to me?
Thanks
I’ve flown over 3 million miles on various airlines, with 1.3M on Alaska Airlines alone. My favorite is Alaska, then Delta. Since joining OneWorld there are more options for Alaska Airlines flyers. I’ve never flown on Aer Lingus before this trip - Sea-Dub-Rome, and return. If you are a OneWorld frequent flyer, I do NOT recommend this airline. Old aircraft, tight seating, terrible customer service, terrible website, terrible checkin process, everything is ala carte. If you want water, you pay for it. They move your seats at their convenience without notifying you. This airline made my “Do Not Fly List”.