Alaska Airlines has become the latest major US airline to ”permanently” cut change fees, following in the footsteps of American Airlines, Delta Air Lines, and United Airlines.
Continue reading: Alaska Airlines Permanently Eliminating Change Fees
Share your questions, experiences, and thoughts below.
Are you able to change tickets bought using the AS cc companion-fare code? Previously i believe any change would result in the loss of the code. Anyone have recent +ve experience with such a change?
Now if we could just get one of the major players to eliminate checked baggage fees, we'd really have something.
Does anyone know how Alaska handles ticket changes if you used the companion pass (the free or the annual $99)? Do you just pay the difference on the 1st fare & the 2nd one is still free + taxes (or $99 + taxes)?
Art_Czar - As of a few weeks ago, AS now automatically redeposits your companion fare code within 7 days. Used to be that you had to call and ask; now it’s automatic.
@CW - They’ll honor the BOGO as long as its for the same airports and within the dates of the original offer. We actually changed from San Jose to SFO, which was allowed because they’re in the same area. As for the companion fare that comes with the credit card, you’ll pay a fare difference (if any) on changes. If you cancel, they’ll redeposit the code automatically within 7 days.
I don’t anticipate seeing any standby changes, as Alaska eliminated standby altogether a few years ago. Now, it’s same day confirmed change only, which is okay, given their very generous policy of allowing free same day changes for many short haul shuttle routes.
I don't find these changes unusual at all. Given the vagueries of travel restrictions, both domestic and International, who is going to want to book a flight that may be restricted at any time?
Allowing free changes will reassure patrons that they can adjust their flights as the government rules change. So this isn't being done as a good will gesture to ticket buyers, it's being done to increase the number of folks who will be willing to buy tickets. 😉
Do you get a full refund or credit back which needs to be redeemed w/in a year?
@ Zoe -- You get a credit back that has to be redeemed within a year. I'll update the post to clarify that.
There's no mention on Alaska's website that this "no change fee" policy applies to award flights.
This is a huge shortcoming.
To be clear: United's new policy allows you to cancel any reward flight and redeposit the miles back into your account with no fee, as long as you do that 30 days before the flight. That's a great benefit, especially in these uncertain times, but it should be the norm. It doesn't cost the airline anything to "allow" you to redeposit your miles if you cancel a flight. All the others -- American, Delta, and now Alaska -- have either ignored the fees on canceling award flights entirely, or only mitigated them under limited circumstances. Alaska should follow United's lead on that (so should American and Delta).