Alaska Sent Me A Post-Flight Survey… For An Aer Lingus Flight?

It’s common for airlines to send out post-flight surveys (and they’re worth filling out, because they do matter). However, here’s an interesting variation on that, as I don’t think I’ve ever received a survey like this…

Alaska sends me survey about flight on partner airline

I recently redeemed Alaska Atmos Rewards points for travel in Aer Lingus business class. Today, I received an email from Alaska, asking me to rate the flight:

We want to hear from you

Our records show you recently flew from Dublin to Boston.

Your flight was on Aer Lingus, a partner of Alaska Airlines. We’d like to hear more about your experience on that flight. This survey should take less than five minutes of your time.

Unless I’m forgetting something, I don’t think I’ve ever received a post-flight survey from one airline regarding a flight on another airline (let alone an airline that’s not even a joint venture or equity partner).

I decided to complete the survey, as I was curious what this would focus on. It was a fairly short survey. The first page asked me to rate my overall travel experience, from poor to excellent.

Then I was asked to explain why I rated it the way I did.

I was then asked if I flew a oneworld partner airline on this trip (I didn’t).

I was then asked if I thought I received good value for my points on this trip.

Then I was asked if anything went wrong on this trip, related to my flight or booking.

The last page then asked if I had anything else about my experience I wished to share.

This is an interesting variation on the typical survey

I redeem a lot of Atmos Rewards points, though looking at my email inbox, this is the first time I’ve ever received such a survey from the program for a flight on a partner airline. It’s interesting how the focus seems to be four main areas:

• I was asked about how I’d rate the travel experience; that’s interesting, because it’s something Alaska has no control over, and I’m curious if that data is shared with the operating carrier
• I was asked if I flew on a oneworld partner airline this trip; I didn’t, so I wonder if there would’ve been follow-up questions if I had (maybe about my experience with reciprocal oneworld recognition, etc.?)
• I was asked if I thought the value for points was good; I totally understand the program’s motive there, since they’re probably keen to see which redemptions members consider to be valuable
• Lastly, I was asked if anything went wrong with the trip; that’s fair, to be sure that everything was seamless

So kudos to Alaska for asking these questions, assuming something is actually done with this information. While I’m a little bit confused about the point of asking about the flight as such, I imagine the rest of the data is useful to Alaska, especially regarding perceived value for points. With loyalty programs being such a core part of airline profitability nowadays, it’s understandable that satisfaction with redemptions is just as important as satisfaction with flights as such.

Bottom line

I recently redeemed Alaska Atmos Rewards points for travel on Aer Lingus. To my surprise, Alaska sent me an email asking about my experience flying with Aer Lingus, which is a new one for me, since Alaska has no control over Aer Lingus’ passenger experience.

I can totally see merit to asking about member satisfaction with redemptions, so I see how that makes sense. Still, this caught me off guard, and I’m curious if this is a concept we see expand.

Have you ever received a survey from one airline regarding a flight on another airline?