Alaska Airlines is offering a cute promotion this summer. Without looking a gift horse in the mouth, dare I say that it almost feels a bit cheap to me?
Alaska’s “upgrade unlocked” promotion
With Alaska’s “upgrade unlocked” promotion, the airline will be offering surprise and delight upgrades over the coming months. Between June 1 and September 2, 2024, Alaska will be upgrading one passenger per day to Premium Class on a complimentary basis.
Each day, the airline will notify one passenger (and their travel companion, if they have one) through the Alaska mobile app or by email, indicating that they’ve been randomly selected to be upgraded to Premium Class.
Premium Class is Alaska’s extra legroom economy section, located at the front of the cabin. This features four extra inches of legroom, complimentary alcoholic drinks, and early boarding. This can ordinarily be purchased at an extra, or Alaska Mileage Plan elite members can select these seats on a complimentary basis, with limitations based on the tier of status they have.
Here’s how Eric Edge, Alaska’s Managing Director of Marketing and Advertising, describes this:
“upgrade unlocked is one way we’re showing guests our appreciation for choosing to fly with us to their favorite destinations this summer. Premium Class is just one of the main premium products and services we offer to our guests, including our best-in-class lounges, the freshest West Coast food and beverage line-up and our award-winning Mileage Plan program with the fastest path to elite status. Whether it’s their first time or they’ve experienced Premium Class before — we can’t wait to hear from our guests who receive this surprise upgrade!”
This is a cute concept, but…
I like the idea behind this promotion — it’s a nice way to pleasantly surprise passengers during their summer travels, and also to build awareness for Alaska’s extra legroom economy section. With fewer business travelers in summer, there’s also probably a bit more space in the Premium Class cabin.
However, I can’t help but feel like the execution of this promotion feels a little cheap. We’re talking about fewer than 100 passengers being upgraded to Premium Class (not including companions) over the course of three months. Alaska carried over 12 million passenger last summer, so the percent of passengers who will benefit from this is tiny.
Keep in mind that Alaska probably upgrades dozens (if not hundreds) of passengers per day to Premium Class at no cost even beyond elite status, since the airline often needs to seat people there for situations where the non-extra legroom section is full.
I think this would be a bit more exciting if 100 people per day were upgraded to Premium Class, as currently the odds are like winning the lottery, and the prize isn’t exactly huge. Presumably Alaska could still do that without even really cannibalizing any revenue.
Bottom line
Alaska Airlines has a cute promotion this summer, whereby one passenger will be upgraded to Premium Class per day, as a free surprise. I like the idea behind this, to get excited about summer travel and to promote the carrier’s premium seating options. However, the execution feels a bit cheap to me, given the size of Alaska’s network.
What do you make of Alaska’s “upgrade unlocked” promotion?
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