Questions and Answers

I’m looking to take a short vacation in a few months and I am in the planning stages now. The flight that has caught my eye is an Alaskan flight. It has me leaving LAS on their first flight of the morning to LAX. I then transfer planes at LAX and head out of country to Costa Rica. The price is right and I tend to enjoy flying Alaska. However, the short transfer time makes me nervous.

I will only have 32 minutes to transfer between planes at LAX if everything goes as scheduled. I called Alaska and their customer service agent said that their website would not sell me a ticket if the transfer wasn’t possible. He assured me that the gates would be in the same terminal and my luggage would be checked all the way through (I will only have a carry on so luggage doesn’t matter). If I did miss the connection, they would be responsible and have to get me to my destination. What exactly does that mean?

Will they put me on their next flight to Costa Rica? That would not be good since it doesn’t leave LAX until 2 days later. Will they put me on another airline’s flight to Costa Rica that leaves sooner? What should I expect in terms of other treatment (i.e. food, lodging in LA if there is a big delay). It seems risky to me and I am wondering if it is worth the gamble. Particularly since the tour I am looking at prepaying for starts the day after I am supposed to land in Costa Rica and I would not be able to reschedule if there was a delay. Thanks in advance for any advice.

Yes, if you purchase one ticket on Alaska that has both flights, then they will be responsible to get you to your destination. 32 minutes is short but T6 at LAX isnt THAT big – if everything is on time, you shouldnt have a problem with your connection.

Just in case you misconnect – find out which flights will get you to Costa Rica (even if on another carrier) so that you can tell the agents so you can be rebooked.

Another consideration is that airlines tend to generously pad their flight times, even on the short routes, allowing for an earlier arrival than the published time.

Thanks much appreciated. You two have convinced me to give it a go. One follow up question, if they do wind up having to rebook me on another airline am I entitled to the miles I would have gotten on the original flight for purposes of Alaska’s Mileage plan?

It’s definitely worth asking for them and you may get them.