Alaska Airlines has a new 15 second commercial, suggesting you don’t get much from other airlines. Funny thing is if I got this as a meal from American, United, or Delta I’d be pretty happy!
They also have a spot suggesting that other airlines make you choose your perks. You’d be disappointed in that from an employer, why accept it from an airline?
Here’s another spot in the series and another one.
Of course now that they have their own basic economy fares isn’t that exactly what they’re doing too?
Most customers won’t get seats assigned until check-in, and people traveling together probably won’t be able to sit together. No changes or stand by is permitted, even for elite frequent flyers.
I still think this is the best Alaska commercial ever, and if they can pretend they aren’t making themselves more and more like their competitors they could just recreate it:
For those living in cities with a significant Alaska Airlines presence, their rewards program is probably the best. Their employees are friendly. Historically their operational performance has been good, though the Virgin America integration hampered them more recently.
However overpaying for Virgin America and struggling with its integration dragged down financial performance and put them in a position of having to act like everyone else. You get to carve out your own path when you’re overperforming, but it’s difficult to stick your neck out when you aren’t — or else it looks like the decisions you’re making are the cause of that underperformance.
Alaska Airlines has shifted its business to appease Wall Street and, loyalty program aside, is becoming more like ‘the other guys’ now.
Service has indeed gone way downhill. On a recent flight it was 2.5 hours into flight before I got a drink (no turbulence at all the entire flight), and they wouldn’t give me the can. It’s rather ridiculous.
They need to repair or replace their award search engine!
AS treats their passengers better than any of the legacy US3 carriers, and their miles are worth more (subjectively) than the US3’s programs.
Did they overpay for Virgin America? It seems they did, but JetBlue would have bought VX otherwise.
I am very happy flying AS instead of the US3. If this article was meant to suggest that AS is becoming like the US3, then this isn’t newsworthy.
Still the best FF program out there by far. Saying that they have to appease Wall Street is just silly – every publically traded firm must do that to keep the stock price up.
You guys have 5-10 years to enjoy AS, its only a matter of time before they merge with B6 and become just like the other legacy airlines.
My favorite commercial is this one:
https://youtu.be/f44h_rfOiWQ
“I had better food in……prison”
And yes, Alaska has gotten substantially less frequent flyer friendly every year. They’ll all be the same soon, since the bean counters who begrudge us the miles are in charge everywhere.
Say it aint so Mike
Bite your tongue
Alaska Rocks compared to the horrors of the big overgrown legacy carriers
I walked away from lifetime status at American and United to have to earn my status on Alaska annually 🙁
I hate having to qualify
Having said that its been worth it so far and the upgrades have been exceptional even at the mid tier
Like the good old days at UA & AA
And I feel valued and a[appreciated as a customer
I just got a FF for 20k flying Salt Lake City >> Seattle >> JFK, no red-eye. Wouldn’t have got that on a legacy US3.
Sidebar: and as Gold MVP, I invariably get 1st class upgrades trans-con outside of Monday/Friday.
@mike. “5-10 years”. To quote Keynes, “In the long run we are all dead.” In fact, the UN has warned that “We have 12 years to limit climate change catastrophe”. [There have been similar echos in USA politics (dry joke).] So if I get to be high level elite between now and the end of the world, it is all gravy.
You get a seat assignment on AS Basic Economy fares. Nobody else does that. Their primary legacy carrier competitors are United and Delta on the West Coast. UA does not give you a carryon bag on Basic fares. E+ gets free drinks (UA doesn’t even do that). Change fee is $125 (waived for Gold and higher) vs. $200 on UA/AA/DL. The only one that beats that is Southwest (free for everyone). The BOGO ticket you get with the credit card earns miles for both pax (I don’t think anyone else does that). There’s a baggage service guarantee (only DL has something similar). And of course the mileage earned when flying AS is significant, with decent rewards and stopovers both ways.
Not all of the above is meaningful to everyone, so it might not be much to some, making the ad a stretch. But for many, they give a bit more.
I usually don’t have much problem with the service of Alaska Airlines but, I dnt knw about now. Hope they have good services.
In my view Alaska is still head and shoulders ahead of its competitors. Every airline I have flown more than a half a dozen times (probably close to 20 at this point) I have had a negative experience in one way or another. I have come to expect it. The only exception in 40 years of flying is Alaska. Do they make mistakes? Yes. But the huge difference and what sets Alaska apart from its competitors is its commitment to fix the problem and treat their customers with respect. I can’t remember having a bad experience with an Alaska person. Trying to get a family of five from the East coast to the West coast with miles is always a challenge, but with Alaska’s FF program there are many ways to get where you need to go. Companion ticket, half-price with 20K miles, etc. offers tons of flexibility. My only complaint used to be that you could not get a free bad with the Alaska credit card. Now you can (and you will get your bag within 20 min of landing!).
+1 for AS! Have been shifting my family’s loyalty over from AA and not regretting it at all. Their loyalty program actually makes me want to be loyal.
They are upgrading their services for better goodwill. Good to see these things nowadays
They have to repair or replace their award search engine!
Alaska Rocks compared to the horrors of the big overgrown legacy carriers
I walked away from lifetime status at American and United to have to earn my status on Alaska annually