alaska

Tag Archives for alaska.

As Alaska Completes Their Merger, Expect Basic Economy & Other Unfriendly Changes

by Gary Leff on January 26, 2018

Jan 26 2018

Mergers create a brief window where customers are largely protected from devaluations. Airlines are distracted by merger integration, and don’t want to make customers feel like the merger will be bad for them right away. Once American Airlines moved to a single reservation system in October 2015 we learned about a gutting of AAdvantage the next month both for elite status qualification and benefits and for their redemption chart, and then the rollout of basic economy the next year.

Alaska Airlines right now has by far the most lucrative US airline frequent flyer program. Their award chart is far more attractive than that of their competitors. And they’re a better airline to fly. That may change.

Dumbest Criminal Baggage Handlers in History Stole Computers From Rural School Kids

by Gary Leff on January 25, 2018

hand holding hundreds of dollars in cash

Jan 25 2018

What happens when your cross the worst baggage handlers with the US mail? You get computers stolen from rural school children.

These brain surgeons used a a Ravn truck to move the items they were stealing from the post office to the employee parking lot where they moved goods straight into their cars, and then gave items to family members and co-workers and kept other items in their homes.

Amazing Fare: Many US Cities to New Zealand From Just $239 Roundtrip February through June

by Gary Leff on January 23, 2018

Jan 23 2018

Available fares from Miami, New Orleans, Atlanta, Houston, Dallas Fort-Worth, Charlotte, New York, Denver, Nashville, Chicago O’Hare, Boston, Philadelphia, Washington DC, Salt Lake City, Portland, Seattle, and Detroit.

Passengers in New York Called 911 to Escape Planes and DB Cooper Skyjacking Mystery Finally Solved?

by Gary Leff on January 7, 2018

Jan 07 2018

A roundup of the most important stories of the day. I keep you up to date on the most interesting writings I find on other sites – the latest news and tips.

Alaska Airlines Offers 10% Off to Newark

by Gary Leff on December 2, 2007

Dec 02 2007

Talk about a non-event. Through January 6th, Alaska Airlines is offering 10% off to Newark as part of its gay travel promotions. Of course, you don’t actually have to be gay to get the discount. You just have to use the promo code EC06607. This is similar to Orbitz gay hotel discounts and $100 gay discounts. Not that there’s anything wrong with that… And yet Alaska is taking heat for their marketing, with an activist portraying the airline as imposing a 10% tax on heterosexuals. “They are giving preferences to male passengers who want to wear dresses on the planes, and giving them preference over married couples,” Now, of course, this isn’t true or a reasonable way to describe Alaska’s marketing efforts. But if Alaska wanted to impose a surcharge on bigots I’d personally favor…

New Alaska Airlines Mileage Expiration Policy

by Gary Leff on October 3, 2007

Oct 03 2007

Alaska Airlines has followed the industry trend and announced a new mileage expiration policy. They’re moving from the old standard of three years to two. Now, they’re still more generous than the current reigning policy in the industry of 18 months. And any activity, earning or redeeming, will keep an account active — no worrying about which kinds of miles extend and account and which do not. And finally, there’s an explicit way to extend expired miles — within a year of expiration, a $75 fee will reactivate an account. Last year I kept my brother-in-law’s Alaska account active by signing him up for a free Points.com account. I think he earned 20 miles. The MilesLink newsletter points out that the first date that miles will expire is April Fools’ Day 2008. Heh.

Search for Miles

by Gary Leff on August 10, 2007

Aug 10 2007

Via NotiFlyer, a new search engine is launching that’ll pay you miles (up to 1000 a month with your choice of Delta, Alaska, Midwest, Northwest, USAirways or Continental) for using it.Sign up at Zoomiles.com for an invitation when the site launches.I’m willing to try it, though I’m skeptical. Miles are enough to get me to try an alternative to Google, but 1000 miles a month aren’t enough to get me to accept an inferior alternative. So we’ll see.

Alaska Starts Hawaii Service

by Gary Leff on June 1, 2007

Jun 01 2007

It’s been rumored for what seems like forever, and Alaska Airlines has finally announced service to Hawaii.Seattle-Honolulu starts October 12th; Seattle-Lihu’e begins October 28th; Anchorage-Honolulu starts December 9th. They have some great introductory fares of $109+tax each way, but don’t count on finding any seats left (after a day!) at that price. Instead, fares of around $160+tax each way are still available — which is pretty darn good. Alaska will apparently allow use of the Bank of America Visa $50 companion tickets on these routes, and the flights are upgradeable with miles and MVP Gold Guest upgrade certificates. If you have or can score a $50 companion ticket on a $350-ish all-in ticket, and there’s upgrade availability, two people can fly first class from Seattle to Hawaii for $450 or so roundtrip + 40,000 frequent…

Alaska Makes it Harder to Upgrade with Miles, and Other Annoyances

by Gary Leff on May 17, 2007

May 17 2007

It’s been reported on Flyertalk that when Alaska says “Award Levels to Increase”, what they mean is that the 20,000 mile domestic coach award is going to be available only for online redemption. If you have to call to make the booking it will be 25,000 miles. No big deal in my view, 20,000 is already better than almost all other competitors (cf. Frontier Early Returns and their 15,000 mile awards). So Alaska’s gone from the model of rewarding website bookings to making off-line bookings more expensive. I’m naturally not a fan of the change, but I can live with it. But their other change really hits me where it hurts: Effective August 1, 2007, First Class Mileage Redemptive Upgrade award rules will be changing. Redemptive Upgrades awards booked after this date will be available…

Alaska Visa Signup Bonus Extended

by Gary Leff on April 14, 2007

Apr 14 2007

The current expiration date for the Alaska Airlines 20,000 mile bonus for new Visa signup is April 30. It may be extended — it’s been extended twice already — but if you’re interested, grab it now.20,000 miles is enough to upgrade a transcon roundtrip, plus they throw in a couple of club passes and a $50 companion certificate. Not bad for $75.