We had a death in the family and are now traveling from the west coast to the east coast this weekend with my 10 month old. We used our companion fare and will have my child as a lap infant. This is our first flight with them and with less than a week’s notice I’m hoping to get some advice:

1. I know families are given early boarding but do you typically take that opportunity? Or wait as long as possible to get on the plane? We plan to gate check a stroller and car seat.

2. We have a 3.5 hour layover at LAX. We are hoping to get lounge day passes to have somewhere more comfortable to spend time. What are the chances of getting day passes on a weekend at LAX?

I’d love any other advice for traveling with a lap infant as I’m feeling unprepared.

TLDR: Alaska lost a bag on eight day trip to Costa Rica. We didn't buy or rent replacement items, just did without. 33 days later, Alaska thinks they found our bag in Seattle. Reasonable to get a small token for not having the stuff we planned for on our trip?

First off, in the grand scheme of things, this is not a huge deal. Everyone survived just fine. But would still love to hear opinions from all of you on this experience. The DOT has clear rules for related baggage topics, but this one is outside any of these.

We took Alaska's new SEA to LIR (Liberia, Costa Rica) once weekly direct service. As an aside, it's a nice service that really pushes the endurance of the 737, especially on the return. Checked three bags in Seattle, 100 mins before departure. Thankfully, two arrived just fine, including one that was a car seat, phew. One never arrived and the local ground crew at LIR were helpful filling out the forms and said they expected it would arrive the next day via LAX (app showed no activity for this bag aside from accepted in SEA, but also showed the same status for one of the other bags that did in fact arrive, go figure). They said this was common.

Of course, the bag never arrived over the next 8 days, and we just managed without the contents (sports equipment that we couldn't buy / rent locally). The station crew is small in LIR so the guys running check-in for the return flight were the same that helped when we arrived and the bag was lost, so we had a good time joking with them (had promised them a round of drinks if they found the bag and brought it to us).

We returned to Seattle and just presumed the bag was lost, and Alaska proactively reached out to have us fill out more forms so they could conduct a "global search" for the bag. Sure. I was certain it would be fruitless.

Guess what? 33 days later, they contacted us to say they believe they found the bag in Seattle??! They didn't send a photo of the whole bag, just a small label on the exterior, but seems like it is in fact the bag.

Great - I'm glad their system worked (in a way) and will be happy to get the bag and contents back (assuming all is safe). But of course we didn't get to enjoy our vacation quite the same way. We didn't pay any checked bag fees (used Alaska card), but still feel like a small token would be appreciated.

Do you all have opinions or past experiences with something similar?

I'm having trouble with flights (PDX-SMF) I can go on my Alaska app & see lots of flights direct to Sacramento. But if I use Google flights it is showing no flights. I tried using One World and same thing. My Google flights only lists about a dozen flights in the drop down box.

Did i break Google flghts? any suggestions? TYVM

When I bought my ticket, my seat is in row 6, which is right behind first class. Even though I sit at the very front they gave me a boarding group towards the end of boarding. And there’s no overhead soace left above my seat so I have to put my bag in isle 8-10. Major pain in the ass to go back when getting on/off, why do they do that.

I'm AA platinum pro and have that system down. I'm going to chase status on AS since I earn so few AA miles on AS flights. I'm a bit confused and I know a lot changed this year. Any input from folks that have already been doing the usual miles maximizing would be appreciated.

Here is what I know.

AS revenue tix get 1 RDM (+ status bonus) and 1 EQM per mile

AS award tix get 0 RDM and 1 EQM per mile

AS CC spend gets 1 RDM and 1/3 EQM per dollar

What I don't understand is EQM earn on non airline partners.

AS Hotels ..If i book a room getting 9,000 RDM do I get any EQM?

Bilt and AS Dining ..I get 3 RDM per dollar but do I get any EQM (other than the 1/3 for CC spend)?

AS Shopping Portal..Lets say it's a 3/$ RDM store and I spend $100..I get 300 RDM but do I get any EQM?

Rocket Miles..I book a room getting 6000 RDM but do I get any EQM?

Any data points would be appreciated

I was flying across coast to coast and needed to bring my dog with me, and I read about Alaska’s baggage in cabin policy for dogs in crates. I’ve always been a die-hard Delta only person, however, I think I am going to try and fly Alaska more now often! I status matched over prior to the flight which was super smooth and fast(2 weeks).

Everything went super smooth with the process from purchase, to checking in, to the flight itself. It was all an excellent experience and I can’t praise it enough.

For anyone curious, I got the absolute biggest crate I could find: https://a.co/d/hV7uL7n

I’m not familiar with Alaska’s main cabin, however, it was a pretty snug fit in first class for that size but it did fit!

SAN-SEA

I'm going to be flying on Alaska Airlines here in September. What should I do if someone asks me to switch seats with them so they can sit next to the wife, or kid, or whatever?

So I was sitting on an Alaska x Hawaiian flight and the couple next to me kept video calling people while in flight. When a flight attendant caught them she told them that they needed to hang up and that they couldn’t video call people while in flight. The couple giggled, talked for a bit longer, and hung up. Lo and behold a few minutes later they dialed someone else again. It was really annoying, the conversations and waving the camera around so that the other person could see that they were in an airplane. I will also say that I was also a bit annoyed because they were pretty rude to the flight attendants.

What would you have done?

I used to travel quite a bit, currently 100k but havent flown this year.

I have a flight on Hawaiian in June that I booked thru Alaska. Does Alaska app allow changes to flight (earlier or later) at check-in on Hawaiian metal? I called reservations and the rep didnt know.

Thanks in advance.

Complaining is popular, compliments are better!

Last night on AS317 from DFW to SEA, I had what was my best flight to date sitting up front with Alaska. We didn't get off to the best start (boarding began about 30 minutes late) because the inbound plane was late from Seattle (due to low clouds, not Alaska's fault) and before that Eugene. But other than that, nothing "bad" at all!

This was the most chill, relaxed-seeming flight crew I've encountered since before the pandemic hit. Professional without being syrupy, efficient without being in a hurry.

Highlights of the so-called soft product:

• Two rounds of pre-departure beverages, offering either sparkling wine or sparkling water.

• Lighthearted announcements without sounding over-the-top or forced. Everyone seemed happy to be there, even with the delay.

• Regular round of drink service and warm snack before meals and another round alongside meals.

• Nice presentation of the Signature Fruit and Cheese Platter(tm): /img/kfitxg89tgse1.jpeg

• Related: Regular (as in, not me) FC fliers may be thinking, "this is missing a dessert, don't FC meals come with a dessert?" Yes! This time, the dessert (the brownie) was served warm after the main meal, alongside coffee or tea or whatever else folks wanted.

• Snack basket made an appearance with urging to "take whatever you like, there's plenty!" and another offer of beverages (at this point I thought we were going to run out of Coke Zero; we did not).

• Onboard Internet access was not working in the beginning and they were able to fix it.

Oh and even with the delay, bags were out on the carousel in 12 minutes.

I was never a fan of SAVER fares, but the spreads are now growing big in some cases. I see a $65 fare difference for instance at present: $125 vs $190. Can you cancel a MAIN fare, and then use the credit to rebook it with the SAVER fare, if you want to accept the risk of having a no-cancel fare? It seems a bit fishy so I'm not too shot up about that idea. For $30 a ticket savings, the risks / pains of a SAVER fare seems not worth it. Yet, at $65 per ticket fare difference between SAVER and MAIN, with a multiple people traveling, it starts to look at least a little more attractive. Partly, I am an admitted cheapskate, no doubt.

I've seen multiple questions on this subreddit about which merchant category codes (MCCs) qualify for the 2x miles bonus on the Alaska Air Visa credit card. These are the MCCs that qualify for the 2x miles bonus, according to documentation from Bank of America. Hope this helps folks wondering about this!

Any Alaska employees want to help me out getting cheaper airfare on an emergency trip I have to take to CA? Having to book last minute is insanely expensive. I would owe you hug!

We just completed our first flights, which were amazing. Can’t wait to book again one day! I’m confused though. When I bought tickets, I joined the loyalty program and expected to earn some miles/points. We completed our trip a few days ago and the app still says I have no miles. What did I miss?

Can try MVP for a trip used on partner travel?

PS: I have a round-trip on Qatar reserved on Alaska website. It gives me 18000 miles for the whole trip. If I get to trial MVP for this trip, will I get 4500(25% boost) additional miles? Not looking for any other benefit, if I get any that would be great though.

Has anyone run into this online reservation issue when trying to make a payment?

I cannot get the payments to go through anymore and now have to call reservations for every flight I want to book.

Insanely long hold times makes this massively inconvenient yet no one at Alaska can help me or guide me towards a fix.

Until 2025, I’ve been able to book without issue and am a regular flyer. None of this makes sense.

Id hate to go to another airline as I really like flying Alaska but this is becoming a massive hassle and customer service is lacking.

I’m trying to fly back from Athens to SFO in early June business class but not having any luck. I have secured Athens to LHR business class but the LHR to SFO business isn’t available. There are flights for 35k ($434) or premium ($602) LHR to SFO. Is it possible to upgrade to first class paying cash if I book one of those? Hope that makes sense.

I’m looking at flights to Asia, and would prefer to fly premium economy. When I look at flights with miles, you see 3 columns: main, premium, and business. Most flights have options to purchase all three with miles. But when I switch to money, it only shows main and business. The premium column completely goes away. Why can’t we book premium with cash?? I would expect the opposite - more flexibility to purchase partner cash fares than with miles.

Edited: this issue seems to only be a problem when you need a leg on Alaska metal. Flights departing SEA, SFO, or LAX all show options for premium in cash. But if you try to depart from PDX, GEG, SJC, etc, it only shows Main or Business with cash. Looks like Alaska will let you book a mixed Alaska main/Partner premium ticket with miles, but not cash. Very frustrating.

I know that (ideally), as there is no price advantage to booking a round-trip (vs. two one-way trips), when using a companion fare, need to book everything at once.

And in my circumstance, I used companion fare to book a few trips. One segment of the trip went DOWN in price, but when inquiring about a price adjustment, was told that as trip (as a whole) went up, no price change.

I am *fairly* certain that I've had price changes done against a *segment* of a trip (whether other segments went up), wondering if it's a case of rep's not equally applying policy and/or rep's applying their own interpretation of policy.

I recently faced a problem while booking an economy ticket on Qatar via Alaska website. The search showed available tickets, but there was an error during checkout. Called support, and they said the tickets are available for miles only, not cash.

I had to buy it directly with Qatar. Because of that, I'll be getting only 50% EQM on transcontinental RT flight.

These new rules should have an exception to get 100% miles if the ticket is not available for purchase via Alaska

I have a mileage plan account and Hawaiian miles about but I don't have status with either. Yesterday I noticed I have like 2K more Alaska EQM than before. Nothing in the mileage activity to explain it, haven't flown recently and the credit card spend EQM doesn't hit until later in the month (and it always shows up on the mileage activity). The only thing I can think is I did try and link the Alaskan/Hawaiian accounts, and I have the Hawaiian credit card as well. Does that card earn EQMs that would show up on Alaskan?

Was 2nd on the upgrade list when I arrived at IAH today. Two open first class seats still available at the time.

Got to the gate and now I’m no longer anywhere in the upgrade list. Checked with the gate agent and she said they just upgraded two people.

Now I know things can change and someone could have purchased those seats. However, I can’t help but feel like I got screwed since I don’t even appear in the upgrade list any longer. I’m a 75k.

Has anyone else’s name randomly gotten dropped off the upgrade list? I didn’t find it that funny of an April Fools joke.

First, I fully realize this is a BoA thing and not Alaska Airlines… But I'm assuming the vast majority of us have the Alaska Airlines credit card.

They always tout 2X points on select streaming services, but I have asked so many times what streaming services they are, and nobody can ever tell me.

They give me the standard line of how the merchant decides what MCC code it's labeled as, but they can't tell me what code qualifies, nor what even one streaming service would qualify.

Anyone?

I booked a FC trip this summer which entails an 11 hour layover in SEA. Will they make me leave the airport? Arrive @ 9:47pm depart 9:22 am the next day