Between this conversation and this behavior I don’t think I’ll ever (start) flying Alaska Airlines anytime soon.
Favorite Friends
- johnolilly: You know what I'd rather CNN cover than Michael Jackson? ANYTHING. We are such a dumb society.
- jonesabi: Me: How was your weekend? Joe: I saw The Hangover. Me: Was it good? Joe: Yeah, so good I decided to fly to Vegas and won $1,000.
- seanklein: Swallowing and Breathing are simple concepts by themselves, but put them together and you get anarchy
Alaska Airlines goes past merely sucking as an airline. It may even engage in deceptive business practices, if intentionally overbooking flights qualifies as deceptive. Shouldn’t a “confirmed passenger” be able to count on having a seat?
On June 1 2006 my son had to fly from Seattle down to San Francisco for a meeting. The airline was delayed twice and he barely got to the destination in time.
That night, the conference over, he arrived in plenty of time to check in for his confirmed returned flight. The flight had already left. He went to gate attendant to find out if he could take another flight, explaining that he was trying to get home to his pregnant wife and two small children.
“Tell it to the 18 people ahead of you,” the gate attendant sneered and then literally turned his back.
My son’s boss was livid when she heard about that. She called Alaska Airlines and worked her way up the food chain of customer “service” until she got to someone who at least posed as a supervisor. She had already found out, she said, that Alaska Airlines overbooks EVERY FLIGHT and, when everyone arrives, tries to buy off the confirmed passengers they leave stranted by giving them comp’d tickets somewhere else. In my son’s case they didn’t even offer that.
My son wound up staying in a hotel overnight (at least his boss paid for that) and trying to make it on standby the next morning. Finally, at some point after noon, he finally got a stand-by seat home. Coincidentally (?) the airline told him he would be on the next flight while his boss was still on the phone, having had no satisfaction from the “supervisor,” and trying to work her way farther up the food chain.
Needless to say, neither my son nor his boss will EVER buy another Alaska Airlines plane ticket. They leave early, they leave late, they overbook flights and they don’t apparently give a damn about the passengers who count on them for transportation. For that they get paid?
I guess that’s what happens to the public when corporations lose all accountability to those who keep them in business. Well, that won’t be me, my son or his boss at any time in the future. One sucker punch is enough.
Wow, Craig. Thanks for sharing your story. I hope others find it and use it as furthur reasoning to stay away from Alaska Airlines.
alaskan airlines is the most sucky arlines on this planet and they are a bunch of incompetent fools. My final destination was seattle and ended up on alaska due to missed connections. The British airways baggage service person showed me that the bag arrived in seattle and was picked up by alaska and then these guys seem to have lost it… can you believe it. Its hard to explain how an airline can be that lax. I guess mediocrity breeds mediocrity. The airlines really should have their license revoked or something
I find it slightly impossible to believe the OP’s son showed up at the gate in “plenty of time” for his flight and it had already left.
Also, the story about trip on BA and AS also doesn’t make sense. It was indicated BA showed the bagged arrived in Seattle and AS lost it. When a bag from the UK arrives in Seattle, it would normally be carried by the passenger through Customs. It sounds like the passenger didn’t pick up his bag on arrival in Seattle, before clearing Customs.
AS wouldn’t get the bag until the PASSENGER brought it to them.
Well, last night my wife showed up 3 hours early for her flight, to find that the plane was leaving in 17 minutes. She, of course, missed the flight. When it comes to Alaska Airlines, you cannot overstate how bad they are.