Alaska Airlines Flights -- Heads Up

[Italy52]

Every cruise season I use my Alaska Airlines miles and book my tickets early. And, as usual, my flights change --- I anticipate this every season so I constantly monitor my flights. Today, instead of the usual couple of minutes difference in flight times I noticed that our inbound flight is now leaving an hour earlier.

 

Just a reminder to all to monitor your flight times. :)

[AKStafford]

This is my one complaint about Alaska Air... We have a trip to Vegas coming up and they changed our flight times by several hours each way. And they switched our non-stop Vegas to Anchorage flight with changing planes in Seattle. Now instead of getting back in Anchorage at 9pm (plenty of time to get back out to the Valley and get to bed for work the next day), we get back at around midnight. That Monday morning is not going to be fun...

 

So yes, monitor your flights and leave yourself some wiggle room when you book.

[mapleleaves]

this isn't specific to Alaska Airlines. It can and does happen with all airlines, especially if you book your flight 6 months in advance.

Happened to me about 10 yrs ago with Southwest. Now I am diligent about checking flight times.

[5waldos]

I really expected this to be a warning about scorpions on their flights!

 

And must agree- we have changes in flight times often when we have booked long in advance. But usually not by hours although it has happened.

[pklein9747]

this isn't specific to Alaska Airlines. It can and does happen with all airlines, especially if you book your flight 6 months in advance.

Happened to me about 10 yrs ago with Southwest. Now I am diligent about checking flight times.

 

I agree but I've always received an email about flight changes. No emails from Alaska Air. Discovered 2weeks ago while checking something else about our reservation that our layover time went from 5 hours to 11 hours!! I do have to say that they are very good about making changes to your flights when you request it, though

[Bizziecruzer]

Hi - we are from Australia and have flights booked with them - I was trying to look at our booking the other day but it wouldn't allow me to progress as when I tried to login I got a message that I needed to contact them as there had been a flight change:eek:. No email advice, no nothing. I tried to ring and was on hold for 20mins and still didn't get to speak with anyone - so I hung up. Have checked and flight time has changed by 15mins - customer service rating "NIL" as there's no customer service. Very disappointed.

[Italy52]

Hi - we are from Australia and have flights booked with them - I was trying to look at our booking the other day but it wouldn't allow me to progress as when I tried to login I got a message that I needed to contact them as there had been a flight change:eek:. No email advice, no nothing. I tried to ring and was on hold for 20mins and still didn't get to speak with anyone - so I hung up. Have checked and flight time has changed by 15mins - customer service rating "NIL" as there's no customer service. Very disappointed.

 

I'm sorry that you were unsuccessful when you tried to call the airline. My wait was about 5 minutes so I feel lucky considering the heavy customer service demands on the airlines due to our extreme weather conditions these past few weeks. I know I certainly wouldn't want to be in their shoes --- trying to juggle flights and dealing with all the cancellations due to the storms. Hopefully, you won't encounter poor service in the future.

[cruisin'mama]

I had booked our July flights in Oct. and while checking for Gold Guest Upgrade availability, I noticed the advice warning to call. When I did, they told me that our direct flight had been cancelled but could put us on a 6am non-stop flight. Well we all know that you can't make a 6am flight when disembarking from a ship. So we will have to stay and additional day in Vancouver, oh darn :) and take the 6am flight the following day.

 

Luckily I found the notice to call early enough so that I could make reservations at the Pan Pacific while they still had availability on a crazy busy weekend in Vancouver. ( BC Day, Gay Pride Parade, and Fireworks Expo )

 

It would be nice if they sent emails regarding cancelled/changed flights.

[zqvol]

All of what has been said above is true for every airline in the US. Don't expect any notification, just occasionally look at the airlines schedule and verify flight times. If they have changed more than 15 minutes and no longer work for you then, and only then call them, and they will adjust your flights for you without charge.

[rpcv77]

Yup, my TA just notified of a change in flights (30 minutes later for departure), and I did make the reservations almost as soon as AA made them available. I'll get to sleep in 30 minutes longer!

[frugaltravel]

Yup, my TA just notified of a change in flights (30 minutes later for departure), and I did make the reservations almost as soon as AA made them available. I'll get to sleep in 30 minutes longer!

 

Those of us who decide to be our own travel agents need to be diligent to check the reservations every so often. That is the cost of handling your own flight arrangements.

 

It is true that Alaska Air is not the only one with major schedule changes. I fly a fair amount on Delta and they have tons of schedule changes. But I try to leverage the schedule changes in my favor. Almost always I can then find the flights that I prefer to take, contact Delta and they will rebook me onto those flights. Very often I end up with a better schedule than the one I started out with!

[bedford5]

Our flight in August was changed as well, so we arrive in anchorage 45 min later. I mentioned that I'll have to change other reservations since we arrive later and the agent advised me to wait as flights are changed quarterly. So expect another change...

[gjkubel]

The worst one for me was US Airways changed my flight time (by 5 minutes) AND flight number. Because the flight number changed, I was no longer in assigned seats and had to go in and pick my seats again. I'm traveling with two young children and my wife, so having a whole row is very important. By the time I realized the change, there were very few full rows left.

 

I don't really have an issue with them making such changes, but the fact that they don't notify you at all is bothersome.

[aronde]

Yes I have had a few flight changes since booking HNL-ANC last year. Some were only 5 minutes or so but one was our flight to ANC leaving nearly an hour earlier so we now arrive at 5am instead of 6! I never received an email for any of them - just happened to notice as I have been checking the reservation every so often. Our Qantas flights to Honolulu and back have changed a lot more though - so much so that Qantas are now putting us up in a hotel in Sydney as we get back to late for an onward flight home. However Qantas do send an email and you have to reconfirm online to accept the changes or call to make other arrangements.

 

I was impressed though with Alaska Air and how they give you a credit if your flight cost reduces after you buy it. We had ours go down by $20 for the four of us so received an $80 credit. My mum then decided to come to Alaska with us so we got her flight $80 cheaper! Qantas would never do that! :)

[Cruisingthesuitelife]

I have 2 flights with them in a few months and those have both changed, each one being around an hour earlier. It made me pleased I didn't book an even earlier flight, there is only so early I can get up ;)

 

I'll keep an eye on things but I am just happy that I get to go to these places and I wouldn't have a go at the staff in Customer Services about it, they didn't make the changes!

[azmaui]

I travel a lot and a while ago I realized I can't rely on airlines to notify me of changes.

I found this iphone ap/website Trip Case where I set up all my travels on and I have all info in one place and get notifications of any changes to my flight time, gate etc. Really helpful!

[Miss Dot]

Our Delta flight on our Alaska trip in June changed and we now have a 12 hour layover in Vancouver. Offered an earlier flight...but too early for the arrival of the ship; so it's a redeye for us. Hoping it changes back by June

[Sheaboys]

We booked our flights in November with American Airlines and Alaska Airlines and I think UsAir. Our first leg was fine, Bradley International to Chicago, it was supposed to go direct to Vancouver. Nope it was moved to Toronto. Toronto??? Seriously not remotely close to where we needed to be. They did change it, so now CT, to Chicago to Seattle to Vancouver.

 

Our flights from Fairbanks only changed by 20 minutes so that was not too bad.

But had us going from an arrival time of 10:30am the next day to an arrival time of 11pm the next day. I was able to change that too. Thank god!

 

I also booked through Expedia and they were useless when it came to the flight change of Toronto. They said they could only get me to Vancouver for after 4pm. I called directly, and had no issues. Now getting in at 12:30, not as good as the 11:30am I had, but close enough. Thankfully a day before the cruise.

 

As of today, my flights say confirmed so I am hoping no more changes.

[Bruin Steve]

Today, instead of the usual couple of minutes difference in flight times I noticed that our inbound flight is now leaving an hour earlier.

 

I only WISH Alaska Air would move my LAX-ANC flight to an hour earlier...

The way it is right now, we don't get into ANC until 12:19 am...(leaving LAX 7:55 pm)...

 

My wife has to work that day, hence the late flight, but we could have left LA as early as around 3:00 or 4:00 pm...

 

As it is, we'll arrive, collect our luggage, call for the hotel shuttle and probably not get to bed until after 1:00 am...Then we have someone coming to the hotel at 9:00 am to get us to Seward...

Edited March 3, 2015 by Bruin Steve

[cruisin'mama]

I've been on that 8PM-12:30AM flight LAX-ANC. Not fun, but at least it's still "kind of" light when you arrive.

 

This year we are taking the 9AM flight. :) It just got changed from 9:30AM which gets us into Anchorage earlier so I'm happy. Maybe your flight will get moved up too!

[lucky cal]

I booked flights for our July Alaska cruise in November. Since then there has been a change to our Chicago to Anchorage flight number and its departure time changed by a few minutes.

 

Today, I was reviewing my flights for upcoming business trips and i noticed that the ORD-ANC flight number has changed again. Not only that, but our flight from Vancouver to Chicago is now departing at 9:00am instead of 10:30am, and our flight from Chicago to Washington is leaving a half hour later than originally scheduled.

 

For us, this means we'll have to get up earlier on our last day in Vancouver and also deal with a longer layover in Chicago, but overall it's not a big deal. Still, it would have been nice to be informed and it makes me wonder what else will change between now and July!