Quote:
Originally Posted by lweaver@galaxydesserts.co
I have been an Alaska MVP Gold for serveral years and am finding myself preferring to fly on Southwest Airlines. The flight attendants on Southwest are so much friendlier, they don't have baggage charges, I can easily rebook unused tickets on the website and they also allow a passenger to use several unused tickets to book a new flight. Alaska only allows a passenger to use one ticket and if the new flight is less than the value of the unused ticket you lose it.
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I like this post. Although not a true complaint about (a) specific issue(s) it points out that as consumers we do have options. Not every airline will be a good fit for every customer.
I agree that Alaska's policies about reissuing tickets is somewhat restrictive and not always consumer friendly. You must realize, however, that Southwest's and Alaska's ticketing systems are vastly different. Southwest treats unused tickets as travel funds which are "deposited" into a "bank" which can be "withdrawn" in any increment desired. With Alaska a ticket is a ticket and can only be exchanged on a one for one basis. If that exchange results in a net decrease in fare you do lose the difference. When that has happened to me I've had agents who will match my existing ticket with a higher fare so that the loss in value is minimized.
As for the friendliness of the flight attendants for the most part that is a completely subjective observation. I still think Alaska has some of the best in the industry. That's not to say that there aren't some really terrific FA's over at Southwest either. As with any group of people there will be some that are exceptional and a few who are "bad apples." The majority will fall somewhere in the middle.