[cmoffatt]

We had booked a travel package through Priceline to Cabo and we had a sudden death of an immediate family member. When calling to cancel/refund our package through Priceline, they couldn't cancel the package only change the package. To change it they need to charge us each $110 for fees Alaska charges Priceline. Priceline said we could get Alaska to waive the fees so we called Alaska and they said they could waive the fees given our situation. In order to waive the fees, Priceline had to call them. When Priceline called them, they would not waive the fees.

Since Alaska told us one thing and couldn't honor it, they offered us $300 vouchers for our next flight booked directly through them. We paid the fees in full for changing our vacation and then got an email from Alaska saying because we rebooked our flight through Priceline, they would no longer honor the vouchers.

This makes zero sense... That is not why they were giving us these vouchers in the first place. Did they expect to just eat the money we already paid for our original flight? If so, a $300 credit would not be enough for a round trip flight to Cabo from Seattle and back. So we would end up paying an extra couple hundred each anyways.

On two occasions, Alaska told us something and did NOT honor their word. We spent countless hours explaining our situation to Customer Service Rep after Customer Service Rep. We had to call back and forth between Priceline and Alaska (I don't know why they couldn't call each other). My cell phone bill was almost double because of the minutes spent on hold and having to reexplain my situation every time someone new got on the phone.

This was the worst experience I've ever had with an airline and as we all know, airlines can be a major source of issues during travel.

I will NEVER use Alaska again.

[Gromit801]

Firstly, you were a Priceline customer, and not an Alaska customer. Priceline is solely the culprit here. You didn't book through Alaska, or pay Alaska.

If you continue to use a third party discount ticket seller, you take the risk of a lot going wrong.

[cmoffatt]

I realize that. My issue would be solely with Priceline except Alaska got involved and made promises they couldn't honor. Don't tell me you can do something and then not follow through with what was said. That's bad business. If they would have straight up said there was nothing they could do, then that's fine. That's not what happened however.

[Gromit801]

From you first post, it sounds like Alaska's promise to help was conditional upon what Priceline told them, which is why they told you they had to talk to Priceline first. Possibly there was something in your booking with Priceline that prevented Alaska from following through. But it was very plain to me, that Alaska's desire to help you was based on what they learned from Priceline.

[cmoffatt]

You're not getting it.

They gave us vouchers because their employee said they could waive the fees and they couldn't.

After we paid the fees in order to switch our flight, they took the voucher away. They said it was because we re-booked the flight. This voucher was to be used at a future date when booking directly through Alaska. Even if we misunderstood what the voucher was for (even though it was because of their employees mistake), the voucher wouldn't cover the entire cost of the round trip flight and we would end up paying a couple hundred dollars difference anyway. Probably the same difference we ended up paying in the fees. Nice trick, Alaska.

Like I said before, if Alaska didn't make statements they couldn't hold true to, I wouldn't be upset with Alaska.