Alaska Airlines Consumer Reviews - Page 3

BOISE, IDAHO -- Alaska used to be one of my favorite airlines, but Alaska/Horizon are my definition of the bottom of the barrel. A group of us flew from San Jose and Seattle to meet in Boise in December 22, 2006. Both flights were late; the San Jose one was over 11 hours late. The Alaska/Horizon personnel are so used to this that they don't even talk about 'scheduled' times, they say "target" times as if being on schedule is an unexpected event. It is. Making matters worse, the Alaska staff makes it clear that there really is little they can do for you, so they don't even pretend to try. They're always late, so why care? That's the attitude that come across.

On the next leg of the trip to Seattle, we were told after we checked our bags that the plane would be late by four hours, but maybe not really because the replacement plane was in maintenance, and it might not really be available or it might arrive early. I had to wait in line for an hour to obtain that "information." I tried calling the 800 number and was told that for them to help me, there would be extra charges.

LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA -- On April 7, 2006 flight 228 leaving Los Angeles to Cancun after arriving to my destination in Mexico I found out my video camera was stolen from my check-in luggage. I complain to Alaska airlines, TSA and also made a police report. What upsets me the most is the arrogance, defensive attitude and poor treatment I got from Alaska employees. Not only do they denied any responsibilities for stolen electronics, but are very fast to put the blame on TSA. I got far better treatment from the TSA employees including the supervisor in LA.

To make things worst another passenger from the same flight got his laptop stolen, when he got back to L.A. he was told he had to go back to Cancun and file a complain with Alaska Airlines in Mexico since he found out it was gone when he arrived there. Yesterday I e-mail them and got a response saying that because of the high volume of e-mails I will not get an answer for at least 8 weeks. I will wait and will post a review with the outcome when they respond back. On the mean time I will tell everyone to avoid them like the plague.

LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA -- Dateline Aug 9, 2005. Lax to King Salmon Alaska. Arrived to find my six weeks worth of gear missing and the parts necessary to put my kayak together. Had no choice but to get on the next flight back to Los Angeles. If I order the kayak parts from Russia today I should have them by Dec so I can buy another ticket to kayak in the snow. Hope everyone at Alaska Air got a share of my stuff. P.S. I'm sorry that they didn't get my fly rod - it was in my carry on luggage. Now that I think about it I almost feel as if I cheated them.

SEATTLE, WASHINGTON -- I recently took a quick last minute round trip to Sacramento from Seattle. I used their wonderful Web Special's program to get a super cheap ticket, and booked it online. I use it frequently, and love it! When I got to Sac, the possibility of staying longer was discussed, so I called them to see about changing the return, knowing that the type of ticket I had do not allow any changes.

What I discovered, to my horror, was that I had actually booked my return for the same day I had arrived by mistake (I intended to stay one night and then return, and was looking at staying two nights). This was bad. Legally, if I did not use the return as booked, that same day, it was going to cost me 250 dollars to get home...

I begged the CS person to see if there was any way to make an exception to their rules, and allow me to change the return. She put me on hold for a minute or two, and when she came back, told me that her manager had given her permission to, one time only, allow me to make a change to this ticket for a 50 dollar fee.

It was a wonderful resolution to the problem I had created by not being more careful when I booked my ticket, and allowed me to stay two nights too! Thank You Alaska, you have a loyal happy customer for life. And I will never screw up an online purchase again either! This is how all companies should treat their customers!!!

HELEBA, MONTANTA -- I try to avoid Alaska, sometimes at considerable cost, just to avoid the unsupervised and rude gate agents in Helena, MT. Tonight I had the opportunity to just observe a Horizon gate agent while I waited for my Delta flight. It was amazing. One passenger after another, treated rudely and rushed. I have experienced many rude and unhelpful Horizon agents in Helena, and this one was no different. Just a little extra "care less" attitude. Alaska, ARE YOU LISTENING? This can be fixed you know.

I book flights across the US on a regular basis, and when I do, I try to book with Alaska Airlines. Their web booking is perfect, with no problems. When you talk with customer service you are talking with a nice polite person who will always do whatever they can to help. The flight attendants are wonderful, real people who do a great job. For 2009, I have made Gold Status with Alaska Airlines and I will continue booking flights with this company. Thanks.

HAWAII -- We had a horrible time dealing with the Delta Airline employees in Honolulu recently. Alaska Airlines counter is run by Delta and they don't provide the service we expected...

NOME, ALASKA -- I would like to know how the web specials are decided and who decides them. It's not uncommon to see web specials from Bethel to Anchorage and a lot less likely to see web specials from Nome to Anchorage. What's with that? The regular fares from Anchorage to anywhere in Alaska are exorbitant and prohibitive. If it cost just a little less that many of us would be flying a lot more and would be much happier when we do fly.

My last two flights on Alaska Airlines went very well. I had to check a bag on my last flight to Newark. On both the outbound and return (Sea-Tac), my luggage arrived quickly on the carousel. On my last flight to Las Vegas, both the outbound and return flights departed on time. The flight crews did a great job getting people on board and ready. I hope this trend continues.

ALASKA -- I should preface this comment, I do not work for or have family who work for Alaska Airlines. I live in Alaska and take Alaska flights quite often for business and pleasure. My flights are always pretty close to on time (except for weird weather), never lost my luggage, and only have had darn nice people helping me on the phone and with customer service. I am sure there can be issues, as I read them here, but I think you'll probably have a good trip to Alaska with this airlines.