In an effort to improve customer service during peak times the hours of operation for Reservations will be condensed. Effective September 25, 2004, the 1-800-Alaskaair as well as our Mileage Plan GOLD/MVP and Partner Desk numbers will be available from 5:00 a.m. through 12 a.m. PT, 7 days a week. If you need assistance outside of these hours, please visit alaskaair.com.
You got to cut costs somewhere but this seems slightly unusual. Many east coast flights head back to Seattle in the 8 a.m. hour. What if I need to change/make a reservation that morning?
Any other thoughts?
MISSY - I've given up on writing Alaska.... because they NEVER respond!! Due to the website being down for nearly a day and no one able to book, I ended up having to pay extra. Even the agent thought it was lousy, and told me what to write so AS could contact me. NO RESPONSE! It was only over $27, so I'm not going to spend hours chasing down AS.... but their lack of response tell me a lot. That's the 4th time I've written AS, and have never heard a peep back from them. I simply give up.
It's just sad to watch AS go down this path. Now their customer service is BELOW par compared to the other majors. AS is starting to look more and more like SkyHigh.
I'm not going to make a blanket statement and say I'll never fly AS again... because I likely will since I live in Seattle. However, I used to be very loyal to AS and would even pay extra to fly them. Now with all the cutbacks, AS encourages me to fly whoever is cheapest.
I'll have to admit, that UA 777 ORD-SEA service in Business Class made me think, "Alaska who?"? :p
Oops. My bad.
Wow. This really does suck then... as mentioned, Alaska flies 24 hours a day...
This is so sad. They must be in very desperate straits to be making such anti-customer decisions. Oddly, I am more comfortable with UA's straight up Chapter 11.
I have also noticed that AS no longer provides prayer cards. Like them or not, they were important to AS, and now they are gone.
Is AS sinking fast and totally desperate, or are they just dumber than dirt?
Yes, JetBlue's res agents work from home.
I have not called the regular number in years, I have not a clue what it is. I called info and got it. Its now in my cell phone.
Alaska -- why can't you just reroute MVP calls to the regular number if the desk is closed? :mad:
lala
I am feeling very good about my decision to bail over to UA right about now. (That said, I hope I still feel as good about it in a year or two! :eek: )
That doesn't help with the irregular ops situation, though.
I have also noticed that AS no longer provides prayer cards. Like them or not, they were important to AS, and now they are gone.
Is AS sinking fast and totally desperate, or are they just dumber than dirt?
Not sure where to begin responding to this one, so I'll just say that I got a prayer card this past Sunday flying PDX-OAK. I can send it to you if you want it.
In an era where companies are becoming more friendly to after hours business it does seem strange that Alaska is retreating. Stores, gas stations, and other places are all 24 hours. The odd thing is that Alaska flys red eyes and operates in multiple time zones that market themselves to all hours!
I don't know what more to say, but this airline must really be on the verge of trouble. Look at all the "nickels and dimes" over the past several months and it does make you wonder what is next. True, the cost system at Alaska is out of control and the penny pinching on everything is creating chaos with passengers all over the place. Even the fare simplification was really a manipulated fare increase....while the high fares are no more, neither are the really low fares, making all fares in the middle, but it was sold differently.
What is next for Alaska? This was an airline that used to have commericals that said "more for less" and mocked other airlines by having the nickel machine to use the bathroom. You know, at this point I would not be shocked if Alaska pulled something like this. I am saying that sarcastically, but it does make me really wonder.
The missing link in all of this is the labor costs. Every other airline in America has asked for concessions or already has lower costs. Why is Alaska completely ignoring this option?
Based upon the other changes I have already decided I am no longer loyal to Alaska. The competition sometimes has a better deal or a more convenient flight....like my planned family fight to San Jose coming up. Southwest has $28 less fares and that is $112 for the family.....now Alaska will argue it has matched the fares, but at 6am both ways....that doesn't work for me. This is just one example. East coast fares are always higher than the competition. It is really just too bad that Alaska is so blinded by the nickel and dime savings that it is making incredibly poor business decisions....incredibly poor business decisions do come around a pending crisis...so is one looming?
The web never has irregular ops :rolleyes: :mad: :td:
Keithguy- the 800-Alaskaair number IS general reservations. There will not be 24 hour availability in any of the reservation offices. There will be a small group of agents on duty to assist ticket counters, but the customer phone lines will be unavailable from midnight to 5am.
Greyhound with wings....
In an effort to improve customer service during peak times the hours of operation for Reservations will be condensed. = You've been ENHANCED !!! :rolleyes:
This is surreal- I used to think AS was the best way to get SEA-BOS, now I'm going to seriously reconsider using them- not being able to call in irregular ops is absolutely ridiculous. I'd rather connect on CO through EWR than not be able to call if I need to- out of all the idiotic things AS could do, what nimwits up there decided on this one???
Unbelievably stupid.
Agreed.
Totally closing reservations for a period of five hours strikes me as both extreme and unwise. Some of AS' flights leave IAD, DCA, and BOS prior to 8am local time (which would be 5am Pacific), however at least those people can call up to 3am the morning of the flight for changes. But if a weather system hits overnight, when most folks are asleep, there is no way for them to try and proactively protect themselves prior to showing up at the airport. It's even worse for folks on AA codeshares, but at least they can call AA who is up 24/7.
I don't know if having AA handle calls during those hours might not have been an option, as I am sure AS codeshares all those flights with AA. Might screw-up calling for upgrades, but at this point, you were at the mercy of the computers or the airport agents, anyway, so would it have mattered that AA's call center couldn't assign seating?
AK-based fliers look to be okay, as they would have access from 3am (being two hours behind SEA) until 10pm. Looks like AS only runs a handful of midnight departures to LAX, LAS, SEA and ORD, and all of them leave at midnight so folks should be at the airport by then and can be serviced by airport agents.
I am sure AS has looked at the cost of maintaining a staffed call center vs. the number of calls they get and determined that closing down the facility was the more cost-effective option. But it was not the most customer-effective option. I don't know how easy it would be for AS to implement "home-based" reservations (ala B6), but it might be something for them to consider to not only handle midnight to 5am Pacific operations, but general operations. That way, you don't have to worry about losing a call center to some natural (or unnatural) event, and you can make better use of your employees while reducing overhead.
This is just the latest in Alaska's nickel and dime game.
The funny thing I find is that Alaska will do everything it can to reduce costs, except to the employees to reduce compensation, unlike nearly every one of its competitors.
Now I do find that admirable...not reducing employees wages. But at the same time the leadership at Alaska is quickly developing an airline that is below the expected standard, and often now, below that of the competition.
In my opinion, I think Alaska should call itself "Nickel and Dime Airways" as this is exactly where Alaska is now at.
What on earth can they be thinking??????? How much can it cost to have a couple of agents working the res lines overnight? I doubt that the res agents are making huge amounts of money per hour. Isn't this the kind of thing that could even be done remotely?
Alaska outsourcing part of their reservations
or
Alaska closing res from midnight to 5am PT?
Are you using the link from the website? I know that the office gets backed up with emails and letters so I would expect up to a 4-6 week lagtime for a response from them. But if you're not getting anything from them, I have to wonder if your email filter is blocking responses? I realize that you'd rather not spend anymore time dealing with the issue, but again if you haven't heard any response from 4 separate letters, I'd give them a call and find out if the response got booted back.
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