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Post by applegrcoug on Jan 23, 2024 1:14:56 GMT -5
We are set to depart on Friday Jan 26. The plan was to do something different and fly from our home town airport, YKM. It only gets two flights per day, so not a lot of traffic. From YKM, we connect in SEA and then to MCO. All this is on Alaska. This morning I decided to do a little recon and look at which gate we may be arriving and then from which we would be departing. However, I notice my same flight from SEA to MCO is cancelled 70% of the time and going forward two days it looks to be cancelled. It is on a MAX9. Did Alaska contact me or anything? Nope.
So now what? They have given the option to cancel online and get a full refund. Yippie. New tickets are hella expensive because of the complete fiasco. Not only that, I can't really use my home airport...nothing like having to drive 200mi in potential freezing rain to get to the airport.
I know some people just love Alaska, but I really think I am done with them. I don't fly with them that often, but out of my last four trips where I have used them, I have had three major issues.
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Post by tomandrobin on Jan 23, 2024 8:41:31 GMT -5
I had to look up YKM, I had never heard of that airport before. To be honest, I never heard of Yakima anything.
So, it appears you are a bit out from another major airport that flies to Orlando. I have never flown Alaska Airlines, but they always had a good rep in the past.
Seattle/Tacoma appears to be a 3-hour drive away. I would book a flight there to get Orlando. Non-Stop from Seattle to MCO is around $750-$800 on Delta or $500 on Frontier/Spirit with 1-stop.
I hope everything works out for you. Keep us posted on how this all unfolds.
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Post by brp on Jan 23, 2024 9:58:59 GMT -5
Yakima is well known for Yakima racks for sports equipment. We fly AS all the the time and are very happy with them. The Boeing 737-9 MAX issue is a Boeing issue, not an AS issue. They happen to have these planes and have to cancel even though they have done inspections on them. AS have listed travel plan changes for the past couple of weeks, so there were opportunities to change this to a different flight on that day. There are 4 non-stops from SEA-MCO and the changes were free. Are they not still offering that?
Oh, and if you find an airline that doesn't have operational issues, let me know  Cheers. |
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Post by MinnieMom on Jan 23, 2024 13:25:27 GMT -5
Yuck. Sorry, that's rough. Here's hoping some flight works out so you can keep your trip.
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Post by helenabear on Jan 23, 2024 13:31:15 GMT -5
What a pain! Good luck figuring it out.
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Post by applegrcoug on Jan 23, 2024 17:51:41 GMT -5
The update...I proactively called AS last night at 9pm pst. Finally got through at 11pm. By 1am, she had us rebooked on some other flights where we connect in DFW. Getting any flights out of SEA right now is really tough. This morning I got a text saying my flight for Friday has been cancelled. I'm guessing it is for the SEA-DFW leg as that was on AS, not AA. I need to confirm it, but the call wait time is about four hours right now. Buut, the flight is zeroed out. The SEA-DFW availability AA had given AS they had already used. I did book a backup last night out of GEG, but it has legs on MAX9 on the return. So this morning I booked more backups from PDX. Now I just need to get ahold of the house sitter to see if she can do another two days so we can drive there and back. I'm not too thrilled about driving at night in freezing conditions in the rain. I had to look up YKM, I had never heard of that airport before. To be honest, I never heard of Yakima anything. So, it appears you are a bit out from another major airport that flies to Orlando. I have never flown Alaska Airlines, but they always had a good rep in the past. Seattle/Tacoma appears to be a 3-hour drive away. I would book a flight there to get Orlando. Non-Stop from Seattle to MCO is around $750-$800 on Delta or $500 on Frontier/Spirit with 1-stop. I hope everything works out for you. Keep us posted on how this all unfolds. We are known for more than you think...you just don't know it. About 70% of fresh market Washington Apples come from Yakima (hence my screen name, and apple grower), then there are all the fresh market sweet cherries and the bulk of the Washington wine industry is from Yakima. If you're into aviation, Cub Crafters is from here. Yakima ski racks, while carrying our name, aren't built here...doesn't make sense to me. Yes, SeaTac is about three hours away....during summer. In winter, it can be anywhere between three hours and three days due to snow closures on Snoqualmie pass. Several years ago, we got trapped up there for like 10hrs or something. That particular day, it would have been faster to drive to San Francisco. Sooo, we avoid driving there during winter. The good news is Spokane and Portland are only about 3:15 and don't have a history of road closures unless it is REALLY bad. Yakima is well known for Yakima racks for sports equipment. We fly AS all the the time and are very happy with them. The Boeing 737-9 MAX issue is a Boeing issue, not an AS issue. They happen to have these planes and have to cancel even though they have done inspections on them. AS have listed travel plan changes for the past couple of weeks, so there were opportunities to change this to a different flight on that day. There are 4 non-stops from SEA-MCO and the changes were free. Are they not still offering that?
Oh, and if you find an airline that doesn't have operational issues, let me know Cheers. It is a both issue at this point. They've lost 28% of their planes and haven't done anything to adjust their schedule except cancelling a couple days in advance. All AS SEA-MCO were scheduled on the MAX9. Not only that, they aren't really out there telling customers how effed they really are right now. The poor lady last night was on her 13th hour trying to get stuff figured out for people. We spent all that time figuring stuff out to get things rebooked and for what? Less than 10hrs later the whole thing is invalid. It really has been interesting also looking at UA. They too are a big Boeing customer (Boeing at one point owned UA in the beginning). They cancelling some flights too. But one thing I have noticed in this whole fiasco is they have replaced some of their 737 flights from IAH-MCO and ORD-MCO with 777s. I'm not sure how many 737s used to come in to MCO as opposed to now with a 777, but that is one way to make changes...use some of that summer capacity. Not meant to be a comparison, just an observation. That being said, my problems with AS are other things...being bumped, massive delays, cancellations, having to sit on the tarmac for two hours to only have to unload the entire plane and go redo security because maintenance didn't check in properly that day so TSA could recheck the plane and the cargo. Death by a thousand papercuts. |
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Post by brp on Jan 23, 2024 18:22:27 GMT -5
Understand your points. To be fair, AS lost 20% of their fleet. UA lost 7%. UA will post a first quarter loss because of this, so clearly it impacts them as well. As to "changing schedules," when you lose 20% of planes, flights will be cancelled. That's just reality. And making wholesale schedule changes short term like this just doesn't happen. They have made changes, and we've experienced several of them where flights were moved to different aircraft to adjust. For the SEA-MCO, yeah, sucks that they were all 7M9. But even today I looked and there were routings through PDX available for Friday. With the flexible schedule changes that were announced weeks ago, changing to something else would not have been too hard. As for airlines, AS were second behind DL in on-time performance in 2023. UA were fourth. We've had issues with AS, and not giving them a complete pass. But we fly them more than 20 times a year (I have 13 booked at the moment), and their general performance is very good. Right now, not so much. They have been dealt a tough hand, but they could do better.
And, of course, weather disruptions are very different from operational delays.
In the end, I'm glad you were able to work this out. That's what matters. Cheers. |
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Post by baymaxfan on Jan 24, 2024 10:55:34 GMT -5
Ouch! Four hours to get rebooked and then to have that SEA-DFW leg canceled several hours later. I do find it a bit surprising that they haven't been able to get the schedule figured out at least one week in advance. You were essentially booked on a flight that was leaving in less than 72 hours that then got canceled. Why was that flight even an option? I feel for you and can only hope that you can not only make it to WDW, but not lose hours upon hours on the phone.
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Post by applegrcoug on Jan 24, 2024 19:35:57 GMT -5
We have given up on Alaska. They have said there is nothing they can do for us except different days.
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Post by helenabear on Jan 24, 2024 20:08:20 GMT -5
We have given up on Alaska. They have said there is nothing they can do for us except different days. That's awful. So I know you had back up plans, have you decided for sure yet how you're going to get there for sure? I am so sorry this is so stressful no matter what though. |
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Post by applegrcoug on Jan 25, 2024 0:41:57 GMT -5
We have given up on Alaska. They have said there is nothing they can do for us except different days. That's awful. So I know you had back up plans, have you decided for sure yet how you're going to get there for sure? I am so sorry this is so stressful no matter what though. Last night I cancelled my first and second backups and started with fresh backups which are now primaries. We will drive to Portland tomorrow after school and head out fly out Friday morning as planned. My brain is totally numb from looking at routes that aren't crazy, aren't super expensive and allow us to sit together. If on Alaska I was to the point of asking for Seattle to Wichita to Dallas to Orlando. Getting out of Seattle to a hub right now is really tough. |
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Post by PirateLinda on Jan 25, 2024 7:28:32 GMT -5
Glad you have a plan. Wishing you safe travels.
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Post by helenabear on Jan 25, 2024 7:37:34 GMT -5
That's awful. So I know you had back up plans, have you decided for sure yet how you're going to get there for sure? I am so sorry this is so stressful no matter what though. Last night I cancelled my first and second backups and started with fresh backups which are now primaries. We will drive to Portland tomorrow after school and head out fly out Friday morning as planned. My brain is totally numb from looking at routes that aren't crazy, aren't super expensive and allow us to sit together. If on Alaska I was to the point of asking for Seattle to Wichita to Dallas to Orlando. Getting out of Seattle to a hub right now is really tough. I am sorry that you've gone through so much just to go on vacation, I hope it's a wonderful one! Glad you have something figured out and safe travels to you! |
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Post by Capt Kia on Jan 25, 2024 12:15:27 GMT -5
Good luck, I hope you make it out. And most importantly, safe travels. When you land head straight to Epcot and start drinking, heavily.
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Post by Brian5581 on Jan 25, 2024 21:15:25 GMT -5
Best wishes for safe and successful travels from here on out!
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