Alaska Airlines Price Guarantee Going Away September 1
One reason I love Alaska Airlines is that they have a price guarantee meaning that if the price of your flight drops after purchase, you can apply for a credit for the difference.
Well, it looks like this great benefit is going away.
On the Price Guarantee portion of alaskaair.com, there is some new wording under the “tips” section.
Here is what it used to say:
And today, the website says this:
A reservation may be eligible for guaranteed airfare credit if:
- All flights are operated by Alaska Airlines.
- The tickets are fully unused, including money and miles.
- A lower fare for the same itinerary and flight is available on alaskaair.com.
- The reservation is not a group, vacation or award booking.
- It was issued or last changed prior to September 1, 2018.
This doesn’t surprise me. Alaska has been making negative changes over the past year, including introducing Basic Economy “Saver Fares” and introduction/increase of change fees. It seems that 2018 is the year of removing the small things that made Alaska different from other domestic airlines.
UPDATE: I was able to speak with a representative at Alaska Airlines and confirmed that the Price Guarantee is going away.
Our alaskaair.com price guarantee is going away for tickets bought on or after September 1, 2018. We will continue to offer our price guarantee for guests who find a lower fare on another website within a day of purchasing a ticket (at least $10). We’ve seen relatively low usage of this program over time and it is a time and resource intensive to process requests. Alaska is still a really generous airline and we have 20% lower fares on average than the legacy carriers.
The exception to this is that we’ll continue to waive the fee for Alaska Mileage Plan elites (MVP Gold and MVP Gold 75k) who make changes to their tickets.
Do these changes impact your decision to travel on Alaska Airlines?
The price guarantee was one of the main reasons I have always booked Alaska. This, together with the reduced carry on size AND the new pricing structure have cause me to move towards Southwest for domestic flights. I will still use them for Hawaii but no longer for domestic mainland travel.