As journey continues its crawl again to regular, it may be robust to know which of the numerous U.S.-based airways is likely to be greatest on your subsequent journey. In the event you’re taking a look at a flight serviced by Alaska Airways, you could be questioning: Is Alaska Airways good?
Right here’s what FinanceGrabber discovered primarily based on various elements, together with Alaska’s loyalty program, flight expertise, customer support and extra.
FinanceGrabber’s airline loyalty program winner
FinanceGrabber lately analyzed the greatest airline loyalty program this 12 months, and Alaska Airways got here out on prime, with a ranking of 4.6 out of 5 factors — considerably greater than the three.8 level ranking of second place finishers, American Airways and Hawaiian Airways.
What helped set Alaska aside from all different U.S.-based carriers? It affords a high-value reward price for its Mileage Plan program, has favorable insurance policies round charges and pets and affords top-tier advantages for its elite members.
Apart from topping FinanceGrabber’s rankings of greatest airline loyalty applications, there are extra the reason why Alaska is a superb airline to fly.
What’s Alaska Airways like?
Your expertise on Alaska might fluctuate with class of service, vacation spot and elements like flight crew and passenger load. With that in thoughts, we’ve highlighted a number of factors under that ought to provide you with a greater concept of what you’ll expertise when flying with Alaska.
Making reservations
Reserving a flight on Alaska is comparatively straightforward, and you may make your flight reservation both instantly with the airline (both on its web site or app) or via a third-party website like Kayak or Expedia.
Take into account that Alaska costs a $15 service charge when reserving via an agent on the cellphone (this charge is waived for Alaska MVP Gold and 75k members), so you must attempt to guide on-line when potential.
Test-in course of
You’ll be capable of examine in for Alaska flights as much as 24 hours prematurely. You’ll be able to examine in both on the Alaska web site, on its app or on the airport.
In the event you use the app, you’ll be capable of obtain a digital model of your boarding cross. In any other case, you may print your boarding cross at dwelling or get a paper model when checking in on the airport.
Boarding
Alaska Airways boards its planes utilizing seven completely different teams, beginning with pre-boarding (together with friends with youngsters below 2), adopted by first-class, Mileage Plan elite members, premium class ticket holders, major cabin passengers and people in Saver seats.
In-flight expertise
Your in-flight expertise can fluctuate extensively relying on the cabin you’ve booked and the airplane on which you’re flying. Most aircrafts provide $8 Wi-Fi in the course of your flight, and you may nonetheless entry free messaging even if you happen to don’t pay for web entry.
Observe that Alaska doesn’t provide lie-flat seating — even on its cross-continental flights – so if having a mattress is essential to your flying expertise, you’ll must look elsewhere.
Loyalty program
Alaska’s Mileage Plus loyalty program is top-notch. Award tickets might be redeemed for as few as 5,000 miles, and miles are accrued primarily based on the space you fly, not how a lot you spent in your ticket.
Alaska can be a member of the Oneworld alliance, so you should utilize your Mileage Plan miles to guide journey on associate airways together with Qantas, Cathay Pacific, American Airways, British Airways, FinnAir and Qatar Airways. You’ll be able to even use your Alaska miles to guide flights on a number of choose non-Oneworld alliance members like Singapore Airways, Aer Lingus and Korean Air.
Different elements to contemplate when flying Alaska Airways
Security rankings
In the event you’re involved about security if you fly, Alaska Airways is a superb alternative — Alaska was named the most secure airline within the U.S. and the eighth most secure airline on the earth, in response to a 2021 evaluation by airlineratings.com.
Reliability
In comparison with 9 U.S.-based carriers, Alaska Airways ranked third for on-time efficiency in a 2020 evaluation carried out by OAG, a supplier of air journey knowledge.
Though Alaska wins factors for on-time efficiency, it doesn’t fare fairly as effectively in terms of baggage. In 2021, Alaska was ranked the fourth worst airline within the U.S. for misplaced or mishandled baggage by LuggageHero.
Buyer satisfaction
Alaska clients are typically proud of the airline. In a 2022 North American airline satisfaction research by J.D. Energy, Alaska was ranked second in buyer satisfaction by first and enterprise class passengers and obtained a fifth place rating by economic system cabin vacationers.
Who ought to keep away from Alaska Airways
Though there are numerous causes to fly Alaska Airways, there are some vacationers who might wish to keep away from the airline, together with:
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Vacationers preferring a lie-flat seat. Alaska Airways does not provide lie-flat seats in its premium class cabins, so clients who desire a mattress after they fly ought to look elsewhere.
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Vacationers who fly incessantly exterior of North America. Alaska Airways presently solely flies to the USA, Canada, Mexico, Belize, and Costa Rica. Though you may leverage Alaska’s companions to fly elsewhere, if most of your flights are exterior of North America, you could wish to use one other airline.
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East Coast-based vacationers. The airline’s flight community concentrates closely on the West Coast and Alaska, so it may not take advantage of sense for all flyers.
In the event you’re contemplating flying Alaska Airways
So is Alaska Airways a great airline? Typically, sure. To get probably the most bang on your buck, we advocate researching the plane and in-flight expertise provided on your particular flight, in addition to verifying the quantity of miles you’ll earn via Alaska’s loyalty program.
When you’ve determined to guide an Alaska flight, don’t overlook to hitch its Mileage Plan program to take full benefit of the airline’s top-rate loyalty advantages.
Photograph courtesy of Alaska Airways.
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