Many of you who have read my blog over the past few years know about my disdain for Alaska Airlines. I have been flying them since the better part of 2000 to Seattle for work, averaging about once a month. That's about 168 flights on that airline. I have been screwed by maintenance failures, incompetent scheduling practices, weather, and just the unexpected.
Between SFO and Seattle there are few choices, mainly Alaska and United. Alaska has been a Microsoft Preferred carrier for the entire time and United has gone on and off the Preferred list probably 4 times in 7 years. If you fly out of SJC then your only choice is Alaska.
Well I made my travel arrangements for our trip to Cabo San Lucas for my family on Alaska. 3 tickets for 2 adults and a 1 year old.
Alaska Airlines has completely and utterly failed us. I cannot even begin to tell this story without getting extremely angry. It is my firm belief that this carrier has no customer empathy. Not a single person who thinks about the customer. They are worse than every other carrier I have flown in my lifetime (and I have done my fair share of domestic and international travel). The bottom line about Alaska? They are a low fair, no frills, cheap airline that cannot schedule flight properly. Here is the problem...
every day of the year, Alaska Airlines assumes best case scenario.
Do you assume that the weather will be perfect for flying conditions? They do.
I have experienced every kind of problem with this airline. From the pilot who locked himself in the cockpit, to the tail rudder that stopped working, to the radio that didn't work, to the idiotic scheduling that doesn't leave any room for error. Not to mention the numerous canceled flights due to god knows why the plane could not get here.
They have built their schedules assuming that the weather will be perfect every day, and that their aging fleet of Boeing Planes won't fall apart every day.
What ever you do, do not fly Alaska to somewhere like Mexico, because if something goes wrong, they won't help you.
Anyway, here is my sob story.
We were scheduled to leave Cabo San Lucas on Friday Jan 4th. We have been here for 10 days and have had a lovely time. Really, this place is amazing.
I keep checking the flight info and start seeing some disturbing information. Our plane is scheduled to fly:
SEA -> SFO -> SJD (cabo) -> SFO -> PDX
all in a single day.
Well due to bad weather (really bad weather) and mechanical problems on the plane, the flight never makes it to San Francisco on leg #1. It ends up in Ontario, California. They don't cancel the flight till 2pm and I'm scheduled to leave at 2:30 pm.
I am calling every hour and they recommend I stay at the Hotel (which is 1 hour form the airport anyway). They have no departure time. With a baby, there is no way I am going to the Airport to hang around.
Finally the flight is canceled. One minute it is departing a later hour ever hour and the next minute, poof, we canceled it. I get on the horn. The lady tells me that I need to go to the airport to see if I can get a ticket on another carrier because they cannot do anything for me on the phone. Only the Ticket counter in freaking Mexico can issue me a ticket on another carrier. I begged and pleaded with the lady telling her I was an hour away and this wad ridiculous and she said it was the only thing I could do.
Oh, and the lady informs me that I'm confirmed on a flight out of Cabo on January 10th, 6 days later, which is the only thing Alaska can do for me, after all, this weather is an act of God and not their fault. Bullshit. they simply can't schedule their flights and sold every available seat for the next week w/o any contingency for anything to go wrong.
So, I hop in a cab and an hour later and $70 poorer I am now at the airport. I walk up to the ticket counter and immediately feel like I walked into Comp USA trying to return something. The best that these folks could tell me was that this issue was not their problem, it was my responsibility to find accommodation for the next 6 days and that they would not re-issue me a ticked on any airline. I would have to call Alaska and negotiate with them.
I waste 20 minutes arguing with people who don't give a shit. After all they have about 140 people in the exact same situation. Those without kids are happy to wait on standby for any flight out of this place. Since I have a 1 year old, I simply can't spend all day in the airport waiting around and then leave empty handed with no place to sleep for the night.
So I go back to the hotel, devastated and defeated.
Luckily my cell phone works here so I start text messaging my family who was with us who did get out of Cabo just fine. When they arrive in Houston they call us, we talk, and 30 minutes later my sister calls back saying they got us the last 2 seats on a flight on Sunday (2 days after our original departure) from Cabo to Houston. However, we are not getting out of Houston till Tuesday morning since the SFO weather has fouled up a lot of other folks.
Total cost for these 1 way tickets to get us home... about $2500. This is what the emergency fund is for, but lucky for me and my family my father has graciously offered to bail us out (thanks dad)! Spending money like this, regardless of whose money is not my idea of a fair deal though since Alaska has done NOTHING to get us home.
I have called Alaska a few times. I have waited on hold for a few hours and the only answer I have gotten from them was to call back the next day to see if they have added a new plane or more capacity to get folks stranded in Cabo home. I suspect many folks have made it out on standby (those without kids).
We have gotten very unlucky, but I've flown this carrier enough in my life to understand that this isn't an isolated occurrence. This is waay worse than my average 2 hour delay getting home on a business trip.
I am stranded in a foreign country, and while it's nice and beautiful here, sitting around a few extra days means my wife is missing work (she was scheduled to work sat, sunday, monday), I'm missing work and we are at a bit of wits ends for being away from home so long with our baby. We want nothing more than to be home.
There are worse things in life, much worse, but I feel beaten and defeated by a truly incompetent and bad airline. Yes I am sure that every airline has their skeletons. I've heard horror stories about being trapped on a plane for 11 hours sitting on the runway. That feeling of helplessness is something I try and avoid at all costs as to not impact me or my family.
The airlines have forgotten why they are in business. This industry and this system is just unbelievable.
In 2008 I will make every attempt to not give a penny to Alaska. I will fly United and Virgin to Seattle. I will never use them for any international travel, as they clearly don't have the resources, skills, or understanding to fix problems when they happen.
BTW, the United flight to SFO, also delayed due to weather from SFO, took off from Cabo with only a 4 hour delay. So clearly it's not just weather that Alaska can blame for these problems.
United got everyone home. Alaska left 140 people with nothing but a re-confirmation almost a week later.
Consider this the next time you give Alaska your money. You could be stranded to.