Alaska airlines miserable experience checking in

[dougp26364]

This has to be the most disorganized airline I’ve seen for checking in. Three groups, 25 minutes with 4 agents trying to check passengers in. Kiosks not working as advertised. Not enough kiosks to begin with.
Needless to say as a first time Alaska flyer flying first class, it’s likely to be the last time
This is worse than anything I experienced on Frontier, and I stopped flying them 20 years ago

 

[rickandcindy23]

Sorry about your experience.

We generally love Alaska, but our kids were not impressed with first class service from Maui. Our son said he has never had such bad service on United or Delta. He won't fly again. I was too out of it to notice bad service, as I had a broken arm and was on drugs and didn't want anything to drink on the flight because using the bathroom with a broken right arm would have required Rick to help. We wouldn't fit in that tiny bathroom. There would be three of us: him and me and my broken arm.

 

[WinniWoman]

I think more and more people experience this kind of thing with many airlines. I saw this even with just going to Florida on American at the gates.

My neighbor was supposed to take American First Class home from Tennessee and to make a long story short- it didn’t happen. Was on the plane and then everyone had to get off and get on another plane.That gate clear across the other side the North Carolina Airport.

I’ll say it again- flying stinks

 

[davidvel]

This has to be the most disorganized airline I’ve seen for checking in. Three groups, 25 minutes with 4 agents trying to check passengers in. Kiosks not working as advertised. Not enough kiosks to begin with.
Needless to say as a first time Alaska flyer flying first class, it’s likely to be the last time
This is worse than anything I experienced on Frontier, and I stopped flying them 20 years ago

What airport? Were you in the first class line? I haven't checked in at the airport in probably over 20 years.

 

[WorldT]

I know some people have had some bad experiences with frontier and spirit, but I have flown both twice within the last 18 months and everything went smoothly even on an international with spirit. I have also flown southwest and united within the Continental USA during the same time and frankly speaking I didn't see a huge difference.

 

[T_R_Oglodyte]

What airport? Were you in the first class line? I haven't checked in at the airport in probably over 20 years.

Yes - what airport was this?

I go through Alaska ticketing at least 20x/yr. I am Gold MVP and about half the time in FC. I almost always have checked baggage because I have a hard-side case with work gear that has to be checked.

I gave up airport check-in years ago - for all airlines, not just Alaska. The only thing I do at the airport is baggage check. For years I've checked in at home, then went to the FC/MVP counters to check my bags. About 6 months ago, Alaska revamped the check-in process, emphasizing self-tagging checked bags. Now, it's almost always faster to use the general bag drop line instead of using the more clogged MVP/First Class lines. (But that line is still faster than general check-in for flyers who haven't self-tagged.)

As noted, I'm going through Alaska ticketing and check-in 20x/yr. I have never noted anything like what you describe. That makes me think you happened to just hit on a glitch. If the situation you encountered was frequent, I'm pretty sure that I would have experienced it at least several times.

 

[Luanne]

As we've gotten older we've started using curb side check in when it's available. It's nice not having to haul our luggage through the airport. We do check in online at home, or on the app.

 

[dougp26364]

What airport? Were you in the first class line? I haven't checked in at the airport in probably over 20 years.

Wichita, KS……. and they didn’t have a first class line.
We did online check in, but the system wouldn’t validate our passports. Kiosks said to scan the passport. Wouldn’t work. They had one agent working the line. She took all our info and attempted to text us our boarding passes three times. Failed all three times.
Part of the problem was the first three passengers all had problems and only one of the desk agents knew how to handle anything other than a standard check in.
As we stood there with only 5 parties ahead of us, I watched the SWA’s desk clear an entire 737 check in before Alaska got us to the desk.
Needless to say, I’m not impressed.

 

[dougp26364]

As we've gotten older we've started using curb side check in when it's available. It's nice not having to haul our luggage through the airport. We do check in online at home, or on the app.

We generally Don’t check luggage, but we’re taking a cruise and it was necessary this trip. Our airport is small enough we don’t have consider baggage drop. We have used it when it’s been available at larger airports, but we rarely have checked bags anymore

 

[dioxide45]

Airlines like rental car agencies, if you stop using one after a bad experience you will quickly run out of options.

 

[Luanne]

We generally Don’t check luggage, but we’re taking a cruise and it was necessary this trip. Our airport is small enough we don’t have consider baggage drop. We have used it when it’s been available at larger airports, but we rarely have checked bags anymore

We always have checked luggage.

 

[T_R_Oglodyte]

We did online check in, but the system wouldn’t validate our passports.

That is probably correct. We went through TSA precheck, where they do look at passports, and when we were approved we received a Known Traveler Number from TSA, which is linked to our passports. So, we can check in with passport on-line. That gets us to the gate, so we can bypass the line at the check-in counter. But then, at the gate we still need to show our passports to the gate agent.

 

[dougp26364]

Airlines like rental car agencies, if you stop using one after a bad experience you will quickly run out of options.

True, but sometimes it’s bad enough that the other bad options don’t seem as bad. AA is not my favorite, but their first class price is often acceptable and the service, while not the best, is tolerable.
I’d fly Alaska over Frontier any day of the week, but maybe not before AA if flying first class. If flying coach I’d likely fly Alaska over AA because the level of service is negligible between the two.
We choose Alaska this trip for 3 reasons initially.
1. Route and flight times
2. Price point
3. I wanted to try them and see if they were a viable option for future west coast flights

1. They changed our flight times to a point we had a 7 hour layover (happens with ALL airlines)
2. The price was great but the service was lacking
3. Now I know.

I really can’t say I won’t fly Alaska again. If I’m not checking bags and not flying internationally, I’d likely have had no problems. The problem was the international flight and their inability to issue a boarding pass without physically checking the passport. It has been years since we flew an international flight. Maybe things have changed. The last time we flew internationally we could get our boarding passes but had to show our passports before being allowed to board the plane. With Alaska we couldn’t even get our boarding passes without physically showing our passports to the ticket agent. Maybe every other airline has to do it this way as well in today’s new world order.
Not having a line to expedite first class ticket holders is an issue for me. Maybe I’m a travel snob, but if I pay a first class price I want first class treatment, and that includes a line to check me in ahead of passengers who don’t fly enough to know how the process works.

 

[T_R_Oglodyte]

I would concur that Alaska service is likely worse at airports where they don't have a big presence. If they only have one flight in and out of an airport, it's likely that the local crew isn't very large and is part time only. That one flight makes an arrival, then is serviced and departs. So not a lot of depth.

I find that to often be an issue with baggage claim in those airports. They often have just one person, so there is an issue, that person is immediately swamped.

 

[klpca]

We just flew Alaska to Cabo last week. We used an app called Airside to upload our passport info so that we could get our boarding passes when we checked in. It was a bit finicky but we were both able to get boarding passes. We rarely check bags so I can't comment on that (other than that the baggage claim area in Cabo was a hot mess to be avoided at all costs judging by the look of it). Air travel is not a relaxing experience these days, that's for sure.

 

[dougp26364]

We just flew Alaska to Cabo last week. We used an app called Airside to upload our passport info so that we could get our boarding passes when we checked in. It was a bit finicky but we were both able to get boarding passes. We rarely check bags so I can't comment on that (other than that the baggage claim area in Cabo was a hot mess to be avoided at all costs judging by the look of it). Air travel is not a relaxing experience these days, that's for sure.

Tried to use airside. It read my passport but I could never get it to read my wife’s. After so many attempts is said try again after 24 hours.

 

[WorldT]

True, but sometimes it’s bad enough that the other bad options don’t seem as bad. AA is not my favorite, but their first class price is often acceptable and the service, while not the best, is tolerable.
I’d fly Alaska over Frontier any day of the week, but maybe not before AA if flying first class. If flying coach I’d likely fly Alaska over AA because the level of service is negligible between the two.
We choose Alaska this trip for 3 reasons initially.
1. Route and flight times
2. Price point
3. I wanted to try them and see if they were a viable option for future west coast flights

1. They changed our flight times to a point we had a 7 hour layover (happens with ALL airlines)
2. The price was great but the service was lacking
3. Now I know.

I really can’t say I won’t fly Alaska again. If I’m not checking bags and not flying internationally, I’d likely have had no problems. The problem was the international flight and their inability to issue a boarding pass without physically checking the passport. It has been years since we flew an international flight. Maybe things have changed. The last time we flew internationally we could get our boarding passes but had to show our passports before being allowed to board the plane. With Alaska we couldn’t even get our boarding passes without physically showing our passports to the ticket agent. Maybe every other airline has to do it this way as well in today’s new world order.
Not having a line to expedite first class ticket holders is an issue for me. Maybe I’m a travel snob, but if I pay a first class price I want first class treatment, and that includes a line to check me in ahead of passengers who don’t fly enough to know how the process works.

All airlines do require that you scan your passport for international flighs, check in luggage or not. Some have an app that you can use for that process. For some you have to do it at the airport kiosk. Seems in your case the kiosk wasn't working and they did not have a viable fall back plan.

 

[klpca]

Tried to use airside. It read my passport but I could never get it to read my wife’s. After so many attempts is said try again after 24 hours.

I was not so easy to use but the little videos actually helped me. I also had to take my phone case off so that it could read the chip.

 

[sparty]

Airlines like rental car agencies, if you stop using one after a bad experience you will quickly run out of options.

You mean like blowing doors out while traveling over your house?

 

[easyrider]

Wichita, KS……. and they didn’t have a first class line.
We did online check in, but the system wouldn’t validate our passports. Kiosks said to scan the passport. Wouldn’t work. They had one agent working the line. She took all our info and attempted to text us our boarding passes three times. Failed all three times.
Part of the problem was the first three passengers all had problems and only one of the desk agents knew how to handle anything other than a standard check in.
As we stood there with only 5 parties ahead of us, I watched the SWA’s desk clear an entire 737 check in before Alaska got us to the desk.
Needless to say, I’m not impressed.

We had a problem at SeaTac leaving to Cabo. The machine that prints the checked bag tag wasn't working. We almost missed our flight because the 20 Alaska employees doing nothing wouldn't help. I was pissed but since then Alaska Airlines has really came through for us so I'm pretty happy with them now.

Bill

 

[easyrider]

We just flew Alaska to Cabo last week. We used an app called Airside to upload our passport info so that we could get our boarding passes when we checked in. It was a bit finicky but we were both able to get boarding passes. We rarely check bags so I can't comment on that (other than that the baggage claim area in Cabo was a hot mess to be avoided at all costs judging by the look of it). Air travel is not a relaxing experience these days, that's for sure.

We use the Alaska Airlines app and check in 24 hours before our flights. Everything is on our phone. Coming home on International flights we have Global Entry and it is a fast way through US Customs and includes TSA Precheck.

The thing that I dislike the most about travel is the flying.

Bill

 

[TolmiePeak]

Wichita, KS……. and they didn’t have a first class line.
We did online check in, but the system wouldn’t validate our passports. Kiosks said to scan the passport. Wouldn’t work. They had one agent working the line. She took all our info and attempted to text us our boarding passes three times. Failed all three times.
Part of the problem was the first three passengers all had problems and only one of the desk agents knew how to handle anything other than a standard check in.
As we stood there with only 5 parties ahead of us, I watched the SWA’s desk clear an entire 737 check in before Alaska got us to the desk.
Needless to say, I’m not impressed.

Isn't there just 1 E175 a day out of there?

 

[dioxide45]

You mean like blowing doors out while traveling over your house?

People are still flying Alaska. Air disasters don’t really stop people from flying. Has any airline gone out of business because of one? Perhaps PanAm.

 

[WinniWoman]

We just flew Alaska to Cabo last week. We used an app called Airside to upload our passport info so that we could get our boarding passes when we checked in. It was a bit finicky but we were both able to get boarding passes. We rarely check bags so I can't comment on that (other than that the baggage claim area in Cabo was a hot mess to be avoided at all costs judging by the look of it). Air travel is not a relaxing experience these days, that's for sure.

Are you saying you can't check in on line with international flights because you have to show a passport? Unless you use that Airside app?

 

[dougp26364]

Isn't there just 1 E175 a day out of there?

Yes, but they utilize AA, their one world partner to creatively gain more routes. Our flight home will be Seattle to DFW on an Alaska 737 (the model that demonstrates Beoing managements open door policy) connecting with an AA flight for the final legs home