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Alaska Airlines Customer Care has managed to be infuriatingly incompetent, above and beyond long hold times, which are par for the course now with airlines. Here are the gems we've been treated to over the past few days:
1. Online System Doesn't Process Retroactive Mileage Credit for Comfort Seats
This is more of a Web site issue than customer care, but if Alaska properly programmed its site to process retroactive mileage credit for extra seats (comfort seats) then all of the below could have been avoided. But no; this is the error message we received after inputting the correct ticket numbers:
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2. No Direct Phone Line to Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan
Very unfortunately there's no direct phone line to the Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan team; calls are routed through the general number.
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3. Only One Chance to Answer Callback
I left my number to have Alaska Airlines call me back, but was on a client call when Alaska called. Unlike American Airlines, where if you're unable to pick up you do get called back again, often several times, there was no subsequent call.
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4. No Idea What Earns Miles and What Doesn't
The first agent I texted with not only couldn't help, but asserted that Comfort Seats (Alaska's term for extra seats) didn't earn mileage credit, even when I provided Alaska Airlines' Comfort Seat Web page that says that they do earn credit:
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5. Lying
A subsequent agent assured me she had added the miles to my account. But when I later logged in to my Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan account, I discovered that not only had she NOT added the miles as promised, she had removed thousands of miles from my account, without authorization.
When I called back today to try to get this rectified, I was assured that the Mileage Plan team (whom the agent said I could not be transferred to, so I was unable to speak with them directly) would “fix the problem within the next hour.” That was over three hours ago, and the miles still aren't in my account–another lie.
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6. Unauthorized Removal of Miles, Instead of Adding Miles
See above.
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7. No Gesture of Goodwill
After all the time and frustration, I suggested that a gesture of goodwill was in order. No dice. Nothing offered, other than an apology and assurance that the removed miles plus the miles for the Comfort Seats would be in my account within the hour. Which as noted above, was a lie.
Update: a supervisor grudgingly finally offered a paltry 1000 miles or $25 off coupon. I chose the miles, but–you guessed it–they have yet to make it into my account.
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In short, if you have to get an Alaska Airlines mileage problem rectified: good luck. You're going to need it.
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