Is Alaska Airlines Good? – NerdWallet

As journey continues its crawl again to regular, it may be robust to know which of the various U.S.-based airways could be finest to your subsequent journey. In case you’re a flight serviced by Alaska Airways, you could be questioning: Is Alaska Airways good?

Right here’s what NerdWallet discovered primarily based on plenty of elements, together with Alaska’s loyalty program, flight expertise, customer support and extra.

NerdWallet just lately analyzed the best airline loyalty program this yr, and Alaska Airways got here out on high, with a score of 4.6 out of 5 factors — considerably greater than the three.8 level score of second place finishers, American Airways and Hawaiian Airways.

What helped set Alaska aside from all different U.S.-based carriers? It gives a high-value reward price for its Mileage Plan program, has favorable insurance policies round charges and pets and gives top-tier advantages for its elite members.

Except for topping NerdWallet’s rankings of finest airline loyalty applications, there are further the explanation why Alaska is a good airline to fly.

Your expertise on Alaska could 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 thought of what you’ll expertise when flying with Alaska.

Reserving a flight on Alaska is comparatively simple, and you can also make your flight reservation both instantly with the airline (both on its web site or app) or via a third-party web site like Kayak or Expedia.

Needless to say Alaska fees a $15 service price when reserving via an agent on the cellphone (this price is waived for Alaska MVP Gold and 75k members), so you need to attempt to guide on-line when attainable.

You’ll have the ability to verify in for Alaska flights as much as 24 hours prematurely. You possibly can verify in both on the Alaska web site, on its app or on the airport.

In case you use the app, you’ll have the ability to obtain a digital model of your boarding cross. In any other case, you may print your boarding cross at residence or get a paper model when checking in on the airport.

Alaska Airways boards its planes utilizing seven totally different teams, beginning with pre-boarding (together with visitors with youngsters underneath 2), adopted by first-class, Mileage Plan elite members, premium class ticket holders, important cabin passengers and people in Saver seats.

Your in-flight expertise can fluctuate extensively relying on the cabin you’ve booked and the airplane on which you’re flying. Most aircrafts supply $8 Wi-Fi at some stage in your flight, and you may nonetheless entry free messaging even if you happen to don’t pay for web entry.

Word that Alaska doesn’t supply 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.

Alaska’s Mileage Plus loyalty program is top-notch. Award tickets might be redeemed for as few as 5,000 miles, and miles are collected 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 use your Mileage Plan miles to guide journey on companion airways together with Qantas, Cathay Pacific, American Airways, British Airways, FinnAir and Qatar Airways. You possibly can 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.

In case you’re involved about security while you fly, Alaska Airways is a good selection — Alaska was named the most secure airline within the U.S. and the eighth most secure airline on the earth, based on a 2021 evaluation by airlineratings.com.

In comparison with 9 U.S.-based carriers, Alaska Airways ranked third for on-time efficiency in a 2020 evaluation performed by OAG, a supplier of air journey knowledge.

Though Alaska wins factors for on-time efficiency, it doesn’t fare fairly as nicely on the subject of baggage. In 2021, Alaska was ranked the fourth worst airline within the U.S. for misplaced or mishandled baggage by LuggageHero.

Alaska prospects are typically proud of the airline. In a 2022 North American airline satisfaction examine by J.D. Energy, Alaska was ranked second in buyer satisfaction by first and enterprise class passengers and acquired a fifth place rating by financial system cabin vacationers.

Though there are various causes to fly Alaska Airways, there are some vacationers who could need to keep away from the airline, together with:

• Vacationers preferring a lie-flat seat. Alaska Airways would not supply lie-flat seats in its premium class cabins, so prospects who need a mattress after they fly ought to look elsewhere.

• Vacationers who fly regularly exterior of North America. Alaska Airways at present solely flies to the US, 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 need to use one other airline.

• East Coast-based vacationers. The airline’s flight community concentrates closely on the West Coast and Alaska, so it won’t take advantage of sense for all flyers.

So is Alaska Airways airline? Typically, sure. To get essentially the most bang to your buck, we suggest researching the plane and in-flight expertise supplied to 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 neglect to affix 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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