Usually I rave about Alaska Airlines’ great service but a couple of weeks ago I had an experience that made me quite upset.
I was using a certificate for a companion fare ticket and they asked that I go to the airport because I thought they wanted me to hand them a coupon when in fact they had wanted to give me a blasted paper ticket. This is the only time I have ever had to use a paper ticket when I wasn’t traveling abroad. Usually they give me an itinerary and I throw it away and write down the confirmation number in my calendar and I am done with it.
So when I arrived on the day of my flight they asked for my ticket and I told them that I had assumed it was an it itinerary and had thrown it away. Paper tickets look exactly the same and besides, the ticket agent had not informed me that I would need it to board. So they proceeded to tell me that it was not their problem, I would have to file a lost ticket report, and pay $60. Bullsh*t. I fly over 100k miles a year and they wouldn’t concede that they had failed to inform me that the paper ticket was necessary. “We’ll put you on the next flight.” Bullshit. I want my seats. So then and there I had to buy another two tickets for my flight that was leaving in about two minutes.
Alaska Airlines raves about being “The airline of the 21st century” and that they are so technologically advanced but all sh*t hits the fan when you don’t have a stupid paper ticket. They can look on the goddamn computer and see that the ticket was paid for, so what good does a paper ticket do? You may have seen the ads in their in-flight magazine.
I quote:“THE LATE PASSENGER PERIOD: Quick yet dimwitted, Travelerus neanderthalus spent much of its time running through airports, trying to make up for lost time holding on the phone and waiting in lines. Fossil evidence suggests it was eventually displaced by the more advanced Homo alaskapithicus, who learned to use Alaska Airlines’ website, alaskaair.com, to book tickets, purchase vacation packages and even check in online.”
What kind of crock of shit is that? Am I not the more advanced Homo alaskapithicus, who learned to use Alaska Airlines’ website, alaskaair.com, to book tickets, purchase vacation packages and even check in online? Then I am chastised for using their system as efficiently as humanly possible and scorned me when they forget to inform me that I would need the stupid paper ticket.
Alaska Airlines let me down horribly, but I talked to their customer service department and they didn’t charge me for the tickets. They also told me that they have no idea why they still use paper tickets other than “that is the way they do it.”
Do they suck or what?