Alaska Airlines Fare Class Booking: How to Target the Right Inventory

Which Alaska Airlines Fare Classes Should You Target

Before I even get into how to make sure you book yourself into the right fare class on your next flight, it’s worth mentioning that there are a few reasons you may want to target a specific fare class over others. And that’s mostly driven by what end goal you have in mind.

Sometimes all I’m looking for is the cheapest upgradable economy fare class so I can be moved into first class at the time of booking, other times (especially as we near the end of the year) I want to make sure I’m booking into a fare class that will earn me the highest amount of status points.

With Alaska, not every economy ticket you purchase will be eligible to receive an upgrade either as an elite within Atmos Rewards or by applying one of your hard-earned upgrade certificates. Therefore finding and targeting the right fare class for your booking is paramount.

Status-based Upgrades

Whenever I want to enjoy a complimentary upgrade based on my status, I always make sure to target the cheapest possible economy class tickets that are eligible for upgrades. As a Titanium, I have a wider range of options. This generally means I’ll have access to cheaper coach class tickets while still qualifying for a status-based complimentary upgrade when compared to other elite flyers within the program. This is because whether a ticket is upgradeable or not is based on both elite status and fare class.

Atmos Silver status holders can only enjoy upgrades when booked into Y and B class (full-fare economy).

Atmos Gold members receive upgrades when booked in Y and B (full-fare economy), H and K class (economy class).

Atmos Platinum and Titanium elites have the most options, with upgrades hitting when booking Y & B (full-fare economy), H & K (economy class) and M class (discounted economy). This means top-tier elite status holders have higher chances of sitting up front and still save some money when booking upgradeable tickets.

Upgrade Certificates

To leverage upgrade certificates instead, you’ll want to search for fare classes Y, B, H, K, M, L, V, S, or N. Any other fare classes will effectively render your upgrade certificates unusable to upgrade that specific ticket, so if your end goal is to upgrade by using these certs, you’ll want to steer clear of any fare class not listed above.

If what you’re chasing after is the maximum number of status points to hit a qualification minimum to either retain your status for the following year or move up to the next elite status level, you’ll want to pay close attention to the fare class you’re booking, as not all of them earn the same. For example, basic economy tickets, which Alaska calls ‘saver fares’, will earn you no status points whatsoever, so avoid those at all costs if status is what you’re after.

What If I’m Booking Through A Third Party?

Many times as part of my job I’ve been required to use a third party corporate travel booking platform. Large companies generally contract with these online travel agencies (OTAs) to keep the company’s travel expenses under control (read: restrict the options employees have access to when booking themselves). What this means in reality is that, while Alaska Airlines will sell the full gamut of fare classes on its own website, these third party platforms will filter out specific fare classes and only display a subset, generally the cheaper fares. Many times, this sadly means the fares you book for work will most likely not be upgrade eligible.

But I never let this get in the way of those coveted first class upgrades. I was required to use my company’s third party booking site, but once I got my reservations booked via the portal, all I had to do was give Alaska Airlines a quick call to ask about changing my ticket to a fare class that makes it upgrade eligible. I’ll ask “can you get with the fares desk and see how much it’ll be to move this into an N class ticket?” and they’ll come back with a price, I’ll pay it, and then be able to upgrade using my certificate. Otherwise, if I don’t have any certificates, I can ask them for the cheapest upgradable fare, usually M class since I’m a Titanium Atmos Rewards member.

How To Search Alaska Airlines Fare Class Availability With ExpertFlyer

Once you’ve identified what your priorities are, now you’ll know what fare classes to target when running searches using ExpertFlyer. It’s as simple as opening ExpertFlyer, logging in and heading to ‘Awards & Upgrades’. Fill out all the fields with your route (departure and arrival airports), travel dates, enter Alaska Airlines (AS) and then specify which class (or classes) you’re after. Hit search and sit tight.

Once results are displayed, hone in on the ‘availability’ column to quickly learn if there are any seats in the fare class you searched for. If there are, all you have to do is head to Alaska’s site or app and get yourself booked - and make sure your reservation lands in the right fare class.

Alternatively, you can head to the ‘Flight Availability’ option on the left hand side menu and cast a wider net for your searches. Much like our previous search, you’ll be prompted to enter your departure and arrival airports, dates (whether exact or a range) and select what airline you’d like to run the search on. Notice this functionality expands further into one or more specific airlines or, offering even more flexibility, an entire alliance. When it comes to fare classes, you can either specify one or leave the field blank and obtain the full list of fare classes on each resulting flight displaying a count of each.

Hit ‘Search’ and wait for the results to populate. You’ll notice each row represents a flight for which the ‘Available classes’ column will show a string of all classes on that flight followed by a count of however many seats are available. Hovering over each class will display a quick description of each class, so you don’t have to memorize them.

If any of the flights retrieve your desired fare class, just pivot to the Alaska Airlines’ website or app, run the same search and get yourself booked in the fare class you just found using ExpertFlyer.

How To Find Your Fare Class Before Booking

With Alaska Airlines, it’s not always clear what fare class you’re booking yourself into until you have reached the later stages of booking. The fare class shows up only as you add your flight to your cart, just before you enter your credit card info and make it official.

If you cannot get the website to book you into your desired fare class, you can always get Alaska on the phone for some assistance doing so.

However, if you’re after upgradeable fares (and who isn’t!) you are able to target those specifically as you run your searches on the Alaska Airlines website. In the search screen, after entering all the pertinent info about your flights, select one of the options in the ‘Upgrade type’ filter. Your selection will determine the fare classes you’re offered to book your tickets in order to receive a specific upgrade.

What If Your Preferred Booking Class Isn’t Available?

If the fare class you’re looking for does not come up in your searches, not all is lost. While that fare class may not be available at that time, it isn’t unusual for it to open up at a later date. So the smart thing is to create an ExpertFlyer alert to be notified whenever space pops up.

To do so, just click on the bell icon on the right hand side once your search results have come back with zero seats for that flight in the fare class you wanted. Fill out the fields the specific amount of seats you’re after - for example, I generally set alerts for both me and my spouse so I need two seats with the right fare class inventory. Other fields will be auto-populated from your previous search.

If and when seats in that specific fare class open up for your flight, you’ll get an email. All that remains is for you to take action and head to Alaska Airlines’ app or website and make the booking for the right fare class.

Bottom Line

Alaska Airlines has a lot of different fare classes for their flights, and not every fare class might be available on every flight. Making sure that you get into the correct fare class before traveling can drastically improve your chances of moving up front, either via an upgrade certificate or a free status upgrade.

Have questions or suggestions for this guide? Please reach out to customercare@expertflyer.com