A family of four booked a ticket on Alaska Airlines, only to incorrectly be denied boarding due to the airline having some sort of a glitch in its system when it comes to visa requirements. They were rebooked, only to be downgraded, have similar issues on the next flight, and nearly miss their flight. But they didn’t miss it… instead, they were kicked off the plane by the purser, after another employee insisted they couldn’t have their assigned seats. Ouch.
Since 2022, Canada hasn’t required permanent residents of the United States to get a visa for entry, regardless of their nationality. Christophe had traveled to Canada several times since that policy change, but just to be on the safe side, he even checked travel requirements in the Alaska app… which confirmed they wouldn’t need a visa.
They tried to check in online, but couldn’t do so, as the system said a document check was required at the airport. Fair enough. They arrived at the airport with plenty of time, despite being in first class with no checked bags.
Well, when it came time to board, guess what? The system once again flagged them for not having visas. This time around that whole process of offloading and loading the passengers back onto the flight happened again, but the process took around 30 minutes, and during that time, they patiently stayed seated in the gate area.
The agents said all was good, and they were boarded without having their boarding passes scanned, to avoid that issue. They didn’t realize that in the process, the agents had changed their seats on them. This is where the story goes from bad to worse.
On the plane, Christophe claims there was an Alaska employee with her badge seated in the middle seat in row 10, seat 10B. Christophe’s wife had been assigned seat 10A, so asked to access her seat, but the employee declined, and called the purser instead, telling her that “you told me the three seats were empty,” or something along those lines. The purser instead instructed Christophe’s wife to take seat 9E, a middle seat a row up.
Christophe explains that this rubbed him the wrong way, after such a disastrous travel day, feeling like the purser was unfairly trying to keep a row of three seats for her friend, while pushing his wife into another middle seat.
At this point, the purser left, and then the more helpful of the two gate agents boarded the plane. Christophe says he expressed calmly the situation, and the agent apologized. He asked him to please record the names of the two employees, so that he could reference the situation in a complaint, and so there was a witness.
Another 10 minutes passed, at which point the gate agent came back and asked the family to deplane, stating he would explain the situation outside. Christophe says the gate agent was incredibly gracious, and explained that the purser said she felt uncomfortable with having them onboard the flight, and of course the captain sided with the purser. Christophe insists he didn’t raise his voice or anything else, and found the response extreme.
While the friendly agent tried to rebook them, at this point they declined, given that they figured the same isa issue would happen again on the next flight. They felt like Alaska just couldn’t take them to Canada. So within five minutes he bought a ticket on Delta, checked in online without issues, and boarded 30 minutes later. It did cost the family of four an extra $2,538, though.
This is shameful on Alaska’s part, on many levels
Christophe is a level-headed guy based on all my interactions with him, and I’m inclined to believe his version of events. As I see it, there are a few different issues here.
A great solo travel tip spotted this week on One Mile at a Time.
