Alaska Airlines today said it is dramatically revising its systemwide pricing structure by eliminating Saturday night and maximum stay requirements, cutting high-end fares and reducing total fare types available in a given market. The new structure will be in place as of this weekend for flights between the Pacific Northwest and California, as well as most Alaska markets, and will be implemented in additional markets in the coming weeks. The announcement follows the carrier's pricing experiments in select U.S. and Canadian markets during last spring and summer
(BTN, June 24, 2003).
Alaska becomes the second major U.S. carrier to fundamentally alter systemwide fares since Sept. 11, 2001, following America West Airlines
(BTN, April 8, 2002).
Describing the decision as "a sweeping move to simplify," the nation's ninth-largest airline said it is removing 3,000 fares and narrowing the gap between the highest and lowest. It said weekend-night stay requirements will be replaced either by a generic one-night minimum stay requirement or none at all.
"Weekends are for being with your family, not for staying overnight just to save a buck," said Gregg Saretsky, Alaska executive vice president of marketing and planning. "The traveling public is fed up with convoluted fares and confusing restrictions and we're doing something about it."
Alaska said the number of fare types in a given market will be cut from as many as 15 to an average of six. America West's structure was redesigned with only four types, while other major carriers, notably American Airlines, recently have been creating new fare types in certain markets
(BTN, Feb. 9).