Alaska Airlines will begin selling its basic economy Saver fare next month, ahead of a wider rollout next year, executives said on the carrier's earnings call.
With the Saver fare, passengers still will be allowed to bring a carry-on bag and personal item and, unlike on many other basic economy fares, still will earn the same mileage as standard economy fares. However, they cannot change or cancel the ticket, will board the plane last unless they have elite status and cannot select seats. EVP of planning and strategy Shane Tackett said the fares will be tested "in a small subset of markets" in November and those tests will determine how widely they will be rolled out when they officially debut in January.
In addition, Alaska Airlines is matching others' recent fee hikes for checked bags. All the largest U.S. airlines—save Southwest, which does not charge bag fees—already have instituted the hikes. For travel on tickets bought or exchanged on Dec. 5 or later, Alaska passengers will pay $30 for the first checked bag and $40 for the second. Currently, both a first and second bag each cost $25.
Alaska passenger revenue rose 4 percent year over year to $2.04 billion in the third quarter. Traffic increased 4.2 percent, and capacity rose 4.8 percent, pushing load factor down 0.5 percentage points to 84.9 percent. Yield increased 0.1 percent.
Alaska reported a net income of $217 million for the quarter, down from $259 million in the third quarter of 2017. Fuel costs jumped 39 percent year over year during the quarter.
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