The new Mileage Plan elite benefits with Virgin America:<\/strong><\/h3>\n

1. Alaska Airline Mileage Plan MVP, MVP Gold, and Gold 75K\u2019s are grated access to preferred main cabin seats on Virgin America at the time of booking. This mirrors Elevate Silver and Gold benefits.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

2. Alaska Airline Mileage Plan MVP members now receive free upgrades to Main Cabin Select seats 12 hours before departure, and MVP Gold and Gold 75K\u2019s 24 hours before departure. Inventory dependent. Again, all this mirrors Elevate elite benefits.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

3. Alaska Airline Mileage Plan MVP members can purchase discounted first class upgrades at 12 hours before departure. MVP Gold and Gold 75K\u2019s at 24 hours before departure. The same benefit has always been in place for Elevate elite members.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

4. Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan MVP Gold and Gold 75K\u2019s are eligible for waved change fees for flights booked with Virgin America. This now matches the Virgin America Elevate elite benefits.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Alaska Airlines has announced and promised these benefits since last spring, and taken most of the summer to put them in place. Why did it take Alaska Airlines more time to put these benefits in place for their own Mileage Plan members? There are probably a couple reasons. First it wasn\u2019t as easy as instituting the other benefits, like priority boarding which can be dictated through a company communication. These new benefits require modifications across both frequent flyer computer systems so that customer data can be shared and correctly processed. Second, it wasn\u2019t as important as keeping those expensive new Virgin America customers happy.<\/p>\n

Regardless, the changes are now in place, and Alaska Mileage Plan elite members finally have equal treatment with Virgin America.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The integration between Alaska Airlines and Virgin America has been going on since December of last year. That was when the Department of Justice approved the deal and the purchase of Virgin America closed. Alaska started the combining process with surprising swiftness, offering customers on both airlines cross benefits days after the announcement. On December […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","WB4WB4WP_MODE":"","WB4WP_PAGE_SCRIPTS":"","WB4WP_PAGE_STYLES":"","WB4WP_PAGE_FONTS":"","WB4WP_PAGE_HEADER":"","WB4WP_PAGE_FOOTER":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[121,123],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6332","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-alaska-airlines","category-virgin-america"],"yoast_head":"\n