Really. And I thought I was being reasonable!
We went out to dinner last night, and ran in to a friend of ours that is a flight attendant. He knows that I fly every week, and that I was to fly out this morning. He asked how the Portland to Chicago flights were going for me on Alaska, and I told him. But I also mentioned that I was going to fly PDX -> SEA, SEA -> ORD today. He wondered why.
I told him that I normally fly the PDX -> ORD direct on Alaska, but going through Seattle on this trip, for the same price, I was guaranteed a first class seat. See, Alaska lets MVP Gold members buy a certain class of ticket on their website and instantly upgrade. LOVE THAT FEATURE! The choice was obvious to me when buying tickets: Go for the first class seat. But in doing so, my flight attendant friend laughed at me. Yes, it’s an extra flight. But it’s the same money, the same time line, and the same route basically. Why not? Besides, I get extra frequent flyer miles.
He wasn’t amused. I think it’s a good strategy. What do you think?