Alaska Airlines hangs up on a customer after three hours on hold. Just after purchasing a ticket with Alaska Airlines, Carole Perri told Travel Noire she knew she’d made a mistake on the departure date. Within hours of receiving the final itinerary, Perri tried to call the airline to fix it. The hold time was approximately two to four… HOURS!
Perri believed it was after hours and the airline’s customer service wasn’t available. So, she called back the next day. She received the same automated message telling her the wait time would be two to four hours. Perri found a 3rd party app, called Get Human, that would wait on hold for her and then call her when Alaska Airlines picked up. She placed the order to get a call back at 2:41 p.m. and didn’t get a call until 5:50 p.m., three hours later.
When Perri picked up the call, she was still on hold with Alaska Airlines. Determined to fix the issue and knowing no other way to solve it, she waited on hold.
During the wait, Perri also tried to text Alaska Airlines. After 20 minutes, a representative replied. The reservation change was going to cost extra money, even though she’d originally called before the 24-hour change guarantee. According to the representative, “There is no change fee, only the difference in fare would apply. I’m sorry, but I’m not able to take payment over text.” The conversation was then ended. Perri continued to wait on hold on the phone.
The same song played over and over while the time ticked away. One hour. Two hours. Perri watched, Life Below Zero while she waited on the line. “At least I knew I’d be able to change my ticket since the person over the text gave me some options. I thought all I had to do was to wait on hold until I could get through to a live person.”
Unfortunately, right at the three- hour mark of being on hold, the line was picked up and immediately hung up. Perri said she couldn’t believe it. “I’d waited on hold all that time just to have someone physically hang up on me? I’m shocked.” Perri was eventually able to change her ticket, but the difficulty of doing so has made her unsure of whether she will fly with the company in the future. “As an Alaskan resident, I get free luggage. But, after this mess, I don’t know if free luggage is worth flying with them again.”