Alaska Airlines Eliminates Change Fees Permanently

On Tuesday, Alaska Airlines joined the fray of major carriers announcing that they would be eliminating change fees on most of their tickets, a move made as the industry continues to battle its way through the COVID-19 pandemic.

Alaska made the announcement on Tuesday morning, shortly after American and Delta did the same thing on Monday, and after United did the same thing on Sunday afternoon. All four carriers emphasized giving their customers flexibility in light of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Prior to Sunday, the only major American carrier to allow free changes was Southwest. Now, as of Tuesday, five major carriers are doing so.

“COVID has taught us that flexibility in travel is key. As we evolve our approach to travel to include more than 100 safety actions, it’s important to give our guests flexibility when they book by eliminating change fees,” Alaska executive vice president and COO Andrew Harrison.

Alaska had charged its travelers $125 to change their ticket, now it will operate with no change fees on all of its domestic and international tickets.

Also on Tuesday, Alaska announced that it would be extending its flexible travel policy for all new ticket purchases, including its low-fare Saver tickets, through the end of 2020.

The moves all come as the recovery in air travel has seemingly hit a plateau over the past three weeks—after hitting a low in April of 87,534 daily passengers, traffic at airports have recovered to reach over 800,000 per day, but that number has stayed essentially the same the last four weeks.