Subject: Formal Complaint – Incompetent Service and Denied Boarding on Flight 1409 (CLSVJM – Dear Alaska Airlines Customer Relations, I am writing to file a formal complaint regarding my experience on Flight 1409 departing from Seattle on 6/13/26. As a physician and business owner who frequently coordinates group travel, this was one of the worst airline experiences I have encountered. Upon arrival, I was informed that my check-in boarding pass was not official, despite successfully obtaining it electronically through your website/app with no warnings or indications of issues. My electronic boarding pass was rejected, leading to cancellation/denial of boarding. The gate agent (an older woman) was unhelpful, claimed my name had been announced multiple times (which it had not—she did not even know my name correctly), and mistakenly boarded my traveling companion under my name. Additionally, an older blonde staff member nearly failed to return my passport, highlighting a clear lack of training on your check-in and boarding systems. This chaos forced me onto a later flight while my group waited in Canada, unable to check into our Airbnb or pick up rental cars (as I was the primary booker). The entire incident caused significant business disruption, stress, and additional expenses. I have flown Alaska Airlines previously but will not consider it again without resolution. I request: • Full reimbursement of any additional costs incurred. • Appropriate compensation (vouchers/miles) for the inconvenience and poor service. • Confirmation of corrective actions for Please respond within 7-10 business days. Sincerely, Dr. Chunwen Teng
Everyone from the ticket counter to the stewards were so accommodating and helpful
Flight was delayed and we were left in the plane with planed turned off, took so long to get to destination and luggages were lost. Such a hectic travel
I've been loyal to Alaska Airlines for nearly 25 years and before the merger I had much better benefits. However, since the merger with Hawaiian Air, you've bumped me from group A to B or C and I now get poor selection of seats in the back of the plane.
Alaska is consistently the best in all categories. Excellent airlines and employees
The response was very helpful and quick. Overall, it was very professional.
On time, friendly and professional staff and crew Very nice new terminal in Spokane
Would not let us check in our luggage. Flight was 40 minutes late, so we really did have time to check in our luggage. Could not get on another flight even for the next day, calling the Alaska service numbers provided, it stated the average wait time to speak to anyone on the phone was 8 HOURS! Alaska would not refund our tix. Never again!!!!!
Morbidly obese dude took half my seat. Sore shoulders back from being squeezed. Shame on the airline for not making this guy purchase two seats
The flight was too short. No snacks or drinks offered.
Checkin was good, fllight ws good. Onlly complaint is lack of foot on 6 hour flight from Seattle to Boston. Snacks were flimsy - chips and cookies. could have offered something more substantial for such a long flight. I know you can buy food in airport but for the price you pay for a ticket, they should step up for the passengers.
Flight was delayed, we could have been notified earlier and in a consistent manner. App was not refreshing for another passenger to get the latest flight status. We could have stayed and waited at the hotel instead of waiting at the airport had we known the flight was going to delayed for more than 5 hours. The toilet is too tight, and needs to be cleaned more frequently (every hour). The entertainment screen froze, the touch screen not responding to touch. We were upgraded to comfort, it is more comfortable than regular economy seats.
We departed and landed early which was a nice surprise. The boarding process was slow.
Arlene was a great flight attendant. I also liked how one of the other flight attendants gave us a heads up about snacks and asked everyone to remove their headphones when it was their turn to order. Good idea.
It was fine. 55 minute flight. No snacks or beverage service offered. Boarding went smoothly and my walker was waiting for me on the jet way.
My flight was cencaled due with the bad weather on Sunday the crew was poorly mistaken my luggage supposed depart with my flight instead I didn’t have my luggage for almost 3 days the website is poorly respond to my complain until I have someone to do it my connection smooth their not even respon or email me even the have my luggage
8 hours late and the plane smelled like urine, that smell in the morning when your child wet the bed in the night.
The WiFi was not working. That made for a long flight.
Extremely disappointed with Delta. They canceled flight last minute and then I rebooked the other flights and with which were delayed as well
Everything was good except wifi and a leaking drink chiller. The floor was all wet and my bag was soaked. Did not notice until debarking. Have not heard back from Delta. Even though this was leg one of an international flight in first class, they denied access to their Sky Club - very disappointing!
Packed flight, which makes it tough on crew and boarding staff (and the customers of course). But this was great boarding, clear instructions, etc. Traveling on the weekends are always fraught with danger as you have families and less frequent flyers thus more confusion. But this flight went as planned.
Boarded early, left early, arrived 40 mins early! A win win for me!
I felt scammed. The priced advertised was different than what I paid. I paid the whole some online. I then got a call 20 minutes later saying I need to paid 70 more person. She said the price online is not the guaranteed price.
We had a delay, but thankfully I made it to my connection. Overall it went smooth
Left an hour and a half after the listed time. Up side was it had TV screens on the seat.
It's a long flight and I would have liked better snacks between lunch and the arrival meal. It's fine to have fruit and nuts but I really don't like ramen because it's salty junk soup. I'd suggest sandwiches. They're not expensive nor are they hard to store for a long flight. The FA's had a couple of big services and they were super busy preparing, executing and then cleaning up. Then they disappeared.
Great flight. Got to watch a movie. Smooth flight and early arrival at ORD.
I've been flying American mostly, and it's been very frustrating. This united flight makes me realize maybe the issue isn't flying, but the airline. United was a significantly better experience. The plane was more comfortable, with a normal amount of leg room (vs the ridiculous reductions AA has made), more comfortable seats, screens to watch movies. It was a much better experience!
We had excellent customer service despite the chaos at George Bush airport in Houston!
It isvvery small flight. No leg room . No space to put my personal item at feet.
Flight was delayed by 6 hours... the level of incompetence was truly astounding. I won't be flying American Airlines again. I don't care if AA is direct and there is a layover with another airline, I'll take the layover.
Flight was delayed 5 hours. Initial reason for delay was 'maintenance' - which makes sense. Then, the additional 2 hours continued to say it was maintenance - when I know EWR had a 2 hour delay. AA did not say that. Additionally, when boarding, there was only one agent at the counter for a long time - until another came to help. After boarding, we had to wait another 45 minutes due to 'no catering'. So while we waited for catering, AA continued to board additional passengers - which seemed odd - and raised questions about what really was going on. I sat in First Class. During the flight, the flight crew allowed a significant number of non-First Class passengers to use the front bathroom - which created a very crowded environment in First Class which was uncomfortable. This also delayed First Class passengers from using the bathroom. Overall, horrible experience.
Another uncoordinated American experience. Always surprises me at DFW for them of all places. Have to take this flight as there are no other good time options. We knew from the start that something was wrong, but the pilot wouldn't tell us. I just watched my Kayak app grow the delay by 10 minutes as it went to 3.5 hours. They were uncoordinated with maintenance (as maintenance, when finally arriving, knew within 15 minutes the plane wasn't going. No 'sorry' or 'this is what is going on' comment. The pilot seemed unfazed / didn't care about the process we were going through.
The seats. The seat in front of me was awful and when the guy sat down, it flew back and hit my head when I was putting my backpack under the seat, It didn't make for a pleasant experience,
The flight back to Dallas was delayed, which has happened to me several times with American Airlines. There was no announcement, no update sent out, no compensation offered for the inconvenience.
The plane was large, not full, but one with 3 seats near each window and 4 in a row in the middle of the plane. There were screens on the backs of the seats for entertainment and information. To use the entertainment one needs ear plugs that physically plug into the screen. My husband had some he let me use as I only had blue tooth type. The stewards gave out some headphones to some, but when my neighbor asked for some, the steward said no. So maybe they ran out? Idk. Bring the old kind of headphones or earbuds if you want entertainment in case this is the type of entertainment offered. We had a very tight connection in Miami. 43 minutes. The other economy passengers allowed us to get ahead of them because I asked if we could since we were near boarding time for our next flight and 35 gates away. They were extremely kind. First class wasn’t going to allow us to pass through. We did make the next flight. Our baggage didn’t, but they were delivered to us the next day and we were prepared with essentials in our carry on packs.
Everything went as planned. The only issue I had was with the gate C31 attendant. The person could barely speak English and was very difficult to understand.
The flight from Dallas to Tokyo was not on Japan Airlines. It was on American Airlines. Very disappointed that we did not fly on Japan Airlines. Will not be using you liars again. I’ll just book direct from the airline next time. Wish you could make this right and has us fly on Japan Air when heading back home to the US.
They made nearly everyone check their bag because the overhead bins are way too small. Extremely inconvenient
Was put into a seat right behind the toilet that had no entertainment possible but did have plenty of leg room over noisy part of plane.
There weren't enough employees at check in took awhile to get bags checked. There wasn't a wheel chair for me, I was sent to someone who turns out to work for a different airline, if My flight hadn't been delayed I probably would have missed my flight as it was, by the time I arrived at my gate, they started boarding in about 15 minutes. I don't know who took me to my gate, definitely was not the normal people who take passengers to the gate. I'm guessing she may have been in a management position. I wish I knew her name, she went beyond to help me. With that said everyone was kind, and were doing the best they could. So, I choose to say it was an Adventure, stressful start, but good. In the end went well. The situation was not only difficult for passengers but the employee's.
The staff at the check in counter was so rude. Made you feel Incompetent
Frontier scheduled a 40 minute connection in DEN. What they failed to mention was that they “close the doors” 20 mins prior to departure, which means you only have 20 mins. Not enough time. Possibly against DOT regulations. Filing complaint.
Flight was scheduled at 9:40pm. Got delayed to 10 am, the next day. crazy
The bag check, flight check-in, and onboard experience convinced my wife and me that we will actively go out of our way to avoid flying Frontier Airlines in the future. At bag check, we were informed that check-in could only be completed via the Frontier mobile app. Unfortunately, the app was extremely frustrating—sending us through repetitive, confusing loops that repeatedly forced us to decline add-on services with nearly every click. While most airline apps upsell, this one felt intentionally exhausting. As the process dragged on, we became genuinely concerned that my phone battery would die before check-in could be completed. We approached the bag check staff—who were standing together talking—and explained both our frustration and our predicament. They laughed. Later, my wife described the interaction as “gaslighting,” which felt accurate. We were then informed it would cost $25 per person simply to have our boarding passes printed. From that point forward, the tone of the experience was consistently hostile. The bag check employees were condescending and combative, behaving more like bullies than customer service staff. Unfortunately, that same attitude continued onboard. One flight attendant argued with me when I attempted to stow my backpack in the overhead bin. I explained that we had each paid $75 to check our bags specifically so we would not need to use carry-on space and could have adequate legroom. She demanded to see my ticket, pointed out that it said “no carry-on”—which I acknowledged—and I reiterated that this was precisely why we paid to check our bags. Her response was, “I don’t make the rules.” She then walked away, but not before asking if I “truly wanted to fly back to Chicago today?”—an unnecessary and unmistakable threat. It is also worth noting that despite booking our tickets together in the same transaction, we were not seated together. Upon our return to Chicago—where we could once again sit together—we compared onboard experiences. We both remarked on how unhappy the flight attendants appeared and how each of us was separately asked whether we would like to purchase a beverage. We declined. At no point was water mentioned as an option, leaving us with the clear impression that even water came at a cost—or that complimentary water, if available at all, was deliberately left unmentioned. Overall, the experience was shocking and deeply disappointing, but it was also a profound learning experience—one we will not forget and will not repeat. -Steve
Plane was hot and miserable and the crew was rude!
12 hour delay required getting on and off plane 3 times - would have at least liked to have been offered a snack or drink
They didn’t offer a water, even after I asked
They switched our terminal 3 times and we were delayed for four plus hours!!!
It was an early flight and most people napped/slept and the crew let us which was nice.
