Alaska Air Reviews

Pros

Great benefits and co-workers. Used to have a great company culture.

Cons

The culture has changed now that the company keeps going through re-org after re-org. The company is becoming less productive because people are fearing for their jobs. Lots of negativity and a lack of trust in mgmt

Advice to Senior Management

Don't just think short term. We posted one of the best profits in the industry, don't make everything seem so "peachy" if you keep letting more and more people go. Tell the truth so people can plan ahead.

Pros

Run of the mill job - Happiness, stress, friends, schmucks, good managers and ego managers. Many different jobs performed from ticket agent to ops to flight attendant.

Cons

Pros are as typical as the cons. Same stuff as everywhere else in america no matter how bliss-full one may say their work environment is. The slackers have penetrated this work environment too and yes if your not a slacker you'll have to pull their weight or call them out on it, even if they're on the upper deck.

Your perfect work environment is not going to be found, you must create it. Decide what you enjoy doing that you can leave your mark and make a living. It is what you make it and it helps to know "The Secret" but "What the Bleep do we know"

Advice to Senior Management

A humble manager with high yet reasonable expectations will have his employees support and a great chance at 110%. Ego strokers are just gossip topic while minimum job requirements are met.

Pros

Interacting with passengers, the fantastic co workers and the opportunity to work at any of the stations. I also appreciated the non rev travel opportunities. Although there are not that many destinations - they are fantastic for travel on your days off.

I thought the training and customer service skills aquired were beneficial. The information I learned in this training was beneficial for future jobs.

Cons

The variable schedules were difficult to adjust to- I really felt that it was almost pure luck with what kind of shift you'd receive. (Luckily, they permit shift switching and picking up extra shifts). I didn't really have any bad experiences with this company though.

Advice to Senior Management

To distinguish yourself from other airlines, I belive that you need to empower your employees to make a difference when a passenger is having a bad day (when flights are cancelled etc). Alot of the time, it felt like hands were tied.

Pros

amazing crews in LAX!! They are the best!!

Cons

We are not compensated for our time compared to other successful carriers like Southwest.

Advice to Senior Management

Make it fair that we get more pay for being asking us to be the best in the industry.

Pros

Small but distinguished airline, no international travel except Mexico

Cons

The service cutbacks, passengers expect in-flight entertainment. The passengers flying Alaska expect a lot more but the airline is run more like a shuttle service.

Advice to Senior Management

Streamline the inflight service, cleaner planes

Pros

Alaska promotes a real family atmosphere, but it's more preach than practice sometimes. If you happen to work for a decent manager, you can take advantage of flexible schedules, commuter benefits and telecommuting. They offer a very generous PTO program for management. This is all at the discretion of your manager.

Cons

Alaska has done a lot of hiring from the outside lately. It's become a reitrement home for people from other loser airlines, and that fosters bad feelings from employees trying to get promoted. Alaska also seems to think that anyone in a position of leadership is automatically a good employee, which is not the case.

Advice to Senior Management

Start hiring qualified people from within the company. They exist and know the culture and dynamic of the company better than anyone from the outside.

Pros

There is a ton of oppurtunity for growth/ upward mobility, if you choose to make Alaska Airlines a career. We have awesome bonuses , share profiting, and flight benefits. If you ever want to try a new job Alaska encourges you to go for it! If you don't like it, then you have three months to return to your previous position. You also get to meet a lot of different people, depending on what department you work in. Alaska is all about promoting from within the company and they love deidicated and passionate people who really want to be here.

Cons

Raises can be hard to come by if you are in a management position. Contracted positions get raises automatically. Also, if you are in a contracted position you are under a union which makes the incompetent, lazy people impossible to fire. Bill Ayer, the CEO loves to send e-mails about the financial position that the company is in to scare people into thinking that they are going to lose their jobs.

Advice to Senior Management

Good Job!

Pros

The best thing about working at Alaska Airlines is the travel benefits (when you get to use them). Most of the systems are new and pretty easy to support. Those we have written in the past are getting a lot of attention and may be replaced soon. Most of our duties now consist of vendor relations and management.

Cons

Well although we are doing better than most airlines we still are not seeing much profit sharing. Planes are full but at such a low price per seat we are just barely able to cover the cost of fuel. Stocks are down to an all time low, So we are all hoping for a new destination that everyone is willing to pay top dollar to visit.

Advice to Senior Management

We need to diversify our brand into food products, snack boxes for company meetings, school lunches, etc...
Watch for our new hot wheels logo.

Pros

Everyone is very positive and friendly. It can be a tough job during peak travel times but the employees keep the mood positive. Alaska Air is truly a family organization.

Cons

The pay for my particular job is too low. We (CSA's) are the face of the company and should be compensated a little better.

Advice to Senior Management

Raise the pay of the Customer Service Agents. They are where the rubber meets the road and are under compensated. The flight benefits are great but they alone are not reason to stay in this position. Other positions within Alaska get the same benefits and much less headache than dealing with passengers who complain to you about something that is out of your control.

Pros

If you want to live and fly in Anchorage or Seattle and don't mind working for a company whose management team only wants to take care of themselves then this is the place for you.

Cons

Management continually fails to recognize the expertise available in day to day operations by current employees and makes decisions based on "focus groups" comprised of mid level managers who are out of touch with operations.
What little positive corporate culture and team spirit is left is rapidly decaying under management's remote and deaf leadership.
Constant reminders by leadership that they don't trust your judgement or ability to help lead the operation.

Advice to Senior Management

Start taking care of your people. I don't think it is too late to recover from the damage you have caused to this once great company. Go ride on SWA and see how their culture is. That culture and spirit is cultivated from above by a management team who actually cares about employees and the future of the company.
Use the expertise available from your employees in shaping the future of the company and day to day operations. We see what goes on every day and can help to fix things. Let us take some ownership of this company.
If things continue the way they are going the company is going to decay into another labor problem filled legacy carrier like NWA and when we reach that level there will be no turning around.