[jimworcs]

This complaint is completely valid. The customer was within the overall weight limits and Alaska Airlines should not have sought to exploit their own long lines to extort money out of the customer. I am not sure the DOT will be able to take any enforcement action, but it will be interesting to see their response. If I was writing to the DOT, I would have used less intense adjectives, but it is most certainly a valid complaint. I consider their actions to be an "unfair" term and condition and was exploitative.

The customer arrived at the airport in good time, but the airline itself had poor customer handling which meant that the time taken to process the customer was unreasonable. The subsequent actions of the airline where an abuse of their power.

The offer of compensation Phx which forces to the customer to buy more services from the airline is unacceptable. In Europe, the compensation rules require that the airline pay this compensation in the form of cash. This type of fake compensation is nothing more than marketing incentives and in compleletely inadquate to remedy the tort.

I think bad publicity is the only remedy. Post on my3cents, consumerist and other consumer type websites and tell others of your experience. Last but not least, stick to your guns and don't fly with them again.