Alaska Air seems to have rolled out basic economy saver (X) fares and they seem to be the default option on Google Flights. A reader pointed out this weird ‘quirk’ and let me share. If you have an itinerary with saver overnight connecting flights and you click through to the Alaska site to upgrade to MAIN, the fare is higher than if you had searched through Alaska.
Example flight from SEA-BOS:
You click through. Price matches. You then decide to ‘Upgrade to Main.’
Upgrade to main price:
However, here is the same exact itinerary if you had booked through the Alaska site ($12 cheaper)
I played around with this and wondered if it was due to the connecting flight, but if you pick a daytime connecting flight, the upgrade works fine. However, when you have a connecting overnight, that’s when the higher price issue occurs. I’m sure Alaska will fix this eventually. Regardless of the cause of the issue, you should book directly on Alaska’s web site.