Alaska Air... Best time to book

[jaspersmommy]

We need to fly to Alaska on August 19, 2010. We will fly from Edmonton, Canada to Anchorage, changing planes in Seattle. Alaska Air seems to be the best choice. I'd like to keep both flights with the same airline.

 

Has anyone out there monitored Alaska Air flights in previous years and gotten a feel for when their best prices are - do they tend to put seat sales on at a particular time? I'm wondering if it would be best to book now or wait for a seat sale.

 

Thanks.

[scottbee]

We need to fly to Alaska on August 19, 2010. We will fly from Edmonton, Canada to Anchorage, changing planes in Seattle. Alaska Air seems to be the best choice. I'd like to keep both flights with the same airline.

 

Has anyone out there monitored Alaska Air flights in previous years and gotten a feel for when their best prices are - do they tend to put seat sales on at a particular time? I'm wondering if it would be best to book now or wait for a seat sale.

 

Thanks.

 

Any time. if the price goes down, they will issue a credit for the difference; however you have to ask for it. If you really want a deal, sign up for an Alaska Airlines MBNA Mastercard (in Cdn$), and use the $99 companion cert to buy one of your tickets :-)

[AkSusan]

We need to fly to Alaska on August 19, 2010. We will fly from Edmonton, Canada to Anchorage, changing planes in Seattle. Alaska Air seems to be the best choice. I'd like to keep both flights with the same airline.

 

Has anyone out there monitored Alaska Air flights in previous years and gotten a feel for when their best prices are - do they tend to put seat sales on at a particular time? I'm wondering if it would be best to book now or wait for a seat sale.

 

Thanks.

Actually they just came off the Permanent Fund (that's our yearly oil royalty check that we get for living here) sale November 6th and it did go for travel through August 24th so if you've been viewing prices you may want to go and look again as they may of went up since the sale came off.

 

They have sales off and on throughout the year. The best bet is to go to say farecompare, travelocity or such and have them send you notices when fares go up and/or down. Right now I've been getting notices of all my flights out of Anchorage to various places that they've gone up and boy have some of them gone up.

 

Susan in Anchorage :)

[jaspersmommy]

Any time. if the price goes down, they will issue a credit for the difference; however you have to ask for it. If you really want a deal, sign up for an Alaska Airlines MBNA Mastercard (in Cdn$), and use the $99 companion cert to buy one of your tickets :-)

 

 

I was looking at applying for the Mastercard and wondering if the 25,000 miles (and the additional 5000 bonus miles when you spend $750) would be enough to pay for one airfare from Edmonton to Anchorage. Alaska Airlines website isn't really clear on their rewards program and how many miles are required. The companion fare for $99 says it's for return airfaire - any idea if they would let you use it for a one-way fare? Thanks.

[PennyAgain]

Your best bet is to contact your airline for information on what you can do with those miles and the companion certificate. Your flight will be during prime cruise season. Demand is high.

 

Good luck!

[flore60]

Hi Jaspersmommy. Just want to say that we are sailing too on the Millennium August 27th 2010. We are flying from Montreal through Vancouver to Anchorage August 25th. Can't wait!!

[jaspersmommy]

Hi Jaspersmommy. Just want to say that we are sailing too on the Millennium August 27th 2010. We are flying from Montreal through Vancouver to Anchorage August 25th. Can't wait!!

 

Great! Are you a veteran cruiser? This is our first cruise. We are renting an RV for a week before the cruise and I just can't wait for the whole vacation. If you're a veteran of these cruises I may have lots of questions for you! Have you booked your flights already?

[scottbee]

I was looking at applying for the Mastercard and wondering if the 25,000 miles (and the additional 5000 bonus miles when you spend $750) would be enough to pay for one airfare from Edmonton to Anchorage. Alaska Airlines website isn't really clear on their rewards program and how many miles are required. The companion fare for $99 says it's for return airfaire - any idea if they would let you use it for a one-way fare? Thanks.

 

 

If you're booking w/ miles; 25,000 is enough for one airfare to cover both YEG-SEA-ANC and the return YVR-SEA-YEG. Book it as multi-city in the rewards

 

If you're paying for your trip, $99 (+taxes) will cover a second ticket no matter what fare class you book. You can't combine a $99 cert along with a reward unfortunately. I would use the reward, and collect the AS miles. YEG-SEA-ANC YVR-SEA-YEG will rack you up another 3000 miles, and you do collect miles on companion cert trips.

[flore60]

No we have no experience in cruising, Jaspersmommy, it's our first cruise too!! Next year it will be my 50th birthday and our 30th wedding anniversary so we wanted to make this special. But by reading the reviews on CC I think it won't be our last cruise! There's so much help here on CC and experienced cruisers give us really helpful advices. I'm not familiar at all with cruising and I'm reading everything I can here and on the CC Celebrity forum. We will be staying one night in Anchorage and one in Seward before the cruise and two nights in Vancouver at the end of the cruise. As for the flights we have booked Montreal-Anchorage (with stops in Toronto and Vancouver), but not Vancouver-Montreal .

[jaspersmommy]

No we have no experience in cruising, Jaspersmommy, it's our first cruise too!! Next year it will be my 50th birthday and our 30th wedding anniversary so we wanted to make this special. But by reading the reviews on CC I think it won't be our last cruise! There's so much help here on CC and experienced cruisers give us really helpful advices. I'm not familiar at all with cruising and I'm reading everything I can here and on the CC Celebrity forum. We will be staying one night in Anchorage and one in Seward before the cruise and two nights in Vancouver at the end of the cruise. As for the flights we have booked Montreal-Anchorage (with stops in Toronto and Vancouver), but not Vancouver-Montreal .

 

 

Cool! This is a quasi-50th BD trip for me too. Mine is in April 2011. We should have a birthday drink together! By the sounds of things, we'll be in the minority being cruise newbies...

[jaspersmommy]

If you're booking w/ miles; 25,000 is enough for one airfare to cover both YEG-SEA-ANC and the return YVR-SEA-YEG. Book it as multi-city in the rewards

 

If you're paying for your trip, $99 (+taxes) will cover a second ticket no matter what fare class you book. You can't combine a $99 cert along with a reward unfortunately. I would use the reward, and collect the AS miles. YEG-SEA-ANC YVR-SEA-YEG will rack you up another 3000 miles, and you do collect miles on companion cert trips.

 

 

Thank you Scottbee for your advice. Much appreciated.

[flore60]

Cool! This is a quasi-50th BD trip for me too. Mine is in April 2011. We should have a birthday drink together! By the sounds of things, we'll be in the minority being cruise newbies...

Great idea Jaspersmommy, I'm looking forward to it!!:)