Flying to Alaska

[gschwartz001]

My Dh and I have recently booked a cruise tour on RCCL for next July starting in Fairbanks (land first) and ending in Vancouver. We are trying to figure out the best way to book airfare for the cruise. (We live in NY). We cannot get direct flights in either direction so will need to connect.

 

I have a few questions -

 

Are we better off booking on our own or using Choice Air with RCCL? Anyone have any experience with ChoiceAIr?

 

Are we better off booking multi-city ticket going to Fairbanks and back from Vancouver or flying round trip to Seattle for example and then adding a separate flight to Fairbanks and taking ground transportation from Vancouver to Seattle at the end?

 

Any assistance you can provide is appreciated. Thanks!

[TiCKed]

My Dh and I have recently booked a cruise tour on RCCL for next July starting in Fairbanks (land first) and ending in Vancouver. We are trying to figure out the best way to book airfare for the cruise. (We live in NY). We cannot get direct flights in either direction so will need to connect.

 

I have a few questions -

 

Are we better off booking on our own or using Choice Air with RCCL? Anyone have any experience with ChoiceAIr?

 

Are we better off booking multi-city ticket going to Fairbanks and back from Vancouver or flying round trip to Seattle for example and then adding a separate flight to Fairbanks and taking ground transportation from Vancouver to Seattle at the end?

 

Any assistance you can provide is appreciated. Thanks!

 

Afraid I don't have any specific experience....

 

But, if I were you, I'd just go onto a travel website, (travelocity, orbitz, etc.), and search for flights. You don't have to BUY the flights until the very last step, so you should be able to get a look at the prices, itinerary options, and try booking in several different ways.

 

Take what you learned, and compare it to the cruise line's flights and prices....then buy what works best for you.

[dreamer976]

Just in case you live in or near a city served by Alaska Airlines, they, like Southwest, allow you to book each leg of your trip independently - not like some (most) other airlines that soak you for two one-ways. We used them for our Alaska trip this past June and they were wonderful. Their website is very user-friendly, so it's easy to get a price without booking.

[Orlando Vic]

My Dh and I have recently booked a cruise tour on RCCL for next July starting in Fairbanks (land first) and ending in Vancouver. We are trying to figure out the best way to book airfare for the cruise. (We live in NY). We cannot get direct flights in either direction so will need to connect.

 

You can fly from EWR (for example) to ANC or FAI with one connection in SEA on Alaska Airlines

 

I have a few questions -

 

Are we better off booking on our own or using Choice Air with RCCL? Anyone have any experience with ChoiceAIr?

 

You are, almost always, better off eliminating the cruise line as middle man. I would arrange this myself in a heartbeat.

 

Are we better off booking multi-city ticket going to Fairbanks and back from Vancouver or flying round trip to Seattle for example and then adding a separate flight to Fairbanks and taking ground transportation from Vancouver to Seattle at the end?

 

Again, using Alaska Airlines, you could fly from Vancouver (YVR) to EWR with one connection in SEA. Since Seattle is one of Alaska Air's hubs, I "suspect" that no other airline will have the number of flights in and out of there.

 

Any assistance you can provide is appreciated. Thanks!

[scottbee]

My Dh and I have recently booked a cruise tour on RCCL for next July starting in Fairbanks (land first) and ending in Vancouver. We are trying to figure out the best way to book airfare for the cruise. (We live in NY). We cannot get direct flights in either direction so will need to connect.

 

I have a few questions -

 

Are we better off booking on our own or using Choice Air with RCCL? Anyone have any experience with ChoiceAIr?

 

Are we better off booking multi-city ticket going to Fairbanks and back from Vancouver or flying round trip to Seattle for example and then adding a separate flight to Fairbanks and taking ground transportation from Vancouver to Seattle at the end?

 

Any assistance you can provide is appreciated. Thanks!

 

There are a number of discussions in the "CRUISE AIR" forum about Choice Air (the benefits and pitfalls).

 

I would recommend you punch your journey into a good air search engine like MATRIX.ITASOFTWARE.COM or KAYAK.COM as a multi-city search. You'll likely find the best combination on AS/Alaska Air who as anotehr poster pointed out serve the NY area out of EWR. While ANC is well served by lower 48 carriers, FAI much less so. The cheapest fare I see is low $600s, on Delta (and Delta code shares on Alaska). While that sounds like a lot at 1st; remember that Europe is closer to NY than FAI is...

[Colexis Mom]

We did Alaska this June/July. Flew into Achorage, and home from Seattle (did southbound cruise on Radiance). I'd highly recommend as above subscribing to Kayak or a similar search engine to check prices. We were able to get $416 RT on Continental (booked mid-January for late June) which I thought was a steal. We connected in O'Hare on the way out, and Newark on the way home. It was much cheaper for us to fly out of Seattle than Vancouver (about $150/pp). Start watching the prices so you can get a feel of where they are going to be.

[Chenega]

Alaska Airlines also "codeshares" with Delta and American Airlines from many east coast cities. Why my wife and I have to fly from Anchorage to the east coast, we like to use Seattle as a connecting city since you have fewer weather problems in the summer than O'Hare, Minneapolis, or Detroit.

 

One advantage to Alaska Airlines is that they have more flights to and from the state than all the other combined. This gives you a greater set of options.

 

One thing I would recommend is that your arrive in Fairbanks a day or two before your land tour starts. That would give you some leeway in case of delays.

[Alaskanb]

Our choice is to use Alaska Airlines from Anchorage to LA via Seattle on June 2, 2012, then the next day United from LA to El Paso, TX. We are staying the night at LAX. This allows us to fly primarily in daylight and in shorter hops.

I found the AARP/Expedia search engine to be very useful as I could easily mix and match airlines.

Jet Blue flies from various east coast cities to Long Beach and then on to Anchorage--I don't know how well they connect.

[greatam]

One of the best bargains going is the Cathay Pacific nonstop flight into YVR out of JFK. Usually about $500 RT. Even right now, booking just a couple of weeks in advance, the price is $583.00.

 

One way to FAI or ANC from Vancouver (or even from SEA with the train or shuttle to the airport) on AS could be a real money saver as opposed to an open jaw ticket. Those one way fares to/from Alaska/YVR/SEA are usually the cheapest in the early fall.

 

The ONLY drawback is the JFK flight gets into YVR at about 2AM. It continues on to Hong Kong. But the flight experience is one of the better in the world. Large plane (777 or 747), free snacks and drinks and the plane leaves OUT of YVR at 10:50PM and arrives JFK at about 7:30AM. Just about perfect if the price is right when you put the two pieces together.

[gavavemom]

We just came back from the exact same itinerary as you are describing and booked everything through RCCL. Left out of EWR to Seattle with Alaska Air and then picked up the connection to Fairbanks. Coming home we got a direct flight from Vancouver with Air Canada. I must admit RCCL did a great job with the flights. One advantage of booking with them is that your transfers are included.

[gdpups]

When I was in Juneau this past June I was told Alaska Air has their sale in October, so that's when those that live there book their trips. I hope that advise is true as I'm going back to Alaska next July and will hold off until then to book my flights.

[Orlando Vic]

When I was in Juneau this past June I was told Alaska Air has their sale in October, so that's when those that live there book their trips. I hope that advise is true as I'm going back to Alaska next July and will hold off until then to book my flights.

 

You are referring to the Permanent Fund Dividend Sale, and that is about when to look for it. Good luck.

[Budget Queen]

My Dh and I have recently booked a cruise tour on RCCL for next July starting in Fairbanks (land first) and ending in Vancouver. We are trying to figure out the best way to book airfare for the cruise. (We live in NY). We cannot get direct flights in either direction so will need to connect.

 

I have a few questions -

 

Are we better off booking on our own or using Choice Air with RCCL? Anyone have any experience with ChoiceAIr?

 

Are we better off booking multi-city ticket going to Fairbanks and back from Vancouver or flying round trip to Seattle for example and then adding a separate flight to Fairbanks and taking ground transportation from Vancouver to Seattle at the end?

 

Any assistance you can provide is appreciated. Thanks!

 

I would suggest you price out and compare all that you have listed. And in my opinion, I only recommend adding at least a full extra day getting there. You see very little on a cruisetour of Fairbanks, and it has plenty to offer. A car rental, is "necessary" in my opinion.

[dabear]

Choice air was more expensive and had more stops than what we did on our own for next June. We prefer non stops, if possible, to prevent less chance of missed flights, long stopovers or lost luggage. We booked Alaska Air ns from Chicago to Anchorage and UA ns from Vancouver to Chicago, both at reasonable fares.

[account4fun]

My Dh and I have recently booked a cruise tour on RCCL for next July starting in Fairbanks (land first) and ending in Vancouver. We are trying to figure out the best way to book airfare for the cruise. (We live in NY). We cannot get direct flights in either direction so will need to connect.

 

I have a few questions -

 

Are we better off booking on our own or using Choice Air with RCCL? Anyone have any experience with ChoiceAIr?

 

Are we better off booking multi-city ticket going to Fairbanks and back from Vancouver or flying round trip to Seattle for example and then adding a separate flight to Fairbanks and taking ground transportation from Vancouver to Seattle at the end?

 

Any assistance you can provide is appreciated. Thanks!

 

We flew from boston to fairbanks with a small layover in minneapolis and then vancouver back to boston via minneapolis again. It wasn't bad at all and we booked with delta using the multiple destinations ticket.

[JStar]

We just did that itinerary a couple weeks ago. Booked own air as multicity into Fairbanks and out of Vancouver. Price not really different than going through Seattle and if you go in and out of Seattle you waste a lot of time that you could be spending in Alaska.

[gschwartz001]

Thanks for all the good advice. I can book my air in a few weeks and will look at all the options including choice air plus as well as various search engines.

 

I was thinking about going to Fairbanks a day early even with the land tour. Good to know about the rental car. Thanks again.