Airfare prices for Alaska cruises is insane.

[newbie1900]

I’ve been worried about my Alaska air flights.

 

found this quote explaining the situation. Gives some extra time. Thankfully my flights would be ok if this is true.

 

Before a strike could take place, the National Mediation Board would have to release the two sides from mediation. Then, after a 30-day cooling-off period, both parties could exercise self-help—including a strike by the union or a lockout by the company,” the ALPA news release said.

 

https://news.yahoo.com/alaska-airlines-pilots-conduct-strike-190933279.html?fr=sycsrp_catchall

[apence65]

I have been looking at flights for several weeks and they are OUTRAGEOUS! Flying from DFW prices have been well over $600! Earlier this week Southwest lowered their fares to $540, so I went ahead and booked.

[Italy52]

1 hour ago, MamaStang said:

We lucked out and got first class fares on Alaska Airlines for $1200 each a few months ago for our July 2022 Alaska cruise but just found out yesterday that there is a vote happening in May by the pilots to strike and shut the airline down.  According to the mediation process, that leaves them going on strike exactly one week before we are scheduled to fly into Vancouver.  They refuse to refund our tickets now.  I am livid that I may be searching for new flights last minute at probably triple the price and who knows what flight schedules I will find.    

Did the representative give a reason why your money could not be refunded?  I have canceled flights in the past and I had the option of a Alaska Airlines credit or money refunded to original form of payment.  I would try calling and asking another agent and see what that person says.

[CruisingFamily2005]

I've booked last March 2022 flight to SFO Delta, round trip ,main cabin, non stop for $1,900 for 4 leaving Atlanta July 23/2022. 

[strickerj]

2 hours ago, Italy52 said:

Did the representative give a reason why your money could not be refunded?  I have canceled flights in the past and I had the option of a Alaska Airlines credit or money refunded to original form of payment.  I would try calling and asking another agent and see what that person says.

Some exceptions were made during COVID, but as a general rule, you can't voluntarily cancel a ticket for a refund. The airline will owe you a refund if they cancel.

 

Could be worse; I had a trip canceled in 2020, and the airline refused to refund me even though they suspended service to my departure airport entirely.

Edited April 24, 2022 by strickerj

[tallnthensome]

2 hours ago, CruisingFamily2005 said:

I've booked last March 2022 flight to SFO Delta, round trip ,main cabin, non stop for $1,900 for 4 leaving Atlanta July 23/2022. 

Good flight times or long waits in airports? 

[MamaStang]

4 hours ago, Italy52 said:

Did the representative give a reason why your money could not be refunded?  I have canceled flights in the past and I had the option of a Alaska Airlines credit or money refunded to original form of payment.  I would try calling and asking another agent and see what that person says.

Interesting. I’ll try again.  Thanks!

[scrotser]

I know the feeling.  I watched and watched, only to see prices go up and up.  High prices together with horrible flight times (redeye flights were over $600 PP RT!).  Finally split my trip up with over night stops in Vegas (I have rewards for free hotel nights).  Gave me a bit cheaper flights, but more importantly, better flight times!  Crazy the hoops we jump through...  Our flights cost more than our 8 night Alaskan cruise in a balcony (granted, we got a crazy good deal on that) WITH gratuities! 

[piper28]

On 4/23/2022 at 12:24 PM, tallnthensome said:

We have a cruise from Seattle in early August. We are flying from Michigan from Detroit. We are getting costs in the $600-$800 range round trip per person. Are these typical for Seatlle ? I mean, I know prices have gone up but these prices are like international costs. Whis is everyone paying from which city for which time of the season? Am I looking too early at four months out or too late? $3000 to fly is more than the cruise cost. Any thoughts? 

 

Historically, I'd say that that's probably up slightly, but not necessarily a huge amount.  I'd say $500 for dtw to sea in the summer was not all that unusual of a price from my past experiences, and I've done that route a couple times, so $600 to $800 depending exact timing, yeah, probably not that far off these days.  But realistically, yes, airfares are up right now.  Airlines are still flying fewer planes than they were, and quite honestly, are largely happy with that because the lack of available flights lets them push the prices up.  Add on high fuel prices, and that doesn't help.

 

And I don't know that I'd say you're looking too early.  If anything, you might be on the late side.  My guess though is it won't get any cheaper before that flight, and could very easily get more expensive.  Looking at the flights I have for my trip to seattle this summer, coach fares are higher than I paid for first class fares back in february for the same flight, but there's some where the coach fare is lower, but the cheapest for my dates is about $633, and includes some really lousy timings for the westbound flight.

[jerseygirl629]

On 4/24/2022 at 10:46 AM, disneylover89 said:

Same here!  Flights have gone up $100 in the last week.  I'm not hopeful for a reduction in prices at this point.  What airlines have you been checking?

 

I checked every single major airline (JetBlue, Delta, United, AA, Southwest, and Alaska Air) - decided we will book with Alaska Air (though didn’t book yet - now we are debating going the night before to save money on flight. Yes hotel would then cost more LOL but at least we would get there 2 days early and have a few extra hours to explore Seattle) for the flight out as the times worked out best for us with non stop. We will probably book United for the return flight, as they seem to have the most flights out. I usually prefer to fly JetBlue if I can but, they aren’t offering any direct from our airport of choice (Newark, NJ).   

[jerseygirl629]

On 4/24/2022 at 4:06 AM, don't-use-real-name said:

You did not note the cruise port (city) your cruise departs from - - - - -

 

60 days out puts you in the start of the summer vacation season - fares are not going down until

maybe September October early November. Booking 6 months or more in advance is the

woulda coulda shoulda time period and on some airlines getting better seat selection choices.

 

NYC area you have 3 major big airports to work with JFK LGA EWR and lots of airline choices.

Others - Boston - Hartford CT - Baltimore BWI - DC - Philadelphia -

YES there is a cost to get to those other airports 

Adding to the travel expenses the baggage fees on some -

Looking for bargains on NON-stop flights think again and look at connecting flights thru

other cities - consider the low cost bargain carriers Spirit Frontier Southwest maybe even

Jet Blue ?

If you are not driving to park at the airport consider leaving from one airport -

and arriving back at another i.e. Leave from LGA arrive back at EWR

2 one way fares 

 

ONE thing for sure avoid taking your flight on the same day of the cruise -

Plan on a hotel overnight accommodation the night before the cruise -

Be within ground transportation on cruise sailing day.

 

Cruise fares come as a bargain - the getting to and from the cruise ports can be in some

cases more than the cruise fare. 

Our cruise departs from Seattle - I figured that was implied given my response was to the OP. 
 

I appreciate your response but I am an experienced traveler / flyer and can assure you all topics you have mentioned, we have discussed (which date, which airport, how we are getting there, etc etc etc). 🙂

[ScottsSweetie]

I booked roundtrip air Phoenix to Seattle on 04/16 for travel dates Wednesday 5/25 to Wednesday 6/01. We paid $323 each, BUT our flight on 5/25 does not arrive Seattle until 12:55am on the 26th, and our return does not leave until 6:40pm. This schedule worked for us as that means that on 5/25 DH can work all day and we can do covid testing that day. Return works for us as it allows us to see DS and wife in Tacoma before heading home. (Southwest Airlines)

 

Airfare in general has been CRAZY and hard to predict. DH is traveling to Boston next week, and his flight made 2+ weeks out was $918.00 from Phoenix. (American Airlines)

 

We helped our parents find a flight from Atlanta to Seattle over labor day weekend and they are paying only $387pp on Alaska Airlines.

 

It just seems to be all over the place!

[Sudoku]

Purchased round trip airfare Denver to Vancouver in Mach for $600 for 2 on Delta.  Same flight is now $2000.00 for two.  Yikes, you guys are really right😡

[jerseygirl629]

On 4/25/2022 at 3:17 PM, jerseygirl629 said:

I checked every single major airline (JetBlue, Delta, United, AA, Southwest, and Alaska Air) - decided we will book with Alaska Air (though didn’t book yet - now we are debating going the night before to save money on flight. Yes hotel would then cost more LOL but at least we would get there 2 days early and have a few extra hours to explore Seattle) for the flight out as the times worked out best for us with non stop. We will probably book United for the return flight, as they seem to have the most flights out. I usually prefer to fly JetBlue if I can but, they aren’t offering any direct from our airport of choice (Newark, NJ).   

To quote myself… hah. With our cruise leaving on a Friday, we ended up booking a one way flight out to Seattle for Wednesday night (landing around 10pm, Seattle time). It was $280 with the insurance, which I never usually buy but…covid. The Thursday flights were $400-$500! For one way!!! Still need to book the flights home but will probably wait on that. On the bright side, we will now have an entire day (and then some, pending what time we board on Friday) to explore Seattle. The downside - paying another night at a hotel. But, to us it was worth it rather than paying extra for a flight. Also - at the rate airlines are canceling, happy to have a 2 day buffer just in case. Yeesh.

[Lane Hog]

Those of you complaining about airfare going up must not put gas in your cars very often.......

 

 

[dgoz]

I did a bunch of research on the best times to book flights and people like the points guy etc. were recommending checking 90 to 100 days out. Said cruise fares are higher the further you are from your trip date. So a waited and watched the prices go up and up! We ended up booking Southwest--not my 1st choice by any means, but with flights being so spendy, my hubby did not want to add on baggage costs as well. They have changed our itinerary 2 times already to much less desirable times. Ugh.

[ImperialLady]

PSA:  We are booked on Alaska Air to Seattle for our 8/27/22 cruise to Alaska.  I read someplace on CC (sorry can't remember where) that this person saw a flight that better suited them and it was less expensive.  They were able to change their flights and get a refund instead of a voucher. So I decided to check it out.  Oh my goodness...the same thing for us..instead of an early morning flight I was able to change us to an evening flight and saved $220 per person and it is still a direct flight 😮 as was our morning flight. 

Customer service at Alaska Air was AMAZING!  I am not a morning person so I don't believe that evening flight was available when I originally booked.....and the flight was sparsely booked. The CS rep said it was very possible that it was added in the past week or so. So it can't hurt to keep checking your airline for a better, perhaps less expensive flight. Good Luck🍀

[GlobeTrottinChic]

On 4/23/2022 at 3:29 PM, juhacorno410 said:

We booked more than a year out and are paying $511.00 pp from Atlanta to Seattle in June.  There are 8 of us.  The air fare now is around $1100pp.  Crazy.

This is the same issue I'm having. ATL-SEA for a June 23 cruise. Usually I start really looking at airfare about 45-60 days out when airfare tends to bottom out, but the prices started skyrocketing before then. Thank GOD my friend had a Alaska companion fare code that was expiring in a few weeks and she was willing to let me use it. Our flight was almost $800pp but because of my friend we managed to get the only non-stop flights that worked with the cruise times for just under $430 pp. And I just checked today and the same flight is now over $1k! I've flown 25+ hours across the globe for hundreds less than that. I agree, it seems like the flights have become insane surrounding the cruise dates. Every flight that was somewhat affordable either arrived too late to board the ship, or arrived too early to make it after disembarkation. I even looked at arrivals/departures a day early/late and no dice. 

[juhacorno410]

2 hours ago, GlobeTrottinChic said:

This is the same issue I'm having. ATL-SEA for a June 23 cruise. Usually I start really looking at airfare about 45-60 days out when airfare tends to bottom out, but the prices started skyrocketing before then. Thank GOD my friend had a Alaska companion fare code that was expiring in a few weeks and she was willing to let me use it. Our flight was almost $800pp but because of my friend we managed to get the only non-stop flights that worked with the cruise times for just under $430 pp. And I just checked today and the same flight is now over $1k! I've flown 25+ hours across the globe for hundreds less than that. I agree, it seems like the flights have become insane surrounding the cruise dates. Every flight that was somewhat affordable either arrived too late to board the ship, or arrived too early to make it after disembarkation. I even looked at arrivals/departures a day early/late and no dice. 

I booked the flights about 11 months out and booked thru RC air 2 sea.  It was a refundable fare, so  not terrible.  Prices never came down after we booked.  It sure is crazy.

[Buddysmom10]

For our upcoming cruise we booked Florida to Vancouver, and then Fairbanks back to Florida.  Paid about $350 per person round trip in February.  The EXACT same flights now are about $2000 per person--crazy!!  

 

Did a few coast to coast round trips for about $200 round trip in the past two years.  But rental cars were CRAZY!!

[disneylover89]

We had no choice and sucked it up and bought our airfare at $818 per person 😖.  The return flight was filling up and I knew we had a chance of losing out on it if we held off much longer.

[Elaine5715]

On 4/23/2022 at 12:24 PM, tallnthensome said:

We have a cruise from Seattle in early August. We are flying from Michigan from Detroit. We are getting costs in the $600-$800 range round trip per person. Are these typical for Seatlle ? I mean, I know prices have gone up but these prices are like international costs. Whis is everyone paying from which city for which time of the season? Am I looking too early at four months out or too late? $3000 to fly is more than the cruise cost. Any thoughts? 

I will also be flying to SEA via DTW and even last year, costs were in that range and options limited.

[twinmommy08]

I thank the airline gods I booked last July for our May cruise. $250 pp from CMH to SEA. I paid over $400 pp getting to Orlando in March. 

[drvmywifecrzy]

I took the airfare from NCL for my end of August cruise.  Checking fares currently from ATL-SEA are over $1000/pp.  My fare through NCL was $499 with 2nd person free.  No way NCL will actually pay that price.  They will be eating some cash here.  Just hope they dont fly me all over the USA to get there and back

[CarolGS]

On 4/23/2022 at 12:24 PM, tallnthensome said:

We have a cruise from Seattle in early August. We are flying from Michigan from Detroit. We are getting costs in the $600-$800 range round trip per person. Are these typical for Seatlle ? I mean, I know prices have gone up but these prices are like international costs. Whis is everyone paying from which city for which time of the season? Am I looking too early at four months out or too late? $3000 to fly is more than the cruise cost. Any thoughts? 

We felt lucky getting $800 rt to Seattle from SC.  Quotes for flights to Fairbanks and Anchorage were over $900 each way.