What if we miss the bus from Anchorage to McKinley resort in Denali - is there a plan B?

[BadgerRedux]

We're doing a 10 Day Double Denali cruisetour in July which includes Thursday night lodging in Anchorage and a Friday 9 AM coach from Anchorage to McKinley resort (Denali National Park). We booked a 1-stop flight arriving Thursday around 1 PM (not checking bags), with the idea that if something goes wrong, we could find some way to reach the Anchorage hotel by Friday morning.  I'm starting to get anxious about the worst case and tempted to fly in a day early (Wednesday night), but husband feels we've got enough cushion.

 

Have you heard of anyone missing the bus?  If so, are there options to get us from Anchorage to Denali (as late as Friday night would be fine)?  

 

Betting the "how early do I need to fly in" question can be a hot button issue, but hoping for compassionate responses here!

Edited June 14 by BadgerRedux
typos

[Mary229]

You are right, he is wrong - another dear wife married to a man who “it only takes 5 minutes” to get anywhere on earth.😉

 

seriously though, I always consider if I am on the final flight of the day for either the initial flight or the connecting flight.  If you are on the first flight you will likely be fine.  Can you not switch to an earlier flight on that same day even if it is a few bucks more? for the second flight Alaska is a few time zones over so you need to think in terms of their time not yours

Edited June 14 by Mary229

[BadgerRedux]

7 minutes ago, Mary229 said:

You are right, he is wrong - another dear wife married to a man who “it only takes 5 minutes” to get anywhere on earth.😉

 

seriously though, I always consider if I am on the final flight of the day for either the initial flight or the connecting flight.  If you are on the first flight you will likely be fine.  Can you not switch to an earlier flight on that same day even if it is a few bucks more? for the second flight Alaska is a few time zones over so you need to think in terms of their time not yours

Thanks for the validation; husband and I both try to keep our perspective about risk, but if there isn't a plan B, then even unlikely things become a concern.

 

For our airline (United), looks like we're on the 2nd of 8 flights for the initial leg; the 1st of 8 leaves an hour earlier but just has a longer layover with the same final leg so not sure it would buy us much.

The final leg is out of Chicago O'Hare (ORD) and we're on the 1st of 2 flights, with the later flight departing almost 7 hours later than ours.  So, if we miss our connection in ORD, hopefully there would be room for us on that later flight.  

 

[Mary229]

3 minutes ago, BadgerRedux said:

Thanks for the validation; husband and I both try to keep our perspective about risk, but if there isn't a plan B, then even unlikely things become a concern.

 

For our airline (United), looks like we're on the 2nd of 8 flights for the initial leg; the 1st of 8 leaves an hour earlier but just has a longer layover with the same final leg so not sure it would buy us much.

The final leg is out of Chicago O'Hare (ORD) and we're on the 1st of 2 flights, with the later flight departing almost 7 hours later than ours.  So, if we miss our connection in ORD, hopefully there would be room for us on that later flight.  

 

And that would be satisfactory for me.  Once they miss getting you there it is on the airline to get you there.  Be sure if you are running late on the first flight you inform the flight crew you have a tight connection because of the delay.   I have seen airlines get connecting passengers off first 

[BadgerRedux]

2 minutes ago, Mary229 said:

And that would be satisfactory for me.  Once they miss getting you there it is on the airline to get you there.  Be sure if you are running late on the first flight you inform the flight crew you have a tight connection because of the delay.   I have seen airlines get connecting passengers off first 

Glad to hear it sounds ok to you; and good advice about informing the flight crew if needed!

[TiogaCruiser]

1 hour ago, Mary229 said:

And that would be satisfactory for me.  Once they miss getting you there it is on the airline to get you there.  Be sure if you are running late on the first flight you inform the flight crew you have a tight connection because of the delay.   I have seen airlines get connecting passengers off first 

We had what I considered a tight connection in Chicago last year and our plane was delayed so wrote a note to the stewardess, asking if we were going to be tight on time when we landed if we could be expedited. 
 

so stopped by before landing as told us we should be fine- we made up the lost time in the air ( or by getting into the landing pattern early.)

[BadgerRedux]

25 minutes ago, TiogaCruiser said:

We had what I considered a tight connection in Chicago last year and our plane was delayed so wrote a note to the stewardess, asking if we were going to be tight on time when we landed if we could be expedited. 
 

so stopped by before landing as told us we should be fine- we made up the lost time in the air ( or by getting into the landing pattern early.)

That seems like a good way to handle it.

[57redbird]

2 hours ago, BadgerRedux said:

That seems like a good way to handle it.

Unless you encounter a 1st Class passenger who told me "you'll just have to wait"...I had a really tight connection, on the same airline, & informed the flight attendant of that fact.  She said it shouldn't be a problem to get me off quickly....until Mrs. I'm the Most Important Person on the plane got in the way.....This happened several years ago & I'm still upset by it....I did make the next flight BTW.

[BadgerRedux]

54 minutes ago, 57redbird said:

Unless you encounter a 1st Class passenger who told me "you'll just have to wait"...I had a really tight connection, on the same airline, & informed the flight attendant of that fact.  She said it shouldn't be a problem to get me off quickly....until Mrs. I'm the Most Important Person on the plane got in the way.....This happened several years ago & I'm still upset by it....I did make the next flight BTW.

Wow, that's pretty grim.  Glad you made your flight though!

[LynKev]

We were on the 11-day Triple Denali cruisetour at the end of May.  This is the experience of the other couple we were travelling with (we departed from different cities).  Their flights to Alaska were cancelled due to bad weather in their connecting city, and they could not get them rebooked for that day.  They had booked their airfare through the cruise line, so HAL's emergency airfare department was luckily able to rebook them on flights the following day.   Since they missed our motorcoach departure from Anchorage, the cruise line put them on the train up to Denali.  They did miss one day of the tour at the McKinley Resort, but luckily had a full day there including the Tundra Wilderness Tour.

 

Hoping all of your travels will go smoothly.  

[BadgerRedux]

36 minutes ago, LynKev said:

We were on the 11-day Triple Denali cruisetour at the end of May.  This is the experience of the other couple we were travelling with (we departed from different cities).  Their flights to Alaska were cancelled due to bad weather in their connecting city, and they could not get them rebooked for that day.  They had booked their airfare through the cruise line, so HAL's emergency airfare department was luckily able to rebook them on flights the following day.   Since they missed our motorcoach departure from Anchorage, the cruise line put them on the train up to Denali.  They did miss one day of the tour at the McKinley Resort, but luckily had a full day there including the Tundra Wilderness Tour.

 

Hoping all of your travels will go smoothly.  

Thanks for sharing how that worked out. We didn’t book the flights through HAL so would be on our own with that, but I’ll check into the train details in case it’s needed; always more comfortable with a contingency plan!

 

ETA:  glad your friends made the Tundra tour!

Edited June 15 by BadgerRedux
Additional comment

[CNSJ]

On 6/14/2024 at 2:51 PM, BadgerRedux said:

I'm starting to get anxious about the worst case

No way to start a vacation.  I try to arrive a day or so earlier just to be safe.  This almost guarantees you will be there when you need to be. 

 

Same for post cruise - I watch too many people rushing off the ship as it docks hand lugging there bags to make a flight that leaves the same morning.  I find that leaving the ship after the rush and settling into a hotel is a good option.  Fly out the next morning.  

[BadgerRedux]

17 hours ago, CNSJ said:

No way to start a vacation.  I try to arrive a day or so earlier just to be safe.  This almost guarantees you will be there when you need to be. 

 

Same for post cruise - I watch too many people rushing off the ship as it docks hand lugging there bags to make a flight that leaves the same morning.  I find that leaving the ship after the rush and settling into a hotel is a good option.  Fly out the next morning.  

Yep, I hear you - that sounds lovely, but of course does bump up the price.  Choices!

[CNSJ]

Yes it does Badger. Agree ....choices.  Hope all works well!

[BadgerRedux]

Closing the loop here for anyone facing a similar choice in the future -

 

We ended up shifting our flights to arrive in Anchorage day early, on Wednesday evening.  Thanks to @LynKev who made the catastrophe of the missed train real for me by sharing about the friends' cancelled flights, and how they lost a whole day in Denali.  

As far as I can tell, the train from Anchorage to Denali is already booked for that Friday (and we don't really have a day to spare anyway as our trip is shorter, with Tundra Wilderness tour on Saturday).  Finally, the odds on scoring a last minute car rental sounded poor.  

 

@CNSJ, happy that this didn't increase the trip cost much - new flights were slightly cheaper and we used our last credit card points to get a big discount on the hotel!

 

Thanks to everyone for the kind advice!

 

[CNSJ]

Badger, I think you will have a much more relaxed vacation!

Best travel wishes!