When to make airline reservations

[JeanfromBNA]

We're sailing on the Celebrity Millenium in September, 2009 that departs from Seward, AK. We live in Nashville, TN, and flying to Anchorage and from Vancouver will be a bit complicated and expensive. I prefer to book my own flights. I don't want to wait until the last minute, but don't want to book too soon and miss a deal.

 

When do you make your airline reservations for Alaskan trips?

[#1survivorfan]

We're sailing Aug 1, 09 from Whittier to Vancouver, spending 9 days in the Kenai Peninsula before the cruise. I bought my flight tickets in early October with Alaska Airlines. Prices have already gone up since my purchase. I think the days of last minute cheap flights are long gone. I say....when you see a price your comfortable with....BUY

[vegs1]

We're sailing Aug 1, 09 from Whittier to Vancouver, spending 9 days in the Kenai Peninsula before the cruise. I bought my flight tickets in early October with Alaska Airlines. Prices have already gone up since my purchase. I think the days of last minute cheap flights are long gone. I say....when you see a price your comfortable with....BUY

 

We are flying Detroit to Vancouver and then Anchorage back to Detroit with Northwest. When I first started checking flights back in August, the price was $756.00 return. Since then it has risen to over $1100.00. This past Saturday, it came down to $736.00 so we booked...it immediately went up to $868.00 right afterwards. I am happy with the $736.00 since it was the cheapest we'd seen. If it goes down....oh well. I won't be watching it any more.

 

Buy when it's at a price you're comfortable paying! No one has a crystal ball to know exactly what will happen so do what feels right for you.

[vbmom87]

I purchased in November 2007 for June 2008 also with Northwest out of Detroit. I had been watching prices fluctuate from mid $600s to $1200 throughout the late summer and fall. When the price came back down to the $600s I purchased my ticket. This was on an open jaw flying Detroit to Vancouver and Anchorage to Detroit. I did keep checking and the prices actually went down a little more in March, but not that much, maybe $20. As already mentioned, you need to decide what a fair price is for you and when you see it, book it. I really wanted direct flights, so we did pay a bit more for that convenience, however, to us, it was worth it!!!

[cruisin'mama]

With this economy and the small chance that I may have to cancel my cruise ( I don't even want to think like that ) unfortunately I had to pass on the AlaskaAir sale and must wait until I know FOR SURE that I'm not going to have to forgo my 50th birthday cruise ( that I've been planning for a LONG time ) . I know I'll have to pay more for the flights ( open jaw ,LAX to ANC and back YVR to LAX ) but at least if I don't go, I won't lose all the money that I would already have had to pay.

 

Prices are already up about $220 from last month and I just hope that they'll be reasonable when I get to book. I keep watching even though I'm not close to being able to book yet.

[lsane2]

We're sailing Aug. 1 from Whittier to Vancouver on the Sapphire Princess and doing a cruisetour beforehand. We're flying into Fairbanks and out of Vancouver and I bought our tickets either late Aug. or early Sept.

 

We're using FF miles and we're paying 50,000 miles + $78 per ticket. Now when I check online, our flights are going for 75,000 miles + around $85 per ticket. I keep checking hoping for the 25,000 mile RT flights, but so far no luck. I'm not complaining though -- when I booked the flights they said it would be over $13,000 if I had paid for them (for 7 people).:eek:

[JeanfromBNA]

Thanks for the replies. I think that I'll wait it out a bit and see if the fuel price drop has any effect on airline fares.

 

I can't imagine buying airfare for 13 people to Alaska! I'd take them all to Gatlinburg instead and tell them if they squint, it kinda looks like Alaska.

[Pia1913]

331 days out I was able to use my FF Delta miles; 25,000 PP and they booked us on Alaska Air to Fairbanks. We're doing the 8 night cruisetour prior to boarding the Coral. I consider myself very fortunate for being able to get those flights, since FF flying is starting to become obsolete.

[H2O babe]

I booked our flights in early October for our July 1, 2009 cruise. The price has risen over $200.00 a ticket since then. I use yapta.com and checked my flights every day for a couple months.

 

Good luck.

 

K.

[nothriver]

I booked both my planned 2009 trips around the 330 day mark when the flights were released. So far, prices have gone way up for both trips. Only time will tell if things improve. I will say that booking early does have disadntages. The first airline I booked on to Florida cancelled out flights. Fortunately flights had just opened for another airline and I was able to rebook for the same price. However, the second airline has adjusted our flight times severly, and they adjust them every week or so. Drives me crazy, but for that trip, we can work around anything. For our cruise however, I'd be really really upset if the messed up the flight times. I check once a week, just to make sure everything is still ok.

[nothriver]

I'd like to add that before I booked flights for our Alaska trip, I watched flights for the weeks prior to our. I watched airlines that had opened the flights and within weeks saw those double in price. I watched the planes fill quickly for the weeks prior to ours. So I was pretty sure I was getting a decent rate, had a good idea what that rate would be, and I know the day I needed to be on the computer to book them. Seemed like a huge amount of research for a stupid plane flight but I'm still glad it is taken care of and I can concentrate on other aspects of trip planning knowing the airfare is taken care of. If I had waited, I'd still be messing around with the airfare stuff daily and it is a HUGE investment of my time I "saved" by booking early.

[Pia1913]

I'd like to add that before I booked flights for our Alaska trip, I watched flights for the weeks prior to our. I watched airlines that had opened the flights and within weeks saw those double in price. I watched the planes fill quickly for the weeks prior to ours. So I was pretty sure I was getting a decent rate, had a good idea what that rate would be, and I know the day I needed to be on the computer to book them. Seemed like a huge amount of research for a stupid plane flight but I'm still glad it is taken care of and I can concentrate on other aspects of trip planning knowing the airfare is taken care of. If I had waited, I'd still be messing around with the airfare stuff daily and it is a HUGE investment of my time I "saved" by booking early.

 

On the contrary, it was a great idea. I did mine at the exact hour they opened the flights. Sometimes they only allot two FF seats and I wanted us to be those two.

[LisaH]

We're sailing on the Celebrity Millenium in September, 2009 that departs from Seward, AK. We live in Nashville, TN, and flying to Anchorage and from Vancouver will be a bit complicated and expensive. I prefer to book my own flights. I don't want to wait until the last minute, but don't want to book too soon and miss a deal.

 

When do you make your airline reservations for Alaskan trips?

 

We used frequent flyer miles to be able to go first class AND not have to pay for the tickets. I called the earliest possible that they allow for using FF miles - 330 days before the trip. If I were not using FF miles, I would still book very early as Anchorage is not the easiest place to get to due to not a lot of choices and those choices are even less now than they were in 2007 when we went. We flew into Anchorage via Seattle and home from Vancouver.

[Pia1913]

We used frequent flyer miles to be able to go first class AND not have to pay for the tickets. I called the earliest possible that they allow for using FF miles - 330 days before the trip. If I were not using FF miles, I would still book very early as Anchorage is not the easiest place to get to due to not a lot of choices and those choices are even less now than they were in 2007 when we went. We flew into Anchorage via Seattle and home from Vancouver.

 

If Anchorage is difficult. can you imagine how much harder it is to get into Fairbanks?

[lovedeals]

We are going next May and I got my tickets for 508pp going from syracuse ny to anchorage and then from seattle to syracuse. The shuttle from Carnvial Cruise to Seattle from vancouver was 49pp. By not flying out of vancouver I saved 250pp.

[LisaH]

If Anchorage is difficult. can you imagine how much harder it is to get into Fairbanks?

 

And Fairbanks was tough when were thinking of starting there in 2007. Kind of a pain but well worth it. :)

[Falcons07]

We are going next May and I got my tickets for 508pp going from syracuse ny to anchorage and then from seattle to syracuse. The shuttle from Carnvial Cruise to Seattle from vancouver was 49pp. By not flying out of vancouver I saved 250pp.

 

 

Hi, My name is Terry, my husband and I are booked on a Southbound cruise for May 20. ( We were originally on the Liberty European cruise which was cancelled this week.) This is our 2nd Alaskan cruise.

 

I have some questions about leaving from Vancouver, I spoke with Carnival this AM and asked about the Seattle shuttle, she told me as of 2009, they would not be having the shuttle.:( Also, she said the earliest flight out should be 11:00. Does anyone know how far it is from the pier to the Vancouver airport? Just wondering if taking a cab etc. would get there in time for a 10:30 flight. We are flying back to Hartford CT.

[wrp96]

Very, very unlikely you will make a 10:30 flight out of Vancouver. Even 11am is really too early.

 

Remember that when your ship arrives in Vancouver, you will have to go through Canadian immigration at the pier. Then when you get to the airport, you will have to go through US immigration and customs before you can board your flight back to the US.

[LisaH]

Hi, My name is Terry, my husband and I are booked on a Southbound cruise for May 20. ( We were originally on the Liberty European cruise which was cancelled this week.) This is our 2nd Alaskan cruise.

 

I have some questions about leaving from Vancouver, I spoke with Carnival this AM and asked about the Seattle shuttle, she told me as of 2009, they would not be having the shuttle.:( Also, she said the earliest flight out should be 11:00. Does anyone know how far it is from the pier to the Vancouver airport? Just wondering if taking a cab etc. would get there in time for a 10:30 flight. We are flying back to Hartford CT.

 

I agree with wrp96. We had a 1:40 flight and I kind of worried about that but it was perfect. It took us about 2 hours to get through check-in, security and customs. And as I recall the ride from the port to the airport was approx 30 minutes but that was on a Sunday and there was no traffic and we were the only ship in port.

[SOMBRERO6]

We cruised Carnival southbound from Whittier to Vancouver Sept. 03, '08. We used Carnival's Luggage Express program. They pick up your luggage the night before you leave the ship and you don't see it again until you are at your home airport. They put you on their shuttle to Vancouver airport. Customs boards your shuttle and checks your passports and then takes you to the terminal. We were thru security by 9:45 AM. Our departure was 12:20 PM. It's a great program!