Flight Costs and options

We, family of 4, are doing the Royal carribean Cruise Tour 1 June of 2013. We need to fly from Denver to Fairbanks and back from Vancouver to Denver.

What are my options ?

What do people do here to minimize their flight cost ?

Is flying direct to Fairbanks and back from Vancover advisable or do people fly through seattle ?

Right now I am looking at around 320 on Alaska Air one way from Denver to Fairbanks and around 500 from Vancuver to Denver. Needless to say, I am desperate :) .

I have heard about Alaska Air credit card that gives a companion ticket for a little over 100.

Are there anything things I can try ?

We, family of 4, are doing the Royal carribean Cruise Tour 1 June of 2013. We need to fly from Denver to Fairbanks and back from Vancouver to Denver.

 

What are my options ?

 

What do people do here to minimize their flight cost ?

 

Is flying direct to Fairbanks and back from Vancover advisable or do people fly through seattle ?

 

Right now I am looking at around 320 on Alaska Air one way from Denver to Fairbanks and around 500 from Vancuver to Denver. Needless to say, I am desperate :) .

 

I have heard about Alaska Air credit card that gives a companion ticket for a little over 100.

 

Are there anything things I can try ?

Actually, the $320 for the Denver to Fairbanks leg is a good price. You're talking to someone that booked a fare two months ago, just to go from Anchorage to Seattle roundtrip and it was $614, and that's only a 1,448 mile trip each way.

You may want to consider taking transportation from Vancouver to Seattle and then catching a flight from Seattle to Denver.

But, then again, besides just looking at cost savings on airfare, you need to factor in not only those transportation costs, but, if you would have to stay longer in Seattle to make a connection or I always factor in, what my time is worth. I mean if you're stuck somewhere for 5/6 hours is it really worth not paying that extra $100?

Susan in Anchorage :)

As someone who lives in Alaska I think that the airfare quoted by narsibvl is very good.

During the summer Frontier flies from Denver into Fairbanks. It isn't daily service, but my understanding is that their fare is a little cheaper than the Alaska Airlines Denver to Fairbanks flights. Have you checked Frontier?

I don't see Fairbanks listed for frontier, are you sure they are still flying to fairbanks ?

As someone who lives in Alaska I think that the airfare quoted by narsibvl is very good.

 

During the summer Frontier flies from Denver into Fairbanks. It isn't daily service, but my understanding is that their fare is a little cheaper than the Alaska Airlines Denver to Fairbanks flights. Have you checked Frontier?

Frontier also offer summer flights from DEN to BLI/Bellingham, about 2/3 of the way from Seattle to Vancouver.

I don't see Fairbanks listed for frontier, are you sure they are still flying to fairbanks ?

Frontier flew into Fairbanks this summer but at this point I expect have discontinued their service. They fly into Fairbanks only during the summer months and basically cater to the cruise industry. I am not aware of any press releases that they will not resume service next summer.

We have neighbors who flew them earlier this summer to Denver and also used Frontier last summer. The neighbors have family in Denver and are flexible as when they can fly down. According to the neighbors the Denver - Fairbanks fare on Alaska Airlines the dates that Frontier also flies is cheaper than the "normal" fare since Alaska Airlines matches the Frontier fare.

I don't see Fairbanks listed for frontier, are you sure they are still flying to fairbanks ?

I just checked the http://www.flyfrontier.com website. After hitting the "see where we fly" button I quickly looked at the route map, and Fairbanks is on the route map.

Thanks all...I'm feeling better about my LAX-YVR & ANC-LAX in May for $418pp on DL :D

Thanks all...I'm feeling better about my LAX-YVR & ANC-LAX in May for $418pp on DL :D

Yeah, that's a fantastic price, congrats!

Susan in Anchorage :)

I just checked the www.flyfrontier.com website. After hitting the "see where we fly" button I quickly looked at the route map, and Fairbanks is on the route map.

Now I see why it didn't come up. They have dates only upto march 2013.

Are you pricing one-way flights ? If so, do the multi-city option instead and price Den-Fai-Sea-Den. It is usually cheaper to fly in/out of Seattle, but then you need to factor in the transfer cost to Vancouver. Transfers are with Amtrak Cascades train, Amtrak bus, Bolt Bus, Quick Shuttle, your cruiseline, one-way car rental.

Another way to cut your costs is to do the land portion DIY .... fly into Anchorage, pick up a roundtrip rental car, and drive yourself. Then take the train to Seward to meet your ship.

Alaska Airlines has a price reduction in October so watch for that.

I am so..so mad right about now. Saw a deal from Denver to Fairbanks for 282pp on delta, by the time I got to book it, the price changed to 492(almost 150%) !!! Dammit...ruined by day, will be in a bad mood for the rest of the day.

I am so..so mad right about now. Saw a deal from Denver to Fairbanks for 282pp on delta, by the time I got to book it, the price changed to 492(almost 150%) !!! Dammit...ruined by day, will be in a bad mood for the rest of the day.

Did you try searching for 3 people instead of 4? If one of the 4 seats at that fare bucket were sold in the interim, it's still possible that 3 seats are left.

Did you try searching for 3 people instead of 4? If one of the 4 seats at that fare bucket were sold in the interim, it's still possible that 3 seats are left.

I even tried one person, the prices are certainly up !!! :(

We are looking at airfare from Baltimore to Anchorage and then from Vancouver into Baltimore for our cruise next summer. I priced it our when I booked the cruise in April of 2012 for June of 2012 and it seemed that what I am proposing to do might be less costly. I am thinking about flying Southwest into and out of Seattle and fly Alaska air into Anchorage. We will rent a car and drive back to Seattle if that is less costly than flying. We will already be renting a car in Anchorage for our week land trip prior to the cruise for Denali and Seward. Have to wait for airfares to see what will be best for this trip. Southwest does not have baggage fees and for 2 people for a 15 day trip, the baggage will be 4 pieces plus 2 carryons. We'd only have to pay for baggage to Anchorage from Seattle. We are doing Denali and the Kenai Fjords on our own for a week prior to the cruise out of Seward.

We are looking at airfare from Baltimore to Anchorage and then from Vancouver into Baltimore for our cruise next summer. I priced it our when I booked the cruise in April of 2012 for June of 2012 and it seemed that what I am proposing to do might be less costly. I am thinking about flying Southwest into and out of Seattle and fly Alaska air into Anchorage. We will rent a car and drive back to Seattle if that is less costly than flying. We will already be renting a car in Anchorage for our week land trip prior to the cruise for Denali and Seward. Have to wait for airfares to see what will be best for this trip. Southwest does not have baggage fees and for 2 people for a 15 day trip, the baggage will be 4 pieces plus 2 carryons. We'd only have to pay for baggage to Anchorage from Seattle. We are doing Denali and the Kenai Fjords on our own for a week prior to the cruise out of Seward.

If you are choosing southwest only for bags, then you pay that in any case on your onward journey, from seattle to anchorage. You do save your baggage cost back home though, I agree.

Have you checked car rentals from Seattle to anchorage ? Any idea how much that runs upto ? Would like to get an idea.

Well I am soooo mad too! Less than a week ago airfare was $298.00 from Phoenix to Anchorage for next June 16 on Alaska air. Looked today and went up to $432. :mad: Will keep checking back for any price reductions. Granted it is not a huge increase but still, grrrr!

Well I am soooo mad too! Less than a week ago airfare was $298.00 from Phoenix to Anchorage for next June 16 on Alaska air. Looked today and went up to $432. :mad: Will keep checking back for any price reductions. Granted it is not a huge increase but still, grrrr!

Do update us if the price goes down. Will do the same..never thought flying within country would be so much of a back breaker..

Will do Narsibvl.

Our recent cruise ended in Vancouver. One way flights from Vancouver were outrageous - close to $500 pp. We took the Amtrak Cascades train to Seattle for about $40 pp and then got a non-stop one-way flight home from Seattle for $208 pp - with no baggage fees!

Our recent cruise ended in Vancouver. One way flights from Vancouver were outrageous - close to $500 pp. We took the Amtrak Cascades train to Seattle for about $40 pp and then got a non-stop one-way flight home from Seattle for $208 pp - with no baggage fees!

That is exactly what I am leaning towards too, right about now.. only catch is Southwest doesn't have flights for June 2013 released yet.

My bigger problem though is getting to Fairbanks from Denver...costing me an arm and a leg...

If you are choosing southwest only for bags, then you pay that in any case on your onward journey, from seattle to anchorage. You do save your baggage cost back home though, I agree.

 

Have you checked car rentals from Seattle to anchorage ? Any idea how much that runs upto ? Would like to get an idea.

You'd be looking at least a 3 day trip to get from Seattle to Anchorage up the Alcan. And the 3 days is probably pushing it with long driving days.

Susan in Anchorage :)

I found I got better prices by using the Multi-city function on the airline sites. We got a United flight (through Denver) to Richmond, Virginia for $725 each (roundtrip) for August of this year.

Well I am soooo mad too! Less than a week ago airfare was $298.00 from Phoenix to Anchorage for next June 16 on Alaska air. Looked today and went up to $432. :mad: Will keep checking back for any price reductions. Granted it is not a huge increase but still, grrrr!

I had that same situation recently. We are flying from Grand Rapids to Anchorage next August. When the fares first came out it was at $365 one way, then went up to $372. The day we got online to buy it, it was at $412 so we got it. For the heck of it we checked on it yesterday and the flight we got is now $565! :D

Now come the hard part of finding a flight out of Vancouver to head back home. :rolleyes:

Just my opinion (as a pretty frequent flyer, including to/from Alaska) but I think that looking at ticket prices for August 2013 in September 2012 is not an especially good idea.

That far out, the airlines don't know what their own costs are going to be - fuel prices, new labor contracts, etc. - so they tend to "hedge" by setting prices high, so that if their costs go up in the meantime their back ends are covered. So you pay an "uncertainty" penalty, and of course you give the airlines the use of your money for almost a year.

Closer to flight date (e.g. by, say, April 2013) the airlines have a much better idea of their costs, of who they're competing with on any given route, and on how the economy is doing, so they're better able to forecast demand on a given flight/route/date, and can adjust prices accordingly. Airline ticket prices change all the time, and not just in one direction.

I know it's uncomfortable for many cruise passengers who like everything planned out and settled far in advance, but waiting a little while to book your airfare really doesn't have that big a downside.

For travel next summer, you have plenty of time to poke around and look not just for the best airfares, but also to get familiar with websites and resources that can help you find them. For example, go to http://matrix.itasoftware.com/ and learn how to use the "multi-city" option. It will show you numerous alternatives, which you can then use to purchase your ticket directly from the airline or from an online agency like Expedia or Orbitz. Substitute Seattle for Vancouver on the return, for example, and you can see the difference badda-bing.

The idea is, when you do purchase your ticket, you'll have done your homework and given it your best shot, which is really all you can do.