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UK Flight Help


Louand66
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Hi all,

 

Have just come back from a great cruise to the Baltics..very highly recommended and can help anybody if interested.

 

Very very early enquiry. We are hoping to take a cruise in Alaska next September (2018). Have no favoured route either North or South. Looking at doing a few days DIY and then a 7 day cruise.

 

My question is travelling from the UK is there a better way to go regarding flights etc.

 

Where should we fly from and to etc.

 

Many thanks in advance for any help

 

Lou

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A few days DIY in Alaska? Canada? USA?

 

Lots of Alaska cruises start or finish (or both) in either Seattle or Vancouver. We have UK friends who are doing a 1-week Alaska cruise from Vancouver followed by 3-days on the Rocky Mountaineer train to Banff/Calgary. They found a great package deal, which we seem to not get so much in the US :(

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Thanks for the replies.

 

So a UK direct to Vancouver and the an onward flight to Anchorage I assume.

 

A couple of people have mentioned about it being cheaper to fly to Frankfurt and then onwards to Vancouver from UK. Has anybody done this. Does this make sence.

 

Thanks

 

Lou

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Thanks for the replies.

 

So a UK direct to Vancouver and the an onward flight to Anchorage I assume.

 

A couple of people have mentioned about it being cheaper to fly to Frankfurt and then onwards to Vancouver from UK. Has anybody done this. Does this make sence.

 

Lou

 

Lufthansa does a Frankfurt direct flight daily, so I guess you could source that as an option for you if it is more economical.

 

I don't know how you guys book over there, if in that it's great to go into see at Travel Agent, who has the direct link to the airline computer systems (Through a BSP ticketing agency) or access to consolidators.

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We are doing Alaska this Sept. NCL cruise. We are flying Manchester to Heathrow - Vancouver. We have planned 4 days in Vancouver - 10 night cruise from Vancouver finishing in San Fran - 3 nights San Fran and home via Heathrow again.

 

There is a lot to see and do in Vancouver - make sure you plan enough days.

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You still haven't mentioned where you plan to spend your DIY time pre-cruise ?? Anchorage? Vancouver?

 

Different members of my family used Icelandic Air, Condor, Delta and AmericanAirlines to fly to the UK from Seattle last yr. Their choice was based strictly on lowest price. Condor got the highest marks, followed by Icelandic.

 

Use a site like skyscanner.com to check fares. Play with various city pairs, including an open jaw (ie fly into Anchorage but fly home from Vancouver). You can also select non stop, 1 stop or multiple stops.

 

Be sure to include Seattle as an option when you play with city pairs..... it CAN be much cheaper than YVR. Seattle is only about 150 miles from Vancouver and can be easily reached by train, bus or rental car.

 

A caution about cruising in Sept. Fall storms can begin after mid August and they can be brutal ... heavy rain, strong wind, fog. You might luck out and get great weather, but the potential for a Fall storm is there and can make for a miserable cruise experience. Plus you lose so much daylight. There's a reason why off season cruises are discounted.

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Hi Mapleaves,

 

Many thanks for your reply. To be honest we are at quite an early stage although we have been offered some decent September prices and will book soon

 

We are looking at Princess cruises 7 days from Vancouver so what would be a sensible choice for a few days before the cruise. Only about 3 to 5.

 

Many thanks

 

Lou.

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Have spent most of the day researching and just got myself very very confused.

 

Heres is what (I think) we may be doing.

 

We want to do the South bound Princess cruise from Anchorage to Vancouver in September.

 

We are flying out to Vancouver from London and then on to Anchorage.

We then want to stay 3-4 days in various Alaska places (still to be decided)

Then on to our cruise.

 

We are flying home to London straight from the ship at Vancouver.

 

Does this make sense at all. Should we be looking at any there flights or better journey. Should we be considering Seattle.

 

Many thanks for any help.

 

Lou

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Let me try to list (what I hope are most of) the options.

 

First, there's only one daily flight in the summer between Vancouver and Anchorage (Air Canada) as opposed to numerous flights (basically hourly) between Seattle and Anchorage. The Vancouver - Anchorage (or v.v.) flights tend to be very expensive compared to the Seattle - Anchorage ones because of the limited market (international v. domestic travel.)

 

As of now, nonstop flights from Europe to Anchorage during cruise season include those by Condor (owned by Thomas Cook) out of Frankfurt and Icelandair from Reykjavik. You can get to Reykjavik from numerous airports in the UK and Europe. Icelandair also serve both Seattle and Vancouver from Reykjavik.

 

You can get from the UK to Vancouver (or back from Vancouver) nonstop on British Airways, Air Canada, Air Transat and Westjet, the latter two being discount carriers. To/from Seattle, the choices are British Airways and Virgin Atlantic. Next year, Thomas Cook will be starting Manchester - Seattle nonstops for the summer/cruise season.

 

So you could fly return/round trip to Vancouver and then spend a lot of money to fly one-way up to Anchorage before cruising south, or buy a round trip to Seattle, fly more cheaply to Anchorage, cruise back to Vancouver and take the train or bus (or drive) back to Seattle for the trip home, or arrange an "open jaw" that flies you to Seattle and back from Vancouver. Or you could fly an open-jaw itinerary via Iceland - UK to Anchorage, Vancouver to UK also via Iceland. "Open jaw" describes a "V"-shaped itinerary, say London to Anchorage, then Vancouver to London, with the Anchorage - Vancouver part being the open jaw. These are priced very similarly to return tickets and are sold by most airlines and online travel agents like Expedia.

 

Hope that's not too confusing.

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I live in the UK and did Alaska 2 years ago. I am also returning next year.

 

In 2015, we originally booked Virgin from Heathrow to Vancouver return but a few months after booking they cancelled the route and we were moved on to BA. We wanted to spend some time in Seattle and also worked out it was far easier to fly from Seattle to Anchorage than from Vancouver. We did an internal flight up to Seattle from Vancouver with Alaska Airlines - this was the way that worked best for us but other more reasonably priced options are available. After a few days in Seattle, we flew to Anchorage on Alaska Airlines and hired a car to get to Seward for our Southbound cruise. We then flew directly home from Vancouver after the cruise.

 

Next year the only real difference is that we have chosen a return flight to Seattle instead of Vancouver. Virgin now do this route (as well as other airlines) but when it came to booking we could get the flights far more reasonably priced with BA and the flight times were much better. We have booked our internal to Anchorage with Alaska Airlines again, they have so many flight times each day and were more reasonable than other airlines. We will fly from Vancouver to Seattle after the cruise for our flight home - this time booked with Delta.

 

When booking for next year I did look at flying from different European airports but the saving, if any, was negligible and just not worth the hassle of more flights.

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So to help a Numpty further, It looks like you are both suggesting Flying from UK to Seattle is the way forward and then a flight from Seattle to Anchorage.

 

After the trip a return flight, bus or train from Vancouver to Seattle.

 

Crusingthesuitelife can I ask how much you have found your flights for please just to give me some kind of guide. When are you going ?

 

Thanks again for all of your help.

 

Lou

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A bit of further info, We saw the charter Thompson in Anchorage last year so you may want to check that out as they may fly back to England from Anchorage. I strongly recommend you fly to Vancouver and spend a few days there prior to an inside passage cruise to Seward. It is also possible to do a 7 day round trip to and from Vancouver. We have done both and although we did like Anchorage, Vancouver is also pretty incredible.

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Posted on your other thread which was just about the SEA vs YVR flight. Since you're now stating you want to fly straight back home, I have to change my advice!

 

While the info given above about relative number of daily flights from SEA-ANC being higher than YVR-ANC, unless you alter your timeframe to add on post-cruise days it's IMO worth the relative inefficiency to be able to stay in Vancouver instead of Seattle pre-cruise. You could still fly to/from SEA if money is more important than time (budget $50pp and 4 hours to travel between them on bus/train/rental car with total price depending on several factors), but go do your own due diligence on comparative tourist enjoyment of Vancouver and Seattle - maybe if you're a Kurt Cobain/Bruce Lee/Boeing fanatic you'd be one of those outliers who prefers Seattle;-)

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Definitely going to do a few days in Vancouver. Everyone is raving about it.

 

So current plan is:

 

Fly from UK to Seattle.

 

Fly Seattle to Anchorage

 

3-4 Days in various places before cruise. (Any ideas, thoughts ??)

 

Cruise with Princess from Anchorage to Vancouver.

 

2-3 Days in Vancouver.

 

Fly Vancouver to Seattle

 

Fly Seattle to UK.

 

Does the above make sense to anyone...LOL

 

Thanks

 

Lou

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Cruisingthesuitelife,

Are you going directly or via stop offs.

Thanks

Lou

 

 

 

So to help a Numpty further, It looks like you are both suggesting Flying from UK to Seattle is the way forward and then a flight from Seattle to Anchorage.

 

After the trip a return flight, bus or train from Vancouver to Seattle.

 

Crusingthesuitelife can I ask how much you have found your flights for please just to give me some kind of guide. When are you going ?

 

Thanks again for all of your help.

 

Lou

 

 

All our flights are direct. My Mother, who I travel with, and I both have mobility issues, so indirect flights, layovers and the necessary assistance is more hassle than it's worth - it's difficult enough on direct flights!

 

We have used miles as full or part payment on all our flights, so the prices aren't going to be reflective of booking without miles. From general research in economy/coach it was just under £900 pp for LHR - SEA return, $200USD pp for the SEA-ANC and $200CAD pp for the YVR - SEA. This was for flights late May/early June. Sorry I cannot be more help on that.

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Definitely going to do a few days in Vancouver. Everyone is raving about it.

 

So current plan is:

 

Fly from UK to Seattle.

 

Fly Seattle to Anchorage

 

3-4 Days in various places before cruise. (Any ideas, thoughts ??)

 

Cruise with Princess from Anchorage to Vancouver.

 

2-3 Days in Vancouver.

 

Fly Vancouver to Seattle

 

Fly Seattle to UK.

 

Does the above make sense to anyone...LOL

 

Thanks

 

Lou

If it's enough cheaper on the flights, yes - but rather than the hassle of changing planes in SEA and of course going through US immigration again before THAT flight, definitely price up flights with Canadian/int'l airlines that go from YVR to anywhere-that-is-not-the-USA since it will involve much less hassle for security, e.g. which devices you can fly with. Personally I'd do a week in Vancouver - but I'm biased;-)

 

If flights from SEA are cheaper than out of YVR, it might be worth considering a land border crossing instead of the flight YVR-SEA; it's generally a shedload cheaper to do this than fly, plus this gives you more flexibility in when you visit Seattle, especially if you do fly 'direct' to Anchorage from the UK and do some AK land touring first. Sorry to add more options and give you more work!

 

We really liked our Icelandair flights (somewhat older planes, but the efficiency of the transfer at Keflavik was just mind-blowingly well organized, and the free stopover gave us the chance to hang out a few days in Iceland too) so I'd definitely consider a UK-Reykjavik (spend a few days)-ANC, land tour AK, ship to Vancouver then a few more days, train to Seattle for another couple of days then fly SEA-UK. Thanks to the delightfully-long vacation allowances (I blissfully recall my 7 weeks paid leave in the UK) it might be quite feasible to spend the ~3 weeks time budget you'd need for this, if you have the cash budget.

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Definitely going to do a few days in Vancouver. Everyone is raving about it.

 

So current plan is:

 

Fly from UK to Seattle.

 

Fly Seattle to Anchorage

 

3-4 Days in various places before cruise. (Any ideas, thoughts ??)

 

Cruise with Princess from Anchorage to Vancouver.

 

2-3 Days in Vancouver.

 

Fly Vancouver to Seattle

 

Fly Seattle to UK.

 

Does the above make sense to anyone...LOL

 

Thanks

 

Lou

There's no reason to return to Seattle after Vancouver. Just purchase an open jaw ticket, London to Seattle and Vancouver to London. I'd suggest British Airways for this; just use the "multi-flights" option on the BA website.

 

So you'd fly to Seattle, spend a few days and then fly up to Anchorage. Tour Alaska then cruise back to Vancouver and fly home from there.

 

Alaska Airlines is a BA partner and has the most flights between Seattle and Anchorage.

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Just had a look and the Open Jaw with BA (Lon-Seatile then Vancouver to London) is more expensive.

 

It seems it might just be cheaper to book 2 single one way flights.

 

What a forum.........

 

 

Thanks you.

 

 

Lou

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