When will the flight prices drop, it's killing me!!

[Royal Addiction]

Just had to write my angst at checking airline flights to Anchorage from Philly, PA, for August 25, 2013, one-way, and waiting for the one-stop flights to drop a bit for Alaska Air and Delta. Not a single person has booked a seat yet, as they are all probably waiting as well. I check the prices from 4 AM til 8 PM, and they just don't budge. Alaska Air stays at $473, and Delta goes from $704 to $573, no lower. I'm anxious to book! Drop!!

[PennyAgain]

The prices you are finding for prime tourist season in Alaska are not unusual. You say that not a single person has booked, but I find that hard to believe. Major blocks of seats may be purhcased and held by cruise lines.

 

Prices may go up.

 

I have a long recorded history of my purchases of flights to and from Alaska and buy tickets when I see a fare I can live with.

 

Did you check the prices of flights before booking your cruise?

[Gardyloo]

Well, using ITA, I can see numerous flights on United or US Air for $350 or less for that day, so maybe you should just cast the net a little wider. Because Alaska Airlines only has one daily flight from Philly to Seattle, I'd be surprised if AS's fare changes much - supply and demand.

[frugaltravel]

Just had to write my angst at checking airline flights to Anchorage from Philly, PA, for August 25, 2013, one-way, and waiting for the one-stop flights to drop a bit for Alaska Air and Delta. Not a single person has booked a seat yet, as they are all probably waiting as well. I check the prices from 4 AM til 8 PM, and they just don't budge. Alaska Air stays at $473, and Delta goes from $704 to $573, no lower. I'm anxious to book! Drop!!

 

Your strategy is wrong. You don't "wait for the price to drop." You look at historical fares and then buy when the price is acceptable. How do you know the fares will go down and not up? How do you know not a single person has booked a seat yet? I assume you mean not a single person has reserved an advance seat assignment, but that is hugely different from not a single person booking a seat. The only way you can really know if anyone has booked a seat on the flight is to have insider information directly from the airline.

[thinfool]

Why only one way? Are you staying on the west coast after your cruise?

 

Open jaw pricing is often very affordable.

[Royal Addiction]

I priced them out last year for an August departure hypothetically in 2011, and they stayed in the $330 range for the 2 airlines which have the better on-time ratings. You can see the seat assignments right on the websites, and they are still all available. Flying home from Vancouver via Delta is already booked for $236 each with only 1 stop.

[CruiserBruce]

I priced them out last year for an August departure hypothetically in 2011, and they stayed in the $330 range for the 2 airlines which have the better on-time ratings. You can see the seat assignments right on the websites, and they are still all available. Flying home from Vancouver via Delta is already booked for $236 each with only 1 stop.

 

Last year's prices really have nothing to do with this year's, so don't compare and expect them to be comparative. The only thing that compares to this year's prices are this year's prices.

[thinfool]

I priced them out last year for an August departure hypothetically in 2011, and they stayed in the $330 range for the 2 airlines which have the better on-time ratings. You can see the seat assignments right on the websites, and they are still all available. Flying home from Vancouver via Delta is already booked for $236 each with only 1 stop.

 

Too bad, current open jaw, rt, PHL>ANC, YVR>PHL is currently $624. one stop on USAirways.

 

However you work it out...have a great trip!!

[Coral]

$473 sounds good to me for a one way!

[frugaltravel]

I priced them out last year for an August departure hypothetically in 2011, and they stayed in the $330 range for the 2 airlines which have the better on-time ratings. You can see the seat assignments right on the websites, and they are still all available. Flying home from Vancouver via Delta is already booked for $236 each with only 1 stop.

 

As was said, last year's prices are really irrelevant. Also, so are seat maps. Seat maps mean nothing with regard to how full a flight is, how many seats have been sold, etc. I have seen flights totally sold out with lots of seats available, flights with no seats available but still selling seats and everything in between. How many seats on an airline's seat map are taken truly means nothing.

[Royal Addiction]

As was said, last year's prices are really irrelevant. Also, so are seat maps. Seat maps mean nothing with regard to how full a flight is, how many seats have been sold, etc. I have seen flights totally sold out with lots of seats available, flights with no seats available but still selling seats and everything in between. How many seats on an airline's seat map are taken truly means nothing.

 

OK, so why do they put those on their websites for you to choose your seat if they mean nothing? I chose the exact seats I wanted on the Delta return flight, and they are now marked out on the website.

[libtrek]

Prices are high, IMHO, for Alaska. We're going after Memorial Day, flying home June 15 from Fairbanks. Used ff on Delta for free flight home BUT it is a red eye. Flying out to Seattle, on Frontier. FF seats were gone so had to pay for ticket at 325 pp one way. Will take amtrak (cheap) from Seattle to Vancouver to catch ship. Prices direct to Vancouver were quite high from Detroit area. I just checked and Frontier prices are already higher.

[frugaltravel]

OK, so why do they put those on their websites for you to choose your seat if they mean nothing? I chose the exact seats I wanted on the Delta return flight, and they are now marked out on the website.

 

They mean nothing with regard to how many seats are sold, which is what you indicated that you used them for. If you are using seat maps for what they are DESIGNED FOR - booking a specific seat once you purchase your ticket - of course they are useful.

[vbmom87]

For our 2008 AK vacation, the lowest prices I saw for our AK cruise were in March. We actually booked in November 2007. The March prices were just a little lower. Like others have mentioned, we booked via the "multi-city" option on the airlines website. We flew to Vancouver from Detroit and from ANchorage to Detroit. When I was booking, it was cheaper to book multi-city than two-one ways. However, there are times when two one-ways are cheaper. Always have to study your options. Coming from Philly, if you can get a deal around $600-$700 total, I think that would be a fair price. Definitely not a bargain, but a fair price. Have you signed up for a fare alert with a site like kayak? You can sign up for daily alerts. If you are open to other airports, you may also find a better deal. Only you can decide if the extra distance to the airport is worth a savings to you. (if a savings exists)

 

Good luck and enjoy Alaska!!!

[vermonter16]

Figure out what you are willing to pay. DH and I were happy to pay anything under $700 pp from Dulles to Anchorage and then from Vancouver to Dulles. When it did fall under $700 my husband didn't purchase tickets and the price went back up to in the $800s. We decided to wait a little longer and then bam, the seats were at $559. I hopped on it. We took a chance by waiting and we'd been watching for 6 months - it's a gamble. We didn't expect to score tickets so low and we would have been happy paying in the $600s. Just keep watching and wait if you're comfortable doing that but also keep in mind that at some point the flights will more than likely go up and stay up. Now, if it looks like no one has booked....keep checking.

[Royal Addiction]

Thanks VB and Vermonter. Since the cruise was planned for 2 years, I had a chance to study the flight prices and the ebbs and flows of the changes. Seeing the prices in the mid $300 range last year, and this year being as economically depressed as last year, there doesn't seem to be justification to keep a one-way ticket nearly $500. I am just anxious because it is the only thing left to book. All the tours, hotels, and activities are booked, and I only come to Cruise Critic when I have specific questions. You guys are wonderful!

[biker1972]

While there might be a depressed economy, airlines have reduced capacity so that flights fly fuller. Still makes supply and demand work since there are fewer seats for lower demand.

[Robinhill]

Just had to write my angst at checking airline flights to Anchorage from Philly, PA, for August 25, 2013, one-way, and waiting for the one-stop flights to drop a bit for Alaska Air and Delta. Not a single person has booked a seat yet, as they are all probably waiting as well. I check the prices from 4 AM til 8 PM, and they just don't budge. Alaska Air stays at $473, and Delta goes from $704 to $573, no lower. I'm anxious to book! Drop!!

 

I would feel very fortunate with those prices. I am flying from Baltimore to Fairbanks then Vancouver back to Baltimore and it is costing me $1080 each! I could not find anything better. I am flying out on a Monday and the drop from leaving on Monday to leaving on Tuesday was a substantial $200 each but would have cut out a substantial portion of our land tour. Also with traveling with a 6 year old the 14 hour flight arriving at 4:30pm appealed much more than arriving at 11:30pm and a 19 hour flight!

[DragonOfTheSeas]

Just had to write my angst at checking airline flights to Anchorage from Philly, PA, for August 25, 2013, one-way, and waiting for the one-stop flights to drop a bit for Alaska Air and Delta. Not a single person has booked a seat yet, as they are all probably waiting as well. I check the prices from 4 AM til 8 PM, and they just don't budge. Alaska Air stays at $473, and Delta goes from $704 to $573, no lower. I'm anxious to book! Drop!!

 

 

I checked on Exp**** today and there are several airlines in the low $300s. With the other ticket you quoted, your price would be lower than mine this past summer and I flew in LATE August and back in MID September. [after prime time]

[Robinhill]

Just had to write my angst at checking airline flights to Anchorage from Philly, PA, for August 25, 2013, one-way, and waiting for the one-stop flights to drop a bit for Alaska Air and Delta. Not a single person has booked a seat yet, as they are all probably waiting as well. I check the prices from 4 AM til 8 PM, and they just don't budge. Alaska Air stays at $473, and Delta goes from $704 to $573, no lower. I'm anxious to book! Drop!!

 

Also- check the day of the week that you are flying... i found about a $200 pp price difference from Monday to Tuesday. If you can be a little flexible it could even save you money if you flew in a day early and still have saved enough to pay for the hotel for the extra evening.

[Cruisernewbie44]

We are flying from Anchorage to Philadelphia in May so have been watching the pricing carefully and have seen much better pricing on both the United website and Kayak.com

[vbmom87]

Just had to write my angst at checking airline flights to Anchorage from Philly, PA, for August 25, 2013, one-way, and waiting for the one-stop flights to drop a bit for Alaska Air and Delta. Not a single person has booked a seat yet, as they are all probably waiting as well. I check the prices from 4 AM til 8 PM, and they just don't budge. Alaska Air stays at $473, and Delta goes from $704 to $573, no lower. I'm anxious to book! Drop!!

 

If you are open to a different airline, US Air is showing $304 for August 25. Leaves Philly at 1:50 p.m. and arrives in Anchorage at 12:36 AM.

 

If you are willing to fly into Seattle United has a flight on August 25 for $175. You could rent a one way car rental and drive to Vancouver. There are also bus and train transfers, but I don't have the current info on timing for those. Delta has $236 into Seattle on the 25th. Currently it looks like a one-way car rental would run close to $200...less if you belong to Costco.

 

In my experiences with Delta, they do seem to hold those high prices pretty steady when you are looking far out from your date of travel. We had this happen for our November trip to CA. I was getting so frustrated because the prices kept staying high. Then finally, they did take a good drop. You just have to keep watching. Just be aware there are no guarentees the prices will drop to where you want them. I have not had good luck with one-way prices being cheap except on Southwest. It is too early to check your date on Southwest, but they are showing a price of $264 for a Sunday, earlier in August, if you want to fly into Seattle instead.