Airfare prices for Alaska cruises is insane.

[tallnthensome]

We have a cruise from Seattle in early August. We are flying from Michigan from Detroit. We are getting costs in the $600-$800 range round trip per person. Are these typical for Seatlle ? I mean, I know prices have gone up but these prices are like international costs. Whis is everyone paying from which city for which time of the season? Am I looking too early at four months out or too late? $3000 to fly is more than the cruise cost. Any thoughts? 

[Mr and Mrs C]

We could not find a direct flight that was reasonbale either, (out of toronto or Ottawa), so we are flying into Vancouver, it is a 2.5 hour drive. Luckily for us, my brother in law lives in BC and will take us over to the port.

[JT1962]

Flights have increased substantially recently. Maybe due to fuel costs and / or demand? I booked on Feb 18 for my Apr 30 / May 10 r/t flights for $ 279. The same flights are now over $ 600 through early September. It appears they drop just as the last ships leave Seattle for this Alaska cruise season. 

[juhacorno410]

We booked more than a year out and are paying $511.00 pp from Atlanta to Seattle in June.  There are 8 of us.  The air fare now is around $1100pp.  Crazy.

[don't-use-real-name]

Seasonal fares are what ever the market will bear.

For Alaska starting points (3) Seattle Anchorage and Fairbanks

Ae and Vancouver but fares to YVR are more expensive than Seattle - but that

is not the perfect answer for your cruise originating in Vancouver - fly to Seattle

and you need to cross the border by an additional leg of flight or bus and when the

Canadian and US authorities get their act together by rail (Amtrak) so factor this

into getting to Vancouver - nothing cheap here - and then schedule timing.

You fly to/from Fairbanks for pre-post land tours in conjunction with cruising.

The same for Anchorage but more so for cruises originating southbound cruises.

Northbound cruises originate at Vancouver

Cruises from Seattle (note from) are restricted to round trips the PVSA requirement -

so no cruises to Anchorage.

 

The fares remain fairly consistent during the cruise season there is no advantage to

taking flights one or more days before/after a cruise thinking to save some money -

the fare is the same on Sunday through Saturday.

 

Plan out as far as you like - find a fare - weather the storm - (rare) if you find a better

fare try and change to it - booking in advance may offer you better seat selection.

 

Compare the deals that the cruise lines offer with included airfare and companion

travels free (ha where have you seen that before) but on the cruise line terms.

 

Look at going a little (or a lot) out of your way to get a better fare - perhaps make

a connection somewhere enroute.

 

Oh and flying to Vancouver - consider flying to say Winnipeg or Toronto and then

connect to that Vancouver flight - check those fares out - you got time to search

research this wild wide world of the internet - you may be surprised with what you find ! 

 

 

[Dancing Shoes]

Too late 😞  

[strickerj]

That does seem high. We're flying DTW-SEA (Delta nonstop each way) at the end of May and paid about $700 pp roundtrip for Comfort Plus. IIRC, standard coach was less than $500 pp at the time (booked back in January).

Edited April 23, 2022 by strickerj

[urbanhawk]

I have a cruise booked that leaves out of Seattle on Sept. 6th. This is the day after Labor Day. I've been checking airfares. The fares for Labor Day are much higher than the day before or the day after the holiday. I don't want to fly in the day of the cruise, esp. in this day and age of uncertainty, even with a 3 hour nonstop flight. Guess I should just bite the bullet, and book the flight for L.D., before the fares go any higher😬

[PACD_JG]

$600-800?  I just looked a google flights at DTW-SEA roundtrips in August and they are about $400.  And just for the record, since I can, I'm flying one-way DAY-ORD-YVR in June for $785...four 4 tickets.

[tallnthensome]

2 hours ago, PACD_JG said:

$600-800?  I just looked a google flights at DTW-SEA roundtrips in August and they are about $400.  And just for the record, since I can, I'm flying one-way DAY-ORD-YVR in June for $785...four 4 tickets.

Yes, there are some cheaper prices but outbound before the ship docks or 8 o'clock at night home bound. Reasonably timed flights that match the cruise schedule are high.

[Pyxie]

Paying around $500 per person round trip Nashville to Seattle in July. Definitely more than I'd want to pay, but the cruise itself was ridiculously cheap with the deal I got, so it is what it is.

[ImperialLady]

7 hours ago, tallnthensome said:

We have a cruise from Seattle in early August. We are flying from Michigan from Detroit. We are getting costs in the $600-$800 range round trip per person. Are these typical for Seatlle ? I mean, I know prices have gone up but these prices are like international costs. Whis is everyone paying from which city for which time of the season? Am I looking too early at four months out or too late? $3000 to fly is more than the cruise cost. Any thoughts? 

we are flying into Seattle on 8/26 and returning on 9/3 via Alaska Airlines at $737.00 per person for a direct flight from St. Louis MO. Other flights with 1 or 2 stops were less expensive, but not by much, and required 7-9 hrs...with long layovers ....it's CRAZY flying to CA or CO and laying over for 3-6 hours! Alaska Air is NOT our preferred airline, but they did have one direct flight a day. <sigh>

[stjohnbeachlover]

32 minutes ago, ImperialLady said:

we are flying into Seattle on 8/26 and returning on 9/3 via Alaska Airlines at $737.00 per person for a direct flight from St. Louis MO. Other flights with 1 or 2 stops were less expensive, but not by much, and required 7-9 hrs...with long layovers ....it's CRAZY flying to CA or CO and laying over for 3-6 hours! Alaska Air is NOT our preferred airline, but they did have one direct flight a day. <sigh>

 

We are also flying out of St. Louis to Seattle. We just booked our cruise a couple weeks ago and leave St. Louis May 1st. We were able to use United airline points so it only cost us a little over $200 for both my husband and I which wasn't too bad for last minute flights. I think our flights would have been around $700 each if we had just paid for them. We were able to book that sale that Carnival had for $70 per person plus port charges for 8 days so we jumped on the last minute deal. We do have 2 or 3 hour layovers both coming and going. 

[ImperialLady]

1 minute ago, stjohnbeachlover said:

 

We are also flying out of St. Louis to Seattle. We just booked our cruise a couple weeks ago and leave St. Louis May 1st. We were able to use United airline points so it only cost us a little over $200 for both my husband and I which wasn't too bad for last minute flights. I think our flights would have been around $700 each if we had just paid for them. We were able to book that sale that Carnival had for $70 per person plus port charges for 8 days so we jumped on the last minute deal. We do have 2 or 3 hour layovers both coming and going. 

I can't wait to hear about your cruise when you get back, We are on Princess Crown departing 8/26. WE chose thios time as my son was able to get extra time due to the holiday.

[CruiserBruce]

1 hour ago, ImperialLady said:

I can't wait to hear about your cruise when you get back, We are on Princess Crown departing 8/26. WE chose thios time as my son was able to get extra time due to the holiday.

Its Crown Princess.

[jerseygirl629]

I have been looking at flights for a few weeks now, and pricing out random dates at 60 days out to see if we should wait. They have only gotten more expensive. From NYC area, flights are now $800 round trip!!!! Absolutely INSANE. I hope prices go down because I did NOT budget THAT much for this flight; was anticipating around $500 or less if we got lucky.

[don't-use-real-name]

2 hours ago, jerseygirl629 said:

I have been looking at flights for a few weeks now, and pricing out random dates at 60 days out to see if we should wait. They have only gotten more expensive. From NYC area, flights are now $800 round trip!!!! Absolutely INSANE. I hope prices go down because I did NOT budget THAT much for this flight; was anticipating around $500 or less if we got lucky.

You did not note the cruise port (city) your cruise departs from - - - - -

 

60 days out puts you in the start of the summer vacation season - fares are not going down until

maybe September October early November. Booking 6 months or more in advance is the

woulda coulda shoulda time period and on some airlines getting better seat selection choices.

 

NYC area you have 3 major big airports to work with JFK LGA EWR and lots of airline choices.

Others - Boston - Hartford CT - Baltimore BWI - DC - Philadelphia -

YES there is a cost to get to those other airports 

Adding to the travel expenses the baggage fees on some -

Looking for bargains on NON-stop flights think again and look at connecting flights thru

other cities - consider the low cost bargain carriers Spirit Frontier Southwest maybe even

Jet Blue ?

If you are not driving to park at the airport consider leaving from one airport -

and arriving back at another i.e. Leave from LGA arrive back at EWR

2 one way fares 

 

ONE thing for sure avoid taking your flight on the same day of the cruise -

Plan on a hotel overnight accommodation the night before the cruise -

Be within ground transportation on cruise sailing day.

 

Cruise fares come as a bargain - the getting to and from the cruise ports can be in some

cases more than the cruise fare. 

[tallnthensome]

7 hours ago, jerseygirl629 said:

I have been looking at flights for a few weeks now, and pricing out random dates at 60 days out to see if we should wait. They have only gotten more expensive. From NYC area, flights are now $800 round trip!!!! Absolutely INSANE. I hope prices go down because I did NOT budget THAT much for this flight; was anticipating around $500 or less if we got lucky.

As the OP I will say I just booked my flights for my family of four for August to Seattle just now. Our cruise is an 8 day from Wednesday to Thursday. You would think that prices would be better during the week. So many variables with the ship docking time and needing to test two days prior according to Canada rules. I wanted non stop flights to elimate any added risks of connectors being cancelled. Because we have to test on Monday for our Wednesday cruise (rules as of right now) I figured we would test during the day Monday and so I booked a red eye flight from Detroit to Seattle at 11pm non stop arrive 12:30ish Seattle.  Certainly not a great time with two young teens . This will give us a full day on Tuesday. Then I booked my flight back to Detroit at 3pm non stop which is almost full four months out. I paid $569 per ticket for the four of us. This red eye flight saves me $1000 so it was the best option of the limited options. There aren't a lot of flights that really work with the testing as well as when we can realistically get to the airport after disembarking the ship. There is only a noon and 3pm back to Detroit post cruise (got the 3pm) but if you pick one of those paired with a non red eye flight from Detroit originally the tickets were close to $800. Just glad to get this segment out of the way. Now if the pre cruise testing would be stopped we would all catch a break on some pre cruise stressing 

Edited April 24, 2022 by tallnthensome

[diesel1973]

I booked my  r/t n/s flight Chicago to Anchorage back in the spring when Alaskan Air had a sale. Got it for less than $400. It's close to double that now.

[georgiacat]

Check out EZ Air.  Book as soon as possible and keep checking them for lower prices.  I snagged a good price, and I do not dare change it because prices are double now.  Delta keeps changing flights though frequently.  At least I should be on a plane somewhere.

[PACD_JG]

1 hour ago, tallnthensome said:

Because we have to test on Monday for our Wednesday cruise (rules as of right now) I figured we would test during the day Monday and so I booked a red eye flight from Detroit to Seattle at 11pm non stop arrive 12:30ish Seattle.

 

And least it's out of the way now, but correct if I'm wrong - now you'll need 2 nights in a hotel in Seattle instead of 1?

[disneylover89]

10 hours ago, jerseygirl629 said:

I have been looking at flights for a few weeks now, and pricing out random dates at 60 days out to see if we should wait. They have only gotten more expensive. From NYC area, flights are now $800 round trip!!!! Absolutely INSANE. I hope prices go down because I did NOT budget THAT much for this flight; was anticipating around $500 or less if we got lucky.

Same here!  Flights have gone up $100 in the last week.  I'm not hopeful for a reduction in prices at this point.  What airlines have you been checking?

 

Edited April 24, 2022 by disneylover89

[tallnthensome]

3 hours ago, PACD_JG said:

 

And least it's out of the way now, but correct if I'm wrong - now you'll need 2 nights in a hotel in Seattle instead of 1?

Yup .... most likely unless they feel sorry for us when we roll in the front door at 1:30AM. 

[MamaStang]

We lucked out and got first class fares on Alaska Airlines for $1200 each a few months ago for our July 2022 Alaska cruise but just found out yesterday that there is a vote happening in May by the pilots to strike and shut the airline down.  According to the mediation process, that leaves them going on strike exactly one week before we are scheduled to fly into Vancouver.  They refuse to refund our tickets now.  I am livid that I may be searching for new flights last minute at probably triple the price and who knows what flight schedules I will find.    

[diesel1973]

34 minutes ago, MamaStang said:

We lucked out and got first class fares on Alaska Airlines for $1200 each a few months ago for our July 2022 Alaska cruise but just found out yesterday that there is a vote happening in May by the pilots to strike and shut the airline down.  According to the mediation process, that leaves them going on strike exactly one week before we are scheduled to fly into Vancouver.  They refuse to refund our tickets now.  I am livid that I may be searching for new flights last minute at probably triple the price and who knows what flight schedules I will find.    

You might luck out and be scheduled on an American flight. Years ago I purchased an Alaskan flight and was operated by American.

Edited April 24, 2022 by diesel1973
mispelling