Flying from the East Coast

[SueO]

Hi - We are doing a cruisetour with Holland America in 2007. We need to get to Fairbanks from the Boston, MA area and then from Vancouver back. I have a lot of various miles and travel and would like to use them if I can. Can any east coast people lead me in the right direction for the EASIEST flights doing this trip? We really want to keep the connections to a minimum. Any advice?

 

Thanks, sue

[Knolmom]

Does Northwest fly from Boston to Minn-St Paul? This year we are flying Newark to St Paul, then changing planes to a flight from St Paul to Fairbanks.

Very direct route, only 1 plane change and only 1 hr layover in Minneapolis/St Paul. Leave Newark at 1130AM and arrive in Fairbanks at 505 PM Alaska time--4 hours behind NY/Boston.

We were just rerouted on to this flight. Originally we were flying Continental non-stop to Seattle and then Alaska Air direct to Faibanks. Leave NY at 8 AM arrive Fairbanks at 330PM Alaska time. About one and a half hour layover in Seattle. I imagine that Continental flies non stop to Seattle from Boston.

 

On the return flight , we are flying non stop from Vancouver to Newark on Continental.

 

The cost for the Continental routing, RT, including the open jaw, was $639 including tax last October for an early August flight, purchased through their website.

Both the Northwest and Continental routings, RT have been about $800 RT since January through the airlines website. The cruise air on Princess for these routings was $699 plus an air deviation fee for choosing the exact flights we wanted.

[NancyIL]

FF seats go fast, so you need to know when you can book and what you want. If I were you, I would tinker with the airline sites where you have FF miles to see what kind of connections are available for this summer, as well as for early next June.

 

We are using American Airlines miles for a June 2007 Alaska cruise. American books up to 329 days out, so I can look at flights online through June 6, 2007. I have already reserved our flights to Vancouver and put them on hold for two weeks. I will book the return flights when those open up.

[Knolmom]

Forgot to mention re your post about using miles, 3 folks in our group used Continental FF miles for the itinerary. 2 who booked immediately in October(or whenever the FF air opened) used miles all through, although they had to use additional miles for the Alaska Air segment. One of the folks used FF EWR to Seattle and return from Vancouver to EWR, for 35,000 miles and then just purchased the Alaska Air one way SEA to Fairbanks for $100.

They all booked within days of the first allowable date for FF bookings.

Three more paid the $639 directly to Continental. And one additional person used RT EWR to SEA for 25,000FF and bought Air Alaska one way and a ground transfer back to Seattle.

Yet another person in our party lives in Vegas. She had to use First Class mileage of 50,000. to book her flights on Delta, through Salt Lake City to Fairbanks and return from Vancouver.She did not want to have any out of pocket expenses for air.

Hope this helps.

[Nitemare]

We flew from Boston to Vancouver on Alaska Air and Anchorage to Boston on Delta, all using Delta miles.

 

Each trip had one stop (Seattle Westbound, Cincinnati Eastbound) and I know we could have flown Seattle to Fairbanks instead, if that was our destination.

[marving9999]

Sometimes, you just get lucky

 

We are traveling on the Radiance of the Seas for a CruiseTour beginning August 21. We bought tickets from Washington Dulles to Anchorage and Returning from Seattle to Washington Dulles.

 

The tickets were purchased last October.

 

We paid $330 per ticket on American

 

If you are cruising next summer, watch the individual airline websites. You'll never believe some of the day to day specials you might find.

[cruise junky joan]

That is truly a great price. I just checked bwi to anchorage and the price was 711.00. Did you use ff miles etc. or were you just on the web at the right time? Joan

[marving9999]

Joan:

 

We were basically just lucky and on the web at the right time.

 

Remember however that this was right after the Katrina Oil prices hit and the airline fares had not been adjusted for it yet.

 

We kept checking American Airlines daily for two weeks watching the fares go up and down every single day. Finally, we just grabbed one for $280 + Taxes = $330. Flying into Anchorage and out of Seattle.

 

Our ship arrives in Vancouver, and we are taking the RCCL bus to the Seattle Airport.

[jd10367]

We're going on the same itinerary this September with Princess (into Fairbanks, out of Vancouver).

 

Last year, when we first booked the cruise, we took air through Princess at about $800+pp.

 

A few weeks later, we poked around on our own and found a flight from Newark to Fairbanks and from Vancouver to Newark (Alaska Air, using their partners for the "lower 48" stuff). Both flights stop in Seattle. It was about $730pp on Travelocity, so we took it, because we've heard nightmares about cruise lines routing you through Miami and making you stop five times.

 

Since we've booked, the flights we're on have gone up to over $1000pp!

 

We actually live in RI, but flying out of Providence made all the flights more expensive, and they routed you through other cities anyway, so we're spending the night at the in-laws' in NJ and goign out of Newark to save a couple of hundred and one touch-and-go.

[CorgiGuy]

Hi,

 

We are using Alaska Air out of Newark, leaving 7/23/06.

 

Just looked on Alaska Air. Currently they only show flights through early June 2007.

 

I don't know when your going to Alaska, but to get you some idea of what they have available, I found they have a flight leaving Boston @7:50am. It has one stop over in Seattle for approx 1-hr, then change planes and fly directly from Seattle to Fairbanks. Arrival in Fairbanks was around 4pm.

 

The lowest fare was $414pp.

 

IMPORTANT NOTE: If you book your flight far in advance, routinely check your booking on their website. Both our outgoing & returning flights were either changed or partially eliminated due to Alaska Air scheduling changes. They did not notify us of change. I happen to have made it a point to periodically go to their website and check my reservation and found out one of our original connecting flights was eliminated. Don't assume that they will notify you should they decide to made a scheduling change.

 

Stay well,

 

CorgiGuy