A few airline questions

[jajsmom]

We're looking to book airfare for next July/August, flying into Vancouver and home from Alaska. Airfares are very high, with mostly long connecting flights from PHL. Is it better to book now or wait and see if airfares go down? Does anyone have experience with booking two different airlines, one for each leg of the trip? And is there a best time of day to fly into Vancouver (we will have about 1 1/2 days before our cruise.) Thanks for any help.

[mapleleaves]

Check the prices to Seattle. Many people find it to be signicantly cheaper. Then take a train or bus, or rent a car to reach Vancouver (about 4 hrs north).

[AkSusan]

We're looking to book airfare for next July/August, flying into Vancouver and home from Alaska. Airfares are very high, with mostly long connecting flights from PHL. Is it better to book now or wait and see if airfares go down? Does anyone have experience with booking two different airlines, one for each leg of the trip? And is there a best time of day to fly into Vancouver (we will have about 1 1/2 days before our cruise.) Thanks for any help.

You might want to check again as Alaska Airlines just started their Permanent Fund Dividend (it's a check we get because of the oil pipeline) sale yesterday and lots of times the other airlines may jump on.

 

Here's the link to the regs that Alaska is using for the sale (look at Posting #3) http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1482445

 

Susan in Anchorage :)

[rayliang]

I say wait on the airline tickets until a few months the trip, as its my experience that prices start to drop about 3-4 months out. Though, if you are buying travel insurance, there might be restrictions on by what date you must have already purchased the flights in order for your insurance to cover it.

 

What does your TA say?

[AkSusan]

I say wait on the airline tickets until a few months the trip, as its my experience that prices start to drop about 3-4 months out. Though, if you are buying travel insurance, there might be restrictions on by what date you must have already purchased the flights in order for your insurance to cover it.

 

What does your TA say?

Though I have to warn if you're flying into Anchorage or Fairbanks, if you wait too long you won't get a seat. Only so many planes (especially other carriers beside Alaska Air) come and go out of here during the summer and trust me, every single flight I've been on this summer coming and going from here has been full! And as the planes fill up the prices definitely don't drop, they climb!

 

Susan in Anchorage :)

[rayliang]

Or, buy it from places like Orbitz, which automatically refund the price difference between your flight ticket and the cheapest ticket someone else bought for your flight.

 

http://www.orbitz.com/App/PerformMDLPDealsContent?deal_id=orbitz-price-assurance&cnt=OVI

[pmjnh]

I have to say that I just purchased my one way tickets from Anchorage to Boston for next years cruise in July ($203). Most flights to the east coast will involve some red eye, either at the front or back of the trip. We chose to take a 4:30 PM flight and sleep at the end of the flght. I noticed a lot of flights had long layovers in airports and we tried to avoid that at all costs!

 

 

My flight to Vancouver was not so pretty, ..I kind of wish that I had waited longer but the flight hours were perfect for us.

 

I found that airline fares fluctuate a lot and I kept checking every day.

This website has helpful information www.farecompare.com

[Chenega]

The Alaska Airlines PFD fares are usually some of the lowest but they do have restrictions including days of the week you can travel.

[jajsmom]

Thanks for all the really helpful replies. I did check out the Alaska Airlines site, but for some reason the flights from PHL are horrible. Most involve three stopovers, with flight times over 24 hours. Even if they were a reasonable price, those times and schedules are just not worth it.

 

I did like the suggestion of using Orbitz, and will definitely explore that further. I like the price guarantee that they give you, although there is a $27 booking fee compared to booking those same flights directly through the same airlines. that could be more than made up if the fare does go down.

 

I'm used to being my own TA, and we usually fly most places we go on Southwest. We could fly them to Seattle, but they also do not go direct to Seattle from PHL, and the fares from here are actually higher than going directly to Vancouver.

 

I even looked into flying out of Newark. they have a direct flight to Vancouver, and a short layover flight from Anchorage. Unfotunately, these flights are over $1000 more than flying out of PHL for the four of us.

 

We fly alot, but planning this Alaska trip seems to be much more difficult than other trips we have been on.

[vmom]

Did you check out flying into or out of Seattle rather than Vancouver? We flew into Anchorage and ended our cruise in Vancouver. Prices to fly from Vancouver to Chicago were very high so we took the Princess transfers from the Vancouver port to Seattle airport and flew out of Seattle. We had to pay for Princess transfers, but still saved on the prices for flights.

 

We flew from Chicago to Anchorage with a change in planes in Denver using United Airlines. After our cruise, we flew from Seattle to Chicago using American Airlines. Total flight costs were approx. $450 per person. We did not take any odd flight times. We flew out from Chicago around 3 in the afternoon and flew out of Seattle around 4:30 in the afternoon. Often the cheaper flights are red eyes or odd times which we did not want but I was able to book flights at a good price for afternoon times. We booked in April for flights the 3rd week of June.

[doublemm16]

Thanks for all the really helpful replies. I did check out the Alaska Airlines site, but for some reason the flights from PHL are horrible. Most involve three stopovers, with flight times over 24 hours. Even if they were a reasonable price, those times and schedules are just not worth it.

 

I did like the suggestion of using Orbitz, and will definitely explore that further. I like the price guarantee that they give you, although there is a $27 booking fee compared to booking those same flights directly through the same airlines. that could be more than made up if the fare does go down.

 

I'm used to being my own TA, and we usually fly most places we go on Southwest. We could fly them to Seattle, but they also do not go direct to Seattle from PHL, and the fares from here are actually higher than going directly to Vancouver.

 

I even looked into flying out of Newark. they have a direct flight to Vancouver, and a short layover flight from Anchorage. Unfotunately, these flights are over $1000 more than flying out of PHL for the four of us.

 

We fly alot, but planning this Alaska trip seems to be much more difficult than other trips we have been on.

 

We flew out of Newark this past summer, but we flew to Fairbanks and home from Vancouver. Airfare was definitely more expensive (partly because if we can get a direct flight, we prefer that). There were no direct flights to Fairbanks, so we flew Alaska Air to Seattle and connected to a flight to Fairbanks. We flew direct back to Newark on Air Canada. Both airlines were great! Our friends flew out a day later from Newark. They are from the Atlantic City area and they had more flight options from Newark than PHL. They flew Delta to to Fairbanks through Minneapolis. I booked with using Orbitz at the advice of my TA. I only did this because I was utilizing different airlines each leg of the trip. Can you reverse your itinerary and start out flying to Alaska? That may help the price.

 

Keep checking daily. Just be prepared for higher fares. My flights to and from Europe (Venice / Barcelona) were much cheaper. Good luck!!! It is worth the expense. Alaska is simply beautiful!!

[jajsmom]

Did you check out flying into or out of Seattle rather than Vancouver? We flew into Anchorage and ended our cruise in Vancouver. Prices to fly from Vancouver to Chicago were very high so we took the Princess transfers from the Vancouver port to Seattle airport and flew out of Seattle. We had to pay for Princess transfers, but still saved on the prices for flights.

 

We flew from Chicago to Anchorage with a change in planes in Denver using United Airlines. After our cruise, we flew from Seattle to Chicago using American Airlines. Total flight costs were approx. $450 per person. We did not take any odd flight times. We flew out from Chicago around 3 in the afternoon and flew out of Seattle around 4:30 in the afternoon. Often the cheaper flights are red eyes or odd times which we did not want but I was able to book flights at a good price for afternoon times. We booked in April for flights the 3rd week of June.

 

For some reason, flights from Philly are hard to find direct to the west coast. We booked our cruise first, based on the kids summer schedules. We actually found flight cheaper and more direct going directly to Vancouver.

 

We flew out of Newark this past summer, but we flew to Fairbanks and home from Vancouver. Airfare was definitely more expensive (partly because if we can get a direct flight, we prefer that). There were no direct flights to Fairbanks, so we flew Alaska Air to Seattle and connected to a flight to Fairbanks. We flew direct back to Newark on Air Canada. Both airlines were great! Our friends flew out a day later from Newark. They are from the Atlantic City area and they had more flight options from Newark than PHL. They flew Delta to to Fairbanks through Minneapolis. I booked with using Orbitz at the advice of my TA. I only did this because I was utilizing different airlines each leg of the trip. Can you reverse your itinerary and start out flying to Alaska? That may help the price.

 

Keep checking daily. Just be prepared for higher fares. My flights to and from Europe (Venice / Barcelona) were much cheaper. Good luck!!! It is worth the expense. Alaska is simply beautiful!!

 

I initially was looking at direct flights from Newark, and we are just slightly closer to PHL than EWR. But for that convenience, we would be paying $1300 more for round-trip airfare for our family of 4. There's even a flight from Philly that goes to Newark to catch that direct flight, and it was much cheaper than going outof Newark directly, but it left Philly at 6 AM.

 

I did book our flights for next July using Orbitz. I figure that it's worth it for the price guarantee, and we are guaranteed to have seats. We'll be using Air Canada to Vancouver, and then Delta back to Philadelphia. The flight times we got, with stops, were no more than 2 hours longer than the direct flights, and we are saving a ton of money (to be spent on excursions.)

[greatam]

 

 

 

I did book our flights for next July using Orbitz. I figure that it's worth it for the price guarantee, and we are guaranteed to have seats. We'll be using Air Canada to Vancouver, and then Delta back to Philadelphia. The flight times we got, with stops, were no more than 2 hours longer than the direct flights, and we are saving a ton of money (to be spent on excursions.)

 

FORGET the price guarantee!!! You have to have the SAME EXACT ticket-same fare class (there are many, many on one plane), the same flight, same date, same everything. And since airlines are NOT prone to issue more than 9 in any one fare class and you bought 4 of them, please don't hold your breath. The price guarantee has been called a scam by many, many blogs and websites because there are soooooo many restrictions.

 

You could have flown nonstop RT from JFK to Vancouver on one of the best airlines in the world-Cathay Pacific. BIG plane, food, drinks, etc. etc. They fly a nonstop daily for about $550 RT. The only downside is the flight arrives Vancouver about 1:30 in the morning (it continues on to Hong Kong).

 

Yes, you would need to piece together a separate ticket from ANC to Vancouver on the return, but that is pretty darn easy.

 

Enjoy your trip.

[thinfool]

I am seeing open-jaw flights (EWR-YVR; ANC-EWR) July/August for that itinerary for less than $600 taxes included..

 

Hasn't changed much since we took the same trip in 07.

[Northender]

Did you check out flying into or out of Seattle rather than Vancouver? We flew into Anchorage and ended our cruise in Vancouver. Prices to fly from Vancouver to Chicago were very high so we took the Princess transfers from the Vancouver port to Seattle airport and flew out of Seattle. We had to pay for Princess transfers, but still saved on the prices for flights.

 

We flew from Chicago to Anchorage with a change in planes in Denver using United Airlines. After our cruise, we flew from Seattle to Chicago using American Airlines. Total flight costs were approx. $450 per person. We did not take any odd flight times. We flew out from Chicago around 3 in the afternoon and flew out of Seattle around 4:30 in the afternoon. Often the cheaper flights are red eyes or odd times which we did not want but I was able to book flights at a good price for afternoon times. We booked in April for flights the 3rd week of June.

 

vmom, we are contemplating taking the Princess Transfers to Seattle too, but want to stay in Seattle a couple of days. Do you (or anyone else)know if the transfer from Vancouver to Seattle will also take us to a hotel

in the downtown area. Thanks:):)

[Budget Queen]

vmom, we are contemplating taking the Princess Transfers to Seattle too, but want to stay in Seattle a couple of days. Do you (or anyone else)know if the transfer from Vancouver to Seattle will also take us to a hotel

in the downtown area. Thanks:):)

 

The Princess transfers in the past was to the airport. They may have a cruise/hotel purchase option, but most often these are poor choices, as they are per person rates. The Lightrail is very easy to get you back downtown, IF you have no mobility limitations and pack light. Otherwise add in a cab cost of about $35++ to get you downtown, from the airport.

 

A second option that WILL drop off downtown, at a few select downtown hotels, is using Quick Shuttle. Pick up is right at the Vancouver cruise docks. A third option is Amtrak, which is downtown Seattle. Finally, one way rental cars.

[Northender]

Thank you BQ. Great food for thought:)