Anchorage Airport Dropoff Time.

[runner2013]

HI all, 

We are taking a Princess Cruise to Alaska ending in Whittier. We'll be taking a shuttle to the Anchorage airport when we disembark, which drops us off at 11:30am that same day. We've got 2 choices for flights back home (in the U.S). 1:20pm or 3:55pm. We'd like to book the 1:20pm flight but weren't sure if the drop off time gives us enough time to go through customs-do we actually need to do that? - check our bags and get to our gate. We've never been to the airport and don't know how big it is. 

Any advice greatly appreciated.

Thanks

[CruiserBruce]

Where are you flying to? Can't think of ANY reasons you would be doing Immigration or Customs at the Anchorage airport. Any Immigration or Customs requirements were met when you boarded the ship in Vancouver,  or worse case as you exit the ship at your final port. 

[Northern Aurora]

Since the shuttle drops you off at the Anchorage airport at 11:30 AM you should be find with a 1:20 PM departure.  You are not going through US Customs and Immigration (remember -- Alaska is part of the US), but will go through security.  Do you have TSA pre-check?  I can't remember how many gates the  Anchorage airport has, but isn't that large.  

[pdmlynek]

Two hours should be plenty of time, but for many people, this is cutting things needlessly close.  I'd risk it, but most people on cruise ships would not.

 

[GTJ]

3 hours ago, runner2013 said:

We'd like to book the 1:20pm flight but weren't sure if the drop off time gives us enough time to go through customs-do we actually need to do that? - check our bags and get to our gate. We've never been to the airport and don't know how big it is.

Anchorage is not a very large airport, and it does not have any pre-clearance facilities for any foreign countries. There are not many countries to which one can fly directly from Anchorage (I believe only Canada and Germany, but I may be mistaken), and so you will need to clear immigration and customs for any foreign country when you arrive in that country.

[Northern Aurora]

5 hours ago, GTJ said:

Anchorage is not a very large airport, and it does not have any pre-clearance facilities for any foreign countries. There are not many countries to which one can fly directly from Anchorage (I believe only Canada and Germany, but I may be mistaken), and so you will need to clear immigration and customs for any foreign country when you arrive in that country.

 

The OP is from Massachusetts, which, as is Alaska, is part of the USA.  

 

And Iceland Air has flown in and out of Anchorage during at the summer months for a number of years.

 

 

[Northern Aurora]

5 hours ago, pdmlynek said:

Two hours should be plenty of time, but for many people, this is cutting things needlessly close.  I'd risk it, but most people on cruise ships would not.

 

 

As someone who lives in Alaska I think that two hours is more than sufficient.  And I suspect that shuttle delivery time is rather conservative.  There is a good chance they will be at the Anchorage airport before 11:30 AM.

 

[runner2013]

Thanks everyone, 

We both have Global entry(which we won't obviously need) and TSA precheck.  Our shuttle is through Alaska Cruise Transport and their website says drop off is 11:30 am. I didn't think we'd need to clear customs at the airport, figured it would be on the ship itself, but I always like to think of every situation so we're prepared😁

[AKJonesy]

No customs for you.  You should be fine for the 1:20 but keep in mind when all of those people get off the bus, they are also heading to check in as well, and that is where the lines can get long.  So, don't dilly dally getting up to check in.  At least for Delta, they have a bag drop line if you already checked in prior to arriving.  I don't know about others.  I'd "check in" in advance; in port in Whittier before getting on the bus.  The good thing is that the gate agents know how many people are in line and they communicate that with the gate agents once the gate opens and boarding starts.  

[GTJ]

8 hours ago, Northern Aurora said:

The OP is from Massachusetts, which, as is Alaska, is part of the USA. And Iceland Air has flown in and out of Anchorage during at the summer months for a number of years.

We don't know to where the original poster intends to fly. You cannot assume that people will be traveling directly to their home. Moreover, it would not make sense to ask about immigration and customs if flying to Massachusetts because, as properly noted, both Alaska and Massachusetts are in the same country. (No one would believe that Alaska and Massachusetts are in different countries, would they?!) Thus, given the question, it is reasonable to assume that the individual is flying to some foreign country, where immigration and customs would have to be cleared.

 

When I looked at the Anchorage airport website it indicated that international schedules are presently limited to Canada and Germany. I had thought that there were some flights to Asia as well, but I did not see anything being shown. I did not know about the service to Iceland, and I am a bit surprised that there would be sufficient demand for such service to and from Reykjavík.

[runner2013]

1 hour ago, GTJ said:

We don't know to where the original poster intends to fly. You cannot assume that people will be traveling directly to their home. Moreover, it would not make sense to ask about immigration and customs if flying to Massachusetts because, as properly noted, both Alaska and Massachusetts are in the same country. (No one would believe that Alaska and Massachusetts are in different countries, would they?!) Thus, given the question, it is reasonable to assume that the individual is flying to some foreign country, where immigration and customs would have to be cleared.

 

When I looked at the Anchorage airport website it indicated that international schedules are presently limited to Canada and Germany. I had thought that there were some flights to Asia as well, but I did not see anything being shown. I did not know about the service to Iceland, and I am a bit surprised that there would be sufficient demand for such service to and from Reykjavík.

GTJ, 

We are, in fact, flying back to Massachusetts. I asked about customs because we were coming from Canada to the U.S., but any customs business will be taken care of at the ship. 

[runner2013]

2 hours ago, AKJonesy said:

No customs for you.  You should be fine for the 1:20 but keep in mind when all of those people get off the bus, they are also heading to check in as well, and that is where the lines can get long.  So, don't dilly dally getting up to check in.  At least for Delta, they have a bag drop line if you already checked in prior to arriving.  I don't know about others.  I'd "check in" in advance; in port in Whittier before getting on the bus.  The good thing is that the gate agents know how many people are in line and they communicate that with the gate agents once the gate opens and boarding starts.  

We are flying on Delta and usually check in on the app as soon as we can. We also try to drop our bags off first thing. Hopefully this makes everything go smoothly. 

[AKStafford]

For the Anchorage airport, I give myself two hours and have never had a problem.