airline tickets

[BRNJ]

I am taking a Princess cruise in July. I want to book my own airlines because I want to try to use miles.

Can any one help me as to a rule of thumb when booking times. I begin the land tour in Fairbanks and disembarkment is in Vancouver (am).

I am confused as to what is a good amount of time to allow to get to the airport. This is my first cruise to Alaska.:)

[Chat Noir]

I'd fly in a day before departure, just in case of flight delays/cancellations. Since you have a land tour booked first, and will likely overnight in Fairbanks the first night anyway, perhaps not quite as imperative, but still chance missing something. We've yet to have flights remain unchanged prior to sailing.

I wouldn't want to book a flight out of Vancouver under 5 hours following stated arrival time. That's just me personally. Family has flown as early as 11am, but were booked through the cruiseline.

[fti]

If you want to use the "saver" type award, i.e. usually 25,000 miles per person from the continental US to Alaska, you should be checking now for availability. I booked 11 months in advance and had to be extremely flexible with my dates to find awards at this mileage level. Having said that, award availability changes constantly so keep checking.

 

If you plan to use the "standard" or "perkpass" or "skychoice" type award (name varies from airline to airline), then it usually costs 50,000 miles per person but if there is any seat still available on the plane, you can get it.

 

If you find a flight from the lower 48 non stop to Fairbanks, you should be OK arriving the day your land tour begins. If you make multiple connections and/or go through Anchorage, you might want to consider arriving a day early.

 

I hope your land tour spends two nights at Denali NP.

 

John

[scmomofboys]

If I remember correctly, Princess takes into consideration that it will take you a day's travel to get to Alaska, so the actual tour part doesn't begin until the next day (technically day 2), but your cruise personalizer should have your itinerary on it now. If not, Princess or your travel agent would be able to give you this info.

 

We are flying from the East coast and I could find few flights that would get us to Alaska before early evening, some arriving around midnight. We leave here 2pm our time and get to Anchorage at 9pm (Alaska time). Last summer we left here at 6am and arrived in Fairbanks at 7pm.

 

We are staying an additional day in Vancouver so we can get an early flight home. Anything that left after noon (about the earliest we could safely book a flight home on the day the ship docked) got us home very, very late. And we were booking 2 of our 4 tickets as award tickets. It was also cheaper for us to fly home the day after the cruise ended. (Crazy airline fares!)

 

You might try Kayak.com to see what is available from your area and timeframe. Hope this is helpful.

[fti]

And we were booking 2 of our 4 tickets as award tickets. It was also cheaper for us to fly home the day after the cruise ended. (Crazy airline fares!)

 

Airline fares are definitely crazy but it is very logical that flying home the day after a cruise ship arrives in port is cheaper than flying home the same day that the cruise ship arrives in port. Why? Because the cruise ships book hundreds if not thousands of passengers to depart the day their ships arrive. And since they book as a group/bulk contract, they can book long before you and I can book (we can only book 330 days or about 11 months before the flight). By the time we can book our flights, the best fare types are often sold out on cruise days.

 

Especially when using frequent flyer mileage (and very especially at the lower mileage level) it is very wise to spend the night in the arrival city and fly the next day.

[wolfie11]

If you find a flight from the lower 48 non stop to Fairbanks, you should be OK arriving the day your land tour begins. If you make multiple connections and/or go through Anchorage, you might want to consider arriving a day early.

 

There are no non stops from the Lower 48 to Fairbanks with the exception of one flight a day from Seattle that leaves there around 10pm and arrives Fairbanks after midnight. Alaska Air may add a second direct flight in the summer though.

 

Also consider that if you arrive before/stay after your cruise tour, you will have to pay for your own hotel at around $150 per night.

[wolfie11]

If you find a flight from the lower 48 non stop to Fairbanks, you should be OK arriving the day your land tour begins. If you make multiple connections and/or go through Anchorage, you might want to consider arriving a day early.

 

There are no non stops from the Lower 48 to Fairbanks with the exception of one flight a day from Seattle that leaves there around 10pm and arrives Fairbanks after midnight. Alaska Air may add a second direct flight in the summer though.

 

Also consider that if you arrive before/stay after your cruise tour, you will have to pay for your own hotel at around $150 per night.

[greatam]

I am taking a Princess cruise in July. I want to book my own airlines because I want to try to use miles.

Can any one help me as to a rule of thumb when booking times. I begin the land tour in Fairbanks and disembarkment is in Vancouver (am).

I am confused as to what is a good amount of time to allow to get to the airport. This is my first cruise to Alaska.:)

 

As fti posted, if you want to use miles, you will most likely have to use 50,000 to get the tickets. Most of the 25,000 mile tickets were gone by November.

 

I am an top tier elite on AA and DH recently decided he wanted to make a second trip to Alaska this year. I have not been able to come up with 25,000 mile tickets for early September, even with my status. But I can get 45,000 miles FC tickets. Real waste of miles, as I get myself and a companion upgraded automatically, space available, on any paid ticket. But you may want to look into "saver" first class awards. They are usually available for 45,000 miles.

 

THE CHEAPEST time to buy tickets to Alaska is in mid October/early November.

[BRNJ]

Thank you. I am spending 2 nights at Denali National Park.

[BRNJ]

Thank you. I am spending 2 nights at Denali National Park.

[Host Caroline]

Also some airlines (USAir/Amer West) require you to use the miles on a roundtrip.. we could not use ours on a NC-Seattle-Vancouver-NC itinerary but got the airfare for 400 so were happy with that.. And the seats for roundtrip Seattle for June were gone in August for our time frame. They generally post 330 days out.. If your airline is a partner (and if they fly to Fairbanks) check Air Canada.. we have used miles on them with less difficulty than using them on US Air.