leaving same-day from LAX to Whittier?

[buttah75]

Ship leaves at 9:30pm. Still, I was surprised to hear that the Princess air is same day. Given that for four of us I can't find mileage seats or a decent fare, we probably will go with their air.

 

But is that do-able to get to Anchorage, then Whittier, realistically, from Los Angeles? What time would they be likely to have us leaving from LAX?

 

Also, on return we are going straight to Vancouver airport. What time flight is the earliest we can realistically make?

[ARRTrain]

LA - Anchorage is about a 7-8 hour flight, then about a 1 - 1.5 hour drive to Whittier. Hope you are in the air early in the morning, in case of some unforeseen delays. There's a 1 hour time differance between LA and Alaska. Alaska is 1 hour back.

[inkmahm]

LA - Anchorage is about a 7-8 hour flight, then about a 1 - 1.5 hour drive to Whittier. Hope you are in the air early in the morning, in case of some unforeseen delays. There's a 1 hour time differance between LA and Alaska. Alaska is 1 hour back.

The flight from LA can't be that long. It's only 5+ hours from Minneapolis to Anchorage

[Gardyloo]

Nonstop flight time is 5h 15m. For example, AA/AS leaves LAX 8 AM, arrives ANC 12:15 PM.

[mytime53]

The flight from LA can't be that long. It's only 5+ hours from Minneapolis to Anchorage

 

It's 5 to 51/2 hours IF you have a nonstop. The schedules I see are anywhere from 7 to 10 hours if you can't get the nonstop.

[ARRTrain]

I've only gotten 1 non stop, between LA & Anc. It was still 6 hours. The other times we had stop overs in Seattle or Portland with an hour or more.

[Gardyloo]

According to ITA there are numerous (15+) departures from LAX that connect to ANC in plenty of time to make the boat. Most involving connections are 7h to 8h tops.

[NancyIL]

There is NO WAY I would fly to Anchorage the same day the ship leaves. If you "miss the boat" - you will miss both of your glacier-sailing days. If you go with cruise air - they will give you what is cheapest for them, and not necessarily a non-stop flight or what is best for you! You can ask Princess to put you on a flight the day before - but you will pay an Air Customization fee of $50/pp plus any difference in airfare.

 

I just checked American Airlines online for travel LAX-ANC on August 8th (Friday) using AAdvantage miles for 4 people. You can fly LAX to Dallas and then connect to Anchorage. You don't arrive until 7:25 p.m., so obviously you need to fly the day before. That's a 50,000 mile Anytime Award - but it beats using Princess air the same day - in my opinion.

 

You need a flight leaving Vancouver about 1 p.m. or later. Again - you may need to spend the night in Vancouver and then fly out the next morning. *Again checked award seats from Vancouver to LAX on Sat. Aug. 16. There is a 2:00 p.m. flight from Vancouver to Dallas, connecting to a flight that arrives in LAX at 11:15 p.m.

[buttah75]

but that AA LAX-ANC is only one way, right? (we have about 50K x 4 and there are four of us) Still, when I called yesterday they had nothing, so that's strange.

 

Also, are you sure Princess charge me Air Customization to fly in the day before, especially before air has even been posted? I thought AC was just about getting better flight times with fewer connections, etc.

[NancyIL]

but that AA LAX-ANC is only one way, right? (we have about 50K x 4 and there are four of us) Still, when I called yesterday they had nothing, so that's strange.

 

Also, are you sure Princess charge me Air Customization to fly in the day before, especially before air has even been posted? I thought AC was just about getting better flight times with fewer connections, etc.

 

I can see both the LAX-ANC award seats online (looking at it as a one-way) and the YVR-LAX as a one-way. They are 50,000 mile/pp awards, so maybe the person on the phone was just looking at MileSaver awards (25,000 miles/pp). In any event - you can book the LAX to ANC flights online as a one-way and put them on hold for 2 weeks. Then call AA to add the return flights from Vancouver. It's still 50,000 miles/pp. You have to call AA in any event to book open-jaw award travel.

 

You can call Princess to ask - but I believe leaving a day before the customary flight day requires paying a customization fee. IF you have the airline miles - I would use them. It's also possible that Alaska Airlines might have a more straightforward connection than flying to Dallas each way, but you have to call American to ask.

 

**Call American first and put the award seats on a 2-week hold. You can then see what Princess has while you're deciding.

[buttah75]

I did call American and asked about both American and Alaska. Although AA advantage shows 50K awards available online, when I asked about my necessary multi-city config w/ anytime miles, they didn't have it available. So doing all one-ways would be 100K miles per person, which we don't have.

 

Am I doing something wrong?

[azspring]

Ship leaves at 9:30pm. Still, I was surprised to hear that the Princess air is same day. Given that for four of us I can't find mileage seats or a decent fare, we probably will go with their air.

 

But is that do-able to get to Anchorage, then Whittier, realistically, from Los Angeles? What time would they be likely to have us leaving from LAX?

 

Also, on return we are going straight to Vancouver airport. What time flight is the earliest we can realistically make?

 

If you are flying with Princess Air arrangements and your plane is late - Princess will either hold the ship or get you to the next possible stop on their dime. Since Princess doesn't want to spend extra money, they'll probably put you on an earlier flight than necessary.

[NancyIL]

I did call American and asked about both American and Alaska. Although AA advantage shows 50K awards available online, when I asked about my necessary multi-city config w/ anytime miles, they didn't have it available. So doing all one-ways would be 100K miles per person, which we don't have.

 

Am I doing something wrong?

 

Did you call again just now? I would BOOK the LAX-ANC flight ONLINE now and put it on a 2-week hold. THEN call American right away and tell them you want to book the Vancouver to LAX return flight, and keep it on hold while you check with Princess and check other options. I've booked open-jaw award tickets to Alaska two years in a row on American, and it doesn't require double the one-way miles.

[buttah75]

Just got off the phone with them. The only way to use 50k mile award on our date (ship leaves August 9) is through Dallas, from LAX. About ten hours of travel time!

 

The direct flights are via a partnership with Alaska, and now two people have told me that's not available at 50K. He explained, but I didn't understand - something about partnership/double miles. Had we booked ages ago, we could've done the direct flight for 25k.

 

So I remain confused, and my choice is a very long journey for a spoiled family of four... or Princess air, which I can change to arriving the night before.

[NancyIL]

If you are flying with Princess Air arrangements and your plane is late - Princess will either hold the ship or get you to the next possible stop on their dime. Since Princess doesn't want to spend extra money, they'll probably put you on an earlier flight than necessary.

 

They don't hold the plane that long! The next possible stop is in Juneau - after missing College Fjord and Glacier Bay on the first 2 days of the cruise. DON'T do it! Our Princess cruise last year left 3 hours late, and we still had people joining the ship in Ketchikan.

[NancyIL]

Just got off the phone with them. The only way to use 50k mile award on our date (ship leaves August 9) is through Dallas, from LAX. About ten hours of travel time!

 

The direct flights are via a partnership with Alaska, and now two people have told me that's not available at 50K. He explained, but I didn't understand - something about partnership/double miles. Had we booked ages ago, we could've done the direct flight for 25k.

 

So I remain confused, and my choice is a very long journey for a spoiled family of four... or Princess air, which I can change to arriving the night before.

 

The 50,000 mile award I mentioned is a LONG day - with a change of planes in Dallas. You would want to fly the day before - on August 8th.

[buttah75]

I now see that when you said LAX-ANC, you meant the trip thru DFW! Sorry, not enough coffee. That seems like an insane amount of traveling to get from LAX to ANC for a family of four w/two kids.

 

We could do it, but I'm wondering if Princess' air will be better. It's $559 per person, and if we can later get an option that goes through Seattle or SF with customization, it's probably worth it to us. And we'll use our miles another time. What do you think?

[NancyIL]

I now see that when you said LAX-ANC, you meant the trip thru DFW! Sorry, not enough coffee. That seems like an insane amount of traveling to get from LAX to ANC for a family of four w/two kids.

 

We could do it, but I'm wondering if Princess' air will be better. It's $559 per person, and if we can later get an option that goes through Seattle or SF with customization, it's probably worth it to us. And we'll use our miles another time. What do you think?

 

I would put the AA flights on hold for 2 weeks while you mull this over!

[buttah75]

Did it! But it's now a 5-day hold (they changed it). Still, I should have Princess info by then, or I'll keep rolling it over. Thanks so much for your help!

[NancyIL]

Did it! But it's now a 5-day hold (they changed it). Still, I should have Princess info by then, or I'll keep rolling it over. Thanks so much for your help!

 

You're welcome. Only a 5-day hold...harumpf! That is a fairly recent change.

 

About using 50,000 miles/pp for a $559 fare: I normally wouldn't use that many miles when the fare is that good, but I also wouldn't take a chance on Princess air the same day the ship leaves. If you can get the same $559 fare the day before with only a $50/pp customization fee, I would probably do that - unless someone in your family flies regularly and can easily replace the 200,000 miles you would use. If it would cost substantially more to fly the day before - then I would probably use the miles.

[kenish]

buttah- Deja vu!! I live in Orange County and wanted to use AAdvantage miles to YVR, then home from ANC. AA required 50k miles with a routing through DFW. For an AA codeshare operated by Alaska (AS) the only option was my teenage son and me flying separately up to YVR, although we would both leave and arrive about the same time (one from LAX the other from SNA). It still was 50k miles each. This was back in Feb. for July travel.

 

Then I checked the AS website and saw plenty of 25k awards. Long story short, I booked "partner" awards through AA (you have to call the AAdvantage desk to book partner award travel and open-jaws). We are on Alaska flights from SNA and connecting through SEA both ways. It only required 25k AAdvantage miles each instead of 50k plus a $30 fee for booking by phone.

 

If all else fails, fares between LGB and SEA are very low right now, that may give you some options on AS.

[buttah75]

kenish, were you booking way ahead when you did this? I called Alaska and there were no 25K partner awards available. But we're 75 days from sailing already.

 

There's no way we're doing the DFW route - my husband looked at me like I was crazy (thank God, cuz I agree).

 

So we'll either find something better or stick with Princess, who so far have us on the perfect non-stop AS direct return from Vancouver to LAX (and a not-too-bad flight out, which I can try to change.).

 

Does anyone know when the last day to cancel Princess air is before sailing? I know it was after full payment day, but I can't remember exactly.

[kenish]

buttah- I booked Feb 19 for a July 4 sailing.

 

If you really need a low fare from Vancouver, check fares out of Bellingham or Seattle instead. They are quite a bit lower. Alaska (Horizon), Delta, and Allegiant fly out of BLI to SEA, SLC, and LAS respectively. From SEA, check Virgin America, Jet Blue, and Alaska back to the LA area airports. As you probably noticed, there are some really low fares into LAX, LGB, and SNA.

[NancyIL]

kenish, were you booking way ahead when you did this? I called Alaska and there were no 25K partner awards available. But we're 75 days from sailing already.

 

There's no way we're doing the DFW route - my husband looked at me like I was crazy (thank God, cuz I agree).

 

So we'll either find something better or stick with Princess, who so far have us on the perfect non-stop AS direct return from Vancouver to LAX (and a not-too-bad flight out, which I can try to change.).

 

Does anyone know when the last day to cancel Princess air is before sailing? I know it was after full payment day, but I can't remember exactly.

 

I was under the impression that you had to decide about cruise air by the time of final payment. Are you flying to Anchorage the day before?

 

Guess I'm crazy, because I'm using AA miles and flying by way of DFW...twice! I'm also cheap - which is why I'm using miles. :) The 2nd time is because I had to rebook the return flight from Anchorage - which had originally been non-stop from Anchorage to Chicago on Alaska Airlines.

[buttah75]

56 days before departure is the point where you can still cancel cruise air. If I can get them to put us on non-stop to Anchorage as well as home from Vancouver (which we already are. We were actually given our flights BEFORE final payment, which was yesterday... I just didn't realize it!), I'm sticking with cruise air. In part, because at this point, we're still thinking of flying in day-of (I know, I know, I know.... but we're already in California and money for two hotel rooms is money I do want to save for excursions!), if we get on that non-stop from LAX to ANC.

 

And Nancy, you're not crazy - you're probably much wiser, and we're the crazy ones! But different priorities for different folks, right?