Any suggestions on how to find good air fares to Anchorage from East Coast? (car rental, spring break)

[GotHereQuickAsICould]

My husband and son want to fly up from Raleigh, NC in June to take care of our cabin. Neighbors said a bear broke in and busted up a bunch of stuff.

Just checked air fares and was astounded. Cost seems to have nearly doubled from last year. What am I missing here?

Not a huge rush and often fares are best 6 - 8 weeks out, but thought I should get working on this.

I would appreciate any suggestions on airlines or timing or ??? to get decent fares.

Thanks in advance.

[stiffnecked]

Expedia.com, Travelocity.com, etc. etc. There are no secrets to obtaining cheap airfares. Then try United and American Airlines.

[heathen]

From what I've seen, airfares have been going up and down a lot more than usual over the last year. Just check a few airfare sites every day for a couple weeks if you can. Jump on a good deal when you see it.

[Jan Alaska]

When checking air fare sites clear your cache before checking again, once they have your IP you will never see the same fare twice. Also Alaska Air have recently put their prices up on many routes as they are trying to squeeze a bit more moohlah out of everyone before Jet Blue and Virgin Atlantic start their routes in May/June.

[GotHereQuickAsICould]

Good tip on clearing my IP. I'll keep checking all the flights. Good news on JetBlue and Virgin airlines. For some reason, JetBlue doesn't have a Raleigh-Anchorage connection. Wonder what's up with that?

Anyway, I'll keep looking and jump on the first flights that seem reasonable.

Thanks a million for all your help.

[roadfamily6now]

Kayak.com

[paintballa7786]

I use cheaptickets.com. My wife is flying from Anchorage to Newport News Virginia next month for 750ish.

[R_Cowgirl]

Kayak.com has some good comparisons where you can see how the fares go up and down depending on what day you fly. Remember that Wednesday and Thursday are great flight dates for deals on airlines, hotels and cars. Then again, some business locations will give you a little extra deal if you stay over a weekend. So always look at a variety of date combinations.

You might consider booking separate Round Trip (RT) flights where you connect in a major city.

For example a flight where you go RT to hub A and then catch a RT from hub A to your destination in Alaska. I found a $463 RT from Phoenix to ANC on Delta. I was three weeks out. One option for you given your location is to book to Minneapolis (MSP) - then fly from there direct to ANC (Anchorage). There seem to be several direct flights out of MSP to ANC. You have a little more control when you combine your own RT flights. The downside is that luggage won't be transferred if your flight is with different airlines unless you find ones that code share. The upside is you could fly somewhere fun and spend a day or two there, then go the rest of the way to AK the next day.

Fares generally change around 11pm to midnight, so keep checking. If you find what looks like a good fare, grab it. it could change quickly. Part of the fare problem is the fuel price. It's unstable right now so airlines are hedging their bets.

Also - don't forget to read the fine print. Some flights look cheap and then you discover there's an additional fee for everything. Some airlines are charging for carryons! So READ the conditions to get a realistic picture of your actual flight costs. Shipping ahead is a viable alternative to exorbitant baggage charges if you have a place that will accept and hold your package.

If you are going to rent a car with your airfare, always check both the bundled rate and separate rates. It's a crapshoot. I log about 90-100 hotel nights a year - and that many car rental days plus 100,000 +/- air miles as well. Some times of year are easier in certain destinations. Right now you've got Spring Break. So airfares are just wonky as are hotel rates. As soon as SB passes, try again. You have until about June 10 before fares to places like Hawaii and Alaska go up again through August 15. After August 15 it starts to be sane again until Thanksgiving. Then all bets are off till the first of the year.

How's that?
I have re-read this (it's very late...) and I realize this makes perfect sense to me because I fly all the time - but maybe not to you - or anyone else! If this is confusing, DM me and I'll 'splain myself better when it's daylight and I've had some caffeine!

[Dakster]

Makes perfect sense to me, R-Cowgirl...


I check multiple sites and multiple dates. Eventually you will be able to figure out about the best price you could hope to get. The internet cache clear is a good idea or in my case, I open up a private browsing session that doesn't allow anything to be saved. You can do this in IE, Firefox, and Chrome. I also use my iphone and ipad...

I check what the industry calls the hacker tickets too, which R-Cowgirl expertly explained. I also go to the airlines direct as sometimes their own booking site has better prices.

FWIW, I have noticed the insanity in airline fees as well. I am planning my summer trip for August and can't get over the ticket $ shock. I can always drive - but I plan on continuing to check airfares too see if they get reasonable again.

[akck]

Originally Posted by R_Cowgirl

You might consider booking separate Round Trip (RT) flights where you connect in a major city.

+1

I was looking into what it cost to fly into Seattle and then fly back to Alaska from the Midwest (helping a son to drive to graduate school). As I recall, the total was $1,000+ for the open leg flight. When I did a round trip to Seattle and a separate leg from the Midwest to Seattle, the cost dropped down to around $800.