Anchorage trip in December/January (Fairbanks, Barrow: living, vs, airplane)

[Floyd_Davidson]

Originally Posted by gc001

Well I planed to fly from Seattle to Anchorage!

There is plane from Seattle to Barrow???

Two or three a day in the summer (with stops at one or all of Anchorage, Fairbanks, and Deadhorse). In the winter they run a different configuration (more cargo space and fewer seats), so none of the planes actually go from Seattle to Barrow.

Regardless, don't take too seriously the comments made about various places to go. Some of these are just people trying to patch up their bruised egos...

You didn't bring up Barrow, and nothing you've said indicates it would be of any particular interest to you. Perhaps it would if you had more information, perhaps not. But while the end of December is a really great time to visit Barrow for cultural reasons, it is not a time to see beautiful scenery. There is only about 1-1/2 hour of dim twilight each day, and otherwise it's pitch black dark. (If fabulous Christmas light displays are your idea of scenery, it's a good time of the year because we don't have to wait until night to enjoy them!) The temperatures will be below 0F, and it is almost guaranteed to be cloudy and come up with a trace of snow every day at that time of the year. Hence seeing Aurora is possible but very unlikely. As for "typical food from Alaska", Barrow offers whale, caribou, walrus, seal, pizza, and Kung Pao Chicken as well as pretty good hamburgers ($15 each).

That said, one of the best times to visit Barrow is during the break between Christmas and New Years simply because the entire week is taken up with a huge community festival. Arctic Games every day from Noon until Midnight. Eskimo dances and fireworks for New Years too. Christmas is also a time when whale meat is distributed.

You mentioned "I want to feel the wild Alaska", and I can't tell what that means to you. If being 500 miles from the nearest stop light, where snowmachines and 4-wheel ATVs drive down the roads, in a place where more people eat subsistence food than store bought, where the culture and the entire way of life is almost nothing at all like where you live, then Barrow might be a suitable atmosphere. It certainly is if the knowledge that walking a mile from town would very likely result in your demise! It certainly isn't if you have to be hidden in the trees to be feel like it is wild.

[Moose Whisperer]

Originally Posted by gc001

I have no favorite destination. To give you more details, I plan to spend New-Year in Alaska (from December 29 to January 02), but I don't want to stay in Anchorage. I want to feel the wild Alaska, have the pleasure to see gorgeous scenery, enjoy typical food from Alsaka, and if I'm lucky, enjoy the Northern Lights. If I can combine all these things, I'll be the most happy person.

Maybe with this description you can advise something else, another town to go?

Thank you very much

Originally Posted by Barkingowl

Go to Barrow....

gc001 - Barkley's post was meant as a joke (albeit a rather sick one), designed to provoke the rather wordy, rambling post witnessed above. Visiting Barrow in the middle of winter does not fit the "quick couple of days get out of Anchorage" that you seem to be describing. For example, you wouldn't "have the pleasure to see gorgeous scenery" since it will be dark and Barrow is on a flat, Arctic plain. And how would your schedule be impacted if you got stranded 600 miles out of Anchorage for several days in a whiteout? If you were coming up here with more time, and specific intent of visiting a remote villiage, that would be one thing. But from what you seem to be describing, your best bet is still probably a quick one or two day trip south of Anchorage, or even north to Fairbanks if you want to enhance the chances of viewing the Northern Lights.

[Floyd_Davidson]

Originally Posted by Moose Whisperer

And how would your schedule be impacted if you got stranded 600 miles out of Anchorage for several days in a whiteout?

If that actually is a big concern, you should realize that he is significantly less likely to be stuck in Barrow, unable to get an airplane out, than getting stuck at virtually any highway location more than ~50 miles from Anchorage.

[Moose Whisperer]

Originally Posted by Floyd_Davidson

If that actually is a big concern, you should realize that he is significantly less likely to be stuck in Barrow, unable to get an airplane out, than getting stuck at virtually any highway location more than ~50 miles from Anchorage.

And your statistics/facts/evidence to support this assumption are...what exactly?

[Floyd_Davidson]

Originally Posted by Moose Whisperer

And your statistics/facts/evidence to support this assumption are...what exactly?

You do realize that Alaska Airlines no longer flys the Mud Hens, don't you?

We miss more planes between Barrow and Anchorage due to problems at the Anchorage end than due to any whiteouts in Barrow!

[warptman]

Originally Posted by Floyd_Davidson

You do realize that Alaska Airlines no longer flys the Mud Hens, don't you?

We miss more planes between Barrow and Anchorage due to problems at the Anchorage end than due to any whiteouts in Barrow!

That happens with the Bethel flights, too. "Mechanical" actually means they have no freight or mail coming here and the flight is half full.

[Moose Whisperer]

Originally Posted by Floyd_Davidson

You do realize that Alaska Airlines no longer flys the Mud Hens, don't you?

We miss more planes between Barrow and Anchorage due to problems at the Anchorage end than due to any whiteouts in Barrow!

Couldn't answer the question...gee, what a surprise...

[Moose Whisperer]

Originally Posted by warptman

That happens with the Bethel flights, too. "Mechanical" actually means they have no freight or mail coming here and the flight is half full.

Yea, with ERA, "Mechanical problem" is often code for "One of our pilots called in sick".

[Floyd_Davidson]

Originally Posted by Moose Whisperer

Couldn't answer the question...gee, what a surprise...

I'm sorry that you didn't understand the answer, but I guess that is no surprise either.

Alaska Airlines, between the new navaids installed here and in the new airplanes they fly, simply doesn't miss flights into Barrow due to whiteouts. Nobody gets stuck in Barrow due to whiteout conditions, because (here's the statistic you asked for and didn't understand, make note of it) they don't miss flights due to whiteouts in Barrow (for about 2 years now, since they stopped flying the Mud Hens).

[Floyd_Davidson]

Originally Posted by warptman

That happens with the Bethel flights, too. "Mechanical" actually means they have no freight or mail coming here and the flight is half full.

They get paid for the mail run regardless, the rest is just gravy. So they aren't skipping a flight for those reasons.

But the deal with the "mechanical" is that they don't tell you the problem was with a plane going to Seattle or Fairbanks, and to get an airplane for that run they swapped the broken one with the one scheduled for Bethel. The other run makes more money than going to Bethel, so they don't want to miss it.

Hence any "mechanical" with a plane anywhere in the Alaska Airlines system is probably going to mean a Bethel flight gets canceled (I'm not sure who is next at the bottom of the priority list, but Barrow doesn't seem to be it, as we don't miss many flights. That might be due to most if not all of our flights connecting to Anchorage via Deadhorse and/or Fairbanks.)

And the Bethel run... well everyone who had a ticket is still going to be there when they do make a flight, so AA loses only the mail contract money when they miss the Bethel flight.