There's more than one way to skin a cat. And by golly, there's more than one way to sell an airline ticket.
As competition heats up this summer, the prices are dropping. If you haven't noticed, many destinations on the West Coast are selling for cheap:
Anchorage-Seattle: $177 round trip on JetBlue (from June 18), $197 round trip on Alaska or Delta (from June 24).
Anchorage-Portland: $197 round trip, nonstop on JetBlue (from June 18), $214 round trip on Delta and $237 round trip on Alaska (starting in late June).
Anchorage-Long Beach: $196 round trip on JetBlue (from June 18). This is a nonstop flight.
Anchorage-Los Angeles/LAX: $299 round trip on Delta (from June 30) or $359 round trip, nonstop on Alaska (from June 24)
As shown above, the best fares require some advance planning. But with more airlines battling for passengers, carriers are willing to cut prices closer to departure.
When I went to Seattle in April, I foolishly planned just 12 days in advance. The price for my stupidity? A $650 round-trip ticket. This was before JetBlue started flying the route. Today, I'm holding an Anchorage-Seattle ticket that I purchased seven days in advance. I had to cobble two airlines together, but the total was just $298 round trip.
Right now, a one-way ticket to Seattle on either Delta or Alaska is $148 with a one-week notice, $118 with a two-week notice or $98 with a three-week notice. With JetBlue, you can get an $88 one-way ticket with just a two-week notice.
Starting in July, JetBlue will offer a flight to Seattle leaving at 4 p.m. That's the first non-red-eye flight they've offered. Prior to that, all of those low prices required you to fly all night.
For international flights on Condor and Icelandair, the normal advance-purchase rates don't apply. From Anchorage to Frankfurt on Saturday, June 6, the fare is $469 one-way. The return on June 14 is a little more: $619. Using Delta on the same dates through the Lower 48 would cost more than $3,000 and take more than 23 hours in each direction.
From Anchorage to Reykjavik on Icelandair, you can get a one-way ticket on June 8 or June 11 for $347. Return on July 1 for $767 one-way.
Just because you can buy your ticket close to departure doesn't mean airlines are more forgiving on changes and refunds. If anything, those functions are becoming more expensive. Also, airlines are piling on the extras. Even Alaska Airlines now is selling their exit row and bulkhead seats for $15 within 24 hours of departure. When you add the cost of meals, the checked baggage, the inflight Wi-Fi and a couple of drinks, your total can go up by more than $50.
Another effective way for airlines to compete is with frequent-flier award tickets. Between Anchorage and either Seattle or Los Angeles, almost every day in June has at least one flight available for 12,500 miles each way, for a total of 25,000 miles with Alaska Air's Mileage Plan. But when the fares are this cheap, you're better off to purchase the tickets and accrue more miles. Pick a high-fare city like Washington, D.C. If you want to fly on Alaska, it will cost you 30,000 miles in each direction. But you can redeem just 12,500 miles in each direction and fly on Alaska's partner American Airlines through Dallas! On the return only the 30,000-mile option is available in June.
Keep in mind that you can get a 25,000-mile bonus with Alaska Airlines when you get one of their credit cards. And they don't care how many credit cards you have, either. Each one costs $79 per year — but you get the annual $99 coach-class companion pass with each card along with the bonus miles. Plus, you can accrue all of the miles from all of the credit cards on just one frequent-flier account. Last summer I used 25,000 Alaska Air miles for a ticket from Anchorage to Pensacola, Florida. If I had paid cash for it, the price would have been more than $900!
Delta is offering an American Express card which yields a 50,000-mile bonus if you spend at least $2,000 within three months. You'll also get a $50 statement credit for your first Delta purchase (within the first three months). But that mileage bump would be enough for two round-trip coach tickets from Anchorage to Los Angeles in June. The annual fee of $95 is waived for the first year.
United Airlines is offering a Chase Bank card with a 50,000-mile bonus when you spend at least $2,000 in the first three months. The cheapest mileage ticket I could find to Chicago on United was 35,000 miles. Still, that's a high-priced destination.
Remember, both Delta and United switched up the system for accruing miles in their respective programs. Instead of the actual miles flown, you receive a multiple of the dollars you spent. It's not as good of a program as Alaska's or American's, where you still accrue miles based on the distance you fly. Some of my "mileage hound" friends still prefer to get 50 percent of the miles flown credited to their Alaska Airlines accounts for their qualifying Delta flights, rather than the smaller SkyMiles credit.
The common denominator for the best deals is competition. The more airlines flying the route — and the more strident the battles between the airlines — the better the deal.
Scott McMurren is an Anchorage-based marketing consultant, serving clients in the transportation, hospitality, media and specialty-destination sectors, among others. Contact him by email at zoom907@me.com. You can follow him on Twitter (@alaskatravelGRM) and alaskatravelgram.com. For more information, visit alaskatravelgram.com/about.