It's an annual event: the air fare sales that accompany Alaska's big Permanent Fund Dividend payout. Travelers routinely have their calendars ready -- all set to pounce-and-save when the airfare bargains start to roll.
As usual, some deals are better than others. Travelers in Anchorage have been spoiled all summer with super-bargains to Los Angeles. and Denver. With peak-season prices to Southern California for $295 roundtrip all in, the PFD "sale" price to L.A. of $596 seems rather silly. My guess, however, is Alaska will reduce its fare, since Delta is offering a wintertime fare of $402 roundtrip all-in.
The real value of the PFD airfare sale rests with Alaska's remote jetports, including Cordova, Nome, Bethel, Barrow and so forth. With the exception of Prudhoe Bay, the PFD sale fares extend to all of Alaska's jet destinations, from Ketchikan to Kodiak to Kotzebue and all the places in-between.
For example, the "regular" sale fare between Barrow and San Francisco is $587 each way, not including taxes. The PFD fare is $377 each way!
From Juneau to Chicago, the "everyday low price" is $308 each way plus tax. The PFD fare? $267, plus the tax.
Even if you have two or three weeks to plan, you cannot fly from Kodiak to Seattle for less than $472 each way, plus tax. But with the PFD sale, the fare drops to $297 each way, plus tax.
So throughout rural Alaska, college kids, business owners and vacationers are picking dates right now to lock in their travel through Aug. 11, 2012.
Prices to a few destinations from Anchorage did go down. Anchorage to Seattle and Portland dipped below $200 ($199 to be exact). But, when you add the tax back in, the total is right around $434 roundtrip. That's not quite as wicked as the normal fare of $497 roundtrip to Seattle. Yecch.
And Alaska Air is pushing Hawaii in a big way. Not too big, though. Even without the PFD sale, fall travel to the Islands is available for as little as $394 roundtrip (Anchorage-Honolulu). But that goes up in mid-October to $474 roundtrip. The Anchorage-Maui flight isn't even featured in the PFD sale. Plus, Alaska Airlines is blacking out travel from Anchorage to Hawaii on the following dates: Oct. 5-Nov. 8, Nov. 16-30, Dec. 13, 2011-Jan. 7, 2012 and Feb. 20-Apr. 24, 2012. Aloha, indeed.
Thankfully, Delta is offering a $496 fare between Anchorage and Honolulu all winter long. Fly from Anchorage to Seattle on Alaska Airlines, then catch Delta's nonstop to Honolulu from Seattle. Accordingly, in the next few days I expect Delta to drop that fare, or Alaska to match it.
Speaking of blackouts, the "no fly" dates between Alaska and the Lower 48 are a little less onerous than those to Hawaii. Still, it excludes much of November, December and March. Travel with the PFD fares is available only on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays. No travel is permitted Nov. 16-30, 2011, Dec. 13, 2011-Jan. 7, 2012 or Mar. 6-24, 2012. All tickets must be purchased by Oct. 17, 2011.
For Anchorage travelers, I like the rates to all those little airports in Washington, Idaho and Oregon. This is a nice treat for parents and college kids at Washington State University, University of Oregon, Southern Oregon and in Idaho. The rate is the same to all of the cities: $229 each way, plus tax. It comes out to $508 roundtrip, all in. But that's a good price to Walla Walla, Lewiston, Medford, Pasco or Spokane.
And for travelers from Anchorage to Montana, the PFD option is at least less than usual. It's not uncommon to see rates in the $700-$800 range into Billings and Great Falls, with a 21-day advance purchase required. With the PFD fares, it's $556 roundtrip all-in between Anchorage and Great Falls, Kalispell, Bozeman, Billings or Helena. That's not "cheap" by any means. But it is "less expensive," I suppose.
Alaska saved some of its best sale fares for in-state travel. Between Anchorage and Fairbanks, the rate is just $89 plus tax, each way. The cost is $99 each way between Anchorage and Kodiak, Cordova or Yakutat (surf's up!), plus tax. I bought one of the tickets to Juneau -- just $129 each way, plus tax. Other destinations in Southeast Alaska -- Wrangell, Petersburg, Sitka and Ketchikan -- are $159 each way. That's also the price-point between Anchorage and either Nome or Kotzebue.
To summarize: if you live near a remote Alaska jetport, drop what you're doing and start planning your travel for the year. Anchorage travelers have the luxury of picking and choosing their air fare deals. And the PFD sale is better than some, worse than others.
Online resources
Alaska Airlines has a special page devoted to its PFD sale.
Check out Google's new flight search page. It's very fast, has plenty of helpful graphs and tables. I like it. It doesn't catch all the deals -- but it's a good start.
Era Alaska is matching Alaska's in-state deals to Bethel, Cordova, Fairbanks, Kotzebue and Kodiak. The airline is working on a PFD sale of its own to feature more cities. Stay tuned.
Scott McMurren is an Anchorage-based travel marketing consultant who has lived in Alaska for three decades, spending much of that time traveling the far-flung corners of the state. Visit his website at www.alaskatravelgram.com.