Summer is not the best time to get a bargain airfare from Anchorage. It's the peak of the tourist season, and most planes are full. But if you're planning for fall or winter travel, you can start making plans.
Even when there aren't great fares available from Anchorage, you can use a combination of miles and cash to get to one of several low-cost hubs. Most large hubs have some bargain flights to at least a couple of destinations. But the other part of the equation is how much it costs to get there from Anchorage.
Seattle is one of my favorite hubs, primarily because I've got great friends who live there. Any excuse I can get to stop in and visit, and I'm there. Plus, the fares are great. JetBlue has a $67 one-way deal from Anchorage to Seattle between Aug. 25 and Sept. 12. After JetBlue pulls out for the winter, Alaska Airlines offers a higher fare of $274 round trip. That's a great deal, and it's hardly worth it to cash in 20,000 miles for a ticket. But if you have more miles than money, that's an option. To get the 20,000-mile deal, you have to book your ticket at least three weeks in advance.
Right now, the best deal from Seattle is Norwegian's nonstop to London on a Boeing 787 Dreamliner. The new service starts on Sept. 17. If you want to go on the first flight, it's $300 one way (plus extra fees for seat assignments, checked baggage and a meal). But the rate drops to $200 one way on Oct. 8. The flight runs four days a week from Seattle to London's Gatwick Airport. The return flight is $250. Compare Norwegian's $450 round-trip price to Virgin Atlantic's price of $630 round trip from Seattle to London-Heathrow. It's also on a 787.
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Moving down the West Coast, there are two hubs in the Bay Area: San Francisco and Oakland. You can use 25,000 Alaska Airlines miles to get to either airport. If you want to buy a ticket, the best bargain is to fly to Sacramento on Delta for $281 round trip. That's better than $385 round-trip to San Francisco. But, then you have to get from Sacramento back to San Francisco.
From San Francisco, WOWAir has the best prices. About a month ago, they had tickets to Europe for $100 one way. That's not happening right now, but the prices still are pretty cheap. All of WOWAir's flights go from San Francisco to Reykjavik, Iceland. Tickets are available for as little as $170 each way. There are add-ons for everything: seat assignments, checked bags, carry-on bags over a certain size and meals. If you want to continue from Iceland to Europe, the tickets are $200 each way from San Francisco to Berlin, Paris, Frankfurt, Dublin, Brussels or Copenhagen. From San Francisco to Tel Aviv, the cost is as low as $480 round trip (traveling Sept. 23-Oct. 14). Again, you'll pay extra for a seat and a checked bag on your flight to Reykjavik, then again for your continuing flight to Tel Aviv.
Across the bay in Oakland, Norwegian Airlines set up shop at the less-crowded airport. Unlike WOWAir, Norwegian offers nonstop flights from Oakland to several destinations. So while you'll pay extra for your seat, your checked bag and your meal, it's just one charge. From Oakland to London, Norwegian offers seats for as little as $140 one way, starting Oct. 2. Coming back from London, the price is a bit more: $225 one way.
Next month, on Aug. 6, Norwegian has seats from Oakland to Barcelona for as little as $189 each way. Plan ahead to fly in March to Copenhagen nonstop from Oakland for $200 one way. From Oakland to Rome, you can fly nonstop on the new service which starts on May 1, 2018, for $270 one way.
Los Angeles is a big airport with a lot of flights. Last year I flew on Air New Zealand to Rarotonga in the Cook Islands. I thought that was pretty exotic, but there are a bunch of airlines parked at the gate that I'd never heard of. The deals, of course, change all the time. Today, Norwegian Air again came up with the best deals.
First, getting to Los Angeles is cheaper than getting to the Bay Area. The cost is about $321 round-trip on Alaska or Delta. If you want to use Alaska Air miles, you'll cash in 25,000 miles. But really, I think you should save your miles and buy a ticket, then bank the 4,788 miles!
My favorite deals from LAX are Norwegian's nonstop flight to Paris and the nonstop flight from LAX to Rome. If you want to fly quickly to Paris, the cost is about $265 one way in September. But if you wait until after Christmas, the price drops to $175 one way.
The new nonstop flights from LAX to Rome start on Nov. 11 and the price is $230 on the outbound, $190 on the flight back from Rome to LAX.
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I know Hawaii is expensive. Sooo expensive. But Honolulu is shaping up to be a nice hub for a couple of discount carriers. Everybody gets to do their own math working our the details of a trip. But the nonstop flight on Alaska Airlines to Honolulu can put you smack in the middle of some great deals across the Pacific!
From Anchorage to Honolulu, you'll shell out 35,000 miles for a ticket. Or, you can buy a ticket for $476 round-trip.
Air Asia started flying from Honolulu last month. The Malaysia-based airline did a great job when I last flew them in January. Now, you can fly from Honolulu nonstop to Osaka, Japan. This is a nine-hour flight — and they're charging $159 each way (available on Oct. 7 and on several dates in January). Again — everything is extra: bags, meals and assigned seats. But the $159 price tag is cheap enough that you might consider getting some extra legroom.
If you want a lie-flat bed, the cost is just $699 each way. That's less expensive than Japan Airlines' price of $957 one way. And that's in coach.
I think the better bargain is to take Air Asia all the way to Kuala Lumpur. You'll change plane sin Osaka, then fly on to Kuala Lumpur. The one-way price from Honolulu to Kuala Lumpur is available for as little as $199 each way (available on Oct. 7 and on many dates in January). The flat bed? Just $799 each way all the way from Honolulu to Kuala Lumpur.
To fly from Honolulu to Australia, Jetstar is the low-price leader. It's owned by Qantas and they fly nonstop with Boeing 787 Dreamliners. Looking at the prices for a Sept. 20 departure, you can pay $200 one way for Jetstar, $618 for Hawaiian or $802 on Qantas, The flight back to Honolulu from Sydney on Jetstar costs a little more: $250.
There are other hub cities with a bunch of low-cost flights, including New York, Chicago and Boston. But it takes a lot of time and a fair amount of money to get there. That's why I like the West Coast hubs. Keep in mind, though, that you can get from Anchorage to Boston for as little as $386 round-trip. I hear the fall colors are beautiful — and you can fly cheap from there to Europe!
Remember, all airfares are subject to change. I used several sources to check the airfares and dates, including: Google's ITA software and Google Flights, Kayak's airfare map and the websites for all the airlines mentioned.
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.