Good Time To Book Anchorage-LA Flights - From $127 One Way

I know there is a supposed logic behind airline ticket prices.  It's clearly not related to cost.

Fortunately, my mom lived in LA and prices between Anchorage and LA have been on the silly cheap side for much of the last four years.  Due, they say, to competition from Jet Blue.  Whatever the reason, flights in October and November this year (and maybe other times, I didn't look) are $127 one way, with a stop in Seattle.  Of course, there are also more expensive flights, but there are plenty at this low price right now.

In contrast, the lowest prices between Anchorage and Seattle are $163.  If you were to fly Anchorage to Seattle at their lowest fare at the end of October ($163) and then get a flight from Seattle to LA at the lowest fare ($59), it would cost a total of $222, not quite double the Anchorage-LA lowest fare.

There have been times when it was a better deal for us to fly to LA, get a round trip ticket to Seattle, then fly home from LA.    At these current prices, it would be cheaper, slightly, to just book a stop in Seattle in one direction and the cheap LA fare in the other direction.

The $127 price to LA is the same price flying Alaska Airlines in October to Bethel, Alaska.  To LA is about five hours, to Bethel is listed as one hour 22 minutes.  (There's also a $123 fare on Raven airlines, but it takes a little longer.)

The fact that it can cost more to fly to the layover city than the final destination city on airlines is not news.  People used to book to the distant city and skip the last leg of the flight.  Online discussions suggest that probably isn't a good idea because the airline can charge you the actual fare and bar you from flying with them until you pay.

I guess the point of this post is to alert Alaskans who have a reason to go to LA, that there are some good fares.  And LA folks who want to come to Alaska as well.  October isn't a bad time to come to Anchorage.  Fall colors should be good and we haven't had much October snow for a number of years now.


[If you get here from another blog's blogroll, there were two posts that never made it you may want to check out below;
Man Goes
Who Invented Inflatable Tube Guys?]