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West Coast Ski Season Flights from DC

West Coast Ski Season Flights from DC

Old Oct 2, 2014, 12:11 pm
  #1  
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West Coast Ski Season Flights from DC

Hello all, first time poster but long time lurker. I'm looking at flights from DC to some ski areas out west (JAC, EGE, ASE, etc.) this winter and fares are uniformly expensive, typically over $500. Are these typical ski season fares? Also, when do ski season fare sales typically get posted? Last season I remember a decent number of sub $300 fares to JAC via IAD/DCA. My preference is sticking with AA/US.

Thanks in advance for any help.

-dc2000
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Old Oct 2, 2014, 2:42 pm
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Do you need specific dates? I would avoid Christmas/New Years, MLK Day and President's Day weekends.

Also, do you have to go to CO/WY? You may also want to check other destinations such as Lake Tahoe (via RNO or SMF), Montana, SEA, YVR, or YYC.

Edit: Also don't forget New Mexico.

Last edited by Lost; Oct 2, 2014 at 9:15 pm
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Old Oct 3, 2014, 12:46 pm
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This is certainly the right forum for this question, but you may wish to contact a moderator to change the thread title. I don't know of many folks out here who consider the Colorado Rockies to be "West Coast." If you're looking for Rockies ski destinations, a more specific thread title may draw better answers.
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Old Oct 4, 2014, 6:52 pm
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Why not fly to DEN and take one of the many shuttles that go to just about all of the ski areas? It's usually only about a 2 or 2 1/2 hour ride and that's only a little more than what a connecting flight would add to your trip. Fares to DEN are much less than what you mention and that shuttles are much less than the fare differences.
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Old Oct 6, 2014, 11:36 am
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You will pay for the convienience of flying into the smaller and closer airports you posted.

Look at the fares into DEN, SLC, RNO, SEA, PDX, BOI, among other airports to see where the cheapest flight/car prices are.

SLC is really convienients to ski areas. Many of these have airport shuttles you could use.

With Denver there are buses that will take you to the central ski towns.

fares are going to be higher over holiday weekends.

cheapest time you probably can get would be in January to early february but not MLK Day weekend.
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Old Oct 6, 2014, 6:41 pm
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SLC's four ski resorts (plus the three in Park City) can be reached by public transit from the airport. I don't know of any western ski resorts more easily reached from an airport than that.

Delta flies nonstop from DCA twice a day, plus a couple more daily nonstop from BWI. Southwest also flies nonstop from BWI to SLC.
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Old Oct 7, 2014, 12:57 pm
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May want to look at HDN also. In looking for flights DEN-East Coast available for miles around Xmas, several itineraries have come back with a connection through HDN to get back to Denver.
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Old Nov 17, 2014, 2:14 pm
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I believe that United now flies from IAD-HDN (Steamboat) on Saturdays? Maybe new for this season. Also, the Sheraton is perfectly located in Steamboat so there's always that.

That being said, I would take a hard look at flying to SLC and skiing either Park City (PCMR, Canyons - great for the Hyatt Escala Lodge, or DV) or either Solitude/Brighton or Snowbird/Alta (Snowbird is hard!).

I have not taken public transportation to any of the Utah locations from the airport and think that with luggage and what not a shared shuttle would be easy.

Flying to Denver and then shuttling via van to some resorts can mean a 3-4 hour drive (depending on where).

Seriously, take a look at Utah. We've done many trips. In fact, I wrote a TR about it here
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Old Nov 19, 2014, 7:08 am
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Just to be picky, Colorado and Utah are not considered "West Coast" to those of us who are actually on the west coast. Just another "East Coast" bias that lumps everything west of Pennsylvania and Maryland as The West.
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Old Dec 1, 2014, 12:03 pm
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Originally Posted by dc2000
Hello all, first time poster but long time lurker. I'm looking at flights from DC to some ski areas out west (JAC, EGE, ASE, etc.) this winter and fares are uniformly expensive, typically over $500. Are these typical ski season fares? Also, when do ski season fare sales typically get posted? Last season I remember a decent number of sub $300 fares to JAC via IAD/DCA. My preference is sticking with AA/US.

Thanks in advance for any help.

-dc2000
BTW, I would say "yes" those are typical fares.
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Old Dec 3, 2014, 4:03 pm
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Many people consider Utah and Colorado to be skiing "Out West", not "West Coast". Perhaps the OP just misspoke. In any event, it's better than the ice here in the East.

Originally Posted by JerryFF
Just to be picky, Colorado and Utah are not considered "West Coast" to those of us who are actually on the west coast. Just another "East Coast" bias that lumps everything west of Pennsylvania and Maryland as The West.
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Old Dec 31, 2014, 2:31 pm
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Salt Lake is the way to go.
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