pbd456

Thanks for the tip. During April 23, the AS66 departs JNU at 6:30pm. so it wont work. right now, i am booking
FAI ANC (2 stops) JNU for 7.5 AS miles
then then JNU KTN SEA LAX for 15k AA miles (i have more AA miles than AS and it would be 12.5 AS miles)
with 5 hours at KTN (overnight t JNU that google says one can sleep at the airport)

PDXPremier

Honestly I wouldn't sleep in the JNU airport...there is a hotel literally across the parking lot (Extended Stay America)....it's not a Hilton so set your expectations accordingly but in April the prices should still be reasonable.

AKLifetimeFlyer

I have been to AKN a few times. If you have four hours, you'll definitely want to take a taxi to Naknek, about an hour roundtrip from the airport. There isn't much to King Salmon itself in terms of a proper town. Naknek has a museum, some old churches, a good restaurant (D&D Restaurant), etc. worth seeing. You can have the taxi take you all the way to the end of Beach Access Road for some epic views. Be sure to arrange this beforehand, as I don't remember there being anything in terms of cell reception in King Salmon / Naknek.

In the summer, AKN is a very busy airport with tons of people flying in and out to go to various fishing lodges, or to Katmai to view the bears.

pbd456

very good suggestion. but 1 hours taxi is going to cost money which is not something i am willing to pay.

pbd456

the hotel is costing 145, while it is not crazily expensive, i dont think i want to pay because my flight departs at 7am next morning. so it is more convenient just to be at the airport.

pbd456

AS used to have Alaska partner that had award like 5k miles. it is gone, right? I see that Ravn route (1 segment is pricing at 25k or 40k miles).
so the only deal left inside Alaska is AS metal, right?

jackal

Well, be aware that there really is no "town" of King Salmon. The closest thing to a "town" is a cluster of buildings next to the airport terminal with the National Park Service visitor center, a couple of restaurants, a fascinatingly overpriced grocery store, and a small office building.

If you're going to fly all the way to AKN for that, you'll be left disappointed.

Naknek still doesn't really have a "town" per se (really, rural Alaska is not set up that way), but the views of the river and the ocean do make it worth the trip.

Note that taxis in rural Alaska work a bit differently than metered taxis elsewhere. It's typically a flat fee per person, and you share a van with a bunch of other people. It's more like SuperShuttle than a taxi. My recollection from last summer is that the fare from King Salmon to Naknek is about $20 per person, so you can do a round-trip for $40, which is pretty reasonable. One of the taxi companies is here: https://www.facebook.com/people/Redl...0037580367305/

Alaskans who carry GCI cell phones will have reception. Voice works OK. Data is iffy (it's "3G," but the backhaul is terrible and insanely slow.) None of the rest of our party of 8 people had reception (and it was a mishmash of AT&T, Verizon, T-Mobile, and Google Fi).

pbd456

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thanks for the info. 40 USD round trip is an amount that I am willing to spend to do something cool since I am there using miles and I have budget only 1 night of accomodations in Fairbank (either hostel or using my Marriott free night certificate)

pbd456

Since I am ticketing the trip as
LAX XXX 15k AA milesXXX FAI 5k AS miles

I just pick AKN randomly because it seems like the town is near. Do you have any suggestions beside AKN.
The schedule would work for Bethel and Kodiak (I just need a destination that has an early flight flying in and an evening flight flying out to give me a few hours in XXX)

Any other suggestions?

Eastbay1K

How to put this most politely ... for someone who appears to be as budget conscious as you are, you may wish to take a good look at where you plan on going, and your odds of getting stuck. On what might seem the loveliest of days, you could arrive at one of the outposts and not be able to leave for a couple of days. Or you could depart your "bigger city airport" (such as ANC or FAI) and end up back there after an aborted flight because of unexpected deteriorating conditions. Or diverted somewhere else, land, and then return to your origin after a while.

Not my money, not my trip, but if you're going to the far reaches of the earth and have an opportunity to see something, don't have regrets later in your life. But back to my original issue - when traveling out of the more main AK cities, have contingency plans, and know that they don't come cheap. I first learned this 30-something years ago when attempting an overnight to OTZ, getting diverted to OME, spending 3 hours @ OME before we flew back to ANC, where I had to get a last minute hotel in June (yes, not low season), and lost my deposit @ OTZ, which in the long run was a great resolution, as had I made it, I'd have been stuck for a few days, as no one made it in or out for 3 days.

Eastbay1K

dup...

jackal

Out of those destinations, ADQ for sure. It's a real city (albeit a small one) you can wander around for a day and enjoy, and the topography is gorgeous. It has a rightfully well-deserved reputation as Alaska's Emerald Isle. I took a group of a dozen or so FlyerTalk members out there several years ago, and it remains a highlight among the collection of Alaska FlyerTalk dos. You'll enjoy it more if you can get out and wander some of the other parts of the island, but the town itself has plenty to offer and you'll enjoy your experience.

Bethel has a...how to put this politely...well-deserved reputation for being an armpit of the state. Like AKN, it doesn't really have a "town." It's a very-spread-out collection of ramshackle buildings (mostly houses with a sprinkle of businesses and services). There's nothing to see or do there. A friend and I went out there for a half day just to say we did, and we rented a car and spent an hour driving to the end of every street, grabbed a bite to eat, and then parked at the library for the rest of the day to do some work on the super slow wifi. The topography is flat and boring, and aside from peeking over at the Kuskowkim River, there's really nothing memorable about the landscape.

This is what you can expect your time in Bethel to look like:



Frankly, that's a scene that could be just about anywhere in rural Alaska. Here's Naknek:



And a video tour of Naknek:
Contrast that with Kodiak:



That said, you do need to listen to Eastbay1K carefully. Travel in remote Alaska off the road system is not for the faint of heart. The maritime climate of Alaska often leaves rural areas socked in with clouds, and the small airports do not have the ILS systems to allow landing in poor weather/visibility (many of them don't even have towers). And with air being the only feasible way in or out, if the flights can't get in, you're stuck there--no bus or taxi is going to get you out of a place that doesn't even connect to the rest of the world by road. It can take multiple days to get into a place and multiple days to leave, and it can get expensive to deal with that. (Have good travel insurance!) It's an adventure if you can make it work (and can afford it), but you cannot treat a visit to Sitka or Barrow or Dillingham like a visit to Seattle or Chicago or Birmingham.

pbd456

Thanks for the advice. I am looking to rebook the tickets to make it one ticket using only Alaska miles for the protection, and I will pay the tax+ fee of the award using a credit card that will give some insurance. i will also see if I can pad a day extra. Right now I am booked to leave LAX on April 19 and back to LAX on 24.
I will fly to Tokyo on AA on April 26 12:55am. if things do work out, I can cut some of the trip.

the later part of the trip FAI ANC JNU (on the milk run) is on April 23 is not a big concern regarding weather, same as JNC KTN SEA LAX on April 24 shouldnt have to worry too much about weather as well, right?

For the first half of the trip, if things dont work out, I can cut out the FAI and return to LAX and claim travel insurance for some lodging expenses. The tix could be rerouted if it is all booked using AS miles on one tix, I assume.

PDXPremier

Don't forget about OME....there are car rentals (expensive yes) and the flight schedule allows for you to arrive in the morning and fly back to ANC with a bonus stop in OTZ on the way in the evening. The last time I looked into doing a day trip to ADQ this summer there was only one flight a day which would require overnight lodging like the current BRW schedule which eliminated day trips sadly.

pbd456

I went to OTZ and OME in 2015 with my sister and her 1 year old. It was one week after Obama visit and the chatter was that they cleaned the street for Obama visit. The hotel was expensive (for me) 200+.

Did Alaska allow stopover on one way award tix within Alaska back then?

I did a date trip to BTW many years ago from east coast USA over the weekend for 25k delta miles. That was fun. Flyin BRW in the morning and leave in the evening.