OrangeCrow

Hello!

I'm not sure if it's the right section of the forum for this question as it doesn't include LCC, so please suggest me other section too. Anyway, here is my situation and question:

I will be finishing my cycling trip this December in Alaska and I guess it's slowly time to get tickets for back home to Europe. My final destination in Alaska is either Fairbanks or Anchorage (probably Fairbanks) and my home town is Berlin (Germany). Berlin is not a hub, so the last leg doesn't really matters. What matters is how to get as cheap as possible from Alaska to Europe. Any European hub would do. There are couple of quirks though:
1. we have 2 bicycles to transport
2. we have a pet dog
3. we have oversized extra luggage

So, all there quirks add more costs to the ticket price and I'm looking for the cheapest possible option with there quirks included. Any tips which hub cities to try? As it's not important to end up in Berlin, the possibilities are huge (Alaska - mainalnd USA - Europe or Alaska - Europe) and I'm lost at where to even start. Any suggestions?

guv1976

This is tricky because of the dog and the extra and oversized baggage. The additional charges can be considerable, and can vary from carrier to carrier, so comparing total cost will require some research on your part. I would look into the cost of Business Class tickets, either purchased for cash or with miles purchased directly from airlines like AA, AS, or UA -- especially when they are running a sale on miles. The more-generous baggage allowance on Business Class tickets might offset the higher base ticket cost.

If departing from the "Lower 48" is considerably cheaper than departing from Alaska, look into taking the Alaska State Ferries from an Alaskan port city to Washington State.

Icelandair flies SEA to Germany via KEF; Wow Air flies SFO to SXF via KEF. But carefully check the baggage and pet fees on those carriers.

How did you get from Europe to North America at the start of your trip?

Good luck!

OrangeCrow

Thanks for the tips! Our trip started in Argentina, so we got there Berlin - Roma - Buenos Aires - Ushuaia and then came to North America by bike, so finding our way back home is completely new challenge. Fyling from Europe to South America was pretty easy, because we had fix entrance port - Buenos Aires - and there aren't that many hubs that have flights there, so the research was quite straight forwards, unlike trying to check all the possibilities now.

I checked the ferry, it would cost around 1700usd for 2 people, bicycles and dog, so sadly not really a valid option.

Anything via KEF won't worke because of the strick quarantine for dogs, sadly.

I looked into AirBerlin from JFK or ORD to Berlin, they both have direct flights to Berlin so that would save money on dog/bikes/stuff as you usually pay per flight and not per itinary. But then getting from Fairbanks to JFK/ORD is an open end.
Another possibility was SEA to FRA with Condor, but that still leaves open end to mainland USA... So that's what I checked on European airlines so far and my knowledge about AA/UA/Delta is still limited...

Thanks for reply and ideas!

guv1976

Note that AA miles are valid not only on AA flights, but also on AB and AS flights too. And you can combine multiple carriers on a single award, subject to award-booking rules. But finding two award seats on the flights you need is another matter.

Searching for award flights on AA, AB, and AS on aa.com is easy. No account or log-in is required. But watch out for any award itineraries that utilize BA for the TATL segment: those will have very high carrier surcharges.

If you would consider buying miles directly from AA and redeeming for award tickets, you should join the AAdvantage FFP immediately if you are not already a member. AA's bonus offers on purchasing miles -- which occur frequently -- are only available to those who have been members for at least 30 days. Enrollment is free at aa.com.

miamiflyer8

I believe the above is one of the better options.

guv1976

Actually, it looks like buying Alaska MVP miles directly from Alaska Airlines might be the best deal. I'm seeing availability on December 6 from FAI to FRA for two passengers in Economy Class for just 40K miles + $38 USD total. One would need to join Alaska's MVP program to see how much 40K miles would cost, as AS is currently running a bonus offer that varies from member to member.

Note, though, that airlines that permit in-cabin pets can limit the number of pets per flight, so it is necessary to call each carrier on a proposed award itinerary, and make sure that pet space is still available before booking the award.

GUWonder

You biked from Argentina to North America? The reverse of this kind of thing:

http://www.davestravelpages.com/cycl...erican-highway

That must be quite the trip report. ^^

Buying lifemiles (lifemiles.com) to use for getting award tickets may help work for cost control between Alaska and Europe.

guv1976

At Condor's website, I'm seeing sub-$600 one-way fares for December travel from FAI to FRA. (Condor codeshares with AS on the FAI-SEA flight. I presume that one would have to pay the excess-baggage charges just once on such a ticket, when checking in for the FAI-SEA flight.)

Romelle

Try

https://www.crazyguyonabike.com

if you'd like to read about some more amazing bike trips.

miamiflyer8

Yes the baggage charges have to only be paid once.

minertrip

you could buy a ticket with standard luggage from ANC to BER for 518 EUR where the flight route goes through Seattle, NYC, and Moscow..

For extra luggage should check with booking site or airlines

Sean321

I visited only Alaska one time with my Mom. I will say guys, This State is a home of great attractions. There are many places where we can enjoy a lot. The Mendenhall Glacier, Kenai Fjords National Park and Alaska Zoo are my favorite places there. I would like to explore these places again and again.

salimon

\well, yes yo have to pay luggage charges as it is oversized.
Anyway, I have never been to there in Alaska yet in my life. cause i never got any chance to go there. So have good time and keep sharing like this time. I am sure that it will be a good for me personally.

alaskantraveler

You could consider using an AS companion fare to get to a budget carrier destination. Then buy a second ticket to Europe. Use Google flights or its matrix to search out the best deals.

OrangeCrow

Thanks for the tips! I haven't joined AAdvantage yet, but checked available award flights. They offer Iceland Air, KLM and BA. Iceland is out of the question because of quarantine for dogs, BA goes via London with 350USD surcharges (as you mentioned) and requires a lot of paperwork for the dog and I haven't checked KLM yet. I'm also seeing AirBerlin, haven't checked it too closely yet. Are there any other options via AA with miles that I'm missing?

Thanks again! I joined AS miles program and got 40% bonus for purchased miles. I have only 3 days left to use that. I flown with my dog quite a lot, so I'm familiar with all the 'pick itinerary - call airline and check for pet availability - book ticket - call airline again and book pet' ordeal. Once I needed to book a flight with my dog from Guatemala in Spanish, so I hope that doing same thing in US would be a bit easier. I haven't tried booking flight with miles yet, but I assume it's similiar, no?
Anyway, if I would buy the miles with 40% bonus offer, I would need 40K miles and that would cost around 850USD plus the dog 400usd (100usd per each AS segment plus 200usd for TATL segment), plus the bikes 450usd (300usd for TATL segment and 150usd for FAI-PDX segment), so a total of 1700USD. I'm still confused about the bikes part, because we will have a bike each plus a standart 23kg bag plus carry on, and AS accept bikes as regular check in bag instead of extra bike. A single bike weights 16kg, so that would lead to 23kg check in plus 16kg oversized luggage fee, which is not clear. I'm still pretty confused about this.

I checked this option and it seems to be the cheapest one that I could find without miles yet:
Buing tickets directly from Condor would allow me to get cheaper flights from FAI and directly to TXL, which is the final destination. Anyway, when booking FAI to FRA, the flight would cost 1240usd plus bikes 320usd (150usd one segment and 170usd other segment) plus dog 375usd that sums to 1935usd.

Anyway, it looks like buying AS miles would be cheaper option. That still leaves FRA-TXL leg open...


Yup, I biked from Argentina to North America. I was insipred by an American family that did the reversed trip with their 9-year-old twins (www.familyonbikes.org ). I thought if a kid can do it, so can I. Turns out it's easier when you are a kid, because all you need to care is how to wake up and cycle. As a grown up you soon see that there are much more involved, like logistics and safety and booking flights and stuff...

Thanks for the tip about lifemiles, I will look into them!


Thanks! I haven't tried purchasing and redeeming miles yet, so it's still quite confusing and scary.