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Alaska Archives - ATX Fun - Austin-San Antonio Fun, Travel & Educational Opportunities

Category: Alaska

Sub-$300 Round-Trip Flights to Hawaii Still Available

Hawaii Kohala Ditch Adventures
Hawaii Kohala Ditch Adventures

Aloha! There are still some great deals for flights to the different islands of Hawai’i. The Points Guy has a blog post about some $293 round-trip airfares from Albuquerque and Denver, both of which you can reach inexpensively on Southwest.

Airlines offering these fares include Alaska, American, Hawaiian and United. If you can wait a year, Southwest should be in the mix also.

Search Google Flights for your particular date pair(s) to see the low prices available now. Aloha.

Austin to San Jose, San Francisco, Portland, Seattle $177 r/t. To San Diego for Just $157 r/t.

You Can Travel to Scenic Locations
You Can Travel to Scenic Locations

This sale price comes and goes. Round-trip from Austin to the four northern cities is $177, one way is $89. Round-trip to San Diego is $157. You may have better luck finding a date pair at these airfares by specifying a 7-day (or longer) stay.

Dates in January, February and March. Virgin America / Alaska Airlines.

This EscapeATX post gives the details to San Jose, San Francisco, Portland and Seattle. This EscapeATX post gives details on the Austin-San Diego fare.

Austin to China Less Than $600 Round-Trip

From God Save the Points blog, a tip on finding super-inexpensive flights from various US cities to China for as little as $374 round-trip from some US cities.

Sweet Deal: $374+ U.S. Cities To Beijing, China- Round Trip With Bag…

Use Google Flights to find what’s available from Austin on the Winter/Spring dates that work for you. I found lots of date pairs in the range of $583 to $601 round-trip on Hainan / Alaska airlines.

Handy Chart Shows Miles Needed from New York to Anywhere

Back in April Dan’s Deals posted a chart showing the number of frequent-flyer miles needed from travel from New York City to almost everywhere. Six airlines are included in the chart, as well as Coach and Business classes.

A Comparison Of How Many Miles Are Needed For Award Flights On 116 OneWorld Direct Routes From NYC

If you have frequent flyer miles, you should refer to this chart when planning a trip. If you have frequent flyer miles from several airlines, you really should refer to this chart.

American Airlines Frequent Flyer Card
American Airlines Frequent Flyer Card

Change / Cancellation Fees for Airline Award Ticket Bookings

This is an excellent summary of airline charges for changes and cancellations of award tickets.

Change And Cancellation Fees For Airline Award Tickets

The policies of twelve airlines are examined. The best, with no charge for changes / cancellations, are Korean Air and Southwest.

AAdvantage Gold Card
AAdvantage Gold Card

List of Airline Fees and Policies for Last-Minute Award Bookings

MileValue has compiled a helpful chart of the (often substantial) fees that airlines charge for last-minute bookings using frequent flyer miles and points.

http://www.milevalue.com/booking-last-minute-awards-spreadsheet-of-fees-and-policies/

Some airlines, like Air Canada, Alaska Air, British Air and KLM, do not charge a fee.

Others, like American and United, charge $75. Still others, like Delta, JetBlue and Southwest, charge a hidden fee.

The blog post links to a method of avoiding the $75 fee on United.

Photo by Leo Reynolds / Flickr

Status Match / Challenge Summary for Numerous Airlines and Hotel Chains

If you have status on one airline or hotel chain, you may be able to have another airline or hotel chain match it. So, for example, if you are Gold on American Airlines and are a nobody on AirBerlin, you can request a status match on AB before your next flight and receive the privileges that your new (temporary) AB status grants.

This post from Dan’s Deals is a very useful summary.

Roundup Of Airline And Hotel Elite Status Match And Challenge Offers

The airlines covered in the blog post are AirBerlin, Alaska, American, Delta, JetBlue, Turkish, United and Virgin America.

The hotel chains covered are Hilton, Hyatt and Starwood.

If you have any airline/hotel status and plan to fly or stay in any of those named brands, you are in luck!

Airlines Fighting Hard for Permission to Fly to Cuba

This summer the U.S. government will award permission for 30 flights per day from the United States to Cuba…20 to Havana, 10 to smaller cities. Airlines applying for these need to tell why they are a good choice, and why the other airlines are not.

So, the airlines have come out swinging.

JetBlue says it is the “leading domestic airline at JFK,” a claim which Delta described as “demonstrably false.”

Southwest applied for 9 of the 20 daily flights to Havana, saying it can offer lower fares than its competitors…even lower than Spirit. American Airlines described some of Southwest’s application as “absurd.”

American also slammed Alaska Airlines application.

It looks like both fares and seat availability to Cuba will be low.