Booking Airfare to Alaska- should I wait?

[VeronicaS1970]

We are booked on Ovation 8 night Alaska cruise next May, 9-17th.  Leaves out of Vancouver but returns to Seattle.  Doing one night pre cruise in Vancouver and one night post cruise in Seattle. Airfare is now available for purchase, question is should I wait or do it now? We are a party of 4 , flying in/out of Newark because I want direct flights.  The outbound leaves Newark at 6pm EST, in Vancouver at 9 pm local time. Return flights work best for us leaving Seattle 9 am PST and getting back to Newark 5:30EST.  I still have a 2.5 hour drive home, but since I am the only one who sleeps on the plane not an issue.

I guess my biggest concern is not getting those flights or prices going up, but I have never booked flights to anywhere other than Florida, so just not sure how to do this.  Any advice appreciated!

[Peter D]

If I were going to book flights from EWR to YVR and SEA to EWR.  I would try to book airline flights refundable if possible or I'd try to book with airlines that allow you to cancel without fee and funds go to a 'travel bank'.   The problem with travel bank is that you would have to use them on a future flight (probably on Air Canada).  Either way, you are able to take advantage of price drops.

Alternatively, if you do not mind driving, you could fly from EWR to SEA, rent a car, and drive (approximately 2.5 to 3 hours) to Vancouver.  I did this last year and it wasn't a bad drive at all.  The advantage with this is you are able fly 'roundtrip' only on domestic flights and if you end up doing the whole 'travel bank' thing, it easier to use.  The cost of the rental car needs to be figured into your budget, but it's an option. 

As for booking the flights now or not, it's really impossible to predict if flights will go up or down.  You might find though that not all airlines have posted their flights to these locations right now, so as more flights become available, the price will definitely react. According to Expedia, flights on May 8th at 6pm is Air Canada only.  So the other major carriers have not yet published flights.

Hope this helps.

[wordell1]

I would say its early but you can use Google Flights to track the prices on the routes you want.  You could also have your TA get you a price on Air2Sea as this is refundable - it is probably more than the refundable fares, but may be cheaper than the non refundable ones.

As a rule, I try to book flights about 6 month out from date of travel but I would also say that sometimes its good to lock in the flights for peace of mind, especially if there are few direct options.

[Cactus527]

Most travel sites (as well as personal experience) say about 3-4 months out to purchase airfare for domestic travel EXCEPT Alaska and Hawaii. For those, they suggest 6-7 months. That same length of time is suggested for international travel. As @Peter D said, many airlines have not even published their flight schedule for that time frame yet. I personally would wait.

[steverk]

I'd book through air2sea and hold off payment until final payment date. If airfare drop, you can reprice it