After we visited Hawaii in 2017, I wrote a post about things we did to make our trip more affordable. I thought about doing something similar after our 2019 trip to Alaska, but I never did. A couple months ago my mom asked me for some travel information for a friend who's going to Alaska this year, so I decided it was well past time to write this post. As with our trip to Hawaii, our goal was to have a great time at a reasonable price. The things were did were very easy, and they made a big difference in our budget. We had a great time, and nothing we did made us feel at all deprived.
- Like we did for Hawaii, we got an airline credit card to earn enough miles for our round trip tickets to Alaska. This time it was the United Airline card. I don't recall the spend requirement, but it was $3000 in 3 months or less. The annual fee was waived the first year. If you are interested in the card, try to wait until they offer at least 65,000 miles, which they do occasionally. In addition to the miles, it comes with the following perks:
- First bag checked is free
- It will reimburse you if you get TSA pre-check or Global Entry. If you get this card, definitely at least do Pre-Check. It makes airport security much faster and easier. Global Entry includes Pre-Check, but appointments can be hard to get.
- Two airline club passes are included. This provided invaluable to us when the second leg of our outbound trip was delayed when the entire airport was closed due to a thunderstorm. In addition to lots of space to spread out and free good and drinks, the lounge had its own dedicated in person customer service staff. We talked to someone on a later flight who was on hold with United for something like 7 hours. I stood in line for a while in the lounge customer service line, but nothing like that.
- We are national park people. While we didn't visit all 8 of Alaska's, we did see 3. Denali & Kenai Fjords are easily reached, but Glacier Bay is only accessible by boat or plane. I was out on the boat option, and airlines tickets were expensive. Again, credit card to rescue. I got the Alaska Airlines card. I think the spend requirement was around $1000 in 3 months, and the annual fee was not waived. However, it was well worth it. I got enough miles for my mom and I to both fly to Glacier Bay. We paid only $11.20 each (mandatory fees) instead of $392.59 each. We also each got a checked bag for free.
- When I was researching our trip, I read about the Alaska TourSaver book. It is on sale right now for $69.95 (regular price $99.95). We paid the regular price, and it was completely worth it. We did a buy one, get one free fare on the Alaska railroad from Anchorage to Denali (We took the bus back. I saw this recommended as obviously what you see is different on a train versus traveling by bus, and I would do the same thing again.). At the time, they also offered a buy one, get one Major Marine Kenai Fjords cruise. My mom and I both agree this was our favorite thing we did in Alaska.
As with Hawaii, you can spend buckets of money going to Alaska. The year I went, I was talking to someone else who was planning to go the same summer. She said she and her husband thought it was cost them about $10k. I about fell over. We were in Alaska for 2 weeks, and we spent not even anywhere close to that. We did several not inexpensive items and I even bought some jewelry, and it still was only about double what we spend we do a week at the beach in AL or FL, and we do those on the cheap too. Some planning and research can make your dream trip more in reach than you may realize.
