Have you made your New Year's resolutions? Let me guess: lay off the sweets, save more and call your mother often.
For travelers, the resolution is easy: "travel more." Still, some of us get lost in the weeds of where to go, when to visit, what to see, who to take and how to find the time to cram it all in. Maybe it's best to start with "why."
Given the broad array of low fares, I started with "why not." My own personal escapades start next week with a flight to London. There's a New Year's sale going on with Norwegian, the low-cost carrier that operates nonstop flights from both Oakland and Los Angeles/LAX. The airline flies new Boeing 787 "Dreamliners." The prices are slightly lower from Oakland: from $145 one-way nonstop (on January 19). But with higher fares to get to the Bay Area from Anchorage, you may find it's more convenient to fly nonstop on Alaska to LAX for as little as $257 round-trip, then fly Norwegian to London for as little as $179. The return flight to LAX starts around $260. Keep in mind you will need to pay more to check a bag, to reserve a seat and to order an in-flight meal.
If you have Alaska Air miles, you can fly Anchorage-London for as few as 40,000 miles, plus about $200 in taxes. You'll travel to Seattle or Los Angeles on Alaska Air, then over to London on American or British. Pay special attention to the taxes, as sometimes there is a whopping surcharge flying in or out of London's Heathrow Airport.
London is not the only city on sale, though. Norwegian flies nonstop from LAX to Paris, Oslo, Stockholm and Copenhagen. The lowest fares start at between $149 and $203 each way. Again — everything is extra: checked bags, advance seat reservations and meals.
Speaking of London, there's a great deal that keeps popping up on Kayak. If you go to the "explore" section and look at the map of fares from Anchorage, you'll see "$663 round-trip" for London. Click on that and you'll find select dates on Virgin America. But I've been unable to get a flexible-date search or find it on other dates. Today, it's popping up for travel March 25-30 when booked on Priceline. Last week there were several dates in January. Heck — I can't even find it just going to Priceline. But the fare is there — and if those dates work for you, that's a great price on Virgin Atlantic!
Wow Air, another low-cost carrier based in Iceland, offers lowball prices to Europe, all transiting through Reykjavik. Nonstop from LAX to Iceland starts at $170 each way. Again — you pay extra for everything.
Last week I purchased a one-way Seattle-Anchorage ticket on Alaska Airlines for $102. Folks, I used to dream about fares like this — and they are available now, thanks to Alaska's ongoing battle with Delta. Once you get to Seattle there are nice fares to Africa, including Seattle-Johannesburg for $871 round-trip on Delta. There were a couple of dates in late January for as little as $777 round-trip using a combination of KLM and Delta to Johannesburg.
Seattle also is a good gateway to Asia. Sometimes when you're searching for fares on Google or with the individual airlines, the search will automatically combine the low Anchorage-Seattle fares with the rates across the Pacific. But sometimes that doesn't work and you have to price the trips separately. Right now, fares from Seattle to Mainland China are very inexpensive — some for less than $500 round-trip (from Seattle). One of my favorite flights to Asia (actually, the only one I've ever taken) is the Delta nonstop from Seattle to Hong Kong. It's available from $470 round-trip, starting Jan. 30.
Some of the best prices to destinations throughout Asia are on Chinese airlines such as Xiamen, Hainan, China Eastern and China Southern. Some of the connections feature long layovers. For example, from Seattle to Bangkok on Feb. 15, the price is $539 round-trip on Xiamen Air (http://www.xiamenair.com/en-us/). But the itinerary is brutal: there's a flight from Seattle to Shezhen, which is right next to Hong Kong. From there, it's a 70-minute flight to Xiamen, where there is a 17-hour layover. In this case, the airline will provide accommodations and transfers. Sometimes it's worth it to save a few bucks, but sometimes it's not.
If you're planning an overseas trip right now, there are many destinations where the dollar goes a long way. I'm planning a stop in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. I'm using points from my Chase credit card to stay at a Hyatt property. But if I was paying cash, I'd opt for the Shangri-La. It's a five-star hotel for as little as $78 per night.
Kuala Lumpur also is a hub for low-cost airline Air Asia. This is not my favorite seat configuration, with just 28 inches between rows. That's brutal for a tall traveler like me (6'5"). From Kuala Lumpur to Bali, Air Asia has fares as low as $36 each way. At $41, the "Premium Flex" fee includes more legroom, a checked bag, lounge access in Kuala Lumpur and an in-flight meal.
Both the euro and the pound are sinking against the U.S. dollar, which makes travel in Europe an excellent deal right now. From London to Barcelona, airfare on Norwegian starts at about $40 each way. Again, everything is extra.
If you don't have your passport, that should be at the top of your New Year's resolution list. Sometimes, though, that's not good enough. You have to also get a visa. If you plan to travel to India, Pakistan, Brazil, Russia or China, you'll need to plan in advance for a visa.
In the meantime, there still are great airfares from Anchorage and Fairbanks all over the Lower 48 (in addition to Anchorage-Seattle and Anchorage-Los Angeles). Here are some of my favorites:
-Anchorage-Las Vegas $287 round-trip on Alaska Air (nonstop) for travel starting Jan. 15
-Anchorage-Boston $400 round-trip on Alaska Air for travel starting Jan. 11
-Anchorage-Orlando, FL $436 round-trip on Delta, for travel starting Jan. 13
-Anchorage-Minneapolis $358 round-trip on Alaska, for travel starting Jan. 11. There's a five-hour layover in Seattle, though. Fly United through Denver for the same price with a one-hour layover. Or, fly nonstop on Delta for $405 round-trip, starting Jan. 18.
-Fairbanks-Seattle $214 round-trip on Alaska Air (nonstop) for travel starting Jan. 11
-Fairbanks-Los Angeles/LAX $255 round-trip on Delta for travel starting Jan. 14
-Fairbanks-Las Vegas $301 round-trip on Delta for travel starting Jan. 14.
-Fairbanks-Portland $152 round-trip on Delta for travel starting Aug. 5. There are a few dates in July, but more options are available in August.
-Fairbanks-Boston $408 round-trip on Delta for travel starting Jan. 20
All rates are subject to change without notice. For these fare searches, I consulted Google's ITA Matrix for airline prices (matrix.itasoftware.com), Kayak.com, Priceline.com and the websites for Alaska Airlines, Delta, Norwegian, Air Asia, Wow Air and Xiamen Air.