Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Alaska Recommend an Airline

First of all, I didn't know that Ak. Air went further east than Newark. Ok, if so, grab it at the closest airport that you can, even if you need to take a hop.
Gun cases? I purchased my rifle case in the mid-90's from Cabela's. It's a 2 rifle model made out of heavy duty aluminum and has always performed. As to a lock, it doesn't have to be TSA approved. I wouldn't trust one of their "approved " locks on one of my gun cases. I use a combination lock that's heavy duty. You'll check in with your luggage & go thru all the necessary paperwork then take the rifle case over to TSA. You'll show the opened case (maybe opened) to them & they will check it out. You will then close the case & lock it & give it to them to put on the plane. At least that's the procedure we went thru here in Fairtown. No problem. I'd just advise using a heavy duty combination lock. Alaska Air has seen it all & is very friendly to sportsmen/women.
Bear in Fairbanks

I am trying not to have more then one stop if I can help it. If it was up to me there would be no stops!!

Bear In Fairbanks: The first search I did of flights didn't even show Alaska Air coming to Bradley or Logan so I thought Newark would be a must. Once I went to Alaska Airs website though I got a better look at available flights.

It looks like the flights out of Hartford on AK Air all have two+ stops. But Logan does 1 stop in seatle. I can live with that!

Alaska has a non stop to Seattle from Reagan out of DC, I will be on that one tomorrow, so that might be an option.

For shipping meat I use soft sided cooler like Polarbear brand and hard freeze my meat and pack it to 50lbs no ice. I stick the entire cooler in the freezer to help get it all cold and pack it full with wadded up newspaper. I have found that even paying over weight fees on Alaska is cheaper than shipping, so I just make sure to keep my bags within size limits and under 100lbs, that is 50 bucks and arrives with me. Another item that is handy is a small luggage scale, I use this one, worth every penny. Pays for it self by keeping bags under the limit and preventing the dreaded repack at the ticket counter. Great also for loading on the air taxis.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0052JL9Z4/ref=oh_details_o04_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

We have the same flight only going in the opposite direction. The flights tend to be a little long but it's nice not having long layovers.

Sorry about the above double post. It was good scotch.

As an AkAir ramper, I hate hunting season. I've recorded all your names...

Something else- if you are traveling with a backpack do one of the following:

Buy a backpack sack-cover, or enclose it in a heavy duty plastic bag (available for the asking, at least in Kotzebue), or securely tape every single strap and buckle tightly to the pack - another great use for duct tape! Leave no loose ends to get caught in the baggage conveyors or belt loaders. The first two options are the best, as TSA will likely physically snoop thru everything you have. If they just electronically screen it, the duct-tape thing will work.

Getting caught in moving parts is a bad thing for a pack, often resulting in bent/broken frames, ripped stitching, broken (or cut) straps, etc. The airline will likely buy you a new one, which is OK if you are leaving the field. Not so much going out...

I'd reco Singapore Airlines or British Airways, now that's flying the way it was supposed to be.

word of caution: neither are very good at gettin you in good bear areas

Avoid United! I've been forced several times to use them and never had a good flight. My 5' tall wife complained about the leg room. I couldn't breathe deep enough to complain. Alaska Airlines is least bad and Delta is just below them, none are 'good'.

I'm heading to alaska in a week and a half, sounds like I might be bringing back some of my brother-in-law's guns, or maybe one of the ones he is building me so I will try to remember to post back here how it went if we do indeed bring back firearms.

i believe we are going United, I have heard great things about jet blue which you can pick up on the east coast catch it to Seattle or California then transferred to an alaska air for the last leg. Would have actually been about the same cost but a lot longer travel time due to lay overs from the east coast

Thanks for the tip! I have a Base Camp duffle made by the North Face that I have been planning on using for my checked luggage. Now that I read your comments about the loose staps and stuff on packs I'm going to have to double check it and make sure I can remove the straps off of it before handing it over.

don't have to remove them, (well shoulder straps should come off) just carry a role of duct tape in your carry on.

couple of wraps around the bag to cinch down loose straps with the tape and floppy straps go away


that Red Green, he knows his chit

I truly hope your United flight is great. Personally never had a good flight with them and I've had too many flights with them. The worst was over 12 hours in flight time and the attendants seemed to go out of their way to annoy everyone. I'd taken my own snacks and drinks so they were only tangential to my experiences. I did have bruises for a week after the comfort of their seats and leg room. Did I mention I don't like United?

Out of Hartford? As in Connecticut? Never heard of Ak. Air going to Hartford either.
I honestly think your best bet is to get a hop to Newark. Then, it's gonna be one stop on your way to either Anch. or Fairbanks. That stopover will be SeaTac.
It's pointless to go further west or southwest to another airport (such as D.C.) then take Screw-U airlines into Alaska.
Whenever we travel outside the state, we play the Ak. Airlines "game". We go to Newark, Tucson, Eugene, Ore. (Horizon), Miami, etc. all on Ak.Air. They even fly to Hawaii out of Anch. Then again, we use a hotshot travel agent too & she really knows the ropes. I refuse to try & book airline flights any more.
Good luck with what ever you decide.
Bear in Fairbanks

Odd, I fly United often and the bad legs are most always the regional carrier's fault. Checking guns in Boise, Idaho, Rapid City, SD, Wichta, KS, has never been an issue other than the airline personal wanting to know about the hunting trip. They see LOTS of guns, flying with one shouldn't be an issue if you follow the rules. All my international gun totting trips have also been without firearm issues - there was the one time I didn't have a permit to import my ammo but that was easily resolved.

I always fly nothing but US Air , but not sure if they service the area you are flying to .

So far I found an AK Air flight out of Boston with 1 stop in seatle on the way to AK and a nonstop on the return flight.

I need to mess around with my departure daye some more and see if I can get a nonstop from Boston to Ak. I am trying to plan my trip from sept 5th-19th. I do have some wiggle room either coming or going but not too much since it is being planned around my buddy getting vacation time from the coast guard.

Outa Boston? Take it & don't look back. Hard for me to believe there's a non-stop Ak. Air. flight, Boston to Ak. Maybe. They've expanded their routes quite a bit over the years.
Out of Fairbanks, it's usually (not always) the "red eye" @ 1:30A.M. This is so you can catch connections out of SeaTac.
Bear in Fairbanks

IMHO, you should forget Untied (not a typo). They were recently rated as worst US air carrier in customer service. Their employees carry an entitlement attitude around, and their prices are far from cheap. I like Alaska Airlines for the trip you mentioned. If traveling internationally, its Lufthansa, no question. Take it from someone who spent the last 4 years racking up over 300,000 air miles.

Alaska Air
kenmore Air
Temsco Helicopters

I think you are right. Gotta go thru Seattle, Boston to AK, me thinks. Not gonna research it tho.

Today we were informed we (Alaska Airlines) just received our 6th consecutive JD Powell award for best main-stream airline. We are still third behind Jet Blue and (someone else) in the low-cost airline category however, but we came up 39 points from last year.... Management aims to clear the table....

All 12,000+ AS employees are receiving 4 PST (positive space travel) - each PST good for a free one-way trip anywhere AS goes, if available - there are limits to times/flights and quantity - first listed, first served. For me that means the wife and I are going RT ANC to MCO (Orlando) in October for the kid's wedding in Jamaica free/confirmed, rather than standby space available. AS treats it's employees pretty well!

Jet Blue is gonna cost us a bundle into Montego Bay, tho.

I gotta talk to Brad Tildon (CEO) about this...

The "bad news" is that the SEA-MCO flight arrives 5 minutes before the Jet Blue flight leaves for Montego.. I'm gonna hate that 24 hours in Orlando, considering the weather in mid-October in Kotzebue...

I'm taking suggestions on what to do for a morning/early afternoon in Orlando.

Besides sleep in. We leave Kotz about 7:30 pm, arrive Orlando about 5:30 pm with 5 time-zone changes. And no, I'm not going to Disneyland. I'm guessing an Everglades swamp tour is out of the question, and that's about the only thing in Florida that interests me.

Not all of Alaska's flights to Boston go directly to Seattle, we've gone to Minneapolis a few times then on to Beantown. I think it all depends on what time your flying. Flights coming back from Beantown don't always go through Seattle either, we've had flights stop in Detroit, then Minneapolis then on to Anchorage. Our flight this summer will go through Seattle but it's just a stop and we don't change planes.

I have never seen a direct flight on Alaska Airlines to the east coast or vice versa.