A very inexpensive fare has been filed to Anchorage from both Boston and New York on United (and American has now matched). For my example routing below, it comes in at 2.82 cents-per-mile (CPM).
As always, act fast if you’re interested since this fare won’t be around long. And availability is tight! [Edited 11:00am PDT: Sheesh… that was fast… the fare is gone already (now around $380 all-in for the example below). Sorry folks!]
Here’s the nitty-gritty and an example itinerary.
Routing: Boston to Houston to Seattle to Anchorage r/t
Routing rules: BOS-WAS/HOU/EWR/DEN/CLE/CHI-SFO/DEN-ANC or BOS-WAS/SFO/LAX/HOU/EWR/DEN/CLE/CHI-SEA/PDX-ANC
Travel period: Now through 11/20/13
Dates I found available: 9/17; 9/19; 9/21 (at varying lengths of stay)
Minimum stay requirement: When departing Sun-Wed, no earlier than 3-days after departure from origin; Thu-Fri departures no earlier than the first Sat; Sat departures no earlier than the first Sun
Day of week restrictions: None
Fare basis: NE73FS, 7-day advance purchase
Fare: $277.61 roundtrip all-in
Premier Qualifying Miles earned: 9,838
Cents-per-mile (CPM): 2.82
Example itinerary:
United mileage run to Anchorage
The above itinerary was found using ITA’s Matrix Airfare Search, but can be booked on United directly or with greater ease using Hipmunk.
(Hat tip: The Flight Deal)
– Follow Darren Booth on Twitter, @FrequentlyFlyin, for more airline, hotel and travel industry news, reviews and opinions.
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I’ve been looking at that but weary of spending 4-6 hours on a 737. Is the equipment comfortable enough to fly on for basically 24hrs (most of these itineraries are 738’s and 739’s)? What are the upgrade chances for a newly minted challenge Platinum?
@Alex: Sadly, the fare is now gone. But… I’ve done much “worse” mileage runs in coach and survived just fine, but overall comfort is subjective based on the individual. Upgrades are hit-and-miss, as always, but I wouldn’t expect too many elites are on the SEA-ANC-SEA flights.
I booked one LGA-ANC trip, looking at the ANC flights, DEN-ANC F tonight was almost entirely upgrades, which seems to be the case usually. Upgrades are nice, but I’ve flown 37K miles in 5 days in economy plus, 12K in 3 days in economy plus will be no problem.