World Traveller 73 
Trip Introduction: Skiing Alyeska, Alaska Railroad and Dog Sledding in Alaska USA via Alaska Airlines First Class
I had wanted to visit Alaska for downhill skiing for quite some time. While most people visit through a coastal cruise in the middle of the summer, my goal was to visit Alaska in the spring season to take in downhill skiing at Alyeska ski resort in addition to see some other activities. Since the tourist season pretty much shuts down outside of summertime, how would I put together a trip to capitalize on all Alaska has to offer in the winter? After some research, and trial and error, this is the plan that I came up with. Given our winter activities, it would end up being a really memorable trip that was different than others we had completed.
This post is one chapter on a winter trip to Alaska, United States. This trip was enhanced through Marriott Bonvoy Elite Status, Alaska Mileage Plan and Hertz Gold Plus Rewards. For parts of the trip, please see this index.
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✈️ Read more from this trip:
- Trip Introduction: Skiing Aleyska, Alaskan Railroad and Dog Sledding in Alaska
- Springhill Suites Bellingham, Washington, USA
- Alaska Airlines First Class: Bellingham – Seattle
- Alaska Airlines First Class: Seattle – Anchorage
- My Experience as a Hertz President’s Circle renter in Anchorage, Alaska, USA
- Aloft Anchorage, Alaska, USA
- A Cold War Secret: Visiting Whittier, Alaska
- The Alyeska Hotel, Girdwood, Alaska, USA
- Three Days at Alyeska Mountain Resort, USA
- Marriott Anchorage Downtown, Alaska, USA
- The Alaska Railroad Aurora Winter Train: Anchorage – Fairbanks
- Springhill Suites Fairbanks, Alaska, USA
- Dog Sledding in Fairbanks with Rod’s Alaskan Guide Service, North Pole, USA
- Visiting the North Pole, Alaska
- Alaska Airlines First Class: Fairbanks – Anchorage
- Alaska Airlines First Class: Anchorage – Seattle
- Alaska Airlines First Class: Seattle – Bellingham
Trip Introduction: Skiing Alyeska – Girdwood, Alaskan Railroad and Dog Sledding in Alaska, USA via Alaska Airlines First Class
Planning the Trip:
I have had a visit to Alaska on my “to do” list for quite some time. I’ve always been attracted to the idea of skiing at Alyeska Ski Resort in Girdwood, Alaska. Unfortunately once the pandemic occurred, and the international borders of the United States closed, that dream disappeared for about four years. After several years of waiting I decided it was finally time to put this dream into motion.
In addition to a visit to Alyeska ski resort, I also had my sights set on the Alaskan Railroad. The Alaskan Railroad has been running since 1930 and travels between Anchorage and Fairbanks. The eleven hour journey has wonderful scenery along the way and is a must to do if you visit the Alaskan state.
Lastly, we wanted to take in some dog sledding around Fairbanks. We ended up locating Rod’s Alaska Guide Service that would allow us a great end of season experience.
Visiting Alaska is usually best left for the summer. If you’re going to visit in winter, and you expect to have a happy wife, you may as well make your visit in the late spring or later.
Planning Flights:
Flights from Canada to Alaska
While we could have flown a number of airlines to get to Alaska, it made sense to use one of our remaining Alaska Airlines two for one companion fares that we had with now defunct Canadian Alaska Airlines MBNA MasterCard.
As an Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan MVP gold elite member, we had access to upgradeable fairs that allowed upgrade into first class at the time of purchase. These fares could be stocked with the two-for-one companion fares, which I have found to be a pretty good deal.
I ended up searching for upgrade “U” space throughout many days of the week. I would have the greatest success at finding space within 90 days of travel. The Alaska airlines route between Seattle and Anchorage seems to be one of its most popular routes. I generally found that the upgrade space existed on the first three flights of the day in the early morning and generally on the last two midnight flights of the day.
I was eventually able to lock in tickets from Bellingham to Seattle connecting up to Anchorage. Using an open jaw ticket then was able to book a return from Fairbanks to anchorage to Seattle to Bellingham. The fair ended up being approximately $200 cheaper to depart out of Bellingham international airport in Washington state, versus departing from Vancouver international Airport in our home in Canada. Using a two-for-one companion fare these tickets came to $1,041 USD in first class confirmed for the two of us.
The routing ended up looking like this at the time of travel.
BLI – SEA – ANC (paid)
FAI – ANC – SEA – BLI (paid)
Planning Hotels:
I had recently qualified for Marriott Bonvoy Lifetime Platinum status. With a double elite night credit promotion going on during our trip, we put almost all the hotels and stays in Mrs. WT73’s name in order to increase her Marriott Bonvoy Platinum re-qualification chances this year.
We had a 5 AM departure out of Bellingham international airport. This was a terrible hour to start a flight so we decided to spend the night in Bellingham Washington in advance. We ended up at the Springhill Suites Bellingham for US$125 for a very brief day to kick off this trip.
We needed one night on arrival at in Anchorage. With a number of Marriott Bonvoy choices, we ended up at the Aloft Anchorage hotel in its convenient mid town Anchorage location for one night on our arrival into Alaska.
For our time at the Alyeska Ski Resort, there is only one real hotel in town. We stayed for three nights at the futuristic bunker looking The Hotel Alyeska on a stay and ski package that included lift tickets. This was an independent hotel that was not part of any chain. Although it was sold through American Express Fine Hotels and Resorts the price premium with American Express outweighed any advantages of booking through this channel. As a result we ended up booking direct with the resort.
We also needed one night in Anchorage prior to our departure on the Alaskan Railroad Aurora Winter Train Anchorage – Fairbanks. I ended up using a free night award to redeem against the Anchorage Marriott Downtown hotel. The Anchorage Marriott hotel was a full-service hotel in downtown Anchorage that was conveniently located a few blocks away from the Alaskan Railroad train station.
While I had initially booked us into the Sheraton Anchorage hotel, I had reviewed many reports that indicated that this was among the worst Sheratons in the system. I later switched to the Marriott property, and redeemed points. Ultimately, I was really happy with our stay at the Marriott Anchorage hotel.
In Fairbanks it became a choice between the Springhill Suites Fairbanks and the Hyatt Place Fairbanks. We ended up at the Springhill Suites Fairbanks, which was a convenient base of operations for our two night stay there. The Springhill Suites Fairbanks rooms were large and oversized, making for a comfortable stay.
Our points and miles redemption summary:
With paid tickets, we ended up earning a number of miles on this trip. In addition to the miles earned, we topped up on the harder to accumulate Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan miles.
In summary, we earned and redeemed:
- Earned: 7,693 Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan Miles (875 + 2534 + 875+ 2534 + 875) on Alaska Airlines Upgradable First Class (100% EQM) as an Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan MVP
- Redeemed: One Free Night Award Courtesy of American Express Credit Card at the Marriott Anchorage Hotel.
Overall, I was pretty happy with this combination of earning versus redemption. The set up also allowed us to save some Marriott Bonvoy points for the more aspirational Marriott properties.
World Traveller 73 
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