Alaska Is Not Next Door

Remember when we said Alaska was at the end of the earth? It is faaaaar. Blog followers want to know, “how do you get to Alaska” and “how long does it take”?

Many years ago when I lived in Alaska, to get to the lower 48 (what Alaskan's call the contiguous U.S.) you had to connect through Seattle, Denver, Salt Lake City, or seasonally via Chicago or Minneapolis. Now you can get to Anchorage from all airline hubs outside of the East Coast.


For this trip just the flight time alone, excluding time spent driving to the airport, going through security, waiting to board the aircraft, and relaxing in lounges along the way, is scheduled for 8 hours and 38 minutes. 


Airlines love to pad schedules to account for airport congestion and route inefficiencies. The airlines have scheduled Rochester to Chicago at 2 hours 3 minutes flight time, with Chicago to Anchorage clocking in at a whopping 6 hours 35 minutes. In reality these flights will be shorter, but not by much more than 30 minutes. 

All told, it will be around 10.5 hours of travel over 2 days and we will still be in the United States! This leaves lots of time to check out the inflight entertainment, read your Kindle, or listen to a podcast... or eight. When not trying to run for a flight yourself, airports are also great places to people watch.


Pro Tip: at 24 hours prior to departure, check-in to your flight online and find out what entertainment options (streaming content, in-seat Audio, Video, On Demand or AVOD, wifi) are available. That way you will always be prepared!


Keep your questions coming and I will post answers as we travel the state.