Oakland to Seattle $111 "all in" Through May 2009

HOT FARE!  

The cost to fly between the San Francisco Bay Area and Seattle has really come down in the past couple weeks. Previously, fares of $69 each way were considered a steal.  Recently though, low fares of just $49 each way were available out of SFO on Virgin America and United, but were limited to travel through December. Today, Southwest and Alaska Airlines released some of the lowest fares we've seen in quite a while:

Fly Oakland to Seattle non-stop for just $45 each way + tax on Southwest Airlines.  This fare is available seven days a week through the end of their schedule - May 8, 2009.  Alaska Airlines is available for $4 more round-trip  

Alaska Airlines Ends San Francisco to Vancouver Flights

On August 24th, Alaska Airlines will discontinue the San Francisco to Vancouver route. The airline operates two daily Boeing 737 flights between the city pair. Passengers will need to connect through the airlines' Portland or Seattle hub in order to continue into Vancouver.

Alaska Airlines Introduces Low Fare Calendar

Finding a low fare at the Alaska Airlines website just got a little easier. In addition to searching for flights by schedule and price on a particular day, you can now broadly search over an entire month for the cheapest available flights. Click here for more information on the new functionality.

Alaska Airlines Changes Miles Requirement for Free Travel

On Thursday, Alaska Airlines announced changes to its Mileage Plan account. Unlike recent changes to other airline frequent flyer programs, generally considered unfavorable to consumers, Alaska's announcement carries less of a sting.

For example, a domestic round-trip Coach Saver award ticket will now require 25,000 miles, compared to 20,000 points previously needed; this change aligns with most other airlines. But, the change begins November 1st, effectively allowing flyer's to redeem at the lower points level for the next few months.

Also, Alaska will offer Intra-State award travel for only 15,000 miles. Previously only available in Alaska, passengers flying wholly within AK, CA, ID, MT, OR, or WA receive a 10,000 mile reduction in the cost of award resumptions.

Other changes, including a $25 fee for booking award travel with an Alaska partner, will be instituted, but again, not until later this Fall. Click here to read the entire Alaska Airlines announcement.

Regular travelers to Seattle will appreciate Alaska Airlines latest promotion: Earn double MileagePlan miles for flights to/from San Francisco and Seattle for the rest of the year. This is a qualifying promotion whereby you need to fly this route twice prior to being eligible for this promotion. Details here. This offer is likely in response to competitor Virgin America, who announced service into Seattle will begin in March.

Most delayed flights in America: SFO makes the list!

The US Department of Transportation released its monthly on-time statistics report this week, and September 07' wasn't so bad. While Nationwide statistics showed overall improvement for on-time performance compared to August 2007 and the September 2006, there were 5 flight routes that reported being late more than 85% of the time. One of those "top 5" is a flight that departs San Francisco. DOT considers a plane late when it arrives at its destination 15 minutes or more after the scheduled time.

Most Frequently Delayed Flights

Comair flight 5042 from Philadelphia to New York JFK – late 90.91 percent of the time!
Atlantic Southeast Airlines flight 4822 from Atlanta to Myrtle Beach, SC – late 89.66 percent of the time
Atlantic Southeast Airlines flight 4377 from Lafayette, LA to Atlanta – late 87.50 percent of the time
Atlantic Southeast Airlines flight 4423 from Atlanta to Lafayette, LA – late 87.50 percent of the time
Alaska Airlines flight 688 from San Francisco to Los Angeles – late 86.36 percent of the time
(Alaska Airlines has since dropped this evening flight from its schedule)