Flight from Kotz to Anch. seating availability

[BruceB]

In mid September, how full is the flight from Kotz to anchorage usually? I'm asking so I know if it is feasable to book the flight for a few days later than we want to realy return so if we are weather delayed we won't have a problem.
Any info here will be deeply appreciated.
Bruce

[martentrapper]

Where's Mike Strahan when you need him???????????
Busy time for Alaska Air. Any travel on a day other than what your res is for will be difficult. Your idea is sound tho. It would be better to book a couple days later and hope to get a standby seat if you end up wanting to leave early.
Frontier Flying Service has flights from Fbks to Kotz. You don't have to go thru security to board their plane and the flight often has empty seats. You can travel Frontier from Anch to Fbks also.

[akfishinguy]

Kotz to Anch

We had first hand experience with this problem last month. We ended up getting stuck in the field three extra days due to weather between us and Kotz. When we got back to town (Saturday afternoon), got our meat taken care of and gear stashed we headed to the airport to see when we could get out. Next flight out that we could get on was Tuesday! Didn't help that we had flown up on flyer mile tickets. We really didn't want to spend another three days in Kotz so we looked into buying a ticket. Earliest we could have gotten out was Monday afternoon. Really wasn't worth spending an extra $300/person just to leave half a day earlier (already $50 to change our reservation). We had a friend up there to stay with so it really wasn't a big deal...just a pain to get home a week late.

[winkhink]

Dito on the flights, left Kotz to Anchorage and there were many looking for standby seats, some offering money to take seats. We talked to a guy looking for a seat and he actually got one on that day, I don't know how but one came open. It is a gamble, hotels aren't cheap but if your transporter will let you, you might be able to pitch a tent for those days.

Side note: just saw on Pristine message boards that deboning isn't being allowed out of Kotz so you won't have to rush and do that to ship your meat back.

[martentrapper]

Along with my previous info............I'll repeat what I've said before. I would look into flying out of Bettles.

[Adventures]

lodge rates

don't they have some kind of lodge rates set up for Kotz so you can have an open ended ticket? Seems only fair to the hunters. the hunt i went on cost me nothing extra and I was 1.5 days later than expected.

Bruce,
Ya didn't get out this year huh? Well, good luck next year if you get something together. We want to ehar the stories good or bad.
Justin

[Alex_Cena]

The problem is the flight from OTZ to ANC also stops in Nome. So you have to compete with people in OTZ and Nome for a seat to ANC.

[BruceB]

changing flights

If I book the return flight for 3 days later than planned and we get out on time then I have to try to change to an earlier flight. If I book the flight for when we want to leave and we are delayed then I have to use the sat phone to change to a later flight. Which way is safer?
Thanks
Bruce

[Alex_Cena]

If I book the return flight for 3 days later than planned and we get out on time then I have to try to change to an earlier flight. If I book the flight for when we want to leave and we are delayed then I have to use the sat phone to change to a later flight. Which way is safer?
Thanks
Bruce

I think that is a personal preference as to where you like to take your risks. Personally, I prefer the sure thing so I always book a flight a few days after I am expected out of the field then fly stand-by on the way out. In three years, I have been lucky enough to leave same day I got back from the bush and have also had to wait until the next day to get a flight out.

[martentrapper]

Which way is safer?
Thanks
Bruce

Neither! Each has the same risk.

[BruceB]

Lodge rates???

What do you mean by Lodge Rates??
Bruce

[Wapiti57]

Bruce - last September, (2005) it was packed. We got stuck on our caribou hunt and missed our flights. It took four days to get out of Kotz. We were supposed to fly out of Kotz on Saturday, but were weathered in the bush until Sunday. We immediately went to the airport and could not get a seat until Wednesday night's flight at the earliest. We spent every day at the airport, three times a day, trying to fly standby. No chance. This was in the mid-September time period.

[theilercabin]

Always leave a few days

BruceB[/left];31732]In mid September, how full is the flight from

Kotz

to anchorage usually? I'm asking so I know if it is

feasable

to book the flight for a few days later than we want to

realy

return so if we are weather delayed we won't have a problem.
Any info here will be deeply appreciated.
Bruce

Always leave at least a day on either side of your trip, it will make your hunt and life a lot easier. Things to consider: You get into Kotzebue late on let's say Friday evening, you are scheduled to go into the field that Saturday morning. And you need to either pick up something at the post office, or NAC, or the groceries store, ie propane, white gas and now everything is closed. The next day's schedule can be a tight one and there's a lineup of groups to be taken into the field, and you don't have your stuff together and your scrambling around trying to get everything all together, get weighed in, and ready to fly out. The transporters do not like to be kept waiting and will boot you down the line, which means you could be bumped an extra day if the weather is bad out in the field. The golden rule is, you wait on the transporters, not the transporters waiting on you. That said.

On your return from the field, you will need a least a day to get back into Kotz, take care of your meat, donate it, de-bone it, package it up. Now you will also have to take proper care of the horns and have them shipped which will mean at the very least a few to several hours. You will have to get the proper box, wrap each antler tip in hose, or cardboard, clean the skull cap, wrap the skull so nothing will leak, and tape everything up, and then wait in line at NAC or Alaska Air forever. That doesn't even taken into account the fair possibility of your group getting weathered in a day or two.


You always take a gamble hunting above the arctic circle, you may even plan correctly and still get screwed.


By the way if anyone needs numbers to hotels, rooms, NAC, and other such places email me and I might just give them to you. There's a little bed and breakfast type of place that is great to know of in a pinch. I've seen the Bayside and Nullavik get completely booked before.