Alaska Vacation Blog

… and you’re cutting it off, to spite your face.

This morning’s Anchorage Daily News contained this piece which describes Alaska Airlines decision to begin charging for even the first checked bag on most flights.

Bad idea. Really bad.

I suppose if you’re some airline revenue guru, this makes some sense - a way to recover $15 per passenger each way on most routes… since on most routes, most people check a bag. I just traveled to Washington, DC on Alaska Airlines, and I checked a bag. And that makes sense, I was there for ten days.

Thirty bucks. Cha-Ching.

But here’s the thing… Alaska Airlines isn’t any airline. It is our airline. Alaskans are very loyal. They fly Alaska even though other carriers are often cheaper to the same destinations. Alaskans want to earn Alaska Airlines miles. They don’t want Delta miles. They don’t want USAir miles. If you have doubts about how important Alaska Airlines is to Alaskans, ask the Alaska Airlines folks what happened when they decided to change their logo and remove the smiling face from the tail of their planes. It was Alaskans - all 500,000 of us - that objected. Alaska Airlines is a part of the Alaskan identity… even if the company is headquartered in Seattle. When you mess with Alaska Airlines, you’re messing with us.

As the owner of an Alaskan business, I do all I can to direct business to Alaska Airlines because the Alaska Airlines experience is superior to other airlines. My guests are happier and are treated better on Alaska Airlines. Let’s face it, ten hours on an airplane is taxing even for people who like to fly, so anything we can do to make that part of the process more pleasant for our guests makes it better for us and our business… There’s no sense starting off your vacation any more unhappy or uncomfortable than you have to be… And happy customers are repeat customers.

If you took Marketing 101, you know that what Alaska Airlines has done is to differentiate themselves in the marketplace - that is, create the perception with consumers that the experience you get with Alaska Airlines is not like the experience that you get with others. There is a benefit that you get with flying Alaska Airlines, and for many customers that benefit is worth paying for. It certainly has worked to keep Alaskans loyal for all these years. But what the revenue guys will tell you is that isn’t the way many consumers buy their airline tickets. What matters for those consumers is the price of the fare.

Where consumers are damaged, and where companies like Alaska Vacation Store are damaged is that the experience is downgraded when customers are presented with what they believe are hidden costs. Certainly one can’t argue that Alaska’s new policy is a hidden cost, but for the same consumer who worries about a $5 difference in fare, getting hit with a $15 charge for checked baggage he or she doesn’t expect negatively affects the perception of the experience.

It would be naive to think that travelers today expect the same level of amenities that were available on a plane years ago… and there is some sense in the “pay to play” mindset - I would add that I heartily applaud Alaska Airlines adding on-board WiFi to their fleet. But there is a substantive difference between charging for value-added items, like WiFi, or DigEPlayers or even a sandwich or beverages, and charging to bring your basic clothing and toiletries on the plane.

The other day, one of our clients came into the office to pick up his airline ticket, and he asked us about the policies regarding taking his prescriptions on board the plane. He uses several creams and ointments that come in tubes and bottles that are larger than one can carry onto the plane, because of the security rules imposed by the Transportation Security Administration (TSA). His solution was to put a day or two supply of the different drugs in empty film canisters, and then place the remainder of his prescriptions in his checked bag. As it was, he had no other option except to check a bag, since he couldn’t bring the existing containers on the plane. Now, he will be charged $15 each way for the privilege.

Southwest Airlines is making hay on these different revenue generators. As they should - they understand that there is a certain basic level of service that you should expect when you travel, and those things that go beyond basic… well, you pay extra for those.

All of the airlines that have taken to charging for all bags are coming dangerously close to crossing the line between pay-for-play and failing to provide a basic and expected part of the service. As much as I didn’t like it when airlines started charging for a second bag, I was resigned to the fact that certain passengers have abused the privilege in the past (count me as one) and this was a fair and equitable way to increase revenue and discourage that abuse. Charging for any checked bag seems petty and unfair.

Until now, I hadn’t really worried about this issue, because my airline still offered one free bag. But now that has changed.

So to Alaska Airlines, I have this to say: You’ve spent your entire existence working hard to set yourself apart from the rest of the industry. You’ve owned and embraced what is important about being an Alaskan, and being a part of our community, and you have spread that Alaskan hospitality across the country. You’ve asked us to be loyal to you, and we have - even when it meant spending a few more dollars to travel with you as opposed to another carrier. Alaskans understand, perhaps more than most, that there are costs associated with doing business, and that times are tough. And don’t get me wrong - this isn’t about $15. It is about treating your friends and neighbors like… well… your friends and neighbors. The message you send by charging $15 for the first bag is that really, you’re just like the rest of them. It won’t be long before Alaskans realize that if it is really only about getting between here and there, then any old airplane will do. We’ll cram everything we can into our carry-ons. We won’t check bags, we’ll fly Continental’s red-eye to Seattle and take Southwest the rest of the way… because that will be the cheapest way to go. If you need the $15, then raise your fares $15. Alaskans will stick with you. Just please, don’t tell us that you’re just like the rest of them.

On the tail of every one of your planes is the beautiful face of an Alaskan. It is the face Alaskans fought to keep on your planes back in 1988, and it is a symbol of Alaskan hospitality across America.

Imagine what it will look like without a nose.

Back when I started Alaska Vacation Store, I had to embark on the chore of finding vendors who were interested in working with a new tour company. One of the first that I found was Mike and Sharon Renfro, owners and operators of Renfro’s Lakeside Retreat, located on the shores of Kenai Lake about 20 miles north of Seward.

One of the things that made Renfro’s Lakeside Retreat such a good fit for Alaska Vacation Store is that Mike and Sharon share a lot of the same beliefs about what is important when it comes to taking care of your guests. I believe that Alaska is not just another vacation destination - certainly it wasn’t for me when I first came to Alaska in 1985. Alaska was about a lifetime of dreaming and planning, and when you spend that much time thinking about a one or two week visit, your expectations are very high.

What made the difference for me when I first came to Alaska was the wonderful people that I met… and while Mike and Sharon were not among those first Alaskans I met almost twenty-five years ago, they were certainly cut from the same cloth. To be sure, Alaska is an incredibly beautiful place, but more importantly, Alaska gets into your blood, and the place changes the people.

A few years back, Mike and Sharon decided that it was time to take some time and entered into retirement, and sold their place. The new owners took over, and we continued to send guests there… But it didn’t seem the same.

This past winter, my phone rang, and it was Sharon Renfro. She was calling to tell me that retirement wasn’t all that it’s cracked up to be, and that they’ve taken ownership of their cabins once again. It was definitely the best news of the winter for me - Mike and Sharon were destined to take care of their guests on the shore of the lake, and now they were getting back into it!

Renfro’s Lakeside Retreat really combines all that Alaska is about: Mike and Sharon are the quintessential Alaskan hosts, committed to making sure that you have an amazing stay with them. But combine that with the beautiful cabins on the shore of the turquoise-blue Kenai Lake, and there are few places that I’d rather send my guests.

I really missed Mike and Sharon, and I am sure that their guests did, too. So as we end March, 2009, Mike and Sharon are getting everything just-so for the next season of summer guests.

I couldn’t be more excited!

Summer view of Kenai Lake near Renfro's Lakeside Retreat

View of Kenai Lake from Renfro's Lakeside Retreat

Our friendly neighborhood volcano, Mt. Redoubt, has continued to put on a spectacular show just across Cook Inlet from Kenai. For the first time since the recent eruptive episode started, there was noticeable ashfall in Anchorage.

We had a few hours of notice, so I put a sheet of notebook paper out and let the ash collect on the paper. In four hours, I collected about a teaspoon of ash on the paper. If you go to the Alaska Volcano Observatory website, they describe the proper procedure for collecting an ash sample, and I did a passable job following their directions.

Here is what I collected:

When I went to scoop the ash into the plastic bag, the air smelled strongly of sulfur. It occurred to me that just a few hours earlier, this ash had been molten rock deep inside a volcano. This ash was essentially the youngest rocks on Earth.

I think most people just take rocks for granted. If we bother to consider the age of a rock, we’re not really able to fully grasp what the age of a rock might be. Even if one has no idea of the age of a rock, the first number that pops into our mind is likely to be in the millions of years.

This volcanic ash was less than three hours old when I scooped it into the bag. And before that, it had been molten rock deep inside a volcano. This ash was ash from Hell… literally!

UPDATE: Here it is, one day later… and as you walk through the stores or around town, you can still smell the sulfur, and people are wearing masks. The snow, which just yesterday was a brilliant white, is now grey, and becoming more grey by the hour as it melts. Footprints in the snow are white inside, surrounded by the dirty grey of the ash.

The volcano is making for entertaining conversation both in the office and in online chats here in Anchorage, but while we marvel at nature, people in other areas are having to deal with some of the problems associated with the volcano.

We had an eruption this morning, and most of the low-level ash traveled south and east from the volcano, and is now falling out in the Homer area.

There is a steady stream of images and information being published online, but one of the best sources is the Alaska Volcano Observatory. On their website, they have two webcams of the volcano - here and here - and some of the other volcanoes they watch, like this one, historical information, and collections of recent photos.

Hard-core volcano watchers also know to watch the National Weather Service Radar, where you can see the radar representation of the ash plume.

I think it is just a matter of time before Anchorage gets its dose of ash. This is not a good thing, by the way. Volcanic ash is microscopic glass particles, and they’re very irritating to the eyes and lungs, they damage machines, particularly cars and airplanes, and all in all make a mess.

It is strange here today in Anchorage - the plume is overhead, and all of the airports are closed. It is rare to see a sky without airplanes in Alaska.

After weeks of unrest, Mt. Redoubt, located about 80 miles southwest of Anchorage, has erupted. For the latest information, visit the Alaska Volcano Observatory Website.

You can also see the plume in weather satellite images and on the National Weather Service Radar in Kenai .

For the latest information visit the Alaska Volcano ObservatoryWebsite or listen for official news and information from the media.

I was headed out of my office yesterday for lunch, and ran into the woman who has the office next to mine. She was just coming inside the building from the pouring rain. I looked at her and said, “We should be a little more careful when we start wishing it would warm up…”

I then dashed out into the rain-and-50-degree weather. For the uninitiated, rain and 50 degrees is actually a fairly common combination in Alaska in the summer and early fall. In January, it is, thankfully, rare.

Alaska had been suffering from some rather intense cold weather, stretching back to around Christmas. Clear skies and falling temperatures were the rule, with many places in the interior of Alaska dropping into the -50F range. Here in Anchorage, temperatures ranged from -20F to -30F. In theory, Alaskans are prepared for such weather, and to our credit, we seemed to get along just fine. But one could not wander down the street or into a restaurant, or answer a phone without launching into a conversation about the relentless cold.

Alaskans can do cold, but we don’t like it too much. Even I was complaining - and I am usually pretty stoic about the weather.

Last weekend, I decided to make a trip to Fairbanks to visit a friend and take care of some business. I was greeted by -40F temperatures and ice fog*. I knew I would find these extremes there, so I packed all of my hard-core winter gear, and in fact, I was very comfortable wandering around in the cold. We even made a trip to Chena Hot Springs and took a dip in the outdoor rock pool.

The problem with the cold weather is that while most Alaskans have all the cold weather gear, it is rather tedious putting all the layers on just to make a trip to the store to get some milk. Heading out the door takes an additional five minutes of preparation as we stack scarves and hats and fleece and parkas over our sweaters, only to have to reverse the process when we get to where we’re going. So some of us skip a layer here or there, and shiver as we drive to the grocery store - and complain bitterly once we get there… “I wish it would warm up!”

So we got what we wished for. To be clear, our warmup was actually more extreme than our cold. On January 16, Anchorage set a high temperature record for the date, reaching 50 degrees (the old record was 44), and this was the second warmest official temperature ever recorded in Anchorage in January. Merrill Field, the large general aviation airport located on the north side of town reached 52. Up in the Fairbanks area, Eielson Air Force base reached 52F, and this is a 100 degree swing from the temperatures recorded there just last week!

You would think that we would be thankful for the warm weather… But in fact, the warmup has caused us all sorts of problems.

A winter of cold has chilled the ground quite well, and despite the balmy breezes, the ground is quite frozen. So rain and melting snow run into the roads, where they are immediately frozen to a sheen that any Zamboni driver would be proud of. All through our cold snap, Anchorage schools operated without a hitch. Warm things up to 50 degrees, and schools close for three days due to persistently icy roads.

To make it all worse, the warm weather is accompanied by strong winds. In fact, the warm weather wouldn’t be possible without the strong winds - the winds are warmed by their interaction with the mountains, creating what is commonly called a chinook. We get our share of chinooks every winter, but this one was accompanied by 100+ MPH winds, which downed trees and power lines. And to make the whole experience complete, the persistent warm weather and rain has melted snow. Storm drains are clogged with ice, so the water has no place to go, and forms small lakes on the roadways. The water that has managed to run off doesn’t sink into the soil, but runs along the ground and into ice-choked streams that have flooded several low-lying areas and roads.

My driveway is a sheet of ice. I am headed out today to get a couple large bags of salt (if there is any to be had), so I can try to break the ice up before it gets too cold to get rid of it.

The good news is, we’ll have just one more story about the weather to tell.

*ice fog forms when the atmosphere reaches a temperature where it has no capacity to hold water vapor. This is when temperatures are below -40. Moisture that enters the air from auto exhaust or from the burning of fuels are transformed into microscopic ice crystals that form a very dense fog.

We’re in the midst of our usual mid-winter cold spell here in Alaska. Up in Fairbanks it is a lot worse than here - temperatures are hovering between -40 and -50F. No matter how you slice it, that’s pretty cold… But not really all that unusual for January.

Tonight, all around Alaska, people will wander out into the biting cold. Bonfires will be lit, and fireworks fired. For today is our birthday.

More correctly, it is the 50th anniversary of Alaska’s admission into the Union. On January 3, 1959, Alaskans set bonfires to celebrate their admission to the Union, and will do so again tonight.

It has been a tumultuous but happy 50 years. We’ve suffered great earthquakes and tsunamis. We suffered the Exxon Valdez oil spill. Now we’re dealing with the creeping but real effects of global warming. But at the same time, we’ve grown to about 650,000 people… Our land and water is as beautiful as ever, and when it comes to the creative, ingenious and individualists of our society, Alaskans are still the benchmark.

Times have changed a bit, though. Plans for bonfires across the state ran afoul of clean air standards in places like Juneau, where air quality is often a problem in the Mendenhall Valley - because of wood-burning stoves! And in Wasilla, celebration planners have have postponed the celebration for a week because of the cold weather.

Here in Anchorage there have been events and celebrations for the past week, including a banquet last night at the new Den’aina Center. There will be live music and performances all day at a number of venues, and of course, the fireworks this evening.

It is cold out… but I will be there. It will be a little Alaskan ingenuity and some pre-planning that will keep us warm. A thermos of hot cocoa, good friends, and some fireworks.

Here’s to fifty more!

UPDATE: Here are some photos from last night’s fireworks. We found the perfect perch, on top of the J. C. Penney parking garage.

Town Square Park, just before the start of the show.

Fireworks with the Atwood Building. Notice that the fireworks are in front of the building - they were very low!

More fireworks in downtown Anchorage

It is rather unusual - the number of bears that are in regular view of guests and residents alike here in Alaska this year.

I first moved to Alaska in 1986, and other than in places like Denali National Park, where the chances of seeing a bear are rather high*, I don’t think I saw more than one or two bears in my first twenty years here. Since then, the bear population seems to be either getting larger, or moving to town, because they are much more obvious than in the past. Already this year I have seen at least six bears, including one very close encounter.

The first picture was taken from about 30 yards. We came around a turn and found the bear and immediately turned back. The bear followed us down the trail and challenged us, looking for fish. We retreated down the trail, but he followed and came within 10 feet of us. We were finally able to negotiate some distance between the bear and us when I snapped the last two pictures.

Bear sightings and bear-people encounters have become a daily event. Even in Anchorage, which is urban by any standard, bears are seen with regularity. In the past, most of the bear sightings have been along the fringes of the city east of town, where the Chugach Mountains come down to the floor of the Anchorage Bowl. However, the bears are now traveling down the greenbelts that surround the creeks that come out of the mountains and flow into Cook Inlet. Just this morning, a male brown bear was hit by an SUV at 4 AM, on one of Anchorage’s major thoroughfares.

Alaskans are of two minds with all the bears on the loose. On one hand, I think we all like to see the large wild animals wander around the city, and a moose in our back yard or a bear running down the street is usually something that brings a smile to many Alaskans faces. On the other hand, the close calls, and especially, the serious injuries that have occurred in several bear-human confrontations have chased a lot of joggers and hikers out of the woods.

The problem with all of this is that often times, the losers are the bears. The frequency of bear-human confrontation, and the inadvertent positive reinforcement that goes with it (I saw a bear, so I threw my fish and ran - showing bears that they can intimidate humans into feeding them) teaches bears habits that ultimately lead to their destruction.

In a perfect world, we would see lots of bears… off in the distance, doing what bears do. Instead, we’re seeing bears as we drive to work at 4 AM, or when we’re cutting wood, or when we’re walking our dogs, or biking or jogging. The bears are, for the most part, doing what bears do. People should do what people do - think, and be careful, because our back yards are becoming bear country.

* Most visitors to Denali National Park see grizzly bears - but usually from quite a distance, and from the relative safety of a park shuttle bus.

I am a pretty hard-core fisherperson, and I fish a lot with my extended family. My girlfriend’s brother is a very active fisherman, and I spend a lot of time fishing with him.

He’s having a rough year fishing this year.

So far this year, I’ve landed four king salmon, and kept two. I’ve hooked and lost probably five more, and I don’t think I’ve had a day fishing where I didn’t fight at least one fish.

He’s had none. No fish landed, no fish on, no fish lost.

When we fish, we usually fish together, sharing fishing holes, etc. But he’s been rather magnanimous about letting me have what we would consider the favored spots. Ultimately, I don’t think that matters, and it certainly isn’t making a difference between me catching fish and him not catching fish. But I can’t help but think now that maybe I should make sure he gets the favored spots, at least for a while.

We’re going fishing this weekend… And perhaps before then. I’ll keep you posted.

We have been away from our blog for a while, but we’ve since returned, and come to you with updated software, and hopefully updated posts and information. If you have visited the blog before, I apologize for the long delay in getting a new post out there.

I hope you enjoy following along!