As PFD sales wrap up, there are still interesting travel deals and developments in Alaska

Last week, travelers were checking their travel wish lists to see if there were any PFD-related sale fares to fit.
There are plenty of bargains from which to choose, including in-state rates and some new destinations in the South Pacific. For most popular destinations in the Lower 48, prices are cheaper for travel through May 12, 2026. That doesn’t include travel over Thanksgiving, Christmas or spring break. The PFD discounts are not available on every flight on every day. Sometimes you have to check around on different dates to find the best price.
Alaska Airlines’ PFD sale lasts through Oct. 6.
Two other travel-related events bumped the PFD sale off the top of the news cycle, though.
The first is Southwest Airlines’ decision to start flying to Anchorage in mid-May.
At an airport press conference Thursday, the airline’s Chief Operating Officer Andrew Watterson said Southwest will field two red-eye flights each night: one each to Las Vegas and to Denver.
Although Watterson declined to share pricing information, more competition on a route usually means prices will go down.
Right now, Alaska Airlines flies from Anchorage to Las Vegas nonstop twice each week. To Denver, United Airlines flies nonstop every day. Plus, in the summer, Alaska Airlines also flies nonstop to Denver. Even so, Southwest has a huge number of loyal customers in both cities.
The other big news is a sale on almost all European destinations from Anchorage.
Some countries are blocked off from the sale, with prices $100-$200 more. That includes destinations in England and Germany. But most other European destinations are available for less than $600 round-trip. That’s for travel between early November and mid-December. Then, prices spike for Christmas. But on Jan. 2, the prices go down again for travel through Feb. 28, 2026.
The first fare that popped up on my screen for this sale was between Anchorage and Athens. There are several factors to consider when booking a ticket to the other side of the world. A good price is essential, but so are the connections, since we don’t have a nonstop.
Delta had the best connections from both Anchorage and Fairbanks, for $548 round-trip. That’s the price for Basic Economy. The upcharge to Main is hefty on this route: $240 round-trip. That includes a checked bag, pre-reserved seats and full SkyMiles credit.
After checking on Athens, I scanned the price to Paris and it was about the same, $558 round-trip. Flights from Anchorage or Fairbanks to Rome were similar: $555 round-trip.
The Google Flights tool is one of my favorite for scanning air fares from Alaska to the rest of the world. But to see the rules, I go to Google’s ITA Matrix table. It takes a little longer, but has more detailed information. That includes the breakdown of what an airline charges for a ticket, including taxes and fees.
For this batch of sale fares to Europe, the actual “fare” is 50 cents each way. The remainder of the cost includes charges for customs, for immigration and for security. The biggest charge is simply listed as “carrier-imposed surcharge.” To most destinations, the surcharge is $315 per person.
The lowest-priced ticket isn’t exactly to Europe, but it’s popular nonetheless. Fly Delta from Anchorage or Fairbanks to Dublin, Ireland for $480 round-trip. The upcharge to Main is $220 round-trip.
Many other popular destinations are available on Delta from both Anchorage and Fairbanks in the $530-$580 price range: Amsterdam, Barcelona, Prague, Stockholm, Warsaw, Vienna, Venice, Bucharest, Sofia, Naples, Belgrade and Milan.
United offers many other destinations that Delta does not — or where Delta is more expensive. Those cities include Brussels, Budapest, Geneva and Zurich.
For this sale, United also includes other Star Alliance carriers like Lufthansa, SWISS and Air Canada. Delta partners with Skyteam carriers KLM, Air France, SAS Scandinavian Airlines and Virgin Atlantic.
Also for this sale, United’s upcharge to Main is $200 round-trip, while Delta is charging $240 round-trip.
Two unique destinations available in this sale include Larnaca, Cyprus, and Istanbul, Turkey. Both are available for $562-$577 round-trip. But I was only able to book them at American Airlines’ website. I tried and failed to book at Alaska’s website to get full mileage credit. So, even though you fly on oneworld partner airlines, you’ll only net 25% of the applicable points because it’s unavailable at alaskaair.com. This could change, though. It might be worth calling Alaska Airlines to see if they can book it over the phone so you can get full “Atmos” credit.
It’s very unusual to find Africa destinations in a sale like this. But three destinations stand out: Marrakesh and Casablanca in Morocco and Tunis, Tunisia, on the Mediterranean coast. Delta flies to all three cities for between $549 and $571. United and its partners fly to Marrakesh for $549 round-trip.
There are several other unusual destinations featuring United and its partners: Palma de Mallorca in Spain; Izmir, on Turkey’s west coast; and Krakow, Poland. All are priced between $536-$577 round-trip.
Delta and its partners offer a long list of unusual destinations which are included in this sale: Ljubljana, the capital of Slovenia; Tbilisi, Georgia (book at KLM.com); Helsinki, Finland; Oslo, Norway; Vilnius, Lithuania; Riga, Latvia; and Tallinn, Estonia.
According to the rules I found on the ITA Matrix site, tickets to Europe must be purchased no later than Oct. 7. But I would not recommend waiting until the last minute. This is a huge list of popular European destinations, along with some more obscure cities. All fares are subject to change without notice.