Looks like chartering a flight to Alaska this fall is out of the question. The cheap end seems to start around $32K and you could easily pay a hundred grand more. Plus incidentals. I guess when I win the lottery I’ll just go ahead and buy a jet of my own. :)
Traveling by ship and rail is far more affordable, of course, but does still come on the thick side of five grand. And there’s the small problem of being unable to get to Anchorage from Seattle in November. The ferry goes to Juneau, but you then have to fly out of Juneau. Of course, hiring a puddle jumper to get you to Seward and the train line is an option, but that probably puts you somewhere nearer to eight or ten grand than five, nevermind the whole thing taking something more like six to eight weeks instead of the two or three we expect to be gone.
(I really don’t want to give the airlines my business and tacitly support the TSA’s activities by doing so. Unfortunately, the only way I can see to avoid that is independent wealth or never go back to America. The former’s unlikely, which makes the latter more appealing…)