by James Ruggia
Last updated: 12:52 PM ET, Wed April 2, 2014
PHOTO: Alaska Railroad turning the bend opening what may be America's most naturally beautiful state to passengers. (Courtesy of Alaska Railroad)
Just last year Alaska Railroad (AR) celebrated its 91st birthday. The Alaska Railroad has a long history that predates Alaska's admission into the United States in 1959. The railroad, which is a private corporation owned by the state of Alaska and with no connection to Amtrak, became an icon of Alaskan frontier culture.
The familiar blue and gold of the train and its logo can be seen running its north/south route between Seward and Fairbanks carrying essential cargo and passengers in America's last true frontier state. The railroad receives no state subsidies and is wholly self-sustaining, living entirely on its own revenues.
The company's website features 10 Vacation packages ranging in length between two and 10 days, but a crew of knowledgeable reservationists is ready to customize, which they can do readily thanks to their multitude of supplier partnerships with everything from flightseeing operators to hotels and small land operators.
We recently caught up with Bruce LaLonde, Alaska Railroad's director of guest services and passenger marketing.
TravelPulse: How can agents use Alaska Railroad for their leisure travelers?
Bruce LaLonde: On the rail side we don't market passes, just point to point rail travel, but we package vacations adding tours, hotels, extras like flightseeing and other components to create a total vacation package.
TP: Do you customize?
BL: If you book through Alaska Railroad we can put it all together exactly as the client wants it. We can customize for individuals or groups and we are happy to work closely with travel agents. In fact, we pay 10 percent commission.
For instance, if a client wants to book our six-night Alaska's National Park by Rail, which visits all of the state's national parks, but he only has five nights of time we can tailor it to those requirements. We also sell a lot of groups with agents. We provide a free seat for every 20 passengers and we discount on the rail portion for groups also.
TP: What can you tell us about your service?
BL: We have two classes of service. The basic service is Adventure Class. It uses coach type cars with very comfortable seats and full dining service. GoldStar is our higher class of service using dome cars with reclining seats. All seats on Alaska Railroad are forward facing. GoldStar uses the upper level of two tier cars so that we are the only railroad offering upper level outdoor platform viewing. It's great for viewing and taking pictures because the extra height brings you over any vegetation in the foreground.
TP: How do most people book with Alaska Railroad?
BL: We sell the rail portions exclusively point to point, so most people and agents just book it on our website, but vacations are more complex and so people work with our reservations staff. Our reservations people are all from Alaska and we encourage them to travel around the state and know the products they're selling. When you deal with one of our staff you're talking to people who know what they're selling personally. We want that from our employees. We want them to be excited about the product.
TP: What's the passenger profile?
BL: We have a really strong customer base of Alaskans who use the system. In summer we get the vast majority of our out-of-state passengers and most of them book through travel agents. The passengers we see from overseas and the lower 48 are usually over 55 years of age, affluent and educated. We are seeing more and more families using our trains and it's a great way for families to vacation because they don't have to strap into cars. They can move freely throughout the train and interact with each other.
TP: How do you educate travel agents about Alaska Railroad?
BL: We frequently bring agents up on FAM trips. We heavily discount the rail portion, which is the part of the product that we control. We have a trade dedicated space on our website at www.alaskarr.com/traveltrade. It features a 36-minute webinar on how to sell the product. They can also order or download our brochure on the site.
TP: What are the most popular products?
BL: We work closely with the cruise industry so a lot of people board the train in Seward and Whittier, the ports used by such cruise lines as Holland America and Princess. We do a lot of day trips off of the cruises. Daytrips are popular in general. Anchorage to Talkeetna is a very popular route. Talkeetna is a quirky little Alaskan town. It's where the climbers headed to Mount McKinley stay and it's also a center for flightseeing around the mountain. People often go to Denali and hop on the busses that head into the park where they almost always see wild life.
TP: Extreme winter travel, once exclusively the domain of skiers, has become more broadly popular thanks to such destinations as Antarctica, Lapland, Iceland and Greenland. Do you see more of it in Alaska?
BL: Though most tourists come in summer, winter is definitely growing. Last year was a record winter for us and we had to add frequency. We saw lots of people from Europe and Asia. Winter travel is a different experience. It creates a real community between the travelers and it's just beautiful up here with the Northern Lights and Denali is just beautiful that time of year. We are a four-season destination.
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