When I decided to go back to Alaska for 10 days this month, I was checking to see which airports I could get the best bang for my airmiles out of, and how I could most efficiently cross the country (and then some) by myself with a baby.

Flying out of Raleigh ended up being the best use of airmiles (only 32K miles + $12 on Alaska Air!), I just needed to figure out the best way to get to there.…