Airfare from Middle America to Europe

[Shanti]

How do you do it affordably? I'm specifically asking people who don't live on the East coast, and who aren't able to book their flights via points. We're central Texans planning a cruise next summer that will have us flying into London and out of Copenhagen, paying cash.

Is there any way to do this without tacking thousands of dollars extra onto our trip cost for only 2 people? Specific airlines people recommend? Best times to book? Thanks in advance.

 

[PrincessShmoo]

How do you do it affordably? I'm specifically asking people who don't live on the East coast, and who aren't able to book their flights via points. We're central Texans planning a cruise next summer that will have us flying into London and out of Copenhagen, paying cash.

Is there any way to do this without tacking thousands of dollars extra onto our trip cost for only 2 people? Specific airlines people recommend? Best times to book? Thanks in advance.

We just used DCL to book our airfare for our TA cruises. We found that the price difference was only about $100 each additional using DCL airfare over booking on our own. Added comfort - if we missed the ship on a DCL booked flight, they will assist in getting you to the ship.

 

[Ravenne]

Ha, I'm doing the same thing but from Middle America to Barcelona. I'm nearly passing out from the sticker shock. I've even priced flying into Paris and taking the train to Barcelona as previously suggested here and the savings are negligible, and non existent by the time I factor in an extra night of hotel stay. I'm all ears to suggestions.

 

[Ravenne]

We just used DCL to book our airfare for our TA cruises. We found that the price difference was only about $100 each additional using DCL airfare over booking on our own. Added comfort - if we missed the ship on a DCL booked flight, they will assist in getting you to the ship.

My biggest issue with that is we're not set on Europe & Med until we can sort out airfare. The cost of airfare decides what I do with my placeholder, as flying to Europe is nearly 3x the cost of flying to any North American port DCL sails out of. With how DCL does things on opening day, I'd have to make a decision before then and don't really have the luxury of pricing things out and humming and hawing come booking time, or switching to something different after realizing airfare is too much, and risk paying more for the cruise. Did you book first, then added airfare later? Otherwise, booking airfare, if even available at 15 months out doesn't seem like it's a good deal.

 

[Shanti]

My biggest issue with that is we're not set on Europe & Med until we can sort out airfare. The cost of airfare decides what I do with my placeholder, as flying to Europe is nearly 3x the cost of flying to any North American port DCL sails out of. With how DCL does things on opening day, I'd have to make a decision before then and don't really have the luxury of pricing things out and humming and hawing come booking time, or switching to something different after realizing airfare is too much, and risk paying more for the cruise. Did you book first, then added airfare later? Otherwise, booking airfare, if even available at 15 months out doesn't seem like it's a good deal.

We're booked for next July. We used our OBB from last week's Alaska cruise to do it. If I can't find reasonable (and I'm generous with that term) airfare I'll switch cruises, but I'm hoping that reasonable fares do exist.

Ha, I'm doing the same thing but from Middle America to Barcelona. I'm nearly passing out from the sticker shock. I've even priced flying into Paris and taking the train to Barcelona as previously suggested here and the savings are negligible, and non existent by the time I factor in an extra night of hotel stay. I'm all ears to suggestions.

I know what you mean about the workarounds often not being worth it. Things like flying into certain cities the day before, staying in a hotel, then flying out early the next morning to the destination. I think those methods only really help larger parties who have to pay several airfares. Whenever I've priced those methods out for 2 people, the costs of the extra night's accommodation and meals outweigh most of the benefit, and don't make the hassle worth it.

We just used DCL to book our airfare for our TA cruises. We found that the price difference was only about $100 each additional using DCL airfare over booking on our own. Added comfort - if we missed the ship on a DCL booked flight, they will assist in getting you to the ship.

Yes, if I can't find reasonable airfare before DCL Air rates come out in a couple of months, I'll definitely look at what they have to offer. I too would find it a comfort that they would take responsibility for the flights actually getting us to the ship.

 

[nighttowll]

Living in TN and having this same issue, I’m not sure there’s an answer. I can’t get anything out of the country for less than $1,000 here. My solution has always been to either use points or drive to another city where I can get a good deal, no matter how far.

For instance, my sister lives abroad and comes back to the states regularly. She can usually fly in and out of Fl for a little less than $300, but it costs $900 to $1200 to fly her into TN. I figure if I have to spend the money either way, I might as well get something out of it, so we take the extra $1,000 and make a trip to Fl out of it. At least I have something to show for the money I spend and get to have some fun.

We also look at the cost of driving somewhere else and getting a hotel. When I got my ticket to Spain, we flew out of St. Louis which was a 4 hour drive one way. Even with gas and the hotel, we still saved hundreds of dollars. We even drove 9 hrs to Chicago one time, again with gas and hotel, still a huge savings. Its a pain to drive so far away when we have much closer airports, but if it brings the cost of a ticket down $600 dollars or more we do it.

I’d start looking at the cost of flights at different airports and see if driving to one farther away, might offer you any savings.

 

[Shanti]

Living in TN and having this same issue, I’m not sure there’s an answer. I can’t get anything out of the country for less than $1,000 here. My solution has always been to either use points or drive to another city where I can get a good deal, no matter how far.

For instance, my sister lives abroad and comes back to the states regularly. She can usually fly in and out of Fl for a little less than $300, but it costs $900 to $1200 to fly her into TN. I figure if I have to spend the money either way, I might as well get something out of it, so we take the extra $1,000 and make a trip to Fl out of it. At least I have something to show for the money I spend and get to have some fun.

We also look at the cost of driving somewhere else and getting a hotel. When I got my ticket to Spain, we flew out of St. Louis which was a 4 hour drive one way. Even with gas and the hotel, we still saved hundreds of dollars. We even drove 9 hrs to Chicago one time, again with gas and hotel, still a huge savings. Its a pain to drive so far away when we have much closer airports, but if it brings the cost of a ticket down $600 dollars or more we do it.

I’d start looking at the cost of flights at different airports and see if driving to one farther away, might offer you any savings.

Yes, I will consider driving to Dallas or Houston, each of which are 3-4 hours away. The deal would have to be pretty sweet to tempt me to that, as such long, boring drives are unpleasant bookends to a vacation. They can even be dangerous: once I drove back from Dallas after a flight through a vicious summer thunderstorm. (I had to get home to my toddler son, whose father's patience was too limited for me to stop and spend the night at a hotel.) It was such a fierce and ubstructive storm that driving through it was scary, visibility was minimal, and I know that I was lucky to make it home in one piece. That was over 10 years ago, and I've chosen not to travel to another city to save on airfare since then.

Any drive further than Dallas or Houston is something I'm not really willing to do. I'd be ready to ditch the cruise at that point. My vacation shouldn't be harder than my day job.

 

[nighttowll]

Maybe someone else has some ideas. I’m interested to know as well, as we’ve never had much luck. And yes, the savings has to be substantial before we drive so far.

 

[BadPinkTink]

you should check out www.skyscanner.com its a flight comparison website

Also check out the landing charges airports charge airlines. This is one reason why flight prices are cheaper at some airports than others.

Round trips eg Dallas to Barcelona, Barcelona to Dallas will be cheaper than multi city eg Dallas to London, Barcelona to Dallas. The multi city is classed as 2 one way not as a round trip.

 

[Intr3pid]

An online website/airline will give you the options using just what is in its system. The whole trip will be priced for you - when you can save by going DIY with components.

If you are willing to invest the physical travel time (and some hassle):

1. Fly Southwest, JetBlue, or another domestic carrier to get to the east coast first.
2. Use lower-cost transatlantic airlines that will lower the fare in exchange for a stopover. For Northern European itineraries, stop over in Iceland with WOW or Iceland Air. For Med, try TAP which will break your journey in Portugal.
3. If you have the bent, try the advanced city pairs/combos using Google's Matrix/ITA system: https://matrix.itasoftware.com/.

To be honest, as a cruiser (on DCL, no less), you should really invest in accumulating points. You are spending a ton of money, which should clear the minimum spend hurdle for pretty much any credit card a few times over.

 

[Ravenne]

I know what you mean about the workarounds often not being worth it. Things like flying into certain cities the day before, staying in a hotel, then flying out early the next morning to the destination. I think those methods only really help larger parties who have to pay several airfares. Whenever I've priced those methods out for 2 people, the costs of the extra night's accommodation and meals outweigh most of the benefit, and don't make the hassle worth it.

Yes, if I can't find reasonable airfare before DCL Air rates come out in a couple of months, I'll definitely look at what they have to offer. I too would find it a comfort that they would take responsibility for the flights actually getting us to the ship.

I'm paying for 4 people's flights, so it really adds up quickly, but I've learned with the AK cruise that flying into a cheaper airport further away, the logistics and costs involved doesn't always work out to be a better deal, even with 4 people. Maybe, like you said, bigger parties...even much bigger than 4, and you cram everyone into 1 hotel room, assuming it's within the rules or something like that. I checked into flying to Europe out of NYC and it was half of what I was seeing flying from our home airport. I could probably get to NYC for less than that...which may or may not be worth it. It's something I'll have to seriously consider, do the math on, work out the logistics such as how long is the layover, and what other costs would be incurred there.

I do really like the idea of air through DCL if they really provide that layer of security of getting guests to the ship on their dime and logistics, especially after the WestJet kerfuffle, but again...cost. At $100 each x4 that's $400, which under normal circumstances, I definitely would want to save, but if you'd asked me that 3 weeks ago before our flight to Vancouver? I would've happily dropped that kind of money just to not have to stress over a pilot strike and cancellations.

 

[anjuan]

I hear your pain. I'm in Chicago and you would think there would be more affordable options from here but I ended up paying a pretty penny because I really didn't want to deal with multiple flights and the only airline that had a direct flight out of Chicago was American Airlines. The price through Disney was very similar to AA directly so I did book through Disney.

With that being said I know that some people in my other social media group used Google Flights to check prices and ended up getting some good deals on AA out of JFK. So I would definitely try that.

 

[aggiedog]

We're in Texas, and I can commiserate. I don't believe for a minute that a bigger group makes things better. It just makes things 6x as expensive (for the 6 of us.) I find all these great deals from the East coast, but by the time I've gotten there, the ticket price is easily doubled, or I've had to get a hotel to catch an early morning flight, or I'm returning to the East cost at midnight, etc, etc. I agree that driving 3 hours to catch a flight is not good, as the drive back after flying home is brutal.

It makes me crazy.

There are people that travel hack air miles and credit cards, and I believe there is a thread here or the ABD board about it. I just don't have the time to do that.

 

[Geomom]

Maybe check some fares for London roundtrip, and do a one way from Copenhagen to London on the way home? I use Kayak to compare fares--you can use the +/- 3 days feature to try to get the best rates if you can fly in/out up to 3 days before/after your flight.

Sorry...I am on the East coast, leaving from Boston, so can't help much. We booked with Delta shortly after they opened up their fares, about 10 1/2 months in advance, roundtrip in/out of Copenhagen--changing planes in NY (JFK)--$617/person roundtrip includes 1 checked bag each, meals, and seat selection.

 

[kandt]

How does it work if you book flights through Disney? Do they have a price list for flying out of different cities?

 

[jalapeno_pretzel]

I've always heard the best deals on international flights are at about 6 months out from your trip.

 

[mousefan73]

Check out Lufthansa. Or their low cost carriers Edelweiss,
Eurowings. Not sure on which cities you all need flights

 

[cruiser21]

There are lots of credit cards with good introductory offers on miles. It might help offset the price a little.

 

[anjuan]

How does it work if you book flights through Disney? Do they have a price list for flying out of different cities?

At least how I did it was I looked around at prices on my own first. I then called them up, told them the flights I was interested in and asked them to check and see if they could find anything better, which they couldn't. So I booked the flight with them then and was even able to pick my seats, etc. The good news was that I didn't have to actually pay for the flights through Disney until my final cruise payment date, but it was reserved at the initial time I asked them to book it. They told me if I found something better or had seen flight prices go down I could call them up any time and they could rebook it or change it up until that final cruise payment date.

 

[fredandkell]

I'm in Atlanta - a Delta hub - and prices are still outrageous here. I have noticed that Zurich and Istanbul tend to be two of the cheapest European airports to fly into, however (and I've also noticed that London is one of the more expensive, points-wise as well as dollars-wise). For example, for our upcoming Med cruise, we are flying into Barcelona but out of Zurich.