Transatlantic Flights Home

[SplashMom]

We have booked the transatlantic cruise on the Magic for next year (May 2019) but the flights are crazy. As Canadians, we pay high costs anyway but these make no sense. I can fly to Barcelona return for $770 per person but if I only want to fly home, one way, on the SAME FLIGHT, it is $3990 per person!! That's the economy price, lol. How can that be? We have been checking for weeks now and it is still the same. Does anyone have any insight into why a one-way flight can be so much higher. I understand that it may be a bit more, but this is crazy. I don't know if we can do the cruise if we can't get reasonable airfare. Has anyone else run into this??

 

[fredandkell]

Sadly this is very, very common. We looked into using Delta Skymiles for one-way tix and paying for the other half, and we had the same issue as you--the cost of the one-way tickets were insane. We did find the one-way points tickets to be half the cost of the round-trip points tickets, though, so if that's an option for you, you may want to consider it.

Also check out this interesting thread over on TripAdvisor: https://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowTop...ip_Tickets_for_One_Way_Flight-Air_Travel.html

 

[PrincessShmoo]

We have booked the transatlantic cruise on the Magic for next year (May 2019) but the flights are crazy. As Canadians, we pay high costs anyway but these make no sense. I can fly to Barcelona return for $770 per person but if I only want to fly home, one way, on the SAME FLIGHT, it is $3990 per person!! That's the economy price, lol. How can that be? We have been checking for weeks now and it is still the same. Does anyone have any insight into why a one-way flight can be so much higher. I understand that it may be a bit more, but this is crazy. I don't know if we can do the cruise if we can't get reasonable airfare. Has anyone else run into this??

We found that those open jaw flights (or one ways) are often more costly than round trip flights. For our TransAtlantic cruises we let DCL book the flights, and the price was pretty good.

Another way around your dilemma would be to purchase 2 round trip flights (at $770 per person), one set of round trips to get you there (missing the second leg back) and the other set to come back (again not taking the second leg). That would price out to $1540 per person, cheaper than the $3990

 

[lilsonicfan]

I am on this cruise too and also am from Canada -but haven't even started to look at flights yet b/c I usually go through google flights and it doesn't even go to May 2019 yet!

 

[SplashMom]

We are leaving from Miami so it's no problem to fly there one way and cruise to Spain but it's just the flight back from Barcelona. I have considered just booking the return flight but I've been told that if you do that and miss the flight over, the airline could just cancel your return portion. That makes me nervous.

Our flights aren't out for May 2019 yet either but we have been checking for months because we considered doing it this year. Hasn't changed in months but it just doesn't make sense. I may try Disney...can't be any worse, lol.

 

[dcassetta]

We are leaving from Miami so it's no problem to fly there one way and cruise to Spain but it's just the flight back from Barcelona. I have considered just booking the return flight but I've been told that if you do that and miss the flight over, the airline could just cancel your return portion. That makes me nervous.

Our flights aren't out for May 2019 yet either but we have been checking for months because we considered doing it this year. Hasn't changed in months but it just doesn't make sense. I may try Disney...can't be any worse, lol.

As you're thinking about this, what you want to do is book a round-trip flight FROM Barcelona, not a round trip to Barcelona. That way the flight you're skipping is the one that goes back to Barcelona.

 

[PrincessShmoo]

I have considered just booking the return flight but I've been told that if you do that and miss the flight over, the airline could just cancel your return portion. That makes me nervous.

What you do is purchase the round trip flight from Barcelona to Miami and back (at the end of the cruise). That way the first flight is the one you're taking. The return flight (Miami to Barcelona) is the one you miss.

 

[SplashMom]

Good point! Never thought about that one...thanks!

 

[clten]

If you look at some of the economy carriers, they typically have one way fares that are half of the round trip cost. But their flights may not be out yet. Not sure where you are in Canada that you might be able to catch up with some of these carriers - Norwegian Air, Aer Lingus, WOW, etc. The times we did the Transatlantic, we had very good luck with Iceland Air (wasn't into Barcelona, not sure if they fly there) - the one way fares were so good we upgraded to their Economy Comfort (or whatever they call it) class! We kept an eye on airfare to book when we saw the flights at the price we wanted. But typically booked only 5-6 months before the cruise.

 

[gilsan]

We are in Halifax and have booked one-way flights for 3 different transatlantic. I haven't paid more than $400 per person on a flight.

I agree with the previous poster check out airlines like Iceland Air, Condor, Air transat, and Wow air. They charge a reasonable rate for a one-way flight to Europe. Norwegian Air had a press release that stated they will start flying to and from Canada in July.

Another option is to fly from Barcelona to Paris or London and fly home with WestJet, Barcelona is pricier than other European cities to fly from and you can get very cheap flights within Europe. We are flying to London for the WBTA for $305/person this year.

If you collect Aeroplan points that is another way to fly. You don't get a great return on your points but it is the cheapest way I have found to fly one-way to Europe with Air Canada. Also like another poster said use google flights to find the best deal. You can check the flights for the same time this year to get an idea of the cost. If you can stomach waiting to buy flights you can often get a good deal a month or two out.

 

[CyndiLouWho]

There is also an app called Skiplagged which will search for your desired route but also include routes where you skip the last leg. For example I want to fly Chicago to Philadelphia, Skiplagged might find me a cheaper flight to Buffalo with a layover in Philadelphia. Skip the last leg to Buffalo but take advantage of the cheaper flight.

BTW, many airlines haven’t even released flights for May 2019 yet.

 

[Intr3pid]

We are doing Europe next year (2019), but here are some tips to have fun on your way over or back.

1. Look into Aeroplan reward tickets. They are incredibly accessible and allow redemption on any Star Alliance member. They also allow one or two free stopovers in each direction - with no real limit on the stopover duration. You could realistically fly from Barcelona to Paris to Reykjavik to, say, Toronto - while stopping in Paris and Reykjavik for a week each - for the same number of points.

2. Iceland Air and WOW have a free Icleand stopover program. Basically, you break your trip in Reykjavik for up to 7 days for no additional cost.

3. Take a train (or fly to) to a different airport first. Use the new Google Flights feature to see the nearby airports with better prices.

4. Use specific airlines such as WOW, Primera, or Norwegian - but you will need to book ahead to get those headline $100 or $140 fares.

5. Be flexible!

 

[wanderlust7]

+1 on the low-cost airlines. Another newer one is Level Airlines (still codesharing with Iberia). They fly non-stop to Barcelona from Boston, Oakland, or Los Angeles.

For our trip flying to London with Norwegian, back from Barcelona with Level Airlines, I basically stalked their schedule release. They release later than the legacy airlines and can be a bit unpredictable exactly when. Fares tend to start low and work their way up.

 

[Rasmonton]

We are doing the transatlantic this year and ran into the same problem. Solved it by flying on vueling airlines to London Gatwick from Barcelona, then a one way flight home on westjet that was quite reasonable.

 

[germandisneymom]

What you do is purchase the round trip flight from Barcelona to Miami and back (at the end of the cruise). That way the first flight is the one you're taking. The return flight (Miami to Barcelona) is the one you miss.

Exactly.
Just to let you know:
If you have the fight to Barcelona first, the airline not only could cancel the flight back. They will, definitely. No doubt. You can not do this.

 

[dclpluto]

As others have said look into Disney air. They are normally really expensive. But on the one way transatlantic flights they have a really great price. It’s been over 10 years ago since I did the transatlantic thou.

 

[ivanp91]

In addition to what other people have said, it is WAY too early to expect reasonable prices for flights. Many airlines do not even release their tickets until 11 to 12 months prior to the flight, and it can take several months for the fares to reduce. Trying to book 13 months out isn't the best idea.

 

[kiford]

When we've done Med/Europe cruises, we usually visit family in Germany either before or after the cruise. We always end up purchasing round trip tickets to Munich from wherever we're sailing out of and just only use one of the tickets. The price of a one-way is always 3-5 times the cost of a round-trip ticket. We were recently looking to get tickets to Italy using points. We're flying into Rome and out of Milan but there were no business class tickets available on points. So we tried to get two one-way business class tickets on points to Rome - over 900,00 points (!!!). I don't understand it at all but if getting return tickets works and you only have to use one direction, then that's what we'll do.

 

[Shanti]

We have booked the transatlantic cruise on the Magic for next year (May 2019) but the flights are crazy. As Canadians, we pay high costs anyway but these make no sense. I can fly to Barcelona return for $770 per person but if I only want to fly home, one way, on the SAME FLIGHT, it is $3990 per person!! That's the economy price, lol. How can that be? We have been checking for weeks now and it is still the same. Does anyone have any insight into why a one-way flight can be so much higher. I understand that it may be a bit more, but this is crazy. I don't know if we can do the cruise if we can't get reasonable airfare. Has anyone else run into this??

See what DCL Air quotes you. They might be able to come up with something better.

 

[Rudisdey]

We had the same problem in 2017 with our EBTA. We live in the Netherlands and searched for a one direction flight to Orlando. After searching we had some choiches:
- Norwegian from Amsterdam via Copenhagen to Orlando ( we choose this one)
- TUI Fly from Amsterdam to Orlando Sanford
- Air Lingus from Amsterdam via Dublin to Orlando
- Icelandair from Amsterdam via Kevlavik to Orlando

So we had some choices. And they were all cheaper than Delta and other airlines.