Question for Greatam about Intl. Air

[imsulin]

Love your posts, and you have such great knowledge and information! I'd appreciate it if you would reply to my post. :)

 

While lazing in my bed on weekend mornings, I often watch Clark Howard. (Really like him - great advice!!)

 

On one of his recent shows, someone asked him about the cheapest way to fly to Europe. His advice was to buy the cheapest ticket from mainland US into the closest EU airport during off-season times, and then take advantage of the really cheap intra-European flights. He also advised that flying during June, July, August would be really $$$$$$$. (Who doesn't know that?) So, instead of paying much more $$ to book directly from the US to a specific European destination, it might be cheaper to fly to the closest European city, and then get cheap European airfares to your final destination. Not sure if this would work for cruising, but could be workable for land-trips. Your thoughts??

[scottbee]

Love your posts, and you have such great knowledge and information! I'd appreciate it if you would reply to my post. :)

 

While lazing in my bed on weekend mornings, I often watch Clark Howard. (Really like him - great advice!!)

 

On one of his recent shows, someone asked him about the cheapest way to fly to Europe. His advice was to buy the cheapest ticket from mainland US into the closest EU airport during off-season times, and then take advantage of the really cheap intra-European flights. He also advised that flying during June, July, August would be really $$$$$$$. (Who doesn't know that?) So, instead of paying much more $$ to book directly from the US to a specific European destination, it might be cheaper to fly to the closest European city, and then get cheap European airfares to your final destination. Not sure if this would work for cruising, but could be workable for land-trips. Your thoughts??

 

While there's lot of discount european airlines; the add-ons for luggage etc will kill you if you're carrying a lot of luggage for a cruise. Also, a lot of the discounts operate out of different airports (STN/LTN vs LHR, HHN vs FRA, CIA vs FCO etc etc)

[imsulin]

While there's lot of discount european airlines; the add-ons for luggage etc will kill you if you're carrying a lot of luggage for a cruise. Also, a lot of the discounts operate out of different airports (STN/LTN vs LHR, HHN vs FRA, CIA vs FCO etc etc)

 

Yeah, I know about European luggage requirements! That's why I'm saying this solution might not be so great for cruisers. Sigh!

 

Well, my great-Aunt Liz Rex has invited me to some Royal thingy next Friday, so I'm thinking about going. I'm just concerned about overweight luggage. And my accommodations!! If it's not en suite with a bidet, I'm heading home!!

[wcook]

Hope you'll forgive an answer from someone other than Greatam...

 

I have looked at that option for all my trips to Europe, and not once has it made sense. The numbers often look something like this:

 

Cheapest flight to anywhere in Europe: $700

Cheapest flight to where I want to go: $1,100

 

Seems like a great opportunity to save money, no? But then when I price it out, those super cheap 1 GBP flight always end up costing $250 round trip once you factor in taxes, fees, and that fact that the flight you want to take is more than the supper cheap "as low as" prices. Then you have to factor in the cost of getting from airport to airport for the transfer, as well as the cost of getting from the boonyville airport Ryanair uses into the city you want. So the actual cost is close to the $1,100 price, if not more. Might as well just take the all-on-one-ticket flight. The hassle and risk of flying on two tickets just isn't worth it.

 

And that's an optimistic scenario. With lots of planning and a little luck, I can often find a ticket to final destination for little more than the cheapest flight.

 

Of course, I'm not a super-duper frequent flier. If I were, maybe I'd bump into situations where the two-ticket strategy does make sense. But, personally, I've yet to see it.

[CruiserBruce]

I am not Greatam, but I think you need to answer a different question. Is cheapest your only goal? What is your time worth?

 

Say you can get a flight from a US airport to your destination for $1400 pp.

 

The cheapest flight you can put together using the method described is $800, but involves two stops and an extra 6 hours of travel time. Is this worth it? Possible missed connections, or your bags not making the connections. What is your time worth?

 

Someone on this board said once, you get what you pay for. Some times cheap is just too cheap.

[greatam]

As everyone has already posted, the additional fees from carriers like Ryan Air hardly make it worthwhile. And DEFINITELY not worthwhile for cruisers with more than a carryon.

 

What IS worthwhile sometimes is getting a DOMESTIC ticket in the USA to get to an international gateway (ORD, BOS, JFK) and using an INTERNATIONAL airline like AerLingus, IcelandAir, Air Berlin, etc. etc. to get to a European destination. The addition of XXX to international gateway and on to Europe often adds MUCH MORE than what a separate domestic ticket costs, particularly out of small, non hub airports. You DO have to time the flights properly and allow for glitches as you have NO protection with your onward European flight. But if you are airline saavy, you can often save quite a bit.

 

Enjoy your royal thingy.

[scottbee]

As everyone has already posted, the additional fees from carriers like Ryan Air hardly make it worthwhile. And DEFINITELY not worthwhile for cruisers with more than a carryon.

 

What IS worthwhile sometimes is getting a DOMESTIC ticket in the USA to get to an international gateway (ORD, BOS, JFK) and using an INTERNATIONAL airline like AerLingus, IcelandAir, Air Berlin, etc. etc. to get to a European destination. The addition of XXX to international gateway and on to Europe often adds MUCH MORE than what a separate domestic ticket costs, particularly out of small, non hub airports. You DO have to time the flights properly and allow for glitches as you have NO protection with your onward European flight. But if you are airline saavy, you can often save quite a bit.

 

Enjoy your royal thingy.

 

Actually you can also utilize the fact that a lot of European RAIL travel is fast and well connected with the airports. We flew YVR-DFW-MAD and then train to Barcelona due to a lack of reward flights. European airports are MUCH better connected to other transportation modes, most of the time being directly connected to rail infrastructure, or in the case of Madrid, offering a cheap dedicated bus (€2) between airport and train station.

 

Another great example is Birmingham/BMX airport. At 1st glance it seems like an insane idea for getting to a cruise at Southampton, but when you realize by train it's only 15 mins further than LGW and 30 mins futher than LHR all of a sudden it becomes a viable alternative.

 

BRU for cruises out of Rotterdam or Amsterdam, MAD for cruises out of any Iberian port (excepting Palma of course) and so on... if you want to overnight, there are even sleeper trains from CDG to Rome and Barcelona, and IIRC there's a sleeper from Munich to Venice.

[greatam]

Actually you can also utilize the fact that a lot of European RAIL travel is fast and well connected with the airports. We flew YVR-DFW-MAD and then train to Barcelona due to a lack of reward flights. European airports are MUCH better connected to other transportation modes, most of the time being directly connected to rail infrastructure, or in the case of Madrid, offering a cheap dedicated bus (€2) between airport and train station.

 

Another great example is Birmingham/BMX airport. At 1st glance it seems like an insane idea for getting to a cruise at Southampton, but when you realize by train it's only 15 mins further than LGW and 30 mins futher than LHR all of a sudden it becomes a viable alternative.

 

BRU for cruises out of Rotterdam or Amsterdam, MAD for cruises out of any Iberian port (excepting Palma of course) and so on... if you want to overnight, there are even sleeper trains from CDG to Rome and Barcelona, and IIRC there's a sleeper from Munich to Venice.

 

Great suggestions.

 

Too bad PHX spent a bazillion dollars on a stupid light rail train that goes NO PLACE close to the airport (you have to get on a BUS off light rail to get to the airport). NOW they are going to add a loop to the airport. Will cost twice as much as it originally would have as the powers that be now have to go back to property owners and negotiate again plus some of the original track is going to have to be ripped up and re-routed to have access to the airport loop. The Europeans did rail right. The USA has no opportunity to ever have a cohesive rail system except in limited places.

[Lookingforfacts]

The low cost European airline (Ryanair) is unlikely to care if a flight delay on your intercontinental flight is the reason why you missed your flight. They'll be happy to sell you a ticket for a different flight.

 

You can't even consider this strategy if you're booking your own connecting flights.

[jwds]

I second the idea of checking on the trains. For our Sept cruise from Venice we found that it was >$300 cheaper to fly into Zurich than into Milan. Flying into Venice was even more expensive than into Milan.

[AZjohn]

Too bad PHX spent a bazillion dollars on a stupid light rail train that goes NO PLACE close to the airport (you have to get on a BUS off light rail to get to the airport). NOW they are going to add a loop to the airport. Will cost twice as much as it originally would have as the powers that be now have to go back to property owners and negotiate again plus some of the original track is going to have to be ripped up and re-routed to have access to the airport loop. The Europeans did rail right. The USA has no opportunity to ever have a cohesive rail system except in limited places.

Not to get off topic, but just wanted to say "so freakin true"!

Being from Arizona all my life but working in Zurich the past year, I just can't explain what a difference there is with a real rail system. Yes, I was the guy who owned and drove his pick up truck all his life in the desert. Now, I don't even have a car here in Europe and can get anywhwere (and I mean anywhere) easily by rail/tram. And, for a fraction of the price that gas cost here;)

[imsulin]

Thanks to all of you for your replies - they really make a lot of sense! My last trip to Europe was years ago - to Ireland. I'd gotten a great deal from Baltimore to Shannon, return from Dublin on Aer Lingus r/t, but it cost me more from ATL-BWE r/t! This was in early November. And, it was an election year. (We were in Killarney when we heard the results). The only future plans I have for travel to Europe is this Friday for that Royal thingy.

 

"Does this hat make me look fat?"