airfare for a repositon cruise

[lssg]

My head hurts...I am looking into taking a repositon cruise this fall...we normally fly out of Detroit Metro Airport...but airfare one way to Barcelona spain is too high....any suggestions...maybe flying out of a city in Canada like toronto or windsor or flying out of Chicago...any suggestions would be appreciated...

[SFCAcruiser]

My head hurts...I am looking into taking a repositon cruise this fall...we normally fly out of Detroit Metro Airport...but airfare one way to Barcelona spain is too high....any suggestions...maybe flying out of a city in Canada like toronto or windsor or flying out of Chicago...any suggestions would be appreciated...

There are many airfare-related posts on this forum, many specifically related to USA-Europe one-way and round-trip. Look through the posts related to air fares and you will see many suggestions.

 

If you are looking for information specific to your situation, you should provide more information: cruiseline, ship, dates of travel.

[6rugrats]

Dates would be helpful.

 

You can get one way airfare from as low as $707 in September or October 2012. Look at LOT and Aer Lingus.

[First Time 2008]

My head hurts...I am looking into taking a repositon cruise this fall...we normally fly out of Detroit Metro Airport...but airfare one way to Barcelona spain is too high....any suggestions...maybe flying out of a city in Canada like toronto or windsor or flying out of Chicago...any suggestions would be appreciated...

 

Consider flying out of Chicago on Pakistan International Airlines. They fly nonstop from ORD to BCN and have some reasonable one-way fares.

[scottbee]

Consider flying out of Chicago on Pakistan International Airlines. They fly nonstop from ORD to BCN and have some reasonable one-way fares.

 

Actually this is being discontinued.

http://airlineroute.net/2012/02/03/pk-ord-s12cxld/

[6rugrats]

Actually this is being discontinued.

http://airlineroute.net/2012/02/03/pk-ord-s12cxld/

Yes, that is why I didn't suggest it.

[lssg]

sorry, here is alittle more information...we are contemplating going to Barcelona spain for the carnival repositioning cruise on November 6, 2012. Airfare one way is very high especial since it will be 3 of us traveling. any suggestions, I will fly out of another airport, what airports have the cheapest flights in the US to Barcelona...we live in Michigan ...thanks again for any help

[6rugrats]

You can do your own search using this site. Change cities, dates, etc. to see what works best for you:

 

http://matrix.itasoftware.com

[SFCAcruiser]

sorry, here is alittle more information...we are contemplating going to Barcelona spain for the carnival repositioning cruise on November 6, 2012. Airfare one way is very high especial since it will be 3 of us traveling. any suggestions, I will fly out of another airport, what airports have the cheapest flights in the US to Barcelona...we live in Michigan ...thanks again for any help

Departing Saturday 03 November, arriving Sunday 04 November from Chicago to Barcelona with LOT Polish Airlines is $653, with connection in Warsaw. I would guess that the fare will not get much lower than that. It would be about $80/person extra to fly from Detroit, so you would have to decide if the extra hassle and expense of driving to Chicago and storing the car is worth the savings.

 

Your departure date should be no later than 4 November. You need at least one extra day to: 1) recover from jetlag, 2) give you some "slack" in case there are travel problems the day you depart, and 3) to see something of Barcelona. Obviously, more than one day in BCN would be preferable. You can get some good hotel deals with Priceline.

[FawnRiver]

I wouldn't suggest going to a Canadian airport. We usually end up flying out of Pearson Int'l (YYZ) and the taxes they charge are beyond stupid.

[scottbee]

I wouldn't suggest going to a Canadian airport. We usually end up flying out of Pearson Int'l (YYZ) and the taxes they charge are beyond stupid.

 

Considering a US air fare includes a built in 7.5% tax, the 'taxes' out of YYZ really aren't as bad as you might think. However, if you're talking about Air Canada's Fuel Scamcharge, that's Air Canada, not the taxes.

[FawnRiver]

Considering a US air fare includes a built in 7.5% tax, the 'taxes' out of YYZ really aren't as bad as you might think. However, if you're talking about Air Canada's Fuel Scamcharge, that's Air Canada, not the taxes.

I'm more talking about the so called "airport improvement fee" (which if you've ever seen Pearson is worth a laugh, only a complete redesign could improve it), but when the taxes & fees can be more than double the cost of the actual airfare, that qualifies as stupid. I should have included the "fees" in the previous post.

[First Time 2008]

The airport improvement fee is only C$25. I call it the WiFi access fee.

 

The stupidity comes from Air Canada's fuel surcharge, which is several hundred dollars, and dwarfs all the other taxes and fees combined.

[critterchick]

I have no experience using the cruiseline air, but for one way travel it is often very reasonable. It doesn't come without issues, such as what happens if there's a delay, but if price is your primary concern, take a look. Friends of mine have used and been very happy with the Royal Caribbean air product.

[SFCAcruiser]

I have no experience using the cruiseline air, but for one way travel it is often very reasonable. It doesn't come without issues, such as what happens if there's a delay, but if price is your primary concern, take a look. Friends of mine have used and been very happy with the Royal Caribbean air product.

I agree that RCCL's Choiceair.com is very good for one-way airfares to Europe. Unfortunately, the original poster is sailing with Carnival and will not be able to use the RCCL site.

[TruckerDave]

What is "too high?"

 

You can also book a round trip and just use the flight over there. I just did a quick check and a one way on United, from ORD on Nov5 it was about $2800. A round trip was about $1100. (I just picked a random return date a week or so later). American round trip out of ORD was about $1100 or so as well (via MIA or London) and over 2k one way. Also, look at flying on a little earlier as the 5th is a monday, you might be able to get a tad cheaper on a weekend. I think that $1100 to go from Chicago to Barcelona and back is pretty reasonable. Chicago to Boston and back....another story.

[djc4410]

Regarding using one flight segment of a round-trip ticket to get to or from a repositioning cruise, just be careful if you plan to try this. Sure, it works if you use the first flight coupons to get to the cruise and throw away the return flight coupons to come back, but it doesn't work if you try the reverse and don't use the outbound flight coupons, expecting to be able to use your return flight coupons. Why? Very simple. If you don't fly outbound on your first flight, you are a "no show" at the gate and your entire flight itinerary is cancelled when the flight is closed out following departure. I know, as I used to be a gate agent and did this every day. If you show up two weeks later at the other end and try to use your return flight boarding passes, you'll find your reservation has been cancelled. You would have to pay the full price of a same day "walk up" fare at the ticket counter plus a reticketing fee, so whatever value was left on your original ticket won't come close to paying the new ticket's cost.

[scottbee]

I'm more talking about the so called "airport improvement fee" (which if you've ever seen Pearson is worth a laugh, only a complete redesign could improve it), but when the taxes & fees can be more than double the cost of the actual airfare, that qualifies as stupid. I should have included the "fees" in the previous post.

 

the AIF is $25, the us equivilent is the PFC (generally around 5-8$). However, US airports are subsidized by FAA grants, which are funded by the 7.5% tax built into US airfares; so on a US$200 airfare; there's $15 of tax built in that you don't see, plus the PFC and it's a pretty close call...

 

However, I again point out that Air Canada fuel surcharge which on east coast-Europe flights exceeds the actual per-seat fuel cost, is merely a way of misleading advertising.

[kenish]

the us equivilent is the PFC (generally around 5-8$). However, US airports are subsidized by FAA grants, which are funded by the 7.5% tax built into US airfares

 

Not much different here in the US. The PFC and fuel taxes on every ticket (and on avgas for general aviation aircraft) go into the Aviation Trust Fund. The money can only be used to improve or refurbish airports, navaids, ATC, etc. The funds has grown steadily to about $9 billion since inception in 1970. Since Congress hasn't been able to figure out a loophole and spend it elsewhere, they refuse to appropriate most of the fund. The balance is used to help offset the Social Security deficit in Congressional "voodoo accounting".

 

The aviation industry applied a lot of pressure about 10 years ago to release the funds....so Congress did another smoke-and-mirrors game. Most of the Trust Fund got *allocated* to projects...but Congress hasn't released the funds and most of the badly needed projects have never starTheyted. report that only $700 million is unallocated, but they don't report the Fund continues to grow with most of the money unspent.

 

There's a reason why the FAA is the world's largest user of vacuum tubes. Thankfully that's declining...much of the ground equipment is being "modernized" from 1940 to 1970 technology.

[Zach1213]

Just do a search of all airports within 90 or 120 miles of DTW and see what it brings up. But just don't make the mistake a lot of people do - remember to factor in driving costs, etc. Gas is going nowhere but up...if you save $200 by flying out of Chicago, but have to drive to Chicago, that $200 savings is suddenly only $100 or so (gas, tolls, food, other factors that go in to auto maintenance)...and is that worth a 9 hour roundtrip drive? Not in my book. So make sure you don't just look at airfare, but everything else you'd need to get to another airport.

[waterbug123]

If you show up two weeks later at the other end and try to use your return flight boarding passes, you'll find your reservation has been cancelled.

 

Actually, you wouldn't even be able to get your return boarding passes. You can't get a boarding pass until you check in for the flight, and you can't generally check in until 24 hours prior. So if you area no-show for the outbound flight, when you try to check in "two weeks later" for the return flight you would not be able to complete the check in process and would not get boarding passes.