Airline/Flight SAS or Swiss Air

[2Scots]

Hi - We will be traveling on the Crown Princess from Copenhagen in June 2008. I am researching air fares and airlines to book right now.

 

My question is regarding SAS vs. Swiss Air. Is there any reason to choose one over the other? Does anyone out there have any comments positive or negative on either of these airlines?

 

Looks like from a price perspective they are both about the same. I am finding a price on Orbitz of $1005.00 RT from Houston. I think this is about OK but any comments are appreciated.

 

Thanks for any input.

 

2Scots

[ab0si]

Everything being equal (times, connection airport, equipment, ability to pre-select seats, frequent flyer points, etc) I would choose Swiss International. Of course all those things are never equal. So, in reality:

 

1) SAS flies older planes, but they are in the process of upgrading the interiors.

 

2) Zurich is a great airport for connections.

 

3) Some of the SAS flights might be code share -- Lufthansa, for example, or perhaps United.

 

4) Make sure you are comparing all-in costs (taxes, fees, etc.)

 

Paul

[2Scots]

Hi Paul - Thank you very much for the response. The price I got on Orbitz includes the fees but the stops on the way back are Zurich and Chicago and than on to Houston. SAS going to Copenhagen through Chicago, and Swiss Int'l coming back through to Chicago and than United back to Houston.

 

We hate to stop twice on the way back but I think this is the best airfare pricing we will get for the June timeframe of 2008. I am a bit scared to wait any longer on this route for fear of the dreaded increase. We couldn't quite get the connections on the FF miles this time I was trying every which way.

 

Again thanks for the input.

 

2Scots

[2Scots]

Hi - Just thought I'd make a comment here about something we are experiencing. I have been trying to get our airfare from Houston to Copenhagen for the last few days. There are 3 of us.

 

There is pricing of $1001.00 (for our dates) including all taxes and fees on several sites such as Orbitz, Cheaptickets etc. . Each time I have gone on to try to purchase at this price these prices are not available and a higher price ticket is available.

 

Both of these sites continue to advertise the price above but neither has it available for sale. Is this a case of bait & switch? Seems that way to us.

 

I also called and talked to the sites CS line and was told that these tickets are already sold out for the quantities at that price ........ so my question is...... why do they continue to be advertised as available? It has been many days now and they could of been taken off the site by now.

 

Each of these sites have no problem listing how many tickets are left in their inventory as available, so I'm trying to understand why they can't put text referencing something like "No Tickets Available" next to the ones that have sold out of their inventory.

 

Are there others out there that have experienced this same type of issue?

 

Thanks for your comments.

 

2Scots

[wrp96]

It sounds like what is happening is there is one seat (or maybe 2 seats) available at that fare, so when you try and book 3 seats you are automatically going to get bumped up to the next fare bracket.

[2Scots]

Hi - thank you for your comment. I tried 1 and 2 just in case. I also asked the CS rep about it and she said not tickets are left in inventory.

 

Very frustrating and time consuming to go through over and over.

 

Thanks again.

 

2Scots

[breakiron]

My suggestion is try www.kayak.com, it may take you to other internet sites that have tickets. When I looked there appeared to be seats available in the $1100 range. Good Luck, Ken...

[luvs2beachit]

Hi,

 

Thought I would just add my 2 cents here.

I too have been checking all the websites for the best fares to Copenhagen.

We are going in Aug. out of NYC....I found the best rate was for Aer lingus

ranging from $551 to $571............but I had a question and could not find the answer on the Web so I called Aer Lingus to find out the info. While talking with the agent he advised me that I could book the flight and pick our seats directly with him for $491 a person.........$60 less then the cheapest rate online !!!!!!! (priceline, Kayak, Travelocity, Orbitz etc) Same flight!

Strange......but great for us!

[2Scots]

Thanks everyone for your responses. We are going with SAS through DC for $1,158.00 per person.

 

Have never flown SAS before but heard it is a pretty good airline.

 

1 stop not so bad! We are happy with it!

 

2Scots

[KINGBOBOFTHENORTH]

Many of those on-line sights store cookies on your computer so that when you go back some of the detail is still there. What can happen is that prior availabilities/fares are posted that really are no longer available. Each day you do a new fare search you should clear your cookies and start fresh.

 

Other strategies for finding lower fares:

1) Try ALL the on-line sights; not every airline is on every website and some have negotiated prices the others don't. Try Expedia, Orbitz, Travelocity, Opodo as well as the websites of individual airlines.

 

2) Call a travel agent. They have CRS access to fares the on-line sights don't always have and they have access to consolidators with unpublished fares.

 

3) Price fares from NYC to your destination and add a separate ticket from your origin city to New York. Add the two together and compare to the through fare. Because of the competitive situation in NYC, you can sometimes save hundreds of dollars because fares are lower or there are airlines flying to Europe from there that don't have fares from your city.

 

BobK/Orlando