Grasshopper

My college age daughter is headed to Germany for an academic year; Aug. 11 through July 19. Airfares for that time and period are coming up outrageously high. Any suggestions on how to do this affordably? She doesn't really want to plan a trip home for the holidays. Can you get an open ended return and stay in the affordable range?

WillTravel

What prices are you finding?

Has she consulted with statravel.com and TravelCuts? Lots of people have gotten good deals - I don't know about that particular time, though. What would the cost of the cheapest throwaway roundtrip ticket be and then the cost of either a one-way or another throwaway roundtrip ticket when she is coming back?

I met a young woman who had gotten a British Airways open-ended ticket for a reasonable price a couple years ago.

And also look for the Cheap Flights forum at http://www.eurotrip.com/forum .

Betsy

Have her ask about this through the affiliate college/academic program that's arranging the experience . There are student agencies that provide tickets for situations like the one you're describing. You ARE going over to see her some time during the year, right?

Grasshopper

Betsy, Suprisingly the school just dumped the logistics of getting there and back on the students. In the past, when my girls have done this, they have had the travel arranged for them.

As far as going to visit her while she's there.... I was wondering how I could conceal my trips to Europe from her while she's there. (jk, of course. She's already campaigning for family visits)

Thanks, WillTravel. I'll print this thread out for her in a couple of days and let her search some more. The fares she got offhand are something like $3000! I have considered the separate RT trips, throwing away the returns.

Huitres

STA Travel and Council Travel are both travel agencies geared towards student travelers/budget rates. Likewise, her university should have a travel center on the campus or access to discounted rates as a student. At UCLA, there is a travel center that faculty, staff, and students have access to, with negotiated rates of 20% off flights on United Airlines, Northwest, and Continental. She might look into that first, before trying the airlines directly as the rates will be higher.

AAFrequentFlyer

Grasshopper,

It's impossible to price an open end ticket on most if not all web sites. The only way to do it is by phone or through a travel agent. Get on the horn, and you may be surprised at how much cheaper the ticket will be, in comparison to what you are getting now.

With the advent of internet travel booking, many of us forgot that on occasion it's ok to call the airline/hotel. The travel fares/rates search engine technology is still not all there. There ae situations where a person to person contact could result in big savings.

Also, try to contact a reputable, local travel agent. The $25-50 fee may be worth it. This is still one of the special situations that most of us can't do on our own, unless we are willing to pay a high price.

Good luck!

N2it

Grasshopper

Between what cities is your daughter flying between? We did this with our daughter for the 2003-04 school year in Paris. Don't bet she won't come home for the holidays!!

WillTravel

Grasshopper, I'm sure you know this already, but do consider the possibility of the cheapest trip possible to London, followed by some other option (low-cost carrier) to get to Germany. The main difficulty with that would be shipping the amount of luggage she will no doubt want to take on a low-cost carrier. Maybe you can think of an alternate method for shipping that.

OReilly

Grasshopper:

A couple of suggestions:

1. Check flights to London and then buy a cheap seat from Ryanair or Easyjet to Germany

2. Check out a cheap Charter tickets on a "holiday" Charter Airlines to somewhere in Europe (preferably London) and, if the return date does not suit, throw away the return. Do the same for the return, next year. Note: Before you do this, check out the conditions of her student visa - she may NEED to have a specific return date.

3. Check out low cost options through Canada (not sure where you are located) on Canadian carriers. In addition to Air Canada, you can check out the charter airlines. For example, http://flyzoom.com/ , fly to London and Glasgow; Air Transat do cheap charter fares, SkyService work through various operators and are an excellent airline. I can get you more details from local Travel Agents and send them to you, if you are interested.

Regards ? Ger

Grasshopper

Thanks everyone. Some great tips here. She has to go to Stuttgart (from SFO). We have already figured that London or Paris might be her cheapest port of entry to Europe. She can always go a little early and take the train or cheap fares. She's studied in Europe before so she knows about packing light, buying there, and being away from home for a long time. (of course she's got a boyfriend this time I think she might have more trouble leaving).

We'll certainly check out some of these things. Grazie!

rhkkmk

check with LTU ...it is a german airline that usually flies charters to usa...i think they stop in florida and ny area...

LeslieC

Also, look at flights into Frankfurt, with a train ticket Frankfurt to Stutgart.

Another low cost carrier from London to points in Germany is "German Wings" at www.germanwings.com

Singletail

Since she's done some of this before as you have said perhaps it is time to get HER a little more directly involved in the process rather than Mom doing "all the work."

sfowler

All of these are good suggestions.

Our Macedonian "son" uses statravel.com a lot [as well as agencies specializing in travel to the Balkan region.] Once you get beyond a month tickets become more expensive, but some digging around should reveal one that won't make you pass out.

Grasshopper

Thanks Singletail... I was waiting for that one. Actually, I just emailed the whole thread to her.

I posted this to help her out. She's pretty busy working and studying right now. Do you ever help anyone out?