Airlines??

Old Mar 20th, 2015, 06:22 PM
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Airlines??

This is my first trip to Europe a little nervous flying, I have never been on a flight longer than 2.5 hours. We are looking to book our flights this weekend and have heard poor reviews about many airlines. Can anyone shed some light upon them? We are looking at Westjet Airlines or Iberia Airlines. is it really worth the additional $250 for Aircanada or Air Lingus.

Any help would be helpful!!!


Thanks!!!
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Old Mar 20th, 2015, 06:37 PM
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Flying from Halifax to Helsinki? Montreal to Moscow? Winnipeg to Warsaw?
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Old Mar 20th, 2015, 07:12 PM
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No we are flying from Minnesota, USA
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Old Mar 20th, 2015, 07:16 PM
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Then I'd probably fly Delta as you can fly direct from Minneapolis (assuming you are not far away?) to Europe. Although a direct flight may be longer, it is much simpler to skip any connections especially in the US when flying to Europe.

Delta isn't my favorite airline, but my favorite airline (Southwest) doesn't fly to Europe. Delta is just fine. I'm flying them to Europe again next month. The convenience of the connection is far more important than any "reviews" you may read of an airline. Only when flying some budget airline in Europe (like Ryan Air or easyJet) would I even care to read reviews.
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Old Mar 20th, 2015, 07:33 PM
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Delta right now wants $1,000 one way trip to Dublin from here.... West Jet and Iberia are only $700 one way. That is why I was asking if anyone had any input on flights. When flying within the US I fly Delta, but international flights are spendy with them.
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Old Mar 20th, 2015, 07:35 PM
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Why are you looking at one ways? Are you moving to Ireland???
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Old Mar 20th, 2015, 07:48 PM
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If you're not moving to Ifeland and thus returning to US, where will you fly back from? You need a RT flight or an Open Jaw flight( into one city, out of another.)
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Old Mar 20th, 2015, 08:13 PM
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We are one waying our way through Europe, Minnesota to Dublin, Dublin to London (flying), London to Paris (train), Paris to Amsterdam (train), Amsterdam to Minnesota (flight) all will be booked before we leave.
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Old Mar 20th, 2015, 08:15 PM
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Iberia doesn't fly to Ireland, so you're probably seeing a codeshare flight, most likely operated by American Airlines. If you want to share the timing and route, more help can be provided.
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Old Mar 20th, 2015, 08:18 PM
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Westjet is a Canadian discount carrier becoming more mainstream all the time - think Southwest "plus". They have a pretty much perfect safety record. They have code share and interline agreements with most of the major US carriers and many international ones. They are Canada's second largest carrier, at 45,000 per day and the 9th largest airline in N. America.

Iberia is Spain's national carrier, it merged with British Airways in 2011.

I don't think Air Canada is worth the additional $250, one way and am pretty sure that Aer Lingus wouldn't be worth it either - it is more "discount" than Westjet
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Old Mar 20th, 2015, 08:23 PM
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Have you checked multi-city options of flying into Dublin and out of Amsterdam instead of one-way flights?

Then, take your one-way flight and train within Europe.
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Old Mar 20th, 2015, 08:46 PM
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Check thi9s site for prices and airlines: http://www.kayak.com/
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Old Mar 20th, 2015, 08:54 PM
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My choice would be an open jaw Minneapolis to London and Amsterdam to Minneapolis on Delta. That way, you get direct flights to/from Europe: yes, a little more expensive, but shorter flights, no risk of missed connections, etc.

Then as separate tickets fly London to Dublin, Dublin to Paris, Paris to Amsterdam by train, and Amsterdam home. The flights between London, Dublin, and Paris should be pretty cheap.
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Old Mar 20th, 2015, 09:08 PM
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If you want to keep the sequence, choose multi-city booking option for flight, usually a button next to round trip/oneway.

MSP-DUB for leg one
AMS-MSP for leg two.

You should be numbers LESS than twice your Westjet one way options.

Then book DUB-to any of the London airports separately. This is a very competitive route with low prices. Since DUB to London is presumably done several days later from your arrival in Dublin, there is no risk in having a separate reservation. If you try to include DUB to London to your long haul option, you will see the price jumps up significantly.
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Old Mar 20th, 2015, 09:28 PM
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I would do an open jaw round trip on Delta. It gets to be too many stops and too much trouble trying a lot of different airlines.
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Old Mar 20th, 2015, 10:45 PM
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>>We are one waying our way through Europe, DUB and AMS > MSP. This is booked as one itinerary, not two one way tickets.

After you are IN Europe, the train trips and flights can be one-ways - but to/from Europe isn't.

Use the kayak website linked above.

Also look at all of the options (DUB, LHR, CDG, AMS) for your flights from/to MSP because each city is an easy trip from all the others so once you are in Europe you can do them in any order.
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Old Mar 21st, 2015, 04:50 AM
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You should not be buying transatlantic flights as 2 one ways - that will be a fortune.

You do a search for "multi-destination" - from MN into your first city and home from your last city. This should be no more than half of the RT to and fro each city. The way you are listing it you will end up paying a lot more.

Also if you are looking at internal flights you may end up with budget airlines that have a lot of restrictions and extra expenses.

I did a quick run through kayak - without knowing your specific dates - and found Aer Lingus flights for $1047 for all 3 flights on one ticket (MN to dub, dub to london and amsterdam to MN). If you are coming up with much higher number then I think you are doing the search wrong - or looking at the highest fare time of year.
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Old Mar 21st, 2015, 05:26 AM
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WestJet, while admirable, is using its Toronto-Dublin run to test the possibilities of trans-ocean routes. Its narrow-body planes are not built for ultra-long-distance and on this run they have to refuel in Newfoundland.
You have been given good advice about multi-city searches. However, the European budget airlines may be cheaper for internal European flights. Many of those flights are priced on one-way rather than round-trip itineraries. www.skyscanner.com is useful for these flights which often do not appear on the US-oriented search sites. Try doing a multi-city search for the trans-Atlantic flights and a separate search for moving around in Europe.
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Old Mar 21st, 2015, 06:29 AM
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I have a lot of advice to offer about flying MSP to Europe but in your case it doesn't really apply. Icelandair offers the best prices to most Europe but they do not serve Ireland. The other discount airline is Condor but they also do not serve or codeshare flights to Dublin. So dead end on those options, unless flying into Glasgow or London would work somehow, then try 2 one ways since both Condor and Icelandair offer the same price as 2 one ways vs a round trip.

I am not sure how you are getting WestJet to show up since their website does not say they offer flights, even codeshares, from MSP. Are you flying out of Winnipeg?

Another option is MegaBus to Chicago for $30 and get Aer Lingus nonstop from there, then return via Icelandair one way from Amsterdam or Frankfurt or Condor from Frankfurt. Only an option for the young, however.
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Old Mar 21st, 2015, 06:31 AM
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NY Traveler, Maybe I am doing the search wrong, we are looking to leave MSP (July 30th)Arrive in Dublin, Fly from DUB to London (August 4th) then we take trains the rest of the time, until we fly from Amsterdam back to Minneapolis( August 16th)
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