misha2

I am overwhelmed trying to figure out all the moving parts of our trip. I swear I have tried to do research, but I am still uncertain.

We are going in early July from the US to Paris and then Mumbai. On our way back -- mid July. We will leave out of Delhi and want to stop at any European destination for about two days to break up the trip. We have a code for Air France that is supposed to offer us a discount because Paris will be a business trip for my husband, Is it generally cheaper to fly the same airlines in and out of a country? Should we really travel out of Mumbai to get the best rates? (These costs seem to change dramatically every time I look into this. And, I can't seem to figure out if/where else Air France flies in Europe out of Delhi. Also, have most of you found that it is cheaper to book internal flights as part of international travel or, in a place like India, to book separately? I thought it would be the latter. But, oddly that does not seem to be true. I know these are lots of questions and I'll have to just work this out, but I thought someone might have some tips.

Thanks,
Sonia

travelgourmet

- Air France flies to and from Mumbai, Delhi, and Bangalore to Paris. You would need to connect to any other European city.

- KLM flies from Delhi to Amsterdam and you could probably combine a KLM flight with an Air France flight without additional expense.

- Yes, it is usually cheaper to fly the same airline (or at least codeshare partners) into and out of the country. Splitting between Air France and Lufthansa, for example, would likely price as two one-ways, which would be more expensive.

- I'd be a bit surprised if there is any significant savings flying into and out of Mumbai, vs doing an open-jaw into Mumbai and out of Delhi. The exception would be if, as you get closer to the date, one of the flights begins to sell out.

- I'd think it will be cheaper to book internal flights separately. Look at some of the low cost airlines, such as IndiGo.

doug_stallings

Honestly, I don't really see the advantage of scheduling a stopover in Europe to "break up" your India return flight just to make your flight 5 hours shorter. It will almost certainly add to the expense, and because there are now nonstop flights from the U.S. to India, it would make more sense to break up your trip home in a cheaper place like Chicago or New York (yes, NYC is cheaper than Paris right now, especially in the summer), depending on your airline.

You might look for a SkyTeam fare instead of just an Air France fare if you want to do all these different routes on connected airlines. Now that could save you some money and give you more options for a European stopover without costing more. But I don't think any of the domestic India carriers are part of SkyTeam, so you'll likely have to book those flights separately.

Finally, this is a trip that cries out for a good travel agent, who can help you arrange the trip from beginning to end. This sort of complex itinerary is the thing true experts excel at. Please I beg of you to look into a travel agent.

misha2

Thank you so much! I will look into the Air France/KLM option, travelgourmet. Doug, a person we are travelling with needs to break up the trip in Europe, otherwise we we go direct. i never heard of SkyTeam and would look into it. I have asked one travel agent who seemed utterly confused. I think I will go ahead and try another. Is there someone who specializes in this kind of stuff that you would suggest?

Thanks,

dutyfree

Sky Team has many airlines but the major players are Delta,KLM,Air France and Alitalia-I think if you look at the codeshares you will find a winning combination for what you need in Mumbai.

misha2

Thanks, I will google this to learn more. Wow. Can't believe I knew nothing about this.

travelgourmet

Just to clarify, SkyTeam is one of the major multi-airline alliances. The level of cooperation between the partners varies from partner to partner and route to route, but you can expect relatively efficient transfers between partners. They also tend to codeshare heavily.

With Delta, Air France, KLM, and Alitalia, however, they take it further. They operate their transatlantic flights (and flights from Amsterdam to India) as a joint venture. This means that you are largely able to mix and match between the three airlines to get the best schedule, without paying a premium. As Air France and KLM are owned by the same company, you see the same mixing and matching between those airlines worldwide. Alitalia rounds out the group, but they don't fly to India, so they won't be much use for this trip.

<i>there are now nonstop flights from the U.S. to India, it would make more sense to break up your trip home in a cheaper place like Chicago or New York</i>

A couple of points on this...

1) There aren't that many non-stop flights from the US to India. You have Air India and United out of Newark, and Air India and American out of Chicago. But American is dropping their flights in February, reducing the options for a July flight.

2) If you have to connect somewhere anyway, stopping in Europe is pretty efficient from much of the country. I have friends that fly from Boston to India and they always choose to connect in Europe, rather than through Newark.

3) A non-stop from the US will clock in at 15+ hours. If I'm doing that in coach, I'd probably choose to break up the flight.

qwovadis

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Happy Huntinng!

misha2

Thank you thank you thank you. Travel gourmet I feel like things are much more clear now. Qwovadis I will look at this too. It seems to me that we are better off booking separately round trip to Paris from the US and then to and from Paris to India. Does that make sense?

Qwovadis, unrelated to this forum, but perhaps a way to get a message to you -- I noted that you really like the location of the Rennaissance Arc De Triomphe in Paris -- do you still love it?