US Air - Does This Make Sense?
 

We live outside Philly and want to fly from here to Zurich approx. June 13/ret. July 5. If you've researched fares, you know how expensive it is right now for summer fares. And US Air just made Zurich a Non-Stop flight from Philly (yay!).

The cheapest fare I have found has one stop from *LaGuardia* in NY to Zurich, with one stop - naturally, it's in Philly! It's a US Air flight, #710. Have done all the research with various sites, the RT fares are all around $1200. Except Priceline....which has the LaGuardia fare for $890. (Which means I can probably get it cheaper than that through Name Your Own Price, another Yay!)

BUT.....

Obviously I would MUCH rather not have to go the 4 hour drive to LaGuardia, go thru the 2 hours at the airport, sit on the plane for an hour, sit in the Philly airport for ANOTHER four hours...plus the NY parking fees....

My son is autistic, which will not make this part of the trip a picnic. It's almost like the airline wants us to suffer for an entire day to save $1100. (There are three of us in the family.)

Can we just buy the ticket from LaG, and get on in Philly? They are changing planes in Philly - so we would not be using up the plane seat from NY to Phila - so they could sell that to someone who would stay on the plane afterwards.

Is it true that if I get on a flight on the Stop then it might negate the fare I negotiate? I would be glad to pay the LaG fare, and get on 10 hours later! :D

No, when you don't board at LGA they will cancel the rest of your reservations.

The fare difference is $310 for one, so it's $930 not $1100 difference for three. Subtract differences in fuel, tolls, and parking.

The *fare* difference is $310. It will still cost me that much in parking, gas, tolls, 3 meals, etc. We will be away for three weeks. Down here, I can get rides to and from the airport so there is no parking, we can eat at home, and there are no tolls. And I won't have to find ways to entertain my kid. (Maybe there were real reasons that kid on Air Tran was having a fit....)

Not to mention that if I were able to work for those 10 hours I would spend sitting around, it would be worth more than the difference in price....but if I take the LGA flight, I can't work the day before now, because I will have to use *that* day to get ready because the whole day of departure is lost.

An option is CO non-stop out of EWR. Fare for your dates is $1026.70, all in.

Sounds like you've got it all figured out, so I wonder why you asked the question.

What doesn't make sense to me is your math. You said $1200 from PHL or $890 from LGA. But, somehow, you said you would save $1100 total by using LGA.

Now I think I did understand that "the *fare* difference is $310". But there are three of you traveling so the fare savings for the three of you is $930.

You say that the added cost of tolls, parking, fuel, and meals is about $310. So now your savings by using LGA is about $620 minus whatever value you place on the extra time that three of you would spend.

Well, No, mrwunrfl, I don't have it figured all out. And my math works out with all the expenses and both adults not working for the day. Plus if You'd like to entertain the kid for the 10-12 hours we are going to have to spend if we go up there.....go right ahead. Let's hope he doesn't have an Air Tran moment.

I just don't get why we can't get on the plane in Philly. It makes no sense to me. The flight is *not* the same plane. Why do the airlines do this??

rkkwan - Thanks for looking, but $1000 per person is more than I want to spend.

With three people in the family, that's almost $3100. I have never paid more than $600 for a ticket to fly to Europe in my Life. And while the kid is in school, we are stuck going in the summer. Or I'd go Now!!!

I guess we will have to put off Zurich, Austria, Italy, etc. for another year, if the fares don't come down. I just can't afford to spend that much of my budget on a plane.

Icelandair BWI-AMS with a connection at KEF is $732 on your dates. There are other possibilites, like Air India EWR-CDG non-stop, etc.

And it's still early to book for summer travel. Good deals are hard to find for those June/July dates, but doesn't mean they don't exist. You just have to be more flexible.