jlzcohen

My husband and I haven't traveled to Europe for two years. Now that we are checking different sites for a flight to Paris and home from Amsterdam, we are very upset at the cost of taxes and fees. Most are almost double the basic fare. Does anyone know of sites that have better fares. Is it better to try with a particular travel agency instead?
Thanks for your help.

nytraveler

Have you looked at Kayak and the other discount sites using the multi-destinaiton function? There's nothing any travel agency can do about government taxes - or fees imposed by the airlines. (Unless you try for a consolidator- and all the associated risks.)

Andrew

Fuel prices are also higher than they were two years ago. Airfares from the US to Europe are simply a lot higher than they were years ago: fact of life. I'm guessing the taxes you paid in 2009 were not much higher (as a percentage) than they are now.

But airlines still have fare sales. If you watch you can find occasional deals. Some sites will even email you when the fare on a certain route drops below some set price.

doug_stallings

You can find the best fares in the world, but the taxes and fees don't change (except for the booking fee). It simply costs more to fly to Europe now than it did a few years ago. That's not going to change. Fuel surcharges definitely vary by airline, so that will definitely vary but has nothing to do with your booking engine or travel agency.

greg

My experience is that once obvious high commission vendors are eliminated, the air fare has less to do with WHERE you buying the tickets from, but more to do with WHEN you are buying tickets, WHEN you are traveling, WHAT TIME of day you are traveling, WHAT airport you are going in and out of with respect to YOUR airport, HOW MANY layovers you are willing to accept, EXTERNAL factors impacting occupancy of that route etc. These are all part of every changing market conditions.

Since so many factors unknown to you are involved, you have to play with different itineraries over some time period to capture the fare acceptable to you. Fare alert is one easy way to monitor changes. However, you have to keep playing with several booking engines to see what they offer. No one knows when the fare bottoms will be, if any at all. From my experience, it is unlikely to be within 2 weeks of departures and also unlikely to be 11 months ahead of the departures. Sometime between these two extremes, the airlines need to go after the price sensitive market to fill the planes.

Also, I recommend you look at the air segment as a part of the overall picture. For example, in your other thread you mention Venio as your last stop. Does the flight have to be in CDG out of AMS? Can it be in CDG, out FRA, in FRA out of CDG, etc.

The_lonely_traveler

Simple question: why fly? The Thalys train is faster, probably more comfy and almost certainly cheaper. One way Paris - Amsterdam starting €35.

ssander

We've taken the Paris-Amsterdam Thalys (albeit only between Brussels to Amersterdam), and I, too, suggest taking it rather than flying. It will be a LOT faster from hotel-to-hotel -- not marginally faster -- since it will be city-to-city rather than airport-to-airport, and also because there are no security/luggage/check-in issues to deal with. Just go to the platform, get on the train and go.

The flight itself is 2 hrs shorter, but you will spend a lot more than 2 hrs extra getting to/from the airports plus getting to the airport early enough to get through security, check luggage, board, taxi to the runway, etc....not to mention the hassle of airports in general. Both Amsterdam Centraal and Paris Gare du Nord are simple to navigate.

If you are flexible and you buy tickets in advance, you can get really cheap fares.

SS

ssander

...airfares vary a lot, of course, but you probably can take Thalys first class for less than the price of a regular flight from CDG to AMS. Tickets are as low as ~$115 (dollars!) one-way Paris-Amsterdam first class...much more comfortable than a standard seat on a plane.

SS

Andrew

Why spend an extra $115 on a train ticket when an open jaw flight into CDG/out of AMS would probably cost the same as (or be cheaper than) a round-trip? In 2009, I could have taken a direct flight home from Amsterdam, but it was cheaper to originate in Paris and connect in Amsterdam to that same flight...

Michel_Paris

Agree that you need to be 'creative' in your searches. Leaving on a Fridday and returning on a Sunday might be more expesnive than a Thursday/Monday. What time of year? is there flexibility there?

The other area to consider is mentioned above. Your end points are Amsterdam and Paris. Your starting point MAY be your home town or not.

For example, I found my home airport to be too expensive for flights, so I drive ~2 hrs to another airport (in another country BTW) and fly out of there. Is there another airport nearby or reachable via a cheap flight (Southwest for example) that would be cheaper?

Have you looked at mulit-hop flights versus direct?

Then, you look at the other end. If flying in to Brussels is cheaper, go there and train to Paris or Amsterdam. There are some ultra cheap airlines in Europe (but beware of small print) that maybe you could even fly into somewhere like Dublin, then fly over to Paris.

What is adds up to is this. If the cost og getting there and back is paramount, with some 'inconvenience' and 'flexibility' you may be able to get there cheaper.

Christina

I can't imagine what websites you are using that double the fare for "taxes and fees" for those cities, I have never seen that, so you need to look at other airlines, if it is one particular airline you are using. The only place that tends to do that (or airline, I think) is British Airways from what I've seen. All the other airlines I have ever checked (and I've flown to/from Paris a lot) add on taxes and fees that amount to around $150 a RT ticket. I just took a flight on Air France into Barcelona and out of Paris, and the added taxes/fees were $154 on a base fare of about $700 for a total of $850. That's the same thing I've seen on other airlines I've checked, that's the norm.

jlzcohen

Thank you for your help everyone. I am sorry that I didn't clarify the flights - we are planning on taking the train once we are in Europe. I was just talking about flying from Phila or Newark and yes we have tried many different locations and discount sites and multi-cities to fly to and from the states. Oh well, we will keep on checking. Thanks again.

tower

jtz:

I'm another Thalys fan..supercomfortable fast trip Paris to Amsterdam...no comparison to the 2 hours+ wait at CDG.
Important to note exactly, when are you planning to travel?
Bottom line...if you want to travel, it will cost more than yesterday, so figure your budget accordingly. Maybe you'll want to slice a bit off your lodgings (2* or 3* rather than 4 or 5), maybe forego some of the big and expensive lunches/dinners...go for the mom and pop's found everyhwhere. If you really want to go back to Europe, it can be done within a reasonable budget as suggested. You've got to do the homework (which you seem to be doing). Best wishes for a wonderful re-visit!

Stu Tower