airfare
 

Greetings! I'm going to Europe next May with a friend. I'll be using a frequent flier ticket. We'd like to fly into the city that is least expensive for her. The choices are Prague, Milan, Rome, Zurich, Lisbon, or Madrid. If it matters she's coming from Colorado. <BR> <BR>Does anyone have any thoughts on which cities tend to be less expensive to fly into? <BR> <BR>Thanks in advance.

There are so many variables -- dates, specials, how booked the flights are.... it's impossible to advise you on this. A good way to start checking into it is to get on Travelocity or one of those kind of sites and start comparing prices for your target date. Or, get on the phone with a travel agent, and have them do the checking for you.

<BR>Nicole, do you have a tentative itinerary yet, and does it include all those cities, and how long is your trip?? All this is going to make a big difference. If you have only a couple weeks to spend, that's a lot of territory to cover. Of those cities, probably Lisbon or Madrid (haven't been to Prague) would be among the least expensive, Rome will be the most probably, and in fact Rome will be difficult to get into with ff mileage or even with full fare because of the Italian Jubilee. We are going to Italy end of May and have already booked our ff miles using Milan since Rome was impossible. We've been told too that Rome and Florence hotel availability is next to nil so we have other plans. So if you haven't actually decided on which countries/cities, and your friend's airfare is a concern, perhaps skip Italy this time. Portugal and Spain are inexpensive and wonderful! May is not high season, so your friend should be able to get some kind of a decent fare. (example, earlier this year, end of April, our fare on NW/KLM, Seattle to Madrid via Amsterdam, returning from Lisbon in May, was $378.00 pp rt. Then we used miles to upgrade.) Have a wonderful trip.

Hi, Nicole. Check the web site of the airline on which you will be using your frequent flyer miles to see if it is possible to get price quotes on various destinations and scheduling options for comparison. I recently did the same for Delta Air Lines (www.delta-air.com) and was surprised at the relatively lower cost of flights to Paris and Rome versus Zurich and Munich. Delta’s site will allow you to forecast up to 10 months in advance for exact fares and schedules. Additionally, compare prices to the same destination for different departure and return days of the week. Travel on weekends, as well as holidays, often adds to the cost of the fare. However, weekend travel may not be an option if your airline is like Delta which does not permit the use of frequent flyer miles to and from Europe from the U.S. for travel on Friday, Saturday, or Sunday between mid-June and mid-September. Also since you will want to book your flight well in advance to ensure getting one of the more limited seats using your frequent flyer miles, many of the last minute discount fares which could benefit your friend may not be possible if you intend on traveling on your flights together. My wife and I booked our Delta flights 7 months in advance for our frequent flyer reservations to Zurich for our trip in September, 1998. In fact, Zurich was our backup plan destination, since even 7 months in advance there were no Delta frequent flyer miles seats available to Munich, our preference, on the various dates we were available to travel. <BR> <BR>The airline for your frequent flyer miles should also have other airline partners. Don’t overlook comparing fare prices to get your friend the best deal and using your frequent flyer miles on the partner instead of the primary airline. That can provide some interesting options for you as well. Our trip to Zurich last year was actually booked with Swiss Air (a Delta partner) on a Swiss Air ticket for Swiss Air blocked seats that were actually on a Delta aircraft operated by a Delta crew. The irony of this use of Delta frequent flyer miles is that the dates of travel corresponded to “blackout dates” by Delta’s rules prohibiting travel using frequent flyer miles, but was perfectly acceptable under Swiss Air rules! <BR> <BR>Remember, also, that airlines use a “hub system” in Europe the same as in the U.S. to maintain their operating cost efficiencies. Primary hubs include London, Paris, Frankfurt, Zurich, and Rome. Therefore, a flight to Prague would add additional cost to the fare due the requirement for an extra flight leg from one of the hubs. However, your airline’s frequent flyer program may allow an intermediate stopover at no additional charge for you. This could be useful if you wanted to plan an itinerary with an arrival in Europe at one location and return home from another point in Europe (often referred to as “open-jaws” ticketing). The difference in the expense for your friend could be minimal in comparison to the ground travel (train or car) expense and wasted time (back tracking your route) in following a European itinerary requiring arrival and departure from the same airport. <BR> <BR>You need to consider the airline hubs in the U.S., as well, in trying to find reduced fares, particularly from Denver where your friend would need to fly first to Dallas, Chicago, Atlanta, or New York to connect with the flight leg to Europe. Your friend might want to consider a discount airline such as Southwest to get to the connecting U.S. hub, or even consider driving. For example, fares from Tallahassee are notoriously expensive in any direction and the subject of considerable debate among local government and business leaders and even the Florida Legislature. Consequently, many people drive 3 hours each way to get a less expensive flight in Jacksonville. My wife and I flew round-trip to Dallas from Jacksonville at half of the cost from Tallahassee, saving almost $500. However, in my recent exercise in exploring airfares next year to Munich, the additional cost of travel from Tallahassee to Atlanta to Munich and return was only about $50 per person more than if originating from Atlanta. <BR> <BR>As you can see, there is no simple answer to your question. Understanding airline pricing can be as challenging as understanding the national debt. However, don’t let it overwhelm you. It’s all part of the “fun” of planning an exciting trip to Europe. Rich <BR> <BR>

Rich- could sure use your airline knowlege in Cheap Flight Forum at www.eurotrip.com- come on over and say hi- its kind of slow right now but will pick up for the milenium- your help would be much appreciated by other travelers.