I don't know where I've been all this time, but I've never booked intra-Europe flights with an outfit like this. I'm planning a trip that will include Italy and Croatia, specifically Dubrovnik, Split, and islands Hvar and Korcula. Looks like we can fly from Rome to Split, ferry between Split, the islands and Dubrovnik, then fly Dubrovnik to Frankfurt and home or Dubrovnik to Zagreb to Amsterdam and home for $200 or 300 per person beyond out tickets over and back. What a deal. Seems too good to be true. Those of you who have used europebyair, what has been your experience? Any problems? Anything to look out for? All comments and advice appreciated.

Assume this is the concern that sells youflight coupons good on various airlines for a set price per coupon/segment.
I would make certain as to what is require to use them, i.e., do you HAVE to make reservations in advance? are there any restrictions on using them and do these restrictions, if any , VARY from carrier to carrier? How far ahead are you buying...can you be reasonably assure that the carrier you plan to use will still be in the program on the actual flight date?
Luggage restrictions...probably charged by weight intra-Europe rather than by "piece"....be prepared for that.
I think it is a great idea and as long as you are flexible I suspect it will work..and with the money and time you'll save all the better. Good luck.

Thanks Jon Jon. Is there someone else out there who has used europebyair who can tell me how to do it? Doesn't seem to be an on-line reservation process for the $99 tickets or am I missing something?

We used Europe by Air last May. We were very happy with their $99.00 special. We flew from Madrid to Lisbon and from Lisbon to Paris. We had the tickets ahead of time but had to stop at the air line ticket offices at the airport to confirm and pay tax. We had a little bit of a problem at the airport in Lisbon only because the person at the counter was new and did not know how to handle the tickets. Everything went well after several minutes of worry. I would use them again in a heartbeat!

JMV,

I believe ther is a phone number you can call and talk to an operator about the ticket. They give you "tickets" for specific airlines. I will try to find the telephone number...

Jmv,

Check out europebyair.com for the telephone number for help. Maybe you already did this?

Thanks. Yes, I have the phone number and I will call it. I was just wondering if there were some kind of direct internet booking possibility as there usually are with airlines.

I have never flown the airlines that will serve the routes you are flying - - nor have I purchased from europebyair.com - - but I think they these are all independent airlines that share this marketing agreement through europeByAir as a consortium.

Each airline, like any small airline may represent a business risk, and would have to be evaluated independently. There are plenty of cases where a lower fare may exist than the $99 AirPass fare by booking with the airline directly.

Best wishes,

Rex

I used Europebyair for a flight from Budapest to London a few years ago. I made all arrangements over their 800 number and everything was fine. My tickets were stolen and I had no problem having them replaced without any hassle.

I used them in 2002 (Brussels to Vienna and back, Brussels to Madrid, Madrid to Barcelona (?, not sure about this)) and they were fine. I made reservations for the flights I wanted but I had to validate the coupons at the airports prior to using them. Airport taxes were extra. I think that you could even change the reservations without penalty.

They were fast and courteous on the phone.

As rex mentioned, it might be good to check directly with the airlines as to prices for specific routes -- I know that my Spanair flight from Madrid to Barcelona was a Europe by Air booking, and I think that it could have been cheaper if I had booked directly with Spanair. Still, it was really easy dealing with Europe by Air and I would definitely use them again.

Just wanted to clarify the (?) after Madrid to Barcelona -- it was a Europe by Air booking, but I couldn't remember if it was $99 or less. They mailed me an actual flight ticket for that segment, if I remember correctly, rather than a coupon that I had to validate separately.

jmv,
I used them several years ago for two domestic Spain flights on Spanair, and however, it actually would have been cheaper to have booked a discount web fare with Spanair directly. Could have saved 10-15 euros per ticket. But I also purchased a Madrid-Oporto voucher which was indeed a money saver.
The procedure was easy enough, but I did have to validate my voucher at the customer service counter first & pay the tax before proceeding to check bags and receive my boarding pass.

For intra-European flights, I don't think the $99 fare can possibly be beat. I may use Europebyair this summer for a one-way Madrid-Paris on Aerolineas Argentinas because Air France and Iberia airfares between those two cities have been running quite high.
For your itinerary, I would go for it.

<<For intra-European flights, I don't think the $99 fare can possibly be beat.>>

Well, clearly, this is not true.

BCN-VCE on europebyair.com $99 USD

BCN-VCE on volareweb.com 29.99 euro

Or did you mean specifically the PAR-MAD route only?

Is Volare Italian -- I mean, it uses cities in Italy as hubs?

Well, I don't mean to speak for Maribel, but I think that she's referring to the routes that jmv is asking about. Of course, she was a bit vague, but we all are. So technically she's not correct, but I think that we both knew this -- certainly we both realized that it could have been cheaper had we booked directly on Spanair.

In any case, unless booking with the airlines directly is much cheaper, it may be easier to bypass the hassle by dealing with a central agency like Europe by Air. It does happen to be a useful resource, in my opinion.

And of course, I meant to add that Volare is useful too, but I doubt that it's very useful for getting between Dubrovnik and Split, for example, unless you can show me otherwise.

jmv,
Sorry to have been vague. I meant that the $99 EuropebyAir voucher in the case of Mad-CDG, as far as I have found in my search, can't be beat, but I'll keep tracking that fare with Air France and Iberia to see if it comes down before buying my voucher so as not to overpay.
I sure haven't checked *all* European routes to see if a o.w. fare exists lower than $99!
Hope I've made myself more clear now.

<<I doubt that it's very useful for getting between Dubrovnik and Split, for example>>

You're right. In contrast to some of the other airlines in the EuropeByAir consortium, the fares made available there by Croatia Airlines are HUGEly lower than anything on their own website. In fact, it's odd; I checked a whole bunch of routes on all kinds of dates, and their website consistently (100% of the times I checked) returned a message that economy seats were not available and then quoted Business class only (usually for 380 euro or more - - I wasn't sure about the fares quoted in Croat koruns). I was checking for one way flights only, which may have been the reason for never finding economy fares.

But clearly this is a very good thing about europeByAir.com - - the $99 flight pass fares never need a return, nor any additional segments if you don't need them (a change from the old days when minimum three segment rules existed).

I apologize if my "tone" came across as attacking Maribel. It didn't seem like she was referring to Croat routes, and thus, there was the possibility that other newcomers might interpret the "no better than" assertion as systemwide for EuropeByAir.

Yes, volareweb is an Italian company, though their website now proudly proclaims that they are poartnered with Hapag (Lloyd) Express in Germany. Competition (with bigger players like Ryanair and Easyjet) from airlines like this will likely produce win-win situations for the flying public in Europe.

Hi rex, thanks for the response and for doing the research, which I was too lazy to do. I apologize if I sounded sarcastic or harsh myself -- I just assumed that what Maribel intended was clear from context.

You're quite right, obviously, that the flights can all be one-way flights, so that's great. On the other hand, as I mentioned, airport taxes are separate, but they were very clear about that when I dealt with them (they could also give an estimate if you ask).

Thanks to all of you for so much information. Am I correct in my assumption that you validate your vouchers with the actual airline you are flying at the airport rather than some kind of europebyair kiosk or somesuch? This whole business of cheap intra-europe flight has me very excited. Seems to open up side trips to almost anywhere at the beginning or end of any trip. Hope Istanbul is included in a consortium somewhere. If any of you have ever played the children's game Journey through Europe, this feels like living it. Exciting.

Hi, when I used them in 2002, I validated them with the the airline's counter. As someone else mentioned some of the airline employees may not be familiar with the coupons, but I found that there was usually at least one person who knew what to do about them.

Obviously check with Europe by Air to see if the procedure has since changed.