ParisNiceLondon

Hi,

I'm looking to book at ticket US to London and then flying out of Paris the first two weeks of September. I'm traveling with a friend who is coming from Chicago. I'll be flying out of DC. The best deal I've found so far is with Finn Air (from Chicago) at $744 with stops in Helsinki there and back. Looks like a longer layover (5 and 8 hrs). From DC I've found a flight with Icelandair for $709. The flight requires a 8 hr layover in Iceland and then a 1 hour layover coming back in Iceland again.

I'm a little worried about the 1 hour layover back, but I'm willing to gamble for such a good deal.

Can anyone share their experiences with FinnAir and Icelandair? With such a cheap fare am I missing something? Does anyone think I'll find a cheaper fare? The only downside to the FinnAir ticket I see...it's an economy saver ticket so you can't make changes to it.

Thanks!

Ackislander

Finnair: look at the map: Dulles to Chicago to Helsinki to London How many hours? How much time difference? How wasted will you be when you arrive? If you have 14 days, I bet three of those will be spent in transit with those layovers.

Icelandair is better. On the way over, you can leave the airport for a bit of sightseeing or a trip to the Blue Lagoon. On the way back, you are passing through one of the great hubs: you come and go from many airports all over Europe and North America with great ease. Staff don't know about friendliness, but you aren't on the plane for that long.

Ackislander

Sorry to jump back in, but if you are really going to Nice as well as Paris and London, check Iberia through Madrid and Alitalia through Rome or Milan. They both have connections to Paris and London and both had good advance fares last fall.

Another strategy is to look at one of the many air-hotel packages for Paris and London and just skip any of the tour stuff you don't want to be involved in. We did it to Rome in November 2010 and two of us had airfare, hotel and transfers for less than the cost of airfare alone if we had booked ourselves.

ParisNiceLondon

My screen name is a bit outdated. We decided to skip Nice to so we could have more time in London in Paris.

ParisNiceLondon

My friend would take FinnAir from Chicago to London while I would be taking Icelandair from DC to London. We'd meet up at the airport or at the hotel in London.

Ackislander

Lucky you.