Info on taxes for Europebyair
 

In planning my fall trip (Paris-Dubrovnik-Rome) I called Europebyair to find out what the taxes and any hidden charges above the $99 are. Talked to a very nice person at 888-321-4737. She said each departing airport determines what the tax is and each one is different. She said this tax can change too. She told me that the tax right now for Paris - Dub. would be $60. Coming back, Split to Rome it would be $40. If I were to fly from Rome to Split, it would be approx. $45. She said London and CDG seem to have the highest tax. She said Europebyair in turn charges a $15 shipping fee to mail you the paper tickets. So what started out being a cheap $99 fare, is not so cheap after all. She also said you can buy your tickets on line or call the above number and they will help you. No difference in rates. So I'll be tacking on an extra $300 to go to Croatia - is it worth it? I could eat crepes while in Paris, no taxis, drink only cheap wine, stay in a cheap apt., eat lots of pizza in Rome ....

I would suggest that you check out the discount airlines yourself through

www.whichbudget.com

It sounds to me as if Europebyair is a little like Raileurope (or is it Europerail?) that charges supplements for this, that and the other thing.

The schedules and fares for the fall will probably not be up yet, but if you go through the process of "reserving" flights, the Web sites will give you a final figure for the air fare. (Most of them start with an eyecatchingly low fare, then add on taxes, etc., so it is worth the trouble to work it through to the final figure.)

Eloise - I have tried whichbudget.com and it does not show any flights from Paris to Dubrovnik.

Barb,

You're right; I'm sorry I gave you a bum steer.

But I went to Europebyair. According to that Web site, Paris to Dubrovnik costs TWO flight passes at $99 each - one to Zagreb, then another from Zagreb to Dubrovnik - for a total of $198 before taxes, etc., etc.; both flights are with Croatia Airlines.

Croatia Airlines gave me a price in HRKs or something similar; my bank's foreign exchange doesn't list Croatian whatevers. If yours does, the amount was something like 3748 (or 3478?)Croatian whatevers, one way Paris to Dubrovnik.

Frankly, I'm going to stick to Italy...

Ha, I know what you mean - it is a challenge. There are only specific days where you can fly direct Paris to Dubrovnik. Took me awhile to figure that out. I think only Tues. and Sat. I guess $300 is the price I'm going to have to pay - could be worse I guess.

Type "currency converter" into Google and you can figure out what the dollar equivalent of any currency is.

The gift Ira gave me once:

http://www.xe.com/

Bookmark it, check it daily like I do, and you'll get a feel for how far your buck will go anywhere in the world.

Jules

Occasionally you can get cheaper airfares by dealing directly with the airlines that Europebyair uses. My experience, which is not vast, is that this need not be the case. For example, when you go to airline XYZ, it may quote you a fare that's much higher than what Europebyair will quote you.

As you pointed out the taxes are separate for Europebyair coupons.

And it also depends on what the exchange rates are.

I also get the impression that Europebyair cancelation and change policies are more liberal -- I can you can call abroad and change flights if you need to. Typically not the case if you book directly with the airlines. But I could check this point if you think that you may want to make changes.

I'm not concerned with currency conversion as the quote the person at Europebyair gave me is in US dollars. If I dealt directly with Croatia Air, it would be much more $$, trust me. Besides the possible $300 (taxes do fluctuate I was told) for the airfare to and from there, I also have to figure in transportation to and from the airports - so the cost is adding up. Price I have to pay for traveling solo. I must really want to go to Dubrovnik! Working on a very budget place to stay in Old Town.

Hi Barb:

Have you looked at booking directly through Croatia Airlines for the Zagreb to Dubrovnik portion? Looks like you can book only 6 months in advance (so a good part of July is there now) and that fare, tax and ticket service fee adds up to about $29 Euro if you can get the FlyPromo (non-refundable tix). I am waiting for September to become available, then hope to use Europebyair for my Split to Rome portion.

What I meant by the exchange rate comment is that if you buy your ticket directly from the airline, it will be quoted in Euros. So because of the exchange rate fluctuations, your ticket may be cheaper or more expensive than the one on Europebyair. But I agree that this is pretty insignificant in the grand scheme of things. Usually it'll be obvious whether Europebyair is cheaper than the airline itself (the prices are usually pretty far apart so as to make one option irrelevant -- but the prices for the intra-Greece flights can be similar (Europebyair uses Aegean, I think)).

I used Europebyair passes last summer, from Venice to Athens. We saved us a lot of $$$. However, they were definitely a hassle. When we got to the airport, we got in the huge line-up, and by the time we got to the front, the kind lady advised us that we had to find a tax booth and pay our taxes first before we receive boarding passes. And of course, the line-up at this tax place is even longer! So we paid something around 40 Euro each for taxes...but still, when I went to price this flight with the same airline months before, they wants 400 eur each, so in the end, we saved. But remember to pay your taxes first!

Best of luck!

Happycheesehead: I can fly direct Paris to Dubrovnik - no need to go to Zagreb. Actually I am trying very hard to not have to go Zagreb/Dubrovnik as this would be much more $$.
Jamesandi: Thanks for the heads up on the tax booth. I remember reading that here - maybe it was your trip report? Was is near the ticket counter and was it marked as the tax booth? Is this a tax booth just for Croatia Air, or for the airport in general? I guess it's a good idea to allow lots of time to find the right place.
Has anyone flown the Paris to Dubrovnik route? and dealt with this issue at CDG?

Barb, with which airline did you find that you could fly directly Paris-Dubrovnik, not via Zagreb? I'd like to get from Dubrovnik to Paris in June.
THanks.

Hi Stevensc- I will answer on behalf of Barb. I believe her plan is to fly Croatia Airlines using a Europe By Air pass. They have a website www.europebyair.com and you can use it to search flights. You might need to look at multiple dates - only SOME days of the week have direct Paris Dubrovnik flights (which I would assume also sell out more quickly), other days require you to connect in Zagreb.

Barb, any more luck? We are now considering Croatia for the fall, and are thinking of using Europe by Air (or another low-cost carrier) to get into Croatia and using the ferry to get out of Croatia (or vice versa) to save a little $$, but I'm holding out a little hope that I can eventually find a decent flight to Croatia without having to go through all of these routes. By doing some searches I have found some flights from Chicago to Zagreb for about $800. Much more than I usually spend to get to Europe, but probably cheaper in the long run. Otherwise we may go the Venice-Croatia-Rome route that I mentioned before. I just hope that it will be worth it in the end....

Tracy

Well the plans are in the works - just booked my flight to Paris and back from Rome through Travelocity with NW. Costs a little more than I like, but I am flying from my home town to Seattle and then back too. So now I have to book my flight from Paris to Dubrovnik and from Split to Rome and find a place to stay in Dubrovnik and the rest will be the fun part of the planning. Tracy, good luck with the ferry part. I found it was cheaper, easier and quicker to just fly. Stevensc, like cheesehead said, there are only certain days you can fly Paris to Dubrovnik direct. You can call 888-321-4737 to find out. They are very helpful.

I too have looked at EuropebyAir a number of times. Can someone please explain the tax booth concept to me? Does every airport have one of these? Would I just ask at the information counter to find this?

It's not really a "tax booth." In the past I've used the airlines' individual service counters. Needless to say, if you choose to stand in the checkin line, you'll be redirected to pay your taxes first anyway.

Just based on my experience, but you may of course experience otherwise.

Last year in Lisbon, I prepaid my taxes when I flew into Lisbon (before I left the airport), as I didn't want to deal with the hassle when I was leaving Lisbon (I think it was for Malaga).

Congratulations Barb! Your one step closer to getting to Croatia! Please let us know how everything goes with the ticketing.

I think your right; after looking at the ferry schedule again it would be just as easy and probably cheaper to just fly.

I am having a surge of hope for our fall trip. I found that Aer Lingus flies to Dubrovnik during certain times of the year, including October. I can usually get flights from Chicago to Dublin for a pretty good price, so now we are considering that route. I guess only time will tell...

Good luck with the future planning!
Tracy