Calex

We are travelling to Europe in Late Sept 2006
This trip includes a cruise from Istanbul to Venice. Always when we travel we like to add a few cities that we haven't visited before. This year Vienna and Budapest. My plan is to fly to Budapest from Toronto - train back to Vienna - flight to Istanbul- flight from Venice to Toronto.
Looking at flights that cost 2500 - 3000us pp when is the best time to book and what is the best possible price that I should expect.
All input appreciated.

Carol

Gavin

Carol, your flight cost estimate is very, very high. I would fly Toronto to London and have brief visits there (I like London and my wife does not like long flights so it breaks things up) and use Easyjet or BA to Budapest. BMI and EJ fly Venice to London. For the Vienna to Istanbul flight it might be better to book a return flight and never return to get a better fare than a one way. If London is not your cup of tea price a round trip to Budapest or Vienna and work from there. Remember that if you stich the pieces together yourself you are responsible if it falls apart so leave enough time for conections. I always do at least an overnight when I do this. A good travel agent might be worthwhile here. This should be doable for about C$1500.

Now is far too early to be booking anything for September unless going on points.

tedgale

I cannot comment on the cost of flight to Istanbul. I agree that the flight costs you quote seem very high.

Have you considered Malev (Hungarian national airline) non-stop from Pearson to Budapest's smallish but spanking-new Ferihegy airport? They have nice service and offer a business class that is not grand but very little more expensive than economy.

The train to Vienna takes about 2 hours 40 minutes and is an easy trip.

BTW: according to Malev the return flight to Istanbul from Budapest in late Spetember could cost as little as 30,000 HuF, which I reckon from memory at about $200 Cdn!

(Or you could fly Austrian airways to Vienna, probably via London)

Gardyloo

If you fly in British Airways' premium coach ("World Traveler Plus&quot from Toronto to London and back, the price for most September dates is around US$1000, say C$1160.

<b>Bought separately,</b> an economy class &quot;open jaw&quot; ticket - London-Budapest, Venice-London, is around C$200; business class for the same flights is around C$500. So comfy over the water plus comfy intra-Europe comes to something like C$1700, not $2500 - $3000.

For reasons known only to the Gringotts Goblins, aka the British Airways tariff department, the <i>through-ticketed</i> ordinary Kramped Koach price from Toronto to Budapest, back from Venice, is indeed the $2500 figure you quoted. In other words, buy two tickets, save a grand, buy one, lose your shirt. Sheesh.

All that said, keep your powder dry and wait till around Feb/March. It looks like fuel surcharges are falling, and my hunch (worth exactly what you're paying for it) is that prices for late-summer trans-Atlantic flights are going to come down. Too many airlines have put too many seats on the north Atlantic routes for somebody not to blink.

Gardyloo

Meant to add, Calex... next time, leave some spaces in your title. Fodors has not yet figured how to wrap the titles in the left-hand frame, so it goofs up the whole thing.

Calex

Wow, thanks for all the input. I will continue to track all the e sites for a while longer. Having major back surgery mid Jan. so felt like I had a gun to my head to put everything in place. Now I can relax a little. This trip is my push to get back on my feet real quick.

Gavin

Good luck with the surgery and recovery. These things can take a while to get over. I suggest that you not commit to anything until you know you will be up for it. My sources tell me that major back surgery can take a year, or more, to recover from.