ToujoursVoyager

If this were my trip (and it is not, so it might not fit your needs), I would fly the nonstop Atlanta to Munich round trip, $780 per person on Air France.




Enter your dates in the Momondo search engine (depart Nov 16th from Atlanta to Munich; return Nov 26th). It will offer you a nonstop with Air France. It will redirect you to Orbitz.com to book it. While I strongly prefer to book directly with the airline, when doing it on the Air france website it quote you $1,037 round trip per person instead of $779.07. You decide if the savings are worth not booking directly with the airline.

What I like the most about that flight is that it is a direct flight overseas. But this roundtrip is not an open jaw (arriving into one city and departing from another). You can play with the cities on engine search and see if you can find something else.

Arriving in Munich at 9:10am, you have plenty of time to take the train to Vienna on Nov 17th.

My favorite side trip from Vienna, would be Salzburg (if you like the Sound of music then it is a must see). But I agree with a poster above that the 8 days that you have will go by very quickly. Also, the parents of the babies might just be happy to stay in Vienna the whole time. There is a lot to do (playgrounds, Sisi museum, classical music concerts, splendid old world coffee houses etc..)

Good luck!

PalenQ

If Salzburg then go there first from Munich and end in Vienna but I guess if they have a place to stay in Vienna could be a day trip but a couple of hours each way - nice place to stay a few days.

5alive

OP I like your plan in Post 38. I also like it that you are visiting Munich after Vienna. Then you will be near the airport for your flight home.

I would very much like to go to Munich someday, for all the reasons mentioned above.

Order your plane tickets on the airline's website itself. Also: get a frequent flyer membership with Delta. It's free and there is no obligation to fly with them again, but if you do, you will start racking up miles with international flights.

ToujoursVoyager

yes to 5alive's suggestion of getting a skymile number with Delta. It looks like you have multiple trips to Austria in the future and you might as well start accumulating miles for your next flight. Get the skymile number first before buying the ticket.

Sue81

Hi, Yes that is what I do, use FF miles on Delta to Europe, if you get an Am EX Delta FF miles card you get one free suitcase on flights if you book on the AM EX card, which is helpful. I've had numerous free flights using FF miles over they years. Esp if one lives in Atlanta it makes sense. your neighbor. However the FF miles needed has doubled over past years.

5alive

Sue is correct in everything she said. But to expand a little bit.

1. You can get a Frequent Flyer account--called Skymiles on Delta. This is just a free account, like a free shopper account at your grocery store.

2. In addition--if you want to--you can get the American Express card that has Skymiles. You don't HAVE to do both.
Two advantages of this--and most frequent flyer credit cards--are that you get priority boarding (behind First Class but before the group of regular seats). And, you get one free checked bag on domestic flights (international flights still have one free checked bag automatically).

3. What many of us do, is take out the Amex card, pick up all those miles for opening it, and then a month before the free year ends and the big fees kick in, cancel it. I am aware that cancelling cards left and right can potentially lower your credit. If you don't do it regularly and have strong credit, it is probably not going to be a big ding on your score.

4. IF you want to take out the credit card and use it for this flight, you either need to:
a. order the card and wait for it to arrive. (Could be a few days or a week or two?)
b. order the card as you're buying your tickets. This did not work well for us. The webpage had a popup that told us the credit card # or code to enter. But we had pop-ups disabled so we never got the code. We ended up not buying the tickets with the card we just took out.

ellenem

The key to getting value of the American Express Skymiles card is paying off the card every month. The interest rates on the card may be higher than some other creidt cards, so check carefully. The higher rates may cancel out any mileage benefits if you don't pay the full bill each month.

tamtot

Great idea on the credit card suggestion.
We are members of Delta Skymiles, but we tend to fly Southwest
in the US, so we don't have many in our Skymiles account.
But that's all about to change
Thanks so much.
I'm obsessed with this whole trip.
Even ordered a German Rosetta Stone cheap on ebay.

Sue81

TAmtot, one more issue with Delta, is to put your big purchases on the Delta card/AM EX, just pay in full each month as others mentioned. If you are married keep all miles on one name if both have a FF Delta sky miles card/AM EX, as you have to BUY the miles from your husband. I would not get the card and then cancel it, just pay in full every month if you can do this to avoid interest, which can be a lot. To buy miles is costly. Remember you can save baggage fees to with this card. Sue

tamtot

Finally purchased tickets to and from Munich!
Delta direct flights and did the comfort plus!

5alive

Hooray! Glad you made the plunge. Are you flying on to Vienna or taking the train?

Sue81

Tamtot, You will find that pinching pennies on flights can be a nightmare. This is a special trip to see family. You could be sitting in the Newark airport for a couple days while you get bumped or in Amsterdam with bad weather. The first day will be a wash with jet lag, so it will be more like a 9 day trip. You will be accumulating FF miles for both you and spouse on this trip, so you can buy miles from each other for a single trip back at a later date. I don't think you will be sorry esp at this bad weather time of year.

ToujoursVoyager

I glad you book your ticket! You are going to have an amazing time.

I agree 100% with 5alive and Sue81 about the airmiles points. All of my credit card earning airmiles autopay themselves so there is never any interest that accumulates. The biggest advantage that I have had over the years with the points is the ability to book business class, first class, or even suites, for a nominal fee using my airmiles. For example I booked my parents in a side by side Singapore suite on our flights from Singapore to Paris thanks to points. Flying becomes a luxurious experience in its own right and not just something that has to be endured.

Sue81

tamtot, how long is that train trip from Munich to Vienna? or others? I assume that is the closest you can get to Vienna via Delta direct flight? I am flying to Vienna next year on same carrier, so will probably do the same. Have a nice trip. Does train come right into the airport, which I assume it does?

swandav2000

For Sue81's question --

In Munich, the airport is linked to the city by S-bahn, not a long-distance train. Travelling from the Munich airport to Vienna will take around 5h or 6h, with 1 or 2 changes (first change will be at the Munich main station).

You can look at the schedules for the journey at the German rail site

www.bahn.com

and use:

From Munich airport
To Vienna

and all the information will pop up.

Have fun as you plan!

s

tamtot

Ok, I haven't yet booked the train, but our flights are 8 hrs direct from Atlanta to Munich.
I decided to bite the bullet and not try to penny pinch the flight, mostly because you all
spoke truth, and it's our first Eurpoean trip so we'd prefer not to be losing our minds
stuck up in NYC or something praying for snow to melt so we can fly

We've decided to fly into Munich, and then son and fam will take train over
and join us for a couple of days. We can then sight see there,
and then spend the remainder of time in Vienna.
Having said that, we'll need a couple of hotel rooms in Munich.
I have HIlton points, but not sure we want to stay at the airport,
as I'm thinking it's probably not central to everything we will
want to see.

Any recommendations?

Thanks!

PalenQ

Well, you should book those Munich-Vienna train tickets ASAP - discounted fares can go quickly.

Trophywife007

There's a Hilton "Munich City" that's about a 20 minute walk to Marienplatz if you're set on using points (we stayed there about 25 years ago so I don't have any recent info on it) but if not, we've stayed at the Platzl Hotel which was very conveniently located. Dukey recommended it and we were not disappointed.

swandav2000

Hi again tamtot,

I stayed for 5 nights at the Hotel Blauer Bock, just across from the Viktualien Market, and I really enjoyed it.

Have fun!

s

nanabee

I don't have any helpful info as I have not been to Germany and you have gotten such great advice already.
You mentioned an airline credit card.
However, I would not use an airline credit card for miles. We currently have a Chase visa card and every purchase we make whether a 1.00 purchase at Jack in the box to a $2000 refrigerator at Costco you accumulate miles. It is far easier (I think and others may have different or better advice) to book whatever airline you want on the day and times (with no blackout dates) you want.

Chase also had (may still have) some great offers of large amounts of free miles and other percs for opening an account.

I don't like B of A but we also got a B of A card soley for the purpose of getting free ATM use at their "sister" banks. in Germany I believe it is Deusche Bank.