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Grumpwagon posted:We're US Citizens looking to go on a 2 city European trip this fall. We've found a deal on an aggregation site to go from Chicago -> Dusseldorf (one of the locations) and back. We were going to take that, then book a separate flight on the day we arrive from Dusseldorf to Zagreb (the other location). Hi, it's me again, a dumb guy trying to over-complicate my European trip. After investigating this, we decided to drop the German leg of the trip and just go to Croatia. However, after hearing about skiplagging in this thread, it occurred to us that our Zagreb flight connected in Amsterdam. We figured we could get off in Amsterdam, drive to Dusseldorf and still do our German leg. However, we had already purchased round trip tickets, and I've since read that if you don't board one part of the flight, all other legs (including the return of a round trip) are cancelled. I assume there's no way around this, but I figured I'd ask.
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Mar 4, 2022 01:57
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Grumpwagon posted:Hi, it's me again, a dumb guy trying to over-complicate my European trip. After investigating this, we decided to drop the German leg of the trip and just go to Croatia. However, after hearing about skiplagging in this thread, it occurred to us that our Zagreb flight connected in Amsterdam. We figured we could get off in Amsterdam, drive to Dusseldorf and still do our German leg. However, we had already purchased round trip tickets, and I've since read that if you don't board one part of the flight, all other legs (including the return of a round trip) are cancelled. I assume there's no way around this, but I figured I'd ask. You're correct: if you miss any leg, any remaining segments and ticket value is canceled and there is no way around it.
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Mar 4, 2022 04:10
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I just no-showed for my flight to Kyiv with Wizzair on the 20ths and my return flight was still avaible and eventually got refunded. So YMMV but I wouldn't count on it especially with tickets that aren't $20.
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Mar 4, 2022 19:20
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mobby_6kl posted:I just no-showed for my flight to Kyiv with Wizzair on the 20ths and my return flight was still avaible and eventually got refunded. So YMMV but I wouldn't count on it especially with tickets that aren't $20. I wonder if they book round trips as two one ways under the hood with separate ticket numbers? Interesting edge use case in any event.
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Mar 5, 2022 09:58
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Beef Of Ages posted:I missed this post the other day. You can price out FRA/CDG-MCI which will have you connecting in JFK, ATL, ORD, or elsewhere and compare that with the price of booking directly to those cities and then having a separate ticket for the domestic US bits. I would also price FRA/CDG-US and then MEX(et. al)-FRA/CDH as a multi-city ticket to see if it's cheaper than trying to return to the US for a round trip out of a US gateway. Not messing with the US means not dealing with US immigration again as well which, depending on the airport and time of day, can be a significant win. Thanks for the feedback! Indeed, multi-city is the cheapest I found, although tickets are separate. Otherwise, the best option seems to be CDG to ORD, then ORD to MCI and finally MCI to MEX. If I book a round trip CDG-ORD but won't show up on the flight back, it counts as a no-show right? Is there any risk in that?
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Mar 9, 2022 09:00
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Chikimiki posted:Thanks for the feedback! Indeed, multi-city is the cheapest I found, although tickets are separate. Otherwise, the best option seems to be CDG to ORD, then ORD to MCI and finally MCI to MEX. Yep, if you no-show, the rest of the ticket is canceled and its value lost. If you don't have another way home, you can't miss that ORD-CDG segment.
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Mar 12, 2022 14:04
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Beef Of Ages posted:I wonder if they book round trips as two one ways under the hood with separate ticket numbers? Interesting edge use case in any event. Speaking of which, I just booked Krakow->Abu Dhabi->Mattala and back with them for like $100. On separate itineraries so there's a non-zero chance they'll change or cancel a flight and I'll get stuck somewhere but YOLO, right?  Another tip for cheap bastards is combining budget and normal airlines on separate tickets. E.g. Aer Lingus has regular cheap-ish transatlantic flights, and then Ryanair will get you anywhere in europe for basically free. I had PRG->DUB->JFK->DUB->BER (only way it worked for $200) and I just realized I can replace the last leg for like  and save myself a bus trip from Berlin (and for the bus ticket lol)
mobby_6kl fucked around with this message at 10:35 on Apr 22, 2022 |
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Apr 22, 2022 10:26
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I just saved $1000 by booking Amtrak from DC to Chicago instead of flying (only $200-250 total for me and 2 kids.) We leave DC at 4pm and arrive Chicago at 8:45am.
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Apr 22, 2022 11:07
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peanut posted:I just saved $1000 by booking Amtrak from DC to Chicago instead of flying (only $200-250 total for me and 2 kids.) We leave DC at 4pm and arrive Chicago at 8:45am. Is there soem trick to that? Discounts or booking a particular way? I have a trip to NY in May and would like to get around the area without renting car since those are expensive as gently caress suddenly. No specific plan but maybe down to DC and/or to Boston or even Montreal. I kind of dismissed Chicago but could be an option if there's a reasonably fast/cheap way to get there too.
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Apr 22, 2022 12:26
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Amtrak can be economical if your travel aligns with one of their routes but once you get away from the East and West coasts the trains can rack up some heinous delays. The worst one I've personally seen was 20 hours late coming into DC from New Orleans.
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Apr 22, 2022 13:24
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mobby_6kl posted:Is there soem trick to that? Discounts or booking a particular way? I have a trip to NY in May and would like to get around the area without renting car since those are expensive as gently caress suddenly. No specific plan but maybe down to DC and/or to Boston or even Montreal. I kind of dismissed Chicago but could be an option if there's a reasonably fast/cheap way to get there too. No trick, just online booking. My friend suggested greyhound, and when I looked up greyhound the stops were at Amtrak stations and I was like Oh! Greyhound and Amtrak are basically the same price, but Amtrak is faster (if it's not horribly delayed....) (and it's still laughably slow compared to express trains in developed countries)
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Apr 22, 2022 14:16
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Midjack posted:Amtrak can be economical if your travel aligns with one of their routes but once you get away from the East and West coasts the trains can rack up some heinous delays. The worst one I've personally seen was 20 hours late coming into DC from New Orleans. This is very real. We were only six hours late into ELP the one time I took Amtrak outside the Northeast Corridor. Amtrak doesn't own the tracks anywhere else and is at the mercy of the owner (usually a freight carrier) and thus get prioritized down the list causing delays. WAS-ORD looks more reasonable in recent times but plan accordingly.
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Apr 23, 2022 13:56
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New airlines called Norse Atlantic offering 1-way from 5 US cities to Oslo for under $200. This seems like the cheapest way to get to Europe. I can't find anything else under $1000 to get to Europe until after August at least. Do they get cheaper?
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May 16, 2022 19:00
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goodness posted:New airlines called Norse Atlantic offering 1-way from 5 US cities to Oslo for under $200. Ah, the latest incarnation of Norwegian. It's only new in name, same people and aircraft that used to be Norwegian until it was found out that they were being super lovely to their crews by being osstensibly based in Ireland so they could skirt Norway's labor laws. Also, they don't begin service until the middle of June which could change so you're encountering a bit of risk with a ticket on Norse Atlantic, even if it is comparatively cheap. I was seeing $400 and $600 to Europe in Coach all over the place recently; fares will differ wildly between markets so if you have some specifics you can share, I'm happy to take a look for you. Summer is peak season, though, and airplanes are full right now because airlines can't hire enough crew to run a schedule that meets demand so prices naturally go up.
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May 16, 2022 19:19
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Beef Of Ages posted:Ah, the latest incarnation of Norwegian. It's only new in name, same people and aircraft that used to be Norwegian until it was found out that they were being super lovely to their crews by being osstensibly based in Ireland so they could skirt Norway's labor laws. Also, they don't begin service until the middle of June which could change so you're encountering a bit of risk with a ticket on Norse Atlantic, even if it is comparatively cheap. Yeah, thanks for the quick reply. I was aiming for a late July trip. Coming from Southeast US, so Charlotte, Atlanta, and Orlando are all good options to fly from for me. I had picked Norse Atlantic as I have a friend from Oslo, would be nice to go see him for cheap. I'd also be happy flying to another European country and then to Norway if there is a cheap option that way.
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May 16, 2022 19:56
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goodness posted:Yeah, thanks for the quick reply. I was aiming for a late July trip. You should read the OP.  How long do you want to be gone?
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May 16, 2022 23:25
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Beef Of Ages posted:You should read the OP. Reading now. 1-2 weeks. At least with Google Flights, I can't find anything under $900 from the Atl, Orlando, Charlotte to Europe for July goodness fucked around with this message at 02:14 on May 17, 2022 |
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May 17, 2022 02:05
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goodness posted:Reading now. Have you considered Raleigh? RDU-ARN is $724 on 7/21 with any number of return dates a week or two later. You can grab a cheap fare from ARN to OSL from there, but you're likely then pushing up against the $900 fare you found. There are a few other things out of east coast gateway cities like Boston that are less expensive but they probably don't make sense once you factor in the cost of getting to that gateway city from where you are. The reality is that you're wanting to travel during peak season at a time when fuel prices are through the roof and planes are full. Tough time to find things for cheap.
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May 17, 2022 12:58
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goodness posted:New airlines called Norse Atlantic offering 1-way from 5 US cities to Oslo for under $200. What's the roundtrip price? $400 is a steal, especially in high season. I'd expect to pay around $1000 on average for a roundtrip in summer, without doing extensive shopping around and/or going to airports that are so far away that the cost of getting to that airport eats up the entire savings. Flights.google.com also has a map explorer where you can look visually to see what the cheapest flights are from your destination airport to "wherever" in Europe. https://www.google.com/travel/explo...ASAB&tfu=GgIgAw The cheapest I see in August from Atlanta (for instance) is to Stockholm and London for ~$750. The cheapest flights also all require flying on weirder days, like Tuesday. Weekend flights are more expensive for vacation destinations (especially Sunday flights), and cheaper for destinations that are used more for business flights than for personal reasons, like Brussels-Strasbourg. Flights are still a lot cheaper than I would have expected. I guess fuel surcharges and inflation haven't hit too hard yet since airlines buy fuel on long contracts. I don't expect to see any tickets next August for under €1000 next summer.
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May 17, 2022 13:52
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Beef Of Ages posted:Have you considered Raleigh? RDU-ARN is $724 on 7/21 with any number of return dates a week or two later. You can grab a cheap fare from ARN to OSL from there, but you're likely then pushing up against the $900 fare you found. There are a few other things out of east coast gateway cities like Boston that are less expensive but they probably don't make sense once you factor in the cost of getting to that gateway city from where you are. The reality is that you're wanting to travel during peak season at a time when fuel prices are through the roof and planes are full. Tough time to find things for cheap. I didn't look at Raleigh as I expected it to be more expensive because its smaller, but that isn't terrible. Saladman posted:What's the roundtrip price? $400 is a steal, especially in high season. I'd expect to pay around $1000 on average for a roundtrip in summer, without doing extensive shopping around and/or going to airports that are so far away that the cost of getting to that airport eats up the entire savings. Round trip is $368 pretax for basic economy, $318 with a backpack instead of a fullsize carryon. And that is on a Saturday - Saturday trip.
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May 17, 2022 17:09
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goodness posted:I didn't look at Raleigh as I expected it to be more expensive because its smaller, but that isn't terrible. Smaller airport, perhaps, but huge amounts of lift thanks to all the companies with a big presence in the Triangle. It's a pretty nice airport, too.
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May 17, 2022 17:28
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goodness posted:I didn't look at Raleigh as I expected it to be more expensive because its smaller, but that isn't terrible. Buy that ticket first, plan later, imho. Especially if you have someone you want to visit (and can stay with?) in Oslo.
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May 17, 2022 17:58
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It's cheaper, but at what cost????
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May 17, 2022 23:38
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peanut posted:It's cheaper, but at what cost???? Probably some nickel and dime-ing, worse food, slightly more uncomfortable seats, and nonexistent customer service in case of issues? Certainly it's not going to be bad enough to account for $500 in savings, especially if the departure and destination airports are ones that the OP wants to go from/to. I think anyway things like how much incline the seats must have, minimum space between seats, legroom, whether food and drink are served for free, etc, all have legislated minimums which are likely exactly adhered to by all airlines for coach, so there shouldn't be a huge difference between trans-Atlantic carriers. YMMV, if OP is over 6' tall maybe double-check if it's needed to spring for Economy Plus. IMHO I haven't really found there to be any significant difference in flight comfort between like, RyanAir and Swiss. RyanAir has the annoying nickel and dime-ing everywhere but the actual flight is basically identical except that I don't get an in flight magazine. The only airline I've ever been on where I was like "holy poo poo lol" was Viva Colombia, where my 5'9'' frame was like the absolute size limit for the seats, with my knees literally touching the seat in front of me with normal sitting posture. Saladman fucked around with this message at 11:34 on May 18, 2022 |
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May 18, 2022 11:30
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Saladman posted:Probably some nickel and dime-ing, worse food, slightly more uncomfortable seats, and nonexistent customer service in case of issues? Certainly it's not going to be bad enough to account for $500 in savings, especially if the departure and destination airports are ones that the OP wants to go from/to. I think anyway things like how much incline the seats must have, minimum space between seats, legroom, whether food and drink are served for free, etc, all have legislated minimums which are likely exactly adhered to by all airlines for coach, so there shouldn't be a huge difference between trans-Atlantic carriers. YMMV, if OP is over 6' tall maybe double-check if it's needed to spring for Economy Plus. Legroom and pitch aren't exactly directly legislated; the regulations concern how long it takes passengers to evacuate the aircraft in an emergency (i.e. while it is on fire). Thus seat design and cabin layouts are a function of proving that the configuration meets those regulatory evac requirements. As seats have gotten thinner, especially on European carriers, they've been able to shove more of them in to the same cabin space thus making it a lot less comfortable than it used to be, or than some carriers offer here in the US. Mercifully, most flights around Europe aren't that long so it isn't as big of a deal. I'm 6'5" and generally enormous so I pay for exit row access which is the cost of doing business. Also you're absolutely right about Viva Colombia and its (former) parent carrier, Viva Aerobus in Mexico. Hands down the least comfortable flight I've ever taken, despite being in the exit row. Thankfully it was only 90 minutes on IAH-MTY but christ it sucked.
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May 18, 2022 16:00
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I flew on Peach from Osaka to Hong Kong (4.5 hours) and it was trash. The terminal was trailers a 20 minute shuttle ride away from the real terminals, the seats were hollow and made me hunch (I'm 5'4"…) and the engine buzz was relentless. 
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May 18, 2022 23:31
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goodness posted:New airlines called Norse Atlantic offering 1-way from 5 US cities to Oslo for under $200. To "Europe"? Yeah sometimes. I just came back from PRG-DUB-JFK, JFK-DUB-BER that cost, for the return trip, $215. It's pretty rare and you might have to take the few time/destination combinations that do pop up.
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May 19, 2022 17:58
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Beef Of Ages posted:Legroom and pitch aren't exactly directly legislated; the regulations concern how long it takes passengers to evacuate the aircraft in an emergency (i.e. while it is on fire). Thus seat design and cabin layouts are a function of proving that the configuration meets those regulatory evac requirements. As seats have gotten thinner, especially on European carriers, they've been able to shove more of them in to the same cabin space thus making it a lot less comfortable than it used to be, or than some carriers offer here in the US. Mercifully, most flights around Europe aren't that long so it isn't as big of a deal. I'm 6'5" and generally enormous so I pay for exit row access which is the cost of doing business. I was considering a dirt cheap Viva Aerobus round trip between ORD and MEX, now I'm not after seeing this.
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Jun 9, 2022 23:38
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So I have a weird one, as far as being pretty flexible. We'd like to do 8-10 days in London, from Louisiana. What really matters to me is being in town either the weekend of October 15th or Ocotber 29th - soccer stuff. I've done a lot of looking and the lowest I've found for two RT tickets in this window is about $1,400 for basic economy. Origin: BTR (preferred) or MSY •Destination: London. LHR preferred but I'll take whatever. •Duration of trip with dates: 9-10 days •Flexibility: See above. Dates are pretty flexible beyond wanting one of the above weekends. I'd like to only have one connection.
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Jun 23, 2022 19:56
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mactheknife posted:So I have a weird one, as far as being pretty flexible. We'd like to do 8-10 days in London, from Louisiana. What really matters to me is being in town either the weekend of October 15th or Ocotber 29th - soccer stuff. I've done a lot of looking and the lowest I've found for two RT tickets in this window is about $1,400 for basic economy. Two tickets for $1400 is the lowest I see -- and that is a good price. I would not expect to find much less than $700 ever, even in October. Cheapest tickets I've ever had have been $500, which was an absurdly low price (Zurich-LA roundtrip) that I can't imagine I even paid for the fuel price of carrying me. Weather is still very nice in Northern Europe in October; Northern Europe really only becomes lovely from the first week of November, after the time change and after all the leaves fall. Especially in the UK the time zone blows because they're at the far east edge, so sunset is at like 5:00pm already by like Nov 1. I see good direct flights from MSY - tbh I'd really suggest driving to New Orleans and taking the direct, what with all the MASSIVE issues both the US and Europe (and especially the UK) have been having this year with airports. I see $1500 for 2 tickets direct flight MSY-LHR from Oct 14 to 25, for instance, direct flight both ways. The directs only seem to be 4 or 5 days a week.
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Jun 24, 2022 04:13
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Thanks - I had kind of figured that was as good as we were going to get, but even though travel planning is kind of a hobby of mine I figured someone here might know something I didn't.
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Jun 24, 2022 15:27
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mactheknife posted:Thanks - I had kind of figured that was as good as we were going to get, but even though travel planning is kind of a hobby of mine I figured someone here might know something I didn't. Worth asking because sometimes there's an error fare or just an absurdly good deal available, I just flew PRG-DUB-JFK and back for $250. But usually about $500 is the best you can hope for even on a popular route, so $700 direct from New Orleans sounds pretty reasonable.
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Jun 24, 2022 19:55
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Is it true that when you rent a car you can bring it back to any of the company's locations? With an Enterprise rental in the US their site would always say "no availability" if I selected a different dropoff location. When I went to the local office to ask about it they said to just put in the rental as same pickup/dropoff location and then drop the car off at whatever location I want and it won't be a problem. Is this really true? I am worried that we'll take the car to a location four hours away and they will refuse to take it.
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Aug 23, 2022 15:35
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Associate Christ
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other people posted:Is it true that when you rent a car you can bring it back to any of the company's locations? With an Enterprise rental in the US their site would always say "no availability" if I selected a different dropoff location. When I went to the local office to ask about it they said to just put in the rental as same pickup/dropoff location and then drop the car off at whatever location I want and it won't be a problem. Most rental car companies will let you do this. But they generally charge more for it, what's called a one way rate. And you can expect more hassle.
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Aug 23, 2022 15:47
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other people posted:Is it true that when you rent a car you can bring it back to any of the company's locations? With an Enterprise rental in the US their site would always say "no availability" if I selected a different dropoff location. When I went to the local office to ask about it they said to just put in the rental as same pickup/dropoff location and then drop the car off at whatever location I want and it won't be a problem. Yeah, that's a one-way rental and usually has fees for the service in addition to charging for miles rather than letting you have an unlimited amount. If you try to do that, you're very likely going to get screwed. Local offices can be franchises and you'll see different policies across them. The easier thing to do, in my experience, is use a corporate code (some are publically available) that lowers the rate and reduces some of the restrictions. Moreover, franchise locations often own their own fleet and don't allow one-ways because it makes it difficult for them to get the car back. You're much better off doing one-ways from corporate locations like airports.
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Aug 23, 2022 16:30
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Beef Of Ages posted:The easier thing to do, in my experience, is use a corporate code (some are publically available) that lowers the rate and reduces some of the restrictions. some caution with this - we have a corporate code at my job, and every once in a while someone decides to actually verify that i work for the company whose code it is.
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Aug 23, 2022 16:38
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mactheknife posted:some caution with this - we have a corporate code at my job, and every once in a while someone decides to actually verify that i work for the company whose code it is. Yep, for sure. I normally only get checked outside the US but the risk is there for anything anywhere. This is why I like things like the Ohio State Friends and Family code for National; it's publically available and you won't run into issues with it.
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Aug 23, 2022 16:46
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Beef Of Ages posted:Yep, for sure. I normally only get checked outside the US but the risk is there for anything anywhere. This is why I like things like the Ohio State Friends and Family code for National; it's publically available and you won't run into issues with it. I use the same drat Avis every time and finally someone decided to get zealous about it - not that it mattered for me but, you know.
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Aug 23, 2022 16:51
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Beef Of Ages posted:Yeah, that's a one-way rental and usually has fees for the service in addition to charging for miles rather than letting you have an unlimited amount. If you try to do that, you're very likely going to get screwed. Local offices can be franchises and you'll see different policies across them. The easier thing to do, in my experience, is use a corporate code (some are publically available) that lowers the rate and reduces some of the restrictions. Moreover, franchise locations often own their own fleet and don't allow one-ways because it makes it difficult for them to get the car back. You're much better off doing one-ways from corporate locations like airports. hmm the car is definitely not owned by the location because the plates are out of state. And the place I want to drop it off is the airport. I already have the car so no using corporate codes at this point. I guess I could call the dropoff location and ask :/
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Aug 23, 2022 16:51
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other people posted:hmm the car is definitely not owned by the location because the plates are out of state. And the place I want to drop it off is the airport. There are situations where a franchise registers cars in a different state for tax purposes, not a guarantee of anything either way though. Since you're mid rental, call the customer service line and tell them your travel plans changed and you need to return it to a different location. They'll modify the reservation so no one is surprised when you return the car to the airport and let you know if there are any fees or changes in costs. I would double check on the mileage allowance when you do that as many one-ways don't include free miles.
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Aug 23, 2022 16:55
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