Romania to USA

I have a cruise booked out of Port Canaveral Sept of 2015. One of the guest on my reservation is coming from Romania. I know flights are not yet available this far out. I am wondering what my seasoned travelers may think would be the most economical way to book flights from Romania to Orlando. I have considered looking at CruiseAir but they do not seem to offer flights from Romania.... Looking forward to any advice you all can offer so when the time is right I can find the best travel options for everyone.

I would probably look at airfares from the generally lower cost airports in Europe--FCO being a good place to start. Then figure out how to get from Romania to the gateway airport on a discount Euro carrier. Make sure to leave a LOT of room for connecting--even if it means an over night it will still be cheaper than airfare from Romania.

Actually, a quick check on ITA for fares for the end of this month, and for October and beyond, show round trip prices from OTP (Bucharest) to MCO in the $900 range, very reasonable, using Delta/Air France. Looking at next June (just for a "sensitivity test,") I'm seeing prices right around $1000 on Air France/Delta or BA; however using BA would require an airport change in London, since MCO is served out of Gatwick, not Heathrow (which serves OTP) so the London option sucks.

 

It's important to note that airfares are NOT symmetrical; fares originating in Orlando going TO Romania are several hundred dollars higher than the opposite.

We flew from JAX to Istanbul and return on United last September/Oct for $825, which was the lowest fare to Europe we have had in the last five years. I think Turkish Airlines has low fares and that keeps the fare low.

 

I know Romania is still some distance from Istanbul, but perhaps this will help.

Try Condor, as sub. of Lufthansa. Or use skyscanner

Try Condor, as sub. of Lufthansa.

It probably doesn't matter much to anyone but Condor is no longer part of the Lufthansa group. It's now part of Thomas Cook.

Did not know that. Too bad.

 

Is T. Cook still in financial difficulties?

Edited September 4, 2014 by iancal

Is T. Cook still in financial difficulties?

It seems to be on a solid road to recovery. It makes me wish a bit that I'd paid a bit more attention to what was going on, as if I'd got my act together I'd have been happy to invest a bit in that recovery story.

I read somewhere that Monarch were having challenges. The report said that Monarch was going to cut some long haul routes and acquire more fuel efficient aircraft. Did that pan out or is it still in play?

The latest news from Monarch that's had wide publicity is summarised here by the BBC: Monarch Airlines plans to slash workforce by up to 30%.

 

A piece in a trade rag with a bit more industry context is here: Monarch is going all-scheduled, but don't write off charter airlines just yet.