One Way Flights to Europe

When we took our transatlantic in 2007 we used skymiles to get a decent rate, but several on our roll call had found reasonable rates on one airline. (Under $1000 per person) That airline is now out of business.

I was just wondering if any knew of an airline that has reasonable rates for one way flights. One cruise we are considering leaves from Rome, the other from London.

I checked and the flight one way to Rome (this year's rates of course) was double the round trip ticket price. ($2000 per person coach class)

If you do a search or read down the board, this has been discussed extensively, on a regular basis.

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1332602&highlight=one+way+to+europe

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1130703

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1275015&highlight=one+air+way

Also, look at Air Berlin or Aer Lingus.

I just booked a Detroit to Florence Italy from Cheapoair in October for $850 on Lufthansa. The direct booking from several airlines was over $2000 and $1100 if you book a roundtrip and throw away the return ticket. I booked yesterday and in less than 30 minutes had their confirmtion, a cobfirmation number from Lufthansa and had my seats booked.

Hooray for Cheapoair!!

Hooray for Cheapoair!!

After all, cheapness comes at a price.

So long as you are aware of the potential downsides.

 

After all, cheapness comes at a price.

I read the fine print a year ago on CheapOAir. This is one of the consolidators that has a "fly it or loose it" policy.

The T & C's have become even more stringent:

1.You MAY have to claim and recheck your luggage if you are booked on two separate airlines. You MAY have to pay baggage fees on two or more airlines.

"When there are two or more airlines involved for connecting flights then you may have to reclaim your bags at the connecting airport and check-in again to continue your journey."

2. If you cancel, you owe CheapoAir $50. Not counting that the tickets are generally non refundable and have no residual value, although SOME may have a little residual value.

"A cancellation fee of USD 50 must be paid to us at the time of canceling the booking. We retain this fee."

3. IF the airline changes the flight by up to 4 hours, it is "fly it or loose it". Last year it was 3 hours.

"For all such changes within a 4 hour period, tickets will remain non-refundable. Certain ticket types may be non-refundable even when the schedule change is over 4 hours.

CheapOair does not assume any liability whatsoever for canceled flights, flights that are missed, or flights not connecting due to any scheduled changes made by the airlines."

4. NO FF miles on most tickets. NO upgrades, no standbys (even if you miss your connection.

"In most cases, upgrades and standbys will not be permitted. Many of our discounted tickets do not allow for frequent flyer mileage accrual."

5. I REALLY like this one (yes, I know that any fare is NOT guaranteed until it is ticketed but most don't.) They think once they print out the confirmation, it is a done deal:

"At times, even after the confirmation of a reservation, the fare may change. We will notify you of any fare changes and we do not assume any responsibility - financial or otherwise for any such fare changes. We will notify you of the new fare and at that point you may either cancel or still purchase the product at the new cost."

Not only do you have the potential to have your trip go totally sideways, you pay fairly high booking fees on top of all the restrictions. MINIMUM of $26pp for an airline ticket, $32 PER NIGHT for a hotel room. That is for coach tickets. First Class/Business class-$150 per ticket, $100 for multi stop air, $50pp for high fraud/high risk cities (can't find any info what cities are high risk/high fraud so you could get tagged just about anyplace).

STAY AWAY. This company offers NO protection from mishaps along the way. CheapoAir could be VERY costly if things go sideways.

So, I'll be looking at getting one way, STL to BCN for October 2012.

Have done lots of checking and research and will be checking the true one way carriers (LOT, Iceland, etc) or I'll have enough miles to get saver economy or business. Will have to check thru the airlines too although I know those are consolidator tickets too.

But just to consider all the options, are there some on line travel places that aren't as bad as cheapo -like vyama or t-city or xped..?

Will have to check thru the airlines too although I know those are consolidator tickets too.

You got me lost on this statement???

Will have to check thru the airlines too although I know those are consolidator tickets too.

Well, I also purchased travelguard insurance - I will gladly forward the cheapoair rules and the travelguard protection to any doubters who would like to seee them. None of the items mentioned are on it other than cancelling for no reason and I cannot do that on a direct buy either.

So, where did I go wrong? Should I have paid $2300 pp instead of $850 pp?

You got me lost on this statement???

If you buy a ticket (on its own) directly from the airline, it will not be a consolidator ticket.

Globaliser, I see I mispoke here. Meant to say would have to check thru the CRUISE line.

AZjohn, Meant to say would check air thru the cruiseline - like using RCCL's choice air. I may be wrong but thought those were also consolidator tickets.

Sorry for the confusion!

Well, I also purchased travelguard insurance - I will gladly forward the cheapoair rules and the travelguard protection to any doubters who would like to seee them. None of the items mentioned are on it other than cancelling for no reason and I cannot do that on a direct buy either.

 

So, where did I go wrong? Should I have paid $2300 pp instead of $850 pp?

I have no idea whether you purchased a Travelguard policy direct from Travelguard or someplace like Insuremytrip or whether you purchased the Travelguard policy from CheapoAir (which is REALLY lacking in coverage).

IF you would happen to encounter a situation where you are subject to "fly it or loose it", the insurance will most likely reimburse you for the UNUSED portion of your original airline ticket. They will NOT reimburse you for purchase of a very expensive, walk up ticket to get to wherever you need to. The RULES of your ticket (and CheapoAir's T & C's) CLEARLY state your ticket is NOT reroutable, NOT endorsable and CheapoAir has NO liability to help you out. So insurance will not reimburse you for an expensive walk up ticket because your ticket prohibited you from doing what "normal" tickets would allow you to. Example: Same thing if you book an airline ticket too soon after debarkation. Insurance will NOT pay if you missed the flight due to the cruise line rules for timing and booking flights after ship departure.

You certainly didn't have to pay $2300 for a ticket. Even today, looking through most of October, you could have purchased a ticket on AerLingus for less than $800. United to Chicago, Chicago to Dublin and Dublin to Bologna, Italy. Yes, you would have had an extra connection. Yes, you would have had to find transport from Bologna to Florence (15 Euros for the deluxe train and less than a hour). But all in all, you would have arrived about the same time, had a PUBLISHED FARE ticket and all those lovely protections. You would have transited through a SMALL airport in Europe (Dublin is very small and very easy) instead of Frankfurt, which many dislike intensely due to its size. You also could have taken a side trip to Ireland if you had the time and desire at NO extra cost (other than whatever hotel you chose). There were also other options in the same price range.

You do know that your flight from Frankfurt to Florence is on a commuter plane???

Good luck and enjoy your trip.

So, where did I go wrong? Should I have paid $2300 pp instead of $850 pp?

The chances are that all will be fine. But one potential downside is that with a consolidator ticket, you might end up back at home having to claim on your insurance rather than actually being on your cruise; that's because in some cases, it has been known to make all the difference between the airline helping you out in a meaningful way, and not doing so. If you think that the risk is worth taking because of the money you've saved, then that's fine - so long as you know.

When we took our transatlantic in 2007 we used skymiles to get a decent rate, but several on our roll call had found reasonable rates on one airline. (Under $1000 per person) That airline is now out of business.

 

I was just wondering if any knew of an airline that has reasonable rates for one way flights. One cruise we are considering leaves from Rome, the other from London.

 

I checked and the flight one way to Rome (this year's rates of course) was double the round trip ticket price. ($2000 per person coach class)

A clever way of doing this is to purchase enough AA miles for a one-way award. The lowest TA award level is 20,000 miles, which can be purchased for $500.

Through June 30, US Airways also has a bonus mile promotion. Purchase miles and they will double them, up to 50,000 miles.

http://www.usairways.com/en-US/dividendmiles/programdetails/purchasemiles/default.html

US does not allow one way award travel, but you could try and use your miles on another Star Alliance carrier that does. A one way ticket for a TATL is usually around 30,000 miles. You can purchase 15,000 miles and get the 100% bonus for $412.50.

If interested, I would not purchase miles until I found out if any one way award seats were available for purchase with US miles.

A clever way of doing this is to purchase enough AA miles for a one-way award. The lowest TA award level is 20,000 miles, which can be purchased for $500.

We lack about 15,000 skymiles to cover for one ticket -now our skymiles are for Delta-from our American Express-I wonder if they offer something of this sort? If that is possible it would be worth charging everything and paying off every month on our American express.

I really would prefer flying Delta for that long of a flight as their large jets give leg room even in coach. We flew Air France to France in 2009 and it was miserable in coach, I would only fly them again IF I could upgrade to business class for that long

of a flight.

If you do a search or read down the board, this has been discussed extensively, on a regular basis.

I see- rugrats provided a link-and If I could find American Air For $810 a person to go to Rome or London from Atlanta-I would jump on that! I will see if I can-please post and let me know how your flight was.

Through June 30, US Airways also has a bonus mile promotion. Purchase miles and they will double them, up to 50,000 miles.

http://www.usairways.com/en-US/dividendmiles/programdetails/purchasemiles/default.html

 

US does not allow one way award travel, but you could try and use your miles on another Star Alliance carrier that does. A one way ticket for a TATL is usually around 30,000 miles. You can purchase 15,000 miles and get the 100% bonus for $412.50.

 

If interested, I would not purchase miles until I found out if any one way award seats were available for purchase with US miles.

Thanks for the info-I am just not sure if we will have our plans in place by then. We plan to do a med cruise OR a land tour, and afterward take the transatlantic. Trafalgar Tours do not offer their land tour packages for fall 2012 until fall 2011.

I don't think anyone will say that you definitely went wrong, so long as you know what you're letting yourself in for.

 

The chances are that all will be fine. But one potential downside is that with a consolidator ticket, you might end up back at home having to claim on your insurance rather than actually being on your cruise; that's because in some cases, it has been known to make all the difference between the airline helping you out in a meaningful way, and not doing so. If you think that the risk is worth taking because of the money you've saved, then that's fine - so long as you know.

Lufthansa does this flight on a daily basis. If the thursday flight were cancelled I could get on the Friday and so on. I think my only real problem would be of Lufthansa went bankrupt. We are flying out six days before the cruise.

We have booked our return from London, Heathrow for next April. We are using Icelandair to Boston, ticket price 361GBP each. This is about $577USD. Of course, not everyone is flying from London to Boston.

Steve

For a one-way flight to London, definitely check Icelandair if you can get to a USA Icelandair hub without incurring great expense.

Not so sure about Rome; perhaps Aer Lingus.

Another couple of airlines to check are TRANSAVIA and AIR TRANSAT who also operate transatlantic routes with discount one way fares.

Also, note that almost all US Airlines operate discount one-ways to Dublin Ireland, and splitting the ticket at that point can save you a bundle

Well, we booked the cruise from Rome, Celebrity Equinox. Although I wanted the Grand Princess TA, my hubby really wants to see Italy.

We have no idea what date we will leave on-my husband says it depends on his work and how busy he is if he can take most of his vacation time at once. We know we can take 2 weeks and also the few days before, as this cruise leaves the Mon. after Thanksgiving, but we would love to do the cruise before and do a b to b. Hopefully, if it works out hubby can take the extra time off-the cruise will not be sold out, but if it is-we will still have a wonderful time.

Thanks for all the help.

Well, we booked the cruise from Rome, Celebrity Equinox. Although I wanted the Grand Princess TA, my hubby really wants to see Italy.

 

We have no idea what date we will leave on-my husband says it depends on his work and how busy he is if he can take most of his vacation time at once. We know we can take 2 weeks and also the few days before, as this cruise leaves the Mon. after Thanksgiving, but we would love to do the cruise before and do a b to b. Hopefully, if it works out hubby can take the extra time off-the cruise will not be sold out, but if it is-we will still have a wonderful time.

 

Thanks for all the help.

I am still interested in everyone's ideas-since the cruise is 17 months away, we will not book air before Dec.-but if you have something new to share-please do. Since we booked the cruise from Rome, we will be flying into Italy, possibly Venice-as we may spend a few days there before leaving for Rome.

Most seem to feel we should book Celebrity air on our roll call.

HI momofmeg it is great to see you back. We are looking at T.A. from Rome to N.J. oct 22 2011 . but when we saw the airfares OUCH! over two thousand each one way from Phila. If any one can help Please . I would go to Newark if it was worthwhile