LAX to Multicity Flight (Barcelona/Rome)

We booked a Mediterranean Cruise June 2015 (First timers in Europe). I'm researching flights, and the cost per person is almost the same as our cruise fare per person. Yikes!

We plan to fly out from LAX to Barcelona then spend a few days in Rome and if possible, venture out to Venice by train. I guess it all depends on our budget.

My question is - is it to early to find good deals for flights? Should I wait a little longer? I'm trying to avoid too many and too long layovers. The flights I'm currently seeing are about $1500 per person. I dont know what to do.

Well, I guess my first question would be: did you check the price of air before you booked the cruise? Because, while I'm sure you can do a bit better than $1500, don't expect much under $1000.

Will there be seat sales later on? Most probably yes. However, when travelling for a cruise, you're dealing with a restricted timeframe, limiting your ability to take advantage of said sales. Also, the more conditions you put on what flights you'll look at, the fewer lower-cost options you have.

As for your specific trip, using the dates June 4 - 17, I'm finding a price of $1220 on Turkish Airlines. I'm quite sure this is an option you may have dismissed, given that flying all the way to IST to go back to BCN feels, well, nonesensical. But really, the difference between 9-10 hours and 12-13 hours in a place is negligible, IST is quite a nice airport, and the flight times are actually pretty good. I flew TK a few weeks ago - albeit in Business - and was quite impressed.

Otherwise, I would recommend looking at your airmile-collection options. Get a few credit card sign-up bonuses, and you could get enough miles for at least 1 free ticket, if not 2, in time for next June.

ETA: Fly out of MXP instead of FCO, on June 20, and you can get that price down to $1114.

We booked a Mediterranean Cruise June 2015 (First timers in Europe). I'm researching flights, and the cost per person is almost the same as our cruise fare per person. Yikes!

 

We plan to fly out from LAX to Barcelona then spend a few days in Rome and if possible, venture out to Venice by train. I guess it all depends on our budget.

 

My question is - is it to early to find good deals for flights? Should I wait a little longer? I'm trying to avoid too many and too long layovers. The flights I'm currently seeing are about $1500 per person. I dont know what to do.

We did an LAX-BCN roundtrip and paid $1200.00pp (UA economy plus) so your pricing for multi-city doesn't sound so horrible.

I'm researching flights, and the cost per person is almost the same as our cruise fare per person. Yikes!

Flying trans-Atlantic costs what it costs. If you buy a cheap and/or short cruise, then the flights could easily be much more than the cost of the cruise. The one really doesn't have anything to do with the other.

So when looking at the cost of flights, it's much better just to look at the cost of the flights rather than trying to benchmark them against how much your cruise is costing.

We booked a Mediterranean Cruise June 2015 (First timers in Europe). I'm researching flights, and the cost per person is almost the same as our cruise fare per person. Yikes!

 

We plan to fly out from LAX to Barcelona then spend a few days in Rome and if possible, venture out to Venice by train. I guess it all depends on our budget.

 

My question is - is it to early to find good deals for flights? Should I wait a little longer? I'm trying to avoid too many and too long layovers. The flights I'm currently seeing are about $1500 per person. I dont know what to do.

If you look at an airline's financials, the typical cost for the airline to operate is about $0.15 per seat per mile.

LAX-BCN-LAX is 12,000 miles, so a flight costs the airline about $1800 to operate per seat... If you're doing better than $1800 the airline is losing money on you.

If you look at an airline's financials, the typical cost for the airline to operate is about $0.15 per seat per mile.

 

LAX-BCN-LAX is 12,000 miles, so a flight costs the airline about $1800 to operate per seat... If you're doing better than $1800 the airline is losing money on you.

But surely this only works if you're looking at a single cabin airline? Southwest, for example. Otherwise the numbers will be skewed because either CASM/CASK or CRPM/CRPK will be structurally different for different cabins.

(Cost per Available Seat Mile/Km and Cost per Revenue Passenger Mile/Km, for anyone who's wondering.)

June 2015 (First timers in Europe). The flights I'm currently seeing are about $1500 per person.

That's about par for the course for tourist season in Europe. You might get a couple hundred less, but you also might end up paying a couple hundred more. As for when to purchase, the prices are always in flux and there is no magic answer, so ask yourself:

Am I willing and able to pay MORE than $1500 if I wait and prices go up instead of down?

--If yes, feel free to wait and gamble. You're willing to pay more so who cares?!

--If no, ask yourself this question:

Am I willing and able to pay $1500?

--If yes, buy now.

--If no, you have no choice but to wait, but make note of the last date that you can cancel the cruise and get a full refund in case the prices never go down.

I like the thinking!

 

But surely this only works if you're looking at a single cabin airline? Southwest, for example. Otherwise the numbers will be skewed because either CASM/CASK or CRPM/CRPK will be structurally different for different cabins.

 

(Cost per Available Seat Mile/Km and Cost per Revenue Passenger Mile/Km, for anyone who's wondering.)

No, not really. The numbers are for all seats in all cabins. Yes that means that coach seats likely are a little cheaper and J a little more; but it certainly gets in the right direction. Likewise you can calculate the fuel cost to the airline using a similar method. Simply take the total fuel spend for the airline, and divide by Available Seat Miles (ASMs). You'd be surprised that some airlines charge more in fuel surcharge than their total fuel cost per seat. (There's actually a class action against BA for this very reason)

Yes that means that coach seats likely are a little cheaper and J a little more; but it certainly gets in the right direction.

The fuel burn attributable to flying Zone B over any particular distance will be broadly the same for both configurations. There will be additional fuel burned in the premium economy configuration for carrying the mass of 18 extra bodies and their baggage, but that's likely to be relatively small (2 to 3 tonnes?) compared to the total aircraft mass (including aircraft structure) attributable to Zone B.

So while I wouldn't expect the fuel burned per business class passenger to be quite as much as double the fuel burned per premium economy passenger, it's surely not going to be a long way off that. It wouldn't seem to me to be a case of "a little more".

And that's what I mean by fuel burn per passenger being structurally different for different cabins.

I think you will find cruise costs/ land costs will vary more than air. This is where I would look to save.You can always cancel and rebook cruise fare as pricing usually goes down as cruise nears, Its very early. Have you checked out hotel pricing? Worse than air increases last year for me.Europe hotels will book you early. I fly out of either Denver or Miami. Lufthansa usually has best rates. Stops in every airport over there. Also use EasyJet which is dirt chap if booked really early. Prices go up closer to flites. Tripadvisor.com reviews almost all hotels and restaurants by its readers.

Look, for example, at Zone B on a 747. BA puts 18 business class seats in that area in one configuration, and 36 premium economy seats in the other configuration.

 

The fuel burn attributable to flying Zone B over any particular distance will be broadly the same for both configurations. There will be additional fuel burned in the premium economy configuration for carrying the mass of 18 extra bodies and their baggage, but that's likely to be relatively small (2 to 3 tonnes?) compared to the total aircraft mass (including aircraft structure) attributable to Zone B.

 

So while I wouldn't expect the fuel burned per business class passenger to be quite as much as double the fuel burned per premium economy passenger, it's surely not going to be a long way off that. It wouldn't seem to me to be a case of "a little more".

 

And that's what I mean by fuel burn per passenger being structurally different for different cabins.

Absolutely; but airline financials publish "CASM" (Cost per available seat mile), and make no distinction with regard to F/J/Y/Y-. Also most airline financials also don't factor in cargo carry in the CASM, so that's just gravy on the bottom line.

I've booked air several times from LAX to Europe, with additional land trips added on. I just finished two days ago finalizing our air for next April/May 2015.

First of all, I use Chase Sapphire points to offset the cost. They have a wonderful 40,000 bonus points for new cards, and I use paying for the cruise early as a means to get the points immediately. You have to spend $3,000 per card, so that would be 46,000 points. My husband and I each got a card, transferred the points to one account. 92,000 points is $1,150 worth of airfare, or $920 in cash or credit on your card. That takes a big chunk off the cost of airfare. You have plenty of time to do this:

https://creditcards.chase.com/sapphire/credit-card-benefits/?CELL=6RRW&MSC=IQ35084085

Secondly, I look to see if one way tickets are cheaper. I have looked at multi-city fares and always found them more expensive.

The air I booked recently was for a transatlantic, so we started with LAX-FLL on Southwest using points for that, too. (You can transfer points from Chase Sapphire to Southwest, by the way.)

Then, in Barcelona I booked EasyJet to London Luton after the cruise. RyanAir flies to Rome, and depending on what day of the week you are flying they have fares as low as 40euros.

From Venice you can fly to London on RyanAir or Easyjet. I have found London has the best schedule and cost back to LAX. We also like to spend a little time in London. I found Air New Zealand had the cheapest Premium Economy seats, and they are supposed to be quite comfortable with the newer "pod" seating.

Our itinerary for this trip is LAX-FLL-BCN-London-(Eurostar to Paris)-London-LAX premium economy

The total cost of airfare for two:

LAX-FLL $10 with points on Southwest with free bags

BCN - London $154, including luggage and extra leg room seats

London - LAX $2,450 premium economy with free bags (offset by cash transfer from Sapphire points as accumulated)

Right now we have transferred $164 in points to offset the cost, which cancels out the cost of Southwest and BCN-London. I expect I will transfer more after our next billing cycle gives us more points.

So, the per person total is now at $1,225 per person and dropping.

Then, in Barcelona I booked EasyJet to London Luton after the cruise. RyanAir flies to Rome, and depending on what day of the week you are flying they have fares as low as 40euros.

 

From Venice you can fly to London on RyanAir or Easyjet. I have found London has the best schedule and cost back to LAX.

Good suggestions in the post ^^^^ above. For people less familiar, there's a few caveats with low-cost European airlines including RyanAir and EasyJet.

- They often fly to/from secondary airports, sometimes 40+ miles from the listed city and with fewer ground transportation options. Be *very* sure you know what airports are used on both ends of the flight. In the above example, the ground transfer time and cost from Luton to Heathrow must be taken into account.

- Add-on fees are numerous...often the bottom line rivals connecting flights on a single ticket with the transatlantic carrier.

- Baggage and carry-on allowances are very strict, be sure you know the fees (and pack light!)

- Discount carriers generally don't have interline agreements. You must transfer luggage yourself and check in to the connecting flight. If your flight is delayed or cancelled you won't be rebooked on another airline.

- A missed connection makes you a "no show" on the connecting flight. Since it's on a separate ticket, the remainder of that ticket will be cancelled.

These are things to watch out for, not necessarily reasons to avoid discount carriers.

Good suggestions in the post ^^^^ above. For people less familiar, there's a few caveats with low-cost European airlines including RyanAir and EasyJet.

 

- They often fly to/from secondary airports, sometimes 40+ miles from the listed city and with fewer ground transportation options. Be *very* sure you know what airports are used on both ends of the flight. In the above example, the ground transfer time and cost from Luton to Heathrow must be taken into account.

 

- Add-on fees are numerous...often the bottom line rivals connecting flights on a single ticket with the transatlantic carrier.

 

- Baggage and carry-on allowances are very strict, be sure you know the fees (and pack light!)

 

- Discount carriers generally don't have interline agreements. You must transfer luggage yourself and check in to the connecting flight. If your flight is delayed or cancelled you won't be rebooked on another airline.

 

- A missed connection makes you a "no show" on the connecting flight. Since it's on a separate ticket, the remainder of that ticket will be cancelled.

 

These are things to watch out for, not necessarily reasons to avoid discount carriers.

I agree, and I don't include extra seat charges or luggage, because we are so used to that in the US (except for Southwest), that it's almost considered business as usual to add those on. The $154 I posted above for BCN-London Luton includes extra seat and luggage fees. Still a great price.

I have found major European cities have MUCH better transportation options that most in the US (with the SF Bay Area being the exception with BART stations at the SFO and OAK airports).

I would never book a tight connection if I was changing airlinesl. Too many chances of delays, etc.

Yes, do our homework!! :D

We booked a Mediterranean Cruise June 2015 (First timers in Europe). I'm researching flights, and the cost per person is almost the same as our cruise fare per person. Yikes!

 

We plan to fly out from LAX to Barcelona then spend a few days in Rome and if possible, venture out to Venice by train. I guess it all depends on our budget.

 

My question is - is it to early to find good deals for flights? Should I wait a little longer? I'm trying to avoid too many and too long layovers. The flights I'm currently seeing are about $1500 per person. I dont know what to do.[/QUO

 

I just booked a multi city from San Francisco-Athens and Rome-San Francisco via Expedia on Lufthansa. Total flight cost is $1300. Try looking at two one way tickets but Open Jaws are a good way to go.

Business class is currently possible for $1,700-2,100 depending on your origin and destination.