Trying to find cheap(ish?) air dest in Europe

[YXU AC*SE]

Thought I would crowd source this one :D

 

We've just booked on the Rotterdam, round trip out of RTM in mid August. Looking for cheap(er) Star Alliance routings, which seem to have dried up now that Atlantic Plus-Plus has been fully enacted (coordinated TATL pricing / scheduling / inventory by UA, CO, AC and LH+subs that required anti-trust approvals - http://www.regulations.gov/fdmspublic/ContentViewer?objectId=09000064809eda55&disposition=attachment&contentType=pdf). TS has some decent fares but inferior product.

 

Inbound airport can be anywhere in western or central Europe -- we'd do a week or so of overland via road / rail -- and outbound would be preferably AMS / BRU.

 

I know my way around ITA fairly well - last summer, EWR-WAW was a super cheap routing / transfer airport ... looking for this year's Warsaw. Don't need specific routings, just your insight please.

 

Scott.

[FlyerTalker]

I would be using the month-long search feature on ITA, adding the routing codes for the various Star carriers you might want to use. Just keep plugging in different destination cities and see what you come up with.

 

There is a "hidden" page on FareCompare for FT mileage runners - if you check the MR forum there, you might find it still listed. They asked that it not be reposted elsewhere.

[wingnut2005]

Not sure if this helps you but you might want to check www.sunwing.ca as they are flying into europe this year we are using them to Rome in July from Toronto got what I thought was a great deal for $850pp taxes in they also fly to Amsterdamn, Paris & some other destinations that have slipped my mind hope this helps

[Twickenham]

Anytime I've been looking at airfare to Europe from Eastern Canada recently, the YUL-CDG route has virtually always had the best pricing. AF is adding capacity with the A380 on that route, and they also have had a few seat sales in recent months (which AC will usually match). That combination of price and cool-double-decker-plane has me looking at flying into CDG again, which I swore I would never do...

[YXU AC*SE]

I would be using the month-long search feature on ITA, adding the routing codes for the various Star carriers you might want to use. Just keep plugging in different destination cities and see what you come up with.

 

That's what I have been doing with little luck as of yet ... of course, the challenge is coming up with the just the right combinations of city pairs on a multi-segmented itinerary :-) Thanks for the farecompare.com insight. Helpful!! Scott.

[YXU AC*SE]

Not sure if this helps you but you might want to check www.sunwing.ca.

 

Thank you fellow Londoner! :-) Sunwing and Transat are both workable if I can't get something via Star Alliance Scott.

[Twickenham]

Thank you fellow Londoner! :-) Sunwing and Transat are both workable if I can't get something via Star Alliance Scott.

 

TS is running a good $300 cheaper than anything StarAlliance for your dates - you can do YYZ-CDG and returning BRU-YYZ for just over the $800 mark, whereas anything AC starts at over $1100.

 

If you want to stick to *A, I did find another 'cheap' city to be considered: Barcelona. Even on AF from YUL, in August it was cheaper to go YUL-CDG-BCN than straight YUL-CDG.

[YXU AC*SE]

If you want to stick to *A, I did find another 'cheap' city to be considered: Barcelona. Even on AF from YUL, in August it was cheaper to go YUL-CDG-BCN than straight YUL-CDG.

 

BCN would be interesting ... I'm wanting *A to leverage my status (of course!) and double miles as an SE is always appreciated! Plus I'm always always thinking the flexibility of re-routing if something should go pear-shaped. Last week I had SAN-ORD-YXU turn into SAN-IAH-YEG-YYZ-YXU on account of ATC problems in ORD. Nice unintentional mileage run. :) Scott.

[scottbee]

BCN would be interesting ... I'm wanting *A to leverage my status (of course!) and double miles as an SE is always appreciated! Plus I'm always always thinking the flexibility of re-routing if something should go pear-shaped. Last week I had SAN-ORD-YXU turn into SAN-IAH-YEG-YYZ-YXU on account of ATC problems in ORD. Nice unintentional mileage run. :) Scott.

 

You might be able to leverage YYZ-DUB flights as well, last I checked the *A carriers still sold those as oneways and/or mix-match with WG/TS

[YXU AC*SE]

Reporting back, ORD-IST-SKG w/ return from AMS is the winner! :-) And fare flexibility to build a no-cost layover in Istanbul ... G bucket fare for just over 1000$ CAD a/i return. :D Have enough in accumulated MCRs to cover YXU-ORD rtn on a separate ticket! Thanks for the assistance. Scott.