Anyone not cruising because of airfare cost?

[6rugrats]

Ok you got me- at 25k per, how do you get 3 RT's for 50k?

I don't know this either. UA has some short hops, such as SEA-PDX for only 20,000 miles RT, but you can't get RT award tickets for 50K.

[frediver]

Kinda tough to justify a cruise when the airfare to get to the port is almost 2x's the cost of the cruise.

Med cruises have some great deals now but airfare kill's them, worse yet when the cruise is not discounted.

[FlyerTalker]

If the Punki Flyertalker is referring to is the same Punki I know, first, Punki is a SHE. And she has played the miles game for YEARS. If I am not mistaken, she is one of the original members of FT.

Per the photo in the post....yes. All of the above.

[FolksOfMeans - ByNoMeans]

Next year we're booked for the Baltics and are planning to fly into London pre-cruise. The price for the airfare was a bit of a shocker and knocked us for a loop but we picked ourselves up, dusted ourselves off and decided to go for it. Then DH's boss was taking his sweet time giving him the written permission for the trip and DH won't book airfare without the OK, long boring story why, and wouldn't you know it, the damn cost went up before we could book.

 

The cost of airfare won't stop us cruising but its nuts!!!

 

Wanda -- Check out IceLand Air

[greatam]

Per the photo in the post....yes. All of the above.

 

Missed the photo-IF I am not mistaken, the first cruise Punki and Hunki (her husband) took was either a class reunion to Alaska or a trip from Vancouver to Seattle (trying out the cruise scene)

 

We have one person who is always going to argue-this forum, the Alaska forum, doesn't matter who has been there and done that.

 

Again, I am sure glad I don't have Delta miles. Seems like REALLY poor value and crap redemption. Even let the 10,000 or so Delta miles I had years ago evaporate into cyberspace.

[greatam]

Next year we're booked for the Baltics and are planning to fly into London pre-cruise. The price for the airfare was a bit of a shocker and knocked us for a loop but we picked ourselves up, dusted ourselves off and decided to go for it. Then DH's boss was taking his sweet time giving him the written permission for the trip and DH won't book airfare without the OK, long boring story why, and wouldn't you know it, the damn cost went up before we could book.

 

The cost of airfare won't stop us cruising but its nuts!!!

 

Wanda -- Check out IceLand Air

 

Iceland Air, AerLingus, some flights on Air Berlin. And other ways to get there relatively CHEAP. LUGGAGE MAY play a part if you have a lot.

 

Let us know what you are thinking.

 

 

There ARE ways to get there cheaply

[Anubi]

Wanda -- Check out IceLand Air

 

The cost of airfare won't stop us cruising but its nuts!!!

 

 

 

Iceland Air, AerLingus, some flights on Air Berlin. And other ways to get there relatively CHEAP. LUGGAGE MAY play a part if you have a lot.

 

Let us know what you are thinking.

 

 

There ARE ways to get there cheaply

 

We did look at Icelandair but their luggage restrictions are really tough and they have a lot of add ons that cost $$$. We finally decided on Air Transat. They are about $1000 less than Air Canada so its not so bad but still zings. But I will be checking out AerLingus. Thanks for the idea.

[Globaliser]

Again, I am sure glad I don't have Delta miles. Seems like REALLY poor value and crap redemption. Even let the 10,000 or so Delta miles I had years ago evaporate into cyberspace.

The great irony, of course, is that DL miles no longer expire! Not that I think we're ever likely to use ours, but at least we don't have to do anything any more to keep our options open.

[Anubi]

Iceland Air, AerLingus, some flights on Air Berlin. And other ways to get there relatively CHEAP. LUGGAGE MAY play a part if you have a lot.

 

Let us know what you are thinking.

 

 

There ARE ways to get there cheaply

 

We did look at Icelandair but their luggage restrictions are really tough and they have a lot of add ons that cost $$$. We finally decided on Air Transat. They are about $1000 less than Air Canada so its not so bad but still zings. But I will be checking out AerLingus. Thanks for the idea.

 

I stand corrected. According to Expedia, Air Canada economy is almost $3000.00 more than Air Transat Club/Business class. :eek::eek::eek: Ait Transat doesn't sound so bad now. LOL

I checked AerLingus but they don't go where we need.

[greatam]

We did look at Icelandair but their luggage restrictions are really tough and they have a lot of add ons that cost $$$. We finally decided on Air Transat. They are about $1000 less than Air Canada so its not so bad but still zings. But I will be checking out AerLingus. Thanks for the idea.

 

I stand corrected. According to Expedia, Air Canada economy is almost $3000.00 more than Air Transat Club/Business class. :eek::eek::eek: Ait Transat doesn't sound so bad now. LOL

I checked AerLingus but they don't go where we need.

 

I don't understand your post in the least pertaining to Icelandair and AerLingus.

 

Icelandair allows 2 checked bags in economy of 50 pounds each. They allow 2 checked bags of 70 pounds each if traveling in business. This allowance continues when you book the ticket as one continuing trip from USA/Canada to Europe and return. You can stopover in various places in your itinerary and still keep your baggage allowance.

 

Air Transat allows 2 bags at 88 pounds each in business (you can sure tell there is no OSHA or unions controlling their contracts)

 

AerLingus flies to most of the Baltic regions with CPH available year round. Some of the other Baltic airports only available during summer season. AND AerLingus allows up to two weeks in Ireland as a stopover for free. So you can fly USA to Ireland, then to London, then back to Ireland to connect on to wherever your cruise departs from. Your luggage allowance continues for all AerLingus flights UNLESS your stopover is more than 14 days. And in business class on AerLingus, you are allowed THREE 70 pound bags.

 

IF you go to the AerLingus website, depending on how early you try to book, you MAY ONLY be able to book a trip from USA/Canada to Dublin and then a separate trip from Dublin to XXX in Europe. That is fine-you just call AerLingus, they will "marry" the two parts together and your baggage allowance continues for the entire trip.

 

The real beauty of flying AerLingus-when you return to the USA, you clear Immigration and now for most flights, Customs in IRELAND. NO muss, no fuss when you get to the USA. Just grab your luggage and go, wherever you need to.

 

I don't know whether this would include the pre-clearance airports in Canada, but I would guess that the chances are very high that all clearance would be done in Ireland even for those traveling on to Canada. THAT is a REAL benefit.

[SnowshoeCat]

AerLingus doesn't fly to CPH on Saturdays (in May). But thanks for the heads up about doing two one-ways, USA-DUB, then DUB onward. I couldn't find a connection before.

[Anubi]

 

I don't understand your post in the least pertaining to Icelandair and AerLingus.

 

Icelandair allows 2 checked bags in economy of 50 pounds each. They allow 2 checked bags of 70 pounds each if traveling in business. This allowance continues when you book the ticket as one continuing trip from USA/Canada to Europe and return. You can stopover in various places in your itinerary and still keep your baggage allowance.

 

Air Transat allows 2 bags at 88 pounds each in business (you can sure tell there is no OSHA or unions controlling their contracts)

 

AerLingus flies to most of the Baltic regions with CPH available year round. Some of the other Baltic airports only available during summer season. AND AerLingus allows up to two weeks in Ireland as a stopover for free. So you can fly USA to Ireland, then to London, then back to Ireland to connect on to wherever your cruise departs from. Your luggage allowance continues for all AerLingus flights UNLESS your stopover is more than 14 days. And in business class on AerLingus, you are allowed THREE 70 pound bags.

 

IF you go to the AerLingus website, depending on how early you try to book, you MAY ONLY be able to book a trip from USA/Canada to Dublin and then a separate trip from Dublin to XXX in Europe. That is fine-you just call AerLingus, they will "marry" the two parts together and your baggage allowance continues for the entire trip.

 

The real beauty of flying AerLingus-when you return to the USA, you clear Immigration and now for most flights, Customs in IRELAND. NO muss, no fuss when you get to the USA. Just grab your luggage and go, wherever you need to.

 

I don't know whether this would include the pre-clearance airports in Canada, but I would guess that the chances are very high that all clearance would be done in Ireland even for those traveling on to Canada. THAT is a REAL benefit.

 

One of our preferences when we travel, especially to Europe, is non-stop flights which is why I usually only check Canadian airlines.

However, I always check for flights out of Buffalo, you never know when you might strike gold. The problem with Buffalo for Europe is that you go to NYC first and there begins the problem. One option that Expedia did had us landing at one airport and leaving from another!! The other issue we like to avoid is changing planes as that is the main cause for lost luggage. :(

I believe the other problem with Icelandair was the width of the seats. Neither DH nor I have the requisite petit derriere for said seats ;) and so would prefer a larger seat. Air Transat has larger seats in Club Class at a great price and is non-stop.

Its all a question of your preferences isn't it? :)

[frugaltravel]

Is it really that hard for y'all to use the Quote feature correctly?!?!!

[tvmovielover]

I have learned a lot here. To the OP if you are still following all this: Of course those of us who like to travel but are not willing to pay top dollar if there is a good deal available decide whether or not a cheap cruise is worth it. Getting a reasonable (by whatever our personal standards are) flight figures into when and if we book a cruise. Now that we are retired and flexible, we always look for a cheap economy flight first. Sometimes an overnight in the departure city also counts if it is somewhere we might like to spend a day. We then figure out if an expensive flight outweighs the cost of driving to a cheaper airport or waiting for a better time.

 

However, one of our rare (mistaken! It was still good but not quite as cheap as how DH read the ad) business class sort of luxury tours to Ireland helped us discover Aer Lingus. If economy is no where near as pleasant as business class (where the free bottles never stop pouring), it is still a good deal for trips to places that they go in Europe with transfers to other flights within Europe easy to make. You can charge your phones etc in the airport while you wait too. We have not yet tried Icelandic but both sound worth looking into. In Dec, we are trying Turkish Airlines through Istanbul (a great city at all times) for a Middle East trip at an economic price.

 

We live outside JAX now and sometimes find it economically worthwhile to drive 3 hrs to Orlando (a great gateway airport) for both international and sometimes domestic flights so I agree that checking many nearby and sometimes far away flights is worth it these days. Outside Orlando, there are several parking lots with free transport to the terminals for less than $5 a day who are very reliable. You could also see if rental car fees there are good. For Turkey/Egypt trip, we will park at child's house in VA near Dulles and combine visit to her and MIL with trip. Flexibility counts.

 

Lastly, OP, I agree with others that the problem is finding something reasonable at Thanksgiving time but I would not give up if the cruise appeals to you. And really lastly Flyertalker/Punki: Do you know anything useful that I could do with 38,000 Delta miles??? And I am not talking getting on the plane sooner or avoiding luggage fees. Thanks

[waterbug123]

Do you know anything useful that I could do with 38,000 Delta miles??? And I am not talking getting on the plane sooner or avoiding luggage fees. Thanks

 

While a bit more difficult to find a low level mileage award on DL, it's not impossible. I know because I've done it, multiple times. Get creative; if you're trying to fly somewhere at the same time everyone else is trying to get there, you won't find an award ticket for 25k, but if you can be flexible you CAN find tix for 25k, or maybe 32.5k.

[FlyerTalker]

38k is quite doable. As Waterbug mentioned, don't expect a ticket at Christmas or Thanksgiving at that price. However, there's a lot you can do, depending on your preferences.

 

Since you could only get one ticket for that amount, think where you would want to go where you'd buy the other ticket for spouse. Or, look to buying another 12k miles for two low-level tickets. I also assume they are in one account, since you can't buy a ticket using two accounts. If they are in two accounts, then I would do balance transfers (at a cost) and/or purchases to get useable numbers in each account.

 

Another thought is to boost the account to get enough for an award to Europe. Think about heading over in March or April -- yep, it can be cold, but you can find a good deal on a second paid ticket and hotels are much cheaper than in the summer.

 

Think offbeat and you'll find availability. Think conventional and you'll be stuck.

[greatam]

Is it really that hard for y'all to use the Quote feature correctly?!?!!

 

Seems to be a problem with quite a few.

 

The question I answered referred to luggage on Icelandair as well as connections on AerLingus. Anubi said the luggage allowance on Icelandair didn't work and there were a LOT of extra fees. Wrong and wrong again.

 

THEN came the SMALL seat size-but again, Anubi compared COACH to business class on other airlines. And kept flagging Air TranSat which is a CHARTER carrier with very specific day service. Miss the plane for whatever reason and you WAIT until the next AirTransat flight flies. May be a day or two before you get to wherever you are going. NOT saying there is anything wrong with Air Transat-they just are NOT a scheduled airline.

 

And then came this issue of changing planes and lost luggage again by Anubi. Changing planes in the general scheme of things for most air travel is NOT a problem regarding lost luggage. LATE arriving planes when changing COULD be a problem with lost/misplaced luggage.

 

Where in the heck did EXPEDIA come into this conversation???? Who in the heck totally relies on EXPEDIA? Not in my book.

 

And for the post about Expedia selling tickets changing airports-from LGA to JFL and reverse is AT BEST a 1 hour car service ride that MAY cost $35.00. So Anubi says Expedia wants them to change airports. It MAY cost $35 to change airports and the fare is $300 CHEAPER but that is a deal breaker???? NOT in my book. I can ride in the back of a Lincoln Town Car from one NYC airport to the other in complete comfort and get picked up at the front door and dropped off at the the front door for a saving of $265.00pp (plus tip of course) I would be a FOOL not to do this-change airports for a large savings, particularly when I can ride in the back of a Lincoln Town Car from airport to airport in a very short time and be dropped off at my SPECIFIC terminal. Sometimes I take a CAB or CAR SERVICE between terminals at JFK. It is sometimes faster.

 

Didn't Anubi state they were going to London BEFORE the cruise??? So is the cruise leaving from London or the Baltic's??? BIG difference in how you book airfare.

 

Obviously, because I do this stuff for a living and Anubi goes on vacation and knows all the ins and out, I should defer. I will now shut my mouth. That will be VERY hard.

[frugaltravel]

Lastly, OP, I agree with others that the problem is finding something reasonable at Thanksgiving time but I would not give up if the cruise appeals to you. And really lastly Flyertalker/Punki: Do you know anything useful that I could do with 38,000 Delta miles??? And I am not talking getting on the plane sooner or avoiding luggage fees. Thanks

 

With you being willing to drive to Orlando, you can look for award tickets from JAX or MCO. My guess is that JAX will be easier though - MCO seems to get a lot of tourist traffic. Search one-way, also search partners like Alaska Air, then piece together your trip online or by calling DL. It should be relatively easy to get a ticket for 32,500 miles round trip (which is one way in low and one way in medium). If you are lucky and flexible, you will find seats at 25,000 miles round trip.

 

I would not even think about buying more miles for a higher award until you have found the seats you want and have put them on hold online. Otherwise you might have bought more miles for no reason at all.

[FlyerTalker]

I would not even think about buying more miles for a higher award until you have found the seats you want and have put them on hold online. Otherwise you might have bought more miles for no reason at all.

I agree, in general. However, DL does not allow for official "holds" on award travel, so you need the miles first. If you have a good phone agent, they can temporarily grab the seats while you buy the miles online, but even that requires that the purchase transaction happens quickly, which may or may not happen.

 

My comments about purchase is if the poster wanted to have enough for two tickets. Or for a defined target award. I would not buy miles for a mid-level award unless I knew they could be used. And I simply do not redeem at the high level - in my experience, it's virtually always better to just buy the ticket and earn miles!

[frugaltravel]

I agree, in general. However, DL does not allow for official "holds" on award travel, so you need the miles first.

 

This is inaccurate information. Any award booked online allows a hold for 2 full days (if booked on Monday, you have until Wednesday 11.59pm ET to have it ticketed).

 

However, once award travel reservations are ticketed, there is no 24-hour free cancellation.

[waterbug123]

However, DL does not allow for official "holds" on award travel, so you need the miles first.

 

This is inaccurate information. Any award booked online allows a hold for 2 full days

 

But you can't even book it if you don't have the miles in your account already. I think that was Flyertalker's point. Or is there some trick I'm unaware of?

[frugaltravel]

But you can't even book it if you don't have the miles in your account already. I think that was Flyertalker's point. Or is there some trick I'm unaware of?

 

This is also inaccurate.

 

Wow, no wonder Delta miles get a bad rap. Even those who seem to use them a lot dont know the rules!

 

My guess is that you are thinking abiut United, but in any case you can book a Delta award online with no miles in your account at all and hold it for two days.

[andie1969]

We're still cruising, but we're driving almost two hours to Pittsburgh vs. 10 minutes to CAK. The flights from CAK to TPA on Airtran are ridiculous, almost $1500 for 3 people in Jan., we can do the same thing from PIT for $625 total! Yes it's annoying to drive that far when we have an airport so close, but I just can't bring myself to pay that amount.

[waterbug123]

This is also inaccurate.

 

Wow, no wonder Delta miles get a bad rap. Even those who seem to use them a lot dont know the rules!

 

My guess is that you are thinking abiut United, but in any case you can book a Delta award online with no miles in your account at all and hold it for two days.

 

Lighten up. I have never attempted to book a ticket without having the necessary miles so I had no idea you could book a ticket with miles and "hold" it for 2 days. Logic says you would get to the point of hitting "confirm" or "purchase" and the purchase would be rejected. I stand corrected. Let the record reflect that FrugalTravel knows more than I do about taking advantage of uncommon loopholes to book a SkyMiles ticket.

[Cruise Junky]

Well I might have to eat my words about airfare being so high, we just booked Hawaii return for $316 pp including all taxes. Pretty happy with that deal. It's not all bad :)