Air service to Europe. Best prices?

[NC Fred]

We have a river cruise booked for next summer. I realize the airlines don't open up reservation prior to 300 days out but can anyone suggest how to cost effectively get from the east coast to Amsterdam? IAD, ATL CLT are all withing driving distance. Looking at this summer for an idea of pricing, I find fares around $1600 pp coach. Are there any potential bargains to be found?

[grand isle joe]

We usually book 300 days or so when we go to Europe. We just went to Italy on U S Air and got the tickets from Burlington Vt. through Philly to Rome and return from Venice and spent $1300.00 per person. We lust keep looking and fly who ever has the lowest price. Luftansa (sp?) is agreat airline and the times we flew them it was great. Best of luck for airline travel pricing keeps creeping higher and higher IMO.

[caviargal]

Set up a price alert on Kayak and you will be emailed when price drops.

 

Re Lufthansa, I agree they are a great airline but their coach seats are the absolute worst we have ever had in many trips to Europe. I would not fly them again in coach class. We were miserable.

[ewizabeff]

For international flights, I recommend Hipmunk. They pull in European carriers that Kayak doesn't. They also have some innovative sorting features, like "agony" (flight length & layovers). We ended up getting a non-stop flights from Chicago to Vienna on Austrian Airways, and upgrading to an exit row with much more leg room was only $100 more per seat.

[pinotlover]

Fred;

 

Been looking for one of those flights myself. What I am seeing is that flying from/through either Philly or Newark currently seems to yield the lowest cost flights. I absolutely hate Newark so am looking at Philly. We came back through Newark last summer. After one clears customs and rechecks their bags for the next flight they are forced out and must reclear the security check point. Newark had multiple planes landing from international points all within a short time frame. Customs took forever and then the line of to go through security again was massive. We had a 3 hour lay over and barely made our next flight. that was 3 hours in a line with no bathrooms, water, or any services. Avoid Newark!:mad:

[Hoyaheel]

After one clears customs and rechecks their bags for the next flight they are forced out and must reclear the security check point.

You have to do that at all airports upon return to the US. Newark might not be ideal, but the set up is going to be the same no matter where you land.

 

(in addition to setting up fare alerts, email newsletters like Travelzoo will let you know when an airline is having a fare sale - eg Air France & KLM just had a summer fare sale, $910ish to AMS, Paris)

[NC Fred]

Thank you all for the suggestions. I will follow your advice.

[FuelScience]

If you travel regularly outside the US (once a year or more), consider applying for Global Entry. It costs $100 per person, but lasts for 5 years, so it's $20 per year. Global Entry will let you avoid the lines at passport control.

 

We've done three river cruises now and managed with carry-on luggage only on all three. So on the last cruise with Global Entry, we had no lines at passport control, no wait for luggage, and we breezed through the security checkpoint in Detroit!

 

FuelScience

[CaroleSS]

Avoid Newark!:mad:

 

I'll second that!! Newark has the worst employees of any place we've ever been. They are rude, unhelpful and some go out of their way to make your life miserable!! A smaller airport will more than likely have 'friendlier' people.....CLT comes to mind!

 

We stood in the security line for 3+ hours as well. We asked some of the airline reps nearby if they could help as we would miss our connection. Their response was "oh well". The problem was that we saw other people say the same thing and they were taken to the front of the line!!!

 

We are flying Air Canada to Germany in July. I excluded flights through Newark off the top. UGH!

 

One thing that I will note (and this will vary from year to year - month to month even) is that we began looking at air fare a year out trying to get an idea what the fares would be. $1600 then....$1600 300 days out....and ya know what?? 6 weeks before our trip....the price is STILL $1600!!

 

I will comment about consolidators.....our neighbors used a consolidator to get cheap(er) air fare to Europe last year. What they found out was that the consolidator used miles to purchase legs of their flights - so they had different booking numbers for each leg. This caused them some issues when it came to checking their luggage as the ticket agent would only check the luggage to the destination for that ticket! That meant that they had to get their bags, re-check in for the subsequent flight and go through security again. The money they saved was NOT worth that aggravation.

[CaroleSS]

If you travel regularly outside the US (once a year or more), consider applying for Global Entry. It costs $100 per person, but lasts for 5 years, so it's $20 per year. Global Entry will let you avoid the lines at passport control.

 

We've done three river cruises now and managed with carry-on luggage only on all three. So on the last cruise with Global Entry, we had no lines at passport control, no wait for luggage, and we breezed through the security checkpoint in Detroit!

 

FuelScience

 

Fuel....we thought about doing that, but it would require a 3 hour trip (ear way) for us to get to the facility where the interviews are done. We also looked into PreCheck, but again, the facilities are far enough away to preclude us from taking advantage of that.

 

I DO know that PreCheck is rolling out new sites every month. One may come close to us at some point in time, but <alas> not in time for this year's trip.

[caviargal]

If you travel regularly outside the US (once a year or more), consider applying for Global Entry. It costs $100 per person, but lasts for 5 years, so it's $20 per year. Global Entry will let you avoid the lines at passport control.

 

\

 

Not all airports have Global Entry so not true in every case.

 

We flew via Detroit on our recent return from Amsterday and the GE window was not open at that time, and had limited hours. So we were in the long lines with everyone else.

 

We love GE but you cannot count it to be at all airports, or always open.

[lovesthebeachx4]

A while back I printed out a page from a Rick Steve's article. Norwegian airlines has great prices to AMS; check then out. Just be careful when you look then up that you are getting the airline and not the cruise line lol!Good luck![/i]/I]

[Hoyaheel]

We actually did our GE interviews in Milwaukee on a trip to visit my new nephew - CLT (a 3 hr drive for us) was overbooked and we couldn't get a decent interview time, so it was more convenient to schedule the interview during a trip elsewhere. Lots of people do this:p

 

(we're traveling in December, and the past 2 yrs, DL has had a 1st class sale to Europe for Dec & Jan dates, announced in November. I'd love to take advantage of that, but I don't think I can wait until 3 weeks before our trip without buying plane tix:o $2000 business class tix would be nice but we'll settle for $1650 PV on AF I guess....)

[deec]

In March we returned to Detroit from Mexico and there were multiple kiosks to use for Global Entry...quick and efficient.

 

TSA pre-check does NOT always work....it is random whether or not you are able to use that line. annoying when someone in the group still has to go through the regular security line.

[Bellarose]

Also look at smaller airports. There is an airline that flys Orlando to Amsterdam direct - Arkefly- and leaves from Sandford/Orlando airport. It's barebones but an option. Good luck.

 

 

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[Riversanddale]

Wow! Isn't it amazing how experiences vary? We came back from Europe earlier this month through Seattle and were very pleased. They've updated some of their equipment for immigration and customs and are doing more. A good experience for us with fast lines and some automation.

 

We came back through Newark between Christmas and New Years and found that to be one of our very best experiences. The waiting room has giant windows instead of block walls. The people were friendly and helpful. There were welcome messages and Christmas decorations on the walls. A TV played cartoons for the children. The lines moved. We felt privileged after some of our other experiences and we weren't in any special line.

 

Our worst experiences invariably come from entering back through San Francisco and Los Angeles - long, long hallways; blank unfriendly cement walls and the longest, slowest lines with the unfriendliest folks working there. We live in California so use these airports the most and I'm sorry to say they are consistently the worst on our list of possibilities.

 

Perhaps we've been lucky this year but we would like to think things are improving at some of the airports. Hope for a good day, put on your friendliest smile and take a suitcase full of patience.

[amd1234]

We are flying into Amsterdam from Boston the end of June. I checked flights almost daily and I finally booked my flight this past January. The price fluctuated about $50.00. We are flying non stop Delta $1546.. This was the best price and I monitored this flight for about a year. My advice if you see an inexpensive fare book it. We are returning Zurich to Amsterdam on to Boston. We are staying post cruise in Lucerne two days..good luck..