Transatlantics & Round-Trip Air

[Florida Fan]

My husband is on a mission. He wants very much to see if he can take a transatlantic cruise to Europe in the spring and fly back, and then fly to Europe in the fall and take a transatlantic cruise back....all with the same roundtrip air ticket. Is this possible? Has anyone ever done this? It would be his dream come true.

[Host Kewlguy]

Yes, we've done it. Saved a lot of money doing so.

[jjb415]

My husband is on a mission. He wants very much to see if he can take a transatlantic cruise to Europe in the spring and fly back, and then fly to Europe in the fall and take a transatlantic cruise back....all with the same roundtrip air ticket. Is this possible? Has anyone ever done this? It would be his dream come true.

 

I found out that there is quite a number of people who do this on a regular basis. Many times they use miles and sometimes are able to travel to or from different cities in Europe on the same ticket. Hopefully you'll get many more hints and strategies on this thread. I'm also anxious to read the replies.

[traveling1969]

Doing it next year; over in spring on the Navigator; back in fall on the Mariner. Did it before and we'll do it again. Bon Voyage!

[Tucker in Texas]

Done it for the past four years. This year we fly home from Amsterdam in the spring and fly to Rome in the fall. We got lucky and got frequent flyer miles. The only "problem" was we had to wait around until 330 days out from our Rome return to book it and worry about not being able to get our Amsterdam to Houston flight. As it turned out, that leg was no problem--got a non-stop. The flight from Houston to Rome was a problem which required nearly an hour on the phone working with a very patient Continental employee in order to use our frequent flyer miles. It was the first day we could book the flight. We had to fly in a day earlier than we wanted but there are worse places to be "stuck" than Rome. It, also, gives us two days of "wiggle" room instead of one day in case something gets screwed up.

 

Tucker in Texas

[chucknmarilyn]

People do this a lot but for the last couple of years some of the one-way tickets have been no higher than half of a roundtrip and that way you don't have to wait until the return is available to book. Just something to consider.

[Tagsalong]

Have been doing it for four years. Right now you can get your airline tickets for next year (as of Dec. 6 for us). RT Amsterdam - Orlando is at $778 and the open-jaws at $886 (AMS - MCO / MCO - BCN). We will be doing the Constellation over and Liberty OTS back.

[wg6530]

I've done it. Prices are generally better if first flight is Europe to US after an eastbound transatlantic cruise than if first flight is US to Europe.

[PSCruiser]

2011 will be our 4th year in a row for doing this. I would recommend using Expedia or similar instead of direct with an airline, as they will put together multiple cities and airlines to make a round trip.

[WendyJo]

People do this a lot but for the last couple of years some of the one-way tickets have been no higher than half of a roundtrip and that way you don't have to wait until the return is available to book. Just something to consider.

 

I just checked the cost of a one fare from McAllen, TX to Barcelona and the cheapest was almost $2,000. The cheapest RT airfare was around $800. :eek:

 

Could a person get away with booking a RT fare but only using half of it? Someone told me it is not allowed but that the airlines don't enforce it.

[KeywestK]

I just checked the cost of a one fare from McAllen, TX to Barcelona and the cheapest was almost $2,000. The cheapest RT airfare was around $800. :eek:

 

Could a person get away with booking a RT fare but only using half of it? Someone told me it is not allowed but that the airlines don't enforce it.

 

You could book a R/T ticket and just blow off the return portion. Technically, you're not supposed to do it, but I do know that it is a fairly common practice. We are booked on a TA cruise, Barcelona to FLL in October and I booked our one-way fares from BWI to Paris (where we're starting our trip) with one of the online consolidators for $400 pp.

[Tucker in Texas]

I just checked the cost of a one fare from McAllen, TX to Barcelona and the cheapest was almost $2,000. The cheapest RT airfare was around $800. :eek:

 

Could a person get away with booking a RT fare but only using half of it? Someone told me it is not allowed but that the airlines don't enforce it.

 

You can not show up for the return portion but I would call them and cancel the return portion with some "who shot John story" about how an emergency has come up and you won't be able to go right then. Your ticket will be good for a year with a change fee and any increase in air fare. Who knows, you might find a spring 2011 TA to use the other half. Worked for us.

 

Tucker in Texas

[pcur]

I just booked my air, and it's been exhausting tracking the prices for the last several months.

 

We are Eastbound to Rome in May, and then Westbound to Galveston in October.

 

I found in my research that the Rome flights were cheaper on British Airways, and I had a list of about a dozen web sites and airlines I was checking. My old faithful mobissimo was my barometer, so to speak.

 

Well, I booked through AARP's travel center, but they had the same fare on British Airways' web site, and I decided not to wait any longer.

 

Roundtrip FCO-LAX was $768 per person. I haven't seen anything below $831 for months.

 

That's $384 per person each way for each Transatlantic cruise.

 

Gotta go sign up for my Meet and Mingle threads now!

 

Ciao!!!

[WendyJo]

I just booked my air, and it's been exhausting tracking the prices for the last several months.

 

We are Eastbound to Rome in May, and then Westbound to Galveston in October.

 

I found in my research that the Rome flights were cheaper on British Airways, and I had a list of about a dozen web sites and airlines I was checking. My old faithful mobissimo was my barometer, so to speak.

 

Well, I booked through AARP's travel center, but they had the same fare on British Airways' web site, and I decided not to wait any longer.

 

Roundtrip FCO-LAX was $768 per person. I haven't seen anything below $831 for months.

 

That's $384 per person each way for each Transatlantic cruise.

 

Gotta go sign up for my Meet and Mingle threads now!

 

Ciao!!!

 

I finally booked ours as well. I don't even care if it gets cheaper--the tickets are non-refundable anyway. Glad that's out of the way!

[pcur]

I finally booked ours as well. I don't even care if it gets cheaper--the tickets are non-refundable anyway. Glad that's out of the way!

 

I feel EXACTLY the same way. I woke up this morning thinking, "wow, I'm soooooooo glad that's out of the way". I was going nuts checking on it and thinking I had another 2 months of it to go.