Help with flights

[TeanneTX]

We are going on a Celebrity cruise out of Amsterdam and arriving back in Stockholm in May 2017. Its too early to check on flights. But this is the first time we will leave and then arrive in different countries. We don't have credit cards that offer "points" for airlines-except Southwest airlines which only works for Southwest. We can fly for free to the east coast (we live in Austin TX) and would like to fly the overseas part in Business class. I have heard there are many sites to check for flights to get the best deal. I'd love to get some info on these sites so that I can start checking when we get 11 months out from the cruise-which will be next month. I'd really love to surprise the hubbie with business class tickets. We usually get premium economy but we are still miserable. Husband has had blood clots to his legs before so I think its really important we not be cramped back in coach. Any input is greatly appreciated.

Teanne

[6rugrats]

Use matrix.itasoftware.com, and do a multi-city search.

[klfrodo]

Regarding your thoughts of using WN to fly to east coast and then fly business over the pond on another airline,,,,

 

WN doesn't have an interline agreement with any other airline. Therefore, you're looking at checking in in Austin, flying to Atlanta, JFK, where ever,,, then retrieving your luggaging,, going back up to departure and checking in for the other airline. Wasting valuable time and energy.

 

British Airways has direct flights from Auston to London.

 

Flights will open 330 days before scheduled departure date..

[TeanneTX]

Regarding your thoughts of using WN to fly to east coast and then fly business over the pond on another airline,,,,

 

WN doesn't have an interline agreement with any other airline. Therefore, you're looking at checking in in Austin, flying to Atlanta, JFK, where ever,,, then retrieving your luggaging,, going back up to departure and checking in for the other airline. Wasting valuable time and energy.

 

British Airways has direct flights from Auston to London.

 

Flights will open 330 days before scheduled departure date..

 

Thanks for the info. BA does have the direct flight and its usually not very full. We missed a connection in London last year and got put on the direct flight on BA to Austin-it was wonderful. But I don't like the fact that you have to pay extra to get an assigned seat on BA. When I heard about that I had decided not to fly BA. I love KLM and Air France. Also Delta and AA are good too.

[waterbug123]

I have heard there are many sites to check for flights to get the best deal..... business class tickets

 

What would you consider to be the "best deal," price-wise?

 

How many connections are you willing to make on the way over? On the way back?

 

How many days ahead of your cruise do you plan to arrive in Amsterdam? Is it flexible?

 

Are you planning to stay over in Stockholm afterward, and if so, for how long? Is it flexible?

 

Answers to all of these will help you determine what to book, and will help others on this site make suggestions once actual options are available for booking.

[Gardyloo]

First, you're looking at an "open-jaw" itinerary, AUS to AMS, ARN (Stockholm) to AUS. You will have to change planes at least once in each direction, since nobody flies from AUS to either Amsterdam or Stockholm nonstop.

 

ITA (mentioned above) is the gold standard in search engines, but another place to monitor is the "premium fare deals" board on Flyertalk - http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/premium-fare-deals-740/ . You'll need to brush up on your airport and airline codes, and understand that this is a global board, and most "deals" won't apply to you.

 

Every year (or so it seems) the major airlines offer summer sales in business class between North America and Europe. (This coincides with a fall-off in actual business use.) It's not unusual to see round trip fares (which would also apply to open-jaws) in the $2000 range during these sales. Monitor the Flyertalk board above to see if something appeals.

 

One other "trick" is buying business class tickets that originate in Canada. For the time being, business class fares to Europe from most Canadian cities (Vancouver, Toronto, Montreal etc.) are 2/3 or less of the comparable price out of the US (after allowing for currency exchange.) Inconvenient from Texas, but possibly worth looking at.

 

Also look at this thread on the FT board - http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/premium-fare-deals/1712489-aa-reduced-j-prices-europe-when-purchasing-via-aa-vacations.html . Basically, book a package with a minimum of three nights in a linked hotel (the flights can be farther apart) and the airfare drops to a fraction of the stand-alone price. Again, might not apply, but might be worth some homework.

[em-sk]

Just so you are aware.

 

Premium economy on many international airlines (e.g. Air Canada, BA, etc.) is a wider seat with more leg room and upgraded meal and other in flight services. This is very similar to what Business/First was decades ago.

 

On most US carriers they have been offering a Economy Plus product that is just Economy with a few inch more leg room. The US carriers are slowing moving to a true premium product but it will take time and may not exist on all aircraft.

 

Your best price is usually booking everything on a single ticket. So open jaw. On most airline web sites you can search for open jaw by selecting the "Milti-city" search option.

 

I would still look at BA, even if you have to pay an extra $50 to book seats or something like that, it can still be the better deal.

Edited May 16, 2016 by em-sk

[Globaliser]

BA does have the direct flight and its usually not very full. We missed a connection in London last year and got put on the direct flight on BA to Austin-it was wonderful. But I don't like the fact that you have to pay extra to get an assigned seat on BA. When I heard about that I had decided not to fly BA.

You might want to think about one thing: On the way back from Europe, if your trans-Atlantic flight ends somewhere other than Austin and you are taking a connecting flight to Austin, then you will have to clear immigration at the first US port, collect your bags, clear customs, give your bags back to the airline, and then go to your onward flight to Austin. All of this takes time - but in addition, it's highly variable so you usually end up having to allow much more time for the process than you actually need. This extends the journey home.

 

If you fly directly to Austin, you will do the immigration / customs thing there, and then simply walk out of the airport.

 

Even if it costs you a little more when you add in the (optional) seat pre-allocation charges on BA, you may find that the extra total cost of travel is worth it for the ease of the overall journey. As em-sk says, it could still be the better deal.

[TeanneTX]

You might want to think about one thing: On the way back from Europe, if your trans-Atlantic flight ends somewhere other than Austin and you are taking a connecting flight to Austin, then you will have to clear immigration at the first US port, collect your bags, clear customs, give your bags back to the airline, and then go to your onward flight to Austin. All of this takes time - but in addition, it's highly variable so you usually end up having to allow much more time for the process than you actually need. This extends the journey home.

 

If you fly directly to Austin, you will do the immigration / customs thing there, and then simply walk out of the airport.

 

Even if it costs you a little more when you add in the (optional) seat pre-allocation charges on BA, you may find that the extra total cost of travel is worth it for the ease of the overall journey. As em-sk says, it could still be the better deal.

 

Thanks for your input. Will price out both direct to Austin and to east coast. We have the "global entry" so that helps with customs. When we came back from South America the week of Christmas-we got into DFW and zoomed through customs and immigration. It was no big deal and well worth the $$ we spent for it. But it would be nicer to fly directly into Austin. Will look at choice air once they have the flights up for May 2017.

Teanne

[TeanneTX]

First, you're looking at an "open-jaw" itinerary, AUS to AMS, ARN (Stockholm) to AUS. You will have to change planes at least once in each direction, since nobody flies from AUS to either Amsterdam or Stockholm nonstop.

 

ITA (mentioned above) is the gold standard in search engines, but another place to monitor is the "premium fare deals" board on Flyertalk - http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/premium-fare-deals-740/ . You'll need to brush up on your airport and airline codes, and understand that this is a global board, and most "deals" won't apply to you.

 

Every year (or so it seems) the major airlines offer summer sales in business class between North America and Europe. (This coincides with a fall-off in actual business use.) It's not unusual to see round trip fares (which would also apply to open-jaws) in the $2000 range during these sales. Monitor the Flyertalk board above to see if something appeals.

 

One other "trick" is buying business class tickets that originate in Canada. For the time being, business class fares to Europe from most Canadian cities (Vancouver, Toronto, Montreal etc.) are 2/3 or less of the comparable price out of the US (after allowing for currency exchange.) Inconvenient from Texas, but possibly worth looking at.

 

Also look at this thread on the FT board - http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/premium-fare-deals/1712489-aa-reduced-j-prices-europe-when-purchasing-via-aa-vacations.html . Basically, book a package with a minimum of three nights in a linked hotel (the flights can be farther apart) and the airfare drops to a fraction of the stand-alone price. Again, might not apply, but might be worth some homework.

 

Thanks for all your helpful information. I went to the flyertalk site and its very overwhelming and confusing. Wish there was someone you could pay to find a great deal in business for Austin-to AMS, copenhagen back to Austin. Oh well.

[CruisingAlong4Now]

Thanks for all your helpful information. I went to the flyertalk site and its very overwhelming and confusing. Wish there was someone you could pay to find a great deal in business for Austin-to AMS, copenhagen back to Austin. Oh well.

 

TRAVEL AGENT is someone you pay to find a great deal in business . . .:cool:

[waterbug123]

Wish there was someone you could pay to find a great deal in business for Austin-to AMS, copenhagen back to Austin. Oh well.

 

Well, as you already acknowledged, you can't even search yet for your travel dates, so there's nothing anyone can do now. That said, I'll ask once again:

 

What would you consider to be the "best deal," price-wise?

 

How many connections are you willing to make on the way over? On the way back?

 

How many days ahead of your cruise do you plan to arrive in Amsterdam? Is it flexible?

 

Are you planning to stay over in Stockholm afterward, and if so, for how long? Is it flexible?

 

Answers to all of these will help you determine what to book, and will help others on this site make suggestions once actual options are available for booking.

[Gardyloo]

Thanks for all your helpful information. I went to the flyertalk site and its very overwhelming and confusing. Wish there was someone you could pay to find a great deal in business for Austin-to AMS, copenhagen back to Austin. Oh well.

 

TRAVEL AGENT is someone you pay to find a great deal in business . . .:cool:

 

In my experience TAs in the US don't know beans about airfares. There's no incentive for them to master the subject since airlines don't pay commissions, unlike cruise lines.

 

Yes, Flyertalk can be off-putting for newbies.

 

Here's what I'd recommend. Go to http://matrix.itasoftware.com/ and bookmark it.

 

Then learn how to use it. Start with doing a month-long search for a simple round trip, AUS to AMS. Put in AUS and AMS in the "from" and "destination" boxes, click the "see calendar" button, put in some date within the next 11 months for the search start date (you won't be able to see May 2017 for another couple of months) and enter how many days (roughly) you plan to be gone. Then select "business class or higher" in the "cabin" menu, and hit the "search" button.

 

This will result in a month-long calendar showing the lowest prices on any given day. Click on a day and you'll see a list of options, sorted by price, or you can sort them by departure time, travel time, number of connections, etc.

 

Try it out for various dates to get a feel of prices and suitable carriers. Then when you've got the hand of it, use some date that has a decent price as the departure date for an open-jaw inquiry. Select the "multi-city" tab at the top, put in AUS to AMS and your date in the outbound box, and ARN to AUS in the return boxes, along with the approximate date you'd be returning. (Remember, 11 months max for the dates.) Select "business class or higher" again, and push the search button.

 

Do this until you have the hang of it, then start doing it for real in July. You can't book through ITA, but it's owned by Google, so clicking on the (how convenient) Google Flights link on the ITA screen that comes up while ITA is "thinking." That will let you click through to an airline site where you can book the fare. Otherwise, note down the flights and dates ITA gives you and go either to the outbound airline, or to some online travel agency like Expedia, where you ought to be able to duplicate the ITA price and buy the tickets.

 

The other thing I'd suggest is to investigate how much prices change if you use DFW instead of AUS. DFW has a lot more competition and might be cheaper, but not necessarily.

[Globaliser]

The other thing I'd suggest is to investigate how much prices change if you use DFW instead of AUS. DFW has a lot more competition and might be cheaper, but not necessarily.

One other thing: spend some time playing with all sorts of different variables.

 

For example, you may find that it's much cheaper to fly round-trip to Stockholm than to fly round-trip to Amsterdam. If you buy an open-jaw ticket, you'll get the price half-way between those two prices. But the saving might be enough that it's worth it for you to buy a round-trip ticket to Stockholm, and then separately buy a one-way ticket to Amsterdam.

 

You may also find that the day of the week matters: for example, if the trans-Atlantic flight is on a Friday or a Saturday, that can push the price up.

 

Then be prepared to try to make plans around what you've found. For example, might you want to do a pre-cruise stay of several days? Instead of doing the whole stay in Amsterdam, why not split it between Stockholm and Amsterdam, to get the benefit of the lower price flying round-trip to Stockholm? If it gets the flight price down, why not add an extra day pre-cruise or post-cruise to avoid flying on a weekend day? And so on.

 

Also, look out for season changes. If you were originally thinking, say, of flying on 15 May but you discover that the summer season starts on 14 May, pushing all prices up from that date onwards, then you might change your plans to fly on 13 May instead.

[TeanneTX]

In my experience TAs in the US don't know beans about airfares. There's no incentive for them to master the subject since airlines don't pay commissions, unlike cruise lines.

 

Yes, Flyertalk can be off-putting for newbies.

 

Here's what I'd recommend. Go to http://matrix.itasoftware.com/ and bookmark it.

 

Then learn how to use it. Start with doing a month-long search for a simple round trip, AUS to AMS. Put in AUS and AMS in the "from" and "destination" boxes, click the "see calendar" button, put in some date within the next 11 months for the search start date (you won't be able to see May 2017 for another couple of months) and enter how many days (roughly) you plan to be gone. Then select "business class or higher" in the "cabin" menu, and hit the "search" button.

 

This will result in a month-long calendar showing the lowest prices on any given day. Click on a day and you'll see a list of options, sorted by price, or you can sort them by departure time, travel time, number of connections, etc.

 

Try it out for various dates to get a feel of prices and suitable carriers. Then when you've got the hand of it, use some date that has a decent price as the departure date for an open-jaw inquiry. Select the "multi-city" tab at the top, put in AUS to AMS and your date in the outbound box, and ARN to AUS in the return boxes, along with the approximate date you'd be returning. (Remember, 11 months max for the dates.) Select "business class or higher" again, and push the search button.

 

Do this until you have the hang of it, then start doing it for real in July. You can't book through ITA, but it's owned by Google, so clicking on the (how convenient) Google Flights link on the ITA screen that comes up while ITA is "thinking." That will let you click through to an airline site where you can book the fare. Otherwise, note down the flights and dates ITA gives you and go either to the outbound airline, or to some online travel agency like Expedia, where you ought to be able to duplicate the ITA price and buy the tickets.

 

The other thing I'd suggest is to investigate how much prices change if you use DFW instead of AUS. DFW has a lot more competition and might be cheaper, but not necessarily.

 

wow-thanks so much for the valuable information. I will start playing around on the site and playing with dates and destinations. I sure have a lot to learn about using this site. But it will be worth it if I can get some business class seats for a decent price. Thanks again.

[TeanneTX]

One other thing: spend some time playing with all sorts of different variables.

 

For example, you may find that it's much cheaper to fly round-trip to Stockholm than to fly round-trip to Amsterdam. If you buy an open-jaw ticket, you'll get the price half-way between those two prices. But the saving might be enough that it's worth it for you to buy a round-trip ticket to Stockholm, and then separately buy a one-way ticket to Amsterdam.

 

You may also find that the day of the week matters: for example, if the trans-Atlantic flight is on a Friday or a Saturday, that can push the price up.

 

Then be prepared to try to make plans around what you've found. For example, might you want to do a pre-cruise stay of several days? Instead of doing the whole stay in Amsterdam, why not split it between Stockholm and Amsterdam, to get the benefit of the lower price flying round-trip to Stockholm? If it gets the flight price down, why not add an extra day pre-cruise or post-cruise to avoid flying on a weekend day? And so on.

 

Also, look out for season changes. If you were originally thinking, say, of flying on 15 May but you discover that the summer season starts on 14 May, pushing all prices up from that date onwards, then you might change your plans to fly on 13 May instead.

 

Thanks for the info. Glad I've got a few months to play with the site to figure it out. We do plan to go a couple of days early to AMS so I can play with those dates too. You all have given me lots of great advice. Thank you again.

Teanne