Getting deals on international flights

[Bobblehead]

Originally Posted by Tron_fdc

Travelocity would have told us to f-off, ...

That doesn't sound like something a gnome would say.

[Sample00]

Originally Posted by Tron_fdc

I too will plug Sample....we had a glitch in our plans when we booked and the guy went 110% to make it work. Travelocity would have told us to f-off, so for the extra couple bucks (if you can afford it) having a good travel agent pays off.

thanks bud,
I appreciate the compliment, I am glad that we were able to make things work.

[vanisleflamesfan]

Originally Posted by Kybosh

One thing to remember is that if you can catch a cheap flight to London, there are any number of discount flights from there. I would look into stuff like skyeurope.com, easyjet.com and ryanair.com from London.

I would second this, getting to London is usually quite reasonable, and from there, the discount carriers can be VERY cheap. Check to see which carriers go out of which airport, in my experience, Gatwick has more choice for the discounts.

Originally Posted by Sample00

Europe goes on sale in the spring, ie) april, may, june

Sample00, I have to make a few trips from here (England) back and forth to Canada in the next few months (assuming that my research proposals are all approved). Multi-cities... very confusing and I don't relish having to work it all out myself. Could I PM you once I have my dates and hopefully you can help me out? I am a student, and therefore broke.

[ZDogg]

Originally Posted by 4X4

I just came back from Italy and I have some advice: don't use Zoom. I will elaborate later.

Interested to hear what you issue is with Zoom. I flew with them in the summer of 2005. Had no issues and from someone that was travelling with me it was considered 1000x better than AIR TRANSAT. One thing to keep in mind is that if you upgrade to more leg room you will be at the emergency exit row so you will not have a seat infront of you to put your bag under and the bathroom lineup will sometimes extend right infront of you. I guess one issue could be they fly into Gatwick instead of Heathrow???

[Sample00]

Originally Posted by vanisleflamesfan

I would second this, getting to London is usually quite reasonable, and from there, the discount carriers can be VERY cheap. Check to see which carriers go out of which airport, in my experience, Gatwick has more choice for the discounts.



Sample00, I have to make a few trips from here (England) back and forth to Canada in the next few months (assuming that my research proposals are all approved). Multi-cities... very confusing and I don't relish having to work it all out myself. Could I PM you once I have my dates and hopefully you can help me out? I am a student, and therefore broke.

please do, I look forward to quoting it for you.
thanks
Axel aka Sample00

[vanisleflamesfan]

Originally Posted by ZDogg

I guess one issue could be they fly into Gatwick instead of Heathrow???

Flying into Gatwick is not a real problem. With the trains and buses (which are excellent), you can get from Gatwick into Central London for around 15-20 quid and the service is very fast and frequent. IIRC, the last time I did it, I got a National Express Coach for around 10 pounds (with a student card) and it was about a 45 minute ride. So the 200 bucks I saved by not flying into Heathrow could be spent much more productively, at the pub. So if you can save money by flying into Gatwick, I say do it.

Originally Posted by Sample00

please do, I look forward to quoting it for you.
thanks
Axel aka Sample00

Thanks!!

[mac_gurl]

I went last year to England, and found tickets on Airtransat for $1250 (they were the cheapest i could find). When i finally got the time approved from work (only half an hour later), there was only one economy seat, and one first class seat, so the price had gone from $2500 for 2, to $3200. After more hours of searching for the cheap flights, I was able to find them for $2500 on redtag.ca. My opinion - go with the $800 flight. For the summer, that will probably be the best you will find.

[Scrambler]

Originally Posted by Sample00

support your local travel consultant, contrary to popular belief, cheaper isnt alway found online

Agreed Sample! It's best for everyone when they book flights through travel agents. Let us do the work for you, that's what we're here for!

[Sample00]

Originally Posted by Scrambler

Agreed Sample! It's best for everyone when they book flights through travel agents. Let us do the work for you, that's what we're here for!

Your a consultant??
good to meet ya!

[FlameCity]

Originally Posted by prarieboy

We Travel to Romania and always book as early as possible. Expedia works for us. The longer we wait the more it goes up. Summer is really expensive.

So how far in advance do you book for Romania?

[Bill Bumface]

Originally Posted by vanisleflamesfan

I would second this, getting to London is usually quite reasonable, and from there, the discount carriers can be VERY cheap. Check to see which carriers go out of which airport, in my experience, Gatwick has more choice for the discounts.

Unfortunately I can't find a way to London in my timeframe for less than $1500


Sample got me a quote and it was $500 cheaper for the two of us than I could find on the net, for the exact same flight. Unfortunately, I'm too slow and by the time I got back to him the price had gone up. He was still able to get it for $150 less than internet prices though.

[Scrambler]

Originally Posted by Sample00

Your a consultant??
good to meet ya!

Yep, I specialize in the South Pacific, Asia and Africa (www.goway.com) I'm based in Vancouver. Nice to know I've got a fellow industry member on CP!

[Sample00]

Originally Posted by Scrambler

Yep, I specialize in the South Pacific, Asia and Africa (www.goway.com) I'm based in Vancouver. Nice to know I've got a fellow industry member on CP!

we use your services all the time,
good to know ya!

[Sample00]

Originally Posted by hulkrogan

Unfortunately I can't find a way to London in my timeframe for less than $1500


Sample got me a quote and it was $500 cheaper for the two of us than I could find on the net, for the exact same flight. Unfortunately, I'm too slow and by the time I got back to him the price had gone up. He was still able to get it for $150 less than internet prices though.

a pleasure doing business with you and thank you very much.
damn airlines huh?

[4X4]

Zoom... Maybe I just have bad luck, but I used those guys twice (to london and back), with no problems. Good prices, plane didn't feel like it was going to disintegrate during take-off...

So I used them a third time. A 3 hours before I was to depart, they called me to tell me that there would be a delay. 24 hours. I asked them if they would compensate me for losing my ryanair flight from london to rome and the answer was of course no. OK. I kinda understand. If I wanted, I could have a fre hotel room in Calgary that night. I declined that because I have plenty of places to stay in Calgary. Guess I'm just a nice guy.

Last week I flew Zoom back here to calgary. The incident a year ago was nothing to hold a grudge over, right?
My flight originated from gatwick, stopped in glasgow, then on to calgary.
In glasgow, we loaded up more passengers, then hit the runway where we sat for a couple minutes before the pilot announced that we would be returning to the terminal for a "minor repair to a not-so-important air conditioning valve" "20 minutes, no longer".

2 hours later, the pilot comes on the intercom to say that he'd give us an update in another half hour.

An hour later he tells us we can get off the plane and wait in the lounge.

Two hours later they issued us 5 pound vouchers to use at the restaurant (a sandwich was 3 pounds, beer was also 3 pounds). Thanks Zoom!

two more hours go by and they announce that we are going to be staying in glasgow for the night at the holiday inn across the street, we should all get our bags and go eat free dinner in our free hotel! Don't forget to be back in the airport by 5AM because "WE ARE DEPARTING AT 7"!

It took over an hour for the ****ing suitcases to come down the carousel. It is now 9 pm and people are crabby and hungry. But wait! Now we get to line up for our hotel rooms! Weee!!!

OK, up to this point, people are staying cool. It sucks, but complaining doesn't solve anything...

Finish eating dinner and decided to pull an all nighter so that I can just sleep throught the plane ride. (since I read my book and magazine while waiting for 8 hours that day.....)

430 rolls around and I'm out of the shower and repacking my suitcase. Get out of the room and head to the elevator........ Elevator door opens and whaddyaknow! A paper taped inside that tells us that we aren't departing until 10 now. Gee, too bad I left my ****ing key inside my hotel room. Too bad that I'm all showered and in the elevator. Guess it was too much to ask that they slip something under the door? Maybe people would have seen it on their way to the bathroom and gone back to sleep?

ok, interupted. Gotta finish this saga a little later. And oh, it gets much better...

[Salisbury]

Try a quote from these guys I flew on them last July, to Gatwick en-route to SA, they were OK and offered the best fare (at that time of the year) to UK:
http://www.canadian-affair.ca/

Otherwise its Air Canada, British Airways (I am booked with them to go the UK in April) or Zoom. You then use a low cost carrier from London to your final destination. Air Canada may roll out some seat sales to Europe soon. When you see a quote be cetain it that it includes all fees and taxes which always adds quite a lot the final figure.

The above faisco sounds similar to an episode I had on Air Transat!

[icarus]

Originally Posted by vanisleflamesfan

I would second this, getting to London is usually quite reasonable, and from there, the discount carriers can be VERY cheap. Check to see which carriers go out of which airport, in my experience, Gatwick has more choice for the discounts.

Except it is a massive pain-in-the-ass and very costly to transfer from airport to another. Any travel through London requires a consideration of the transportation costs once there. Flying into or out of Gatwick is okay, you just catch the express from Victoria station for 10 pounds or so. But transferring elsewhere is brutal. To get to/from Heathrow you have to get onto the Picadilly line, or take the Paddington Express. Either way it isn't cheap. Getting to Stansted, you need to get to Kings Cross. Luton I think is Paddington station, and a monumental pain-in-the-ass.

When I was living south of London my friends and I found a really cheap flight on Ryanair to Rome. We ended up spending way more just getting to Stansted airport than on the plane tickets! We would have been better off to buy a more expensive airfare from Gatwick (the nearest airport) because it would have been cheaper to get there.

And of course these discount airlines land out in the middle of nowhere on the continent as well, so you have pay to get into town. Ryanair has taken me such thriving metropolises as Beauvais, Ciampino, Prestwick, Vasteras, and Eindhoven.

[Scrambler]

Yeah, Zoom is a pretty bad airline. Nothing short of a charter carrier. Zoom's owner, eccentric Hugh Boyle from Ottawa is good pals withh his buddy Michel Leblanc in Montreal - the serial entrepeneur airline killer. It will be interesting to see how much time goes before Zoom goes the way of Greyhound Air, VistaJet, Canada 3000, Royal Air and Jetsgo.

[OilersBaby]

I've found the best deals on priceline.com where you name your own price. I like it because it takes the results from all of the various travel sites (expedia, travelocity etc) and combines it. I also like that I can name my own price and if it's out there, it will find it for me........

[vanisleflamesfan]

Originally Posted by icarus

Except it is a massive pain-in-the-ass and very costly to transfer from airport to another. Any travel through London requires a consideration of the transportation costs once there. Flying into or out of Gatwick is okay, you just catch the express from Victoria station for 10 pounds or so. But transferring elsewhere is brutal. To get to/from Heathrow you have to get onto the Picadilly line, or take the Paddington Express. Either way it isn't cheap. Getting to Stansted, you need to get to Kings Cross. Luton I think is Paddington station, and a monumental pain-in-the-ass.

There is a National Express Coach that just runs between the two airports all day, every day - 15 pounds.