we mibht be stuck... - TravelPUNK Backpacker College Student Budget Travel Message Boards!

catfewd · 03-17-2006, 07:11 AM

An issue just came up... or better yet, I just now started thinking about this. When we bought our tickets to europe, we only booked for 7 days, which was before we decided we were going to stay for 5 months. When i called orbitz/us airways they both told me that we are not able to change our return flight, which we'd have to move by about 4.5 months :P

So... I was wondering if anyone was familiar with really cheap european airlines that we should look at to book a flight back home. We also wouldn't mind taking a boat over the pond if that would be cheaper... any suggestions would be greately appreciated

**Esterina** · 03-17-2006, 07:33 AM

Where are you located at the moment ? Have you tried STA travel ? They offer very affordable one way tickets, and if you're student or under 26, you'll even get a discount.

**Esterina** · 03-17-2006, 07:34 AM

Here's tpunk's link to STA : STA Travel

**tumblezweedz** · 03-17-2006, 07:40 AM

You could take a look at www.attitudetravel.com or www.airninja.com for low fare airlines. Have you actually left on your slightly elongated trip yet? And do you have travel insurance?

catfewd · 03-17-2006, 07:48 AM

thanks for the super fast replies! We still haven't left for europe yet, we're flying out march 31st. so we could potentially return from any country, just whatever will be the cheapest.. i'm going to check the links you guys provided right now...

**tumblezweedz** · 03-17-2006, 07:55 AM

^^^

That's just part of !Travelpunk's stellar service. We have our travel experts located around the globe to assist you 24 hours a day. Thank you for choosing !TravelPunk.

catfewd · 03-17-2006, 08:10 AM

well... sta only offers flights that originate in the US... and with the other 2 websites the cheapest flight I could find is $780 usd for both people + taxes... is that pretty good, or do you guys think can find something cheaper?

What about returning by boat, we would really enjoy that, does anyone have any knowledge on how to hop a boat from europe to the US... any port would do.

**Esterina** · 03-17-2006, 08:17 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by catfewd+Mar 17 2006, 11:10 AM--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(catfewd @ Mar 17 2006, 11:10 AM)</div>

Quote:

well... sta only offers flights that originate in the US...
[/b]

This is because the link leads to STA USA, you'll need to try with STA from european countries. Here's the main site : Statravel.com. Pick the country of your choice on the far bottom of the page by clicking on a flag.

<!--QuoteBegin-catfewd@Mar 17 2006, 11:10 AM
and with the other 2 websites the cheapest flight I could find is* $780 usd* for both people + taxes... is that pretty good, or do you guys think can find something cheaper?

The best is always to talk to an agent, he/she only will find the best rates. The price difference from internet search engines and live with an agent can be up to 50% !

catfewd · 03-17-2006, 08:23 AM

talking to a live agent? that's weird, I always get really bad rates when i call the toll free numbers. It must be different for european companies, i know delta always quotes me x3 the price of the online fare. but thatnks for the correct STA link, i'll go check it out.

**Esterina** · 03-17-2006, 08:27 AM

I bought my one year round-the world ticket with STA, after months of research, and the agent worked hard and searched for two weeks what would be the best fare for my itinerary.

When I had started the research, on the net, the fare came up to over US$5000, not with STA though. And with STA, the first offer was of CAN$4000, but I ended up paying... CAN$2500 taxes included ! Patience is the key word...

**bluepea** · 03-17-2006, 08:48 AM

Try searching for roundtrip tickets on sites like American and British Airways, Air France, etc (European Airlines/Internation American ones). It sometimes cheaper to just book a roundtrip ticket. Good luck!

**freakypete** · 03-17-2006, 01:15 PM

you havent mentioned where you need to fly back to?

i just found out the other day that from May Continental are doing direct flights from Cologne to New York, i checked their website and it looks like they have got an introductory offer on the route, as i looked at flights for june at it came up as not much over $400 return incl. taxes. so maybe worth checking out?

continental website

xanthuos · 03-17-2006, 01:48 PM

Check a one-way flight using Orbitz from gateways like London, England or Dublin, Ireland. That's gonna be your best bet, in my opinion...my flight from Dublin to the United States (O/W) cost less than $200 on American Airlines...granted, it wasn't high season, but if you keep an eye out on deals, you might be able to find something.

catfewd · 03-18-2006, 08:08 AM

Thank you for all the suggestions!

I followed through on the links and talked to a few agents, I'm down to $750 to get us back to new york from Germany, which includes both tickets and taxes, so I think this is what I'll do.

Once again, if anyone has any suggestions on how to take a Boat, I'd be really interested in that as well!

**Esterina** · 03-18-2006, 08:33 AM

Glad we could help !

...boats don't seem so popular here though !

**bluepea** · 03-18-2006, 08:35 AM

I'm looking into the boat thing, but I'm not sure if that's a feasible option. I'll keep looking in my spare time though - that'd be cool if that could work out! The price seems okay. It seems to be more expensive to fly one way from Europe to the States rather than the other way around.

Edited to add: Okay, I lied. I guess it's not that uncommon. A lot of sites have subscriptions or direct you to a book, but this one seemed pretty good. Let me know how it pans out!

Freight Travel

**tumblezweedz** · 03-18-2006, 09:06 AM

Jamie, that's an interesting site.