Depressed about international travel costs

[Anonymous]

I hear you, OP. It has been going on for a long time - that we pay more for the *exact same flight* than someone who is round tripping from Europe. (For example IAD to LHR and back vs. going in the opposite direction with same airline, booked on same website)...
That, on top of remembering that while living in Europe every major city there was a 60 Euro Easy Jet flight away... Round trip. My friends over there are often taking advantage of these prices for weekend getaways. ("We're going to Barcelona this weekend, and next month we were thinking Stockholm!")
What can you do? Traveling from the US was always more expensive. But we can be in the Caribbean in 3 hours and that is wonderful!
And of course, in the scheme of things, though expensive, we are free to travel, unlike other people on the planet...

Sorry about my late night musings..,

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I long for the days when I could get a $500 flight to europe over the winter. sigh. now that I have kids, I think it'll be another decade before I travel internationally.

This reminded me of the old People's Express. In 1986, as a student, I managed to get some promotional deal from New York to London for $99 each way. I flew to Ireland two years ago for $1100 round trip. Sigh. My DD is asking for a trip to Italy for high school graduation, but I just don't think we'll be able to swing the airfare.

We did those $99 fares to London all the time! Good stuff.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How? Well, my neighbors who routinely go to Europe and then go to Costa Rica/Turks/St. Kitts over Christmas break all bring in $500,000 to $900,000 a year. Because Dad is partner at a top 10 firm and mom is another kind of lawyer or a "consultant."

Yes, it's depressing being their neighbor and wanting to like my Staycations

Putting her career in quotes was a nice move. Wonderfully dismissive and simultaneously dripping with jealousy for her lifestyle. High five!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:we are using FF miles but even those tix are "pricey" these days.

Yes, we used frequent flier miles to buy our tickets to London this summer. Were able to find saver fares on United for 30,000 miles each way (240,000 miles for 4 of us round trip). Taxes were about $800. We are renting an apartment for about $2000/week. My husband travels internationally for work a lot - otherwise I don't know how we would be be able to afford it.

We're doing the same thing! Just cashed in 240,000 frequent flier miles we've been saving for a few years. Were able to find the saver flights to London for 30,000 miles per leg, but still end up paying $1,000 or so extra for the taxes.

We just tried booking flights to Bremen, Germany with miles on American Airlines. The only itinerary offered was Dulles - Heathrow - Zurich - Palma de Mallorca (!) - Bremen. Insane. It really seems they want to make it impossible for you use your miles.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:we are using FF miles but even those tix are "pricey" these days.

Yes, we used frequent flier miles to buy our tickets to London this summer. Were able to find saver fares on United for 30,000 miles each way (240,000 miles for 4 of us round trip). Taxes were about $800. We are renting an apartment for about $2000/week. My husband travels internationally for work a lot - otherwise I don't know how we would be be able to afford it.

We're doing the same thing! Just cashed in 240,000 frequent flier miles we've been saving for a few years. Were able to find the saver flights to London for 30,000 miles per leg, but still end up paying $1,000 or so extra for the taxes.

We just tried booking flights to Bremen, Germany with miles on American Airlines. The only itinerary offered was Dulles - Heathrow - Zurich - Palma de Mallorca (!) - Bremen. Insane. It really seems they want to make it impossible for you use your miles.

You have to be flexible on dates and sometimes flexible on location. Not sure about American, but many United/Lufthansa Europe flights, you have to go through Frankfurt to get anywhere. The flights are there - you just have to plan ahead, keep checking, and jump on them when you find them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:we are using FF miles but even those tix are "pricey" these days.

Yes, we used frequent flier miles to buy our tickets to London this summer. Were able to find saver fares on United for 30,000 miles each way (240,000 miles for 4 of us round trip). Taxes were about $800. We are renting an apartment for about $2000/week. My husband travels internationally for work a lot - otherwise I don't know how we would be be able to afford it.

We're doing the same thing! Just cashed in 240,000 frequent flier miles we've been saving for a few years. Were able to find the saver flights to London for 30,000 miles per leg, but still end up paying $1,000 or so extra for the taxes.

We just tried booking flights to Bremen, Germany with miles on American Airlines. The only itinerary offered was Dulles - Heathrow - Zurich - Palma de Mallorca (!) - Bremen. Insane. It really seems they want to make it impossible for you use your miles.

You have to be flexible on dates and sometimes flexible on location. Not sure about American, but many United/Lufthansa Europe flights, you have to go through Frankfurt to get anywhere. The flights are there - you just have to plan ahead, keep checking, and jump on them when you find them.

We were flexible on the dates (within the week), planning to fly in the middle of the week, and also considered other airports (Hamburg, Amsterdam, Berlin). While the itineraries to these airports weren't quite as absurd as the one to Bremen, there were no reasonable connections to those either.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:we are using FF miles but even those tix are "pricey" these days.

Yes, we used frequent flier miles to buy our tickets to London this summer. Were able to find saver fares on United for 30,000 miles each way (240,000 miles for 4 of us round trip). Taxes were about $800. We are renting an apartment for about $2000/week. My husband travels internationally for work a lot - otherwise I don't know how we would be be able to afford it.

We're doing the same thing! Just cashed in 240,000 frequent flier miles we've been saving for a few years. Were able to find the saver flights to London for 30,000 miles per leg, but still end up paying $1,000 or so extra for the taxes.

We just tried booking flights to Bremen, Germany with miles on American Airlines. The only itinerary offered was Dulles - Heathrow - Zurich - Palma de Mallorca (!) - Bremen. Insane. It really seems they want to make it impossible for you use your miles.

You have to be flexible on dates and sometimes flexible on location. Not sure about American, but many United/Lufthansa Europe flights, you have to go through Frankfurt to get anywhere. The flights are there - you just have to plan ahead, keep checking, and jump on them when you find them.

We were flexible on the dates (within the week), planning to fly in the middle of the week, and also considered other airports (Hamburg, Amsterdam, Berlin). While the itineraries to these airports weren't quite as absurd as the one to Bremen, there were no reasonable connections to those either.

Oh, and this was for May, so not exactly short notice.

[Anonymous]

Keep checking PP. We have all of our miles on United and I find similar ridiculous routing when I check for trips. But I have consistently found that the options change EVERY DAY! I'm somewhat obsessive about it and check every single day until I find a decent itinerary. I usually do in the end.

And if you have a lot of flexibility, I often find mileage seats at the very last minute. Airlines open them up if a flight is not sold out. It also helps to be an elite member of the program. DH has elite status so I always log-in with his account even though I have lots of miles too.

Good luck! I certainly remember and miss those People's Express days as well

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:we are using FF miles but even those tix are "pricey" these days.

Yes, we used frequent flier miles to buy our tickets to London this summer. Were able to find saver fares on United for 30,000 miles each way (240,000 miles for 4 of us round trip). Taxes were about $800. We are renting an apartment for about $2000/week. My husband travels internationally for work a lot - otherwise I don't know how we would be be able to afford it.

We're doing the same thing! Just cashed in 240,000 frequent flier miles we've been saving for a few years. Were able to find the saver flights to London for 30,000 miles per leg, but still end up paying $1,000 or so extra for the taxes.

We just tried booking flights to Bremen, Germany with miles on American Airlines. The only itinerary offered was Dulles - Heathrow - Zurich - Palma de Mallorca (!) - Bremen. Insane. It really seems they want to make it impossible for you use your miles.

You have to be flexible on dates and sometimes flexible on location. Not sure about American, but many United/Lufthansa Europe flights, you have to go through Frankfurt to get anywhere. The flights are there - you just have to plan ahead, keep checking, and jump on them when you find them.

We were flexible on the dates (within the week), planning to fly in the middle of the week, and also considered other airports (Hamburg, Amsterdam, Berlin). While the itineraries to these airports weren't quite as absurd as the one to Bremen, there were no reasonable connections to those either.

Oh, and this was for May, so not exactly short notice.

Yeah, as I said I am not sure about American. However, I do think you need to look at flying into bigger airports. Of all those you listed, only Amsterdam gets a lot of U.S. flights. The others are more intra-Europe airports. Can you try Frankfurt or Munich? I will also say we booked our saver fares on United to London for a June trip last August. Good luck!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:we are using FF miles but even those tix are "pricey" these days.

Ack I know! I had been saving my AA miles to get to Europe, and when I finally had enough and went to book, made an exasperating discovery. Many, or most really, of AA award tickets to Europe are on British Airways- which charge ridiculous fees. The agent called it a "tax" but I investigated and it is really a fuel surcharge (that most US carriers build into a ticket rather than an add-on like BA). It was going to cost $1500 for two "free" tickets. I ended up finding a non-BA flight to there, but we had to use my husband's United miles for the return trip, even being flexible on dates it was tough to avoid BA. But doing it that way cost us only ~$200 rather than the $1500. It was really irritating though, I guess in the future we'll have to use the AA miles for domestic and International travel where AA flies a lot of flights themselves (e.g., Central America).

[Anonymous]

The people I know who travel internationally regularly make serious bank. Around 500,000+ HHI. I'm glad I used to have a job where I got to travel internationally regularly. I have gotten to a lot of places on my bucket list that way.

[Anonymous]

OP here. Thanks to all who commiserated and/or gave tips. My husband and I looked at our finances and leave balances and decided no trips are in our future. Our kids are in different schools and those schools don't follow the same schedules, so we counted up all the days we won't have child care coverage in 2014 and it came to 53 days. Sigh. I can't wait until they're both in elementary school- it'll cut down the number of days by about 2 weeks!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:we are using FF miles but even those tix are "pricey" these days.

Ack I know! I had been saving my AA miles to get to Europe, and when I finally had enough and went to book, made an exasperating discovery. Many, or most really, of AA award tickets to Europe are on British Airways- which charge ridiculous fees. The agent called it a "tax" but I investigated and it is really a fuel surcharge (that most US carriers build into a ticket rather than an add-on like BA). It was going to cost $1500 for two "free" tickets. I ended up finding a non-BA flight to there, but we had to use my husband's United miles for the return trip, even being flexible on dates it was tough to avoid BA. But doing it that way cost us only ~$200 rather than the $1500. It was really irritating though, I guess in the future we'll have to use the AA miles for domestic and International travel where AA flies a lot of flights themselves (e.g., Central America).

My biggest beef with AA is that they are not upfront with fees on their award tickets. When you search for award tickets on United, for instance, the miles needed and fees are displayed for each flight on the search results page. On AA, you need to select the flights and go to the next step before they tell you what the fee is. It's annoying. BA is notorious for the fees but if you only need to take one leg on BA (like take AA to London and only use BA from London to your final stop in Europe) the fees aren't as steep. But AA doesn't make it easy to figure that out without a lot of trial and error.

[Anonymous]

Frequent flier miles. We have a credit card with an airline and we use it for everything, so we rack up enough to buy at least two tickets to Germany to visit Dh's family once a year.

[Anonymous]

We just used frequent flyer miles to purchase 4 tix to Italy this summer. We have a miles card and pretty much buy everything on it in order to get miles.