The official thrifty plane ticket thread, thread

[Dozyproductions]

Hey now fellow r3wers. I need to book a flight to Paris/Lyon, France for my dearly beloved cousin's wedding! Do any of you know how to get there this July without paying $1800+ for the god damn ticket?

No, I don't have flyer miles and I know, I know, I just wasn't told about this till a week ago.

[Joe G]

http://www.cnn.com/2014/04/21/us/hawaii-plane-stowaway/

[DEV0 E30]

It's not going to be cheap, and I doubt the pricing will change very much.

Look up info at every travel site. Where are you staying? If it's a hotel, you may be able to get a package that helps lower the cost. My advice is if you could swing it, make it worth it and stay a few extra days.

Looks like you could possibly pay $1000-$1900 from a quick search. If you leave on a weekday, and return on a weekday it apparently is cheaper. If anyone works in the airline/travel industry they may be able to help with other things. I prefer no connecting flights, but if you do have stops that could help lower the cost, but at the same time, it might not.

Research everything possible, then research some more. Don't wait, if it's coming up soon you should order today. Flights get more expensive the closer they get in my experience. Ordering months in advance is smart.

Destination weddings are awesome, but yes it's more expensive for everyone in every way.

[Dozyproductions]

Thanks Devo. My error, their wedding is on July 5th... she wrote down the french way. I have a place to stay with family and I know many people over there with a couch so the bundle won't work. Yeah, I might just go on a weekday and come back a couple weeks later on a week day.

[DEV0 E30]

Thanks Devo. My error, their wedding is on July 5th... she wrote down the french way. I have a place to stay with family and I know many people over there with a couch so the bundle won't work. Yeah, I might just go on a weekday and come back a couple weeks later on a week day.

At least it's not next week.

The fact you have a place to stay is going to make this way cheaper than what most have to deal with. Regardless, sounds like an awesome time.

[Conki]

I used to fly back and forth between the US and Europe a lot. If you want to save money, you'll have to endure long layovers. If you want to get there faster, generally you'll have to pay more.

Kayak.com is very good at finding the best deals, too.

Here's the result of a quick search. Leaving on July 3rd, returning on the 8th, with 34hr travel time each way for $1301. If you don't mind sleeping at airports, this isn't too bad.
The next cheapest option is for $1633 that gives you 15hr travel time each way.

http://www.kayak.com/flights/LAX-CDG/2014-07-03/2014-07-08

[mulletman]

Haha, Aeroflot! Holy crap!



It's going to be expensive.

[Dozyproductions]

Cheers Devo! I just learned that my other cousin in Poland is having his wedding 4 weeks later haha. I live in San Diego and looks like I'll fly back from Warsaw, Poland. It seems that avoiding LAX it's cheaper and leaving from Warsaw, instead of Paris/Lyon, makes the tickets even more so. The cheapest I'm finding on all those sites is about $1633 total. Definitely will want to do the 15h option. I've done the whole sleeping in airport deal and pile that on top of jet lag and it's a horrible horrible experience :)


I think most of this money will be spent riding the train from Lyon to Warsaw. Might have to stop in Switzerland, Italy, Austria and Germany on the way!

[xAZxE30x]

Have you looked into flying into somewhere cheaper and then hopping on a ryan air or one of the equivalent airlines?

Ryan Air fucking blows by the way.... but if done correctly you cna fly for cheap

are you a student? if so check out student universe.. i was able to score 2 tickets to Barca for $1400

[TurboJake]

http://www.whichbudget.com/

Will find you much cheaper tickets than any other site. BUT you'll need to do some digging around.

Just doing LAX to LYS on July 26th, brings up an $814 ticket (One way)

[ttrousdell]

cheapoair.com ive booked all my tickets this way

[agent]

34hr travel time each way for $1301...
$1633 ... gives you 15hr travel time each way.

Half the travel time for an additional $300? That's money well spent. Especially flying internationally/for that long.

[bikerbill2021]

good thread, i need to fly from Phoenix AZ back to NY twice this year, both for weddings, any info i can get to reduce the price is going to help

apparently, the cheapest time to book is around 3pm six weeks from your departure date, i don't know how true that is

also heard that you should clear your cookies from your browser when searching these ticket sites, apparently if you repeatedly visit and search, the sites remember you and jack the pricing up.

again, this is all from what I've heard, so take it with a grain of salt

[flyboyx]

you can start banging a flight attendant. then you can go for free.

[Dozyproductions]

you can start banging a flight attendant. then you can go for free.

I was with a Virgin airline girl but she can only help family. Thanks for all the other places to look! I will do the real digging for a ticket after work. I'm a student so I'll use that route and my other friend also said the same thing with the train. Most of all the tickets included landing in Heathrow so taking the train from there wouldn't be a problem but as I remember, flights within Europe are dirt cheap anyways.

Thanks guys, and even if you don't care, I'll keep y'all updated. Finding the cheapest ticket in the heat of summer can help other r3ver's travel plans as well. Again thanks for the input.

Je dois etudier plus francais pour ma famille de francaise!
i polskiego dla mojej polskiej rodzinie