Hi - I am trying to book the following flights, and could use some help if what I have is the best or if there is better...

1. LHR - TXL - British Airways - $177 RT with item 1 above.

2. TXL - MUC -
-- German Wings - 6am flight - 42 EUR
-- DBA - 9 am flight - 65 EUR
(train is 150 euros for 1st class ticket)

3. MUC - VCE -
-- HLX (looks like a taxi LOL) - 49 EUR
-- Condor - 48 EUR (the flight is at 5am so this is not an option)
(train is 115 eur)

4. VCE - LON - British Airways - $177 RT with item 1 above.
(i would really rather go to Bristol but if I do this I have to break up this RT and the #1 becomes $133 for the one way -- only easyjet does venice-bristol and their flight is 11pm, which i cant do. -- is there any other carrier to Bristol??)

my bag will be probably 50lbs, tho I hear I can just split it up and put some into a carry on bag? Also, are these lcc flights usually full? I am large man and my last test on a 17" seat was still a bit small and want to make sure if i should buy 2 seats...

thank you in advance!

Do those quotes include all taxes, security charges, fuel surcharges, booking fees, credit card costs, etc.?

That can easily add €50 per flight.

Add the cost of getting to the airport (taxis at 5 in the morning aint cheap), and those expensive train tix may turn out cheaper than flying.

A 50 lb bag is more than the 20 kg baggage allowance on intra-european flights.

Some LoCos have a 15 kg limit, which makes dividing your 50 lbs over checked and carry-on luggage impossible.

I'd take the flights in and out of LHR, consider taking a train from MUC to VCE (looking at the alps from the windows is worth a few euros extra - if you can ride a train through the mountains you should never think twice), and look at the cost of a 2nd class train ticket for Berlin-München. You can get one for less than a hundred euros. You can score a ticket for a night train for €29 from the DB site.

LCC flights are usually packed (that's what keeps them cheap) and the charges for overweight baggage can be astronomically high.

I agree with Diabo, there can be huge hidden costs on LCCs. In this case you seem to have found LCCs who use proper city airports (unlike Ryanair and a few others I could name), but still, the cost of getting to/from the airport in each case could easily negate savings from flying the LCCs.

The overweight baggage charges could be a big issue. Most airlines in Europe have 20 kg (~44 lbs) baggage allowance, but make sure that dba, Germanwings and HLX are among them, because if it's a 15 kg allowance (~33 lbs, not uncommon for European LCCs), you could end up paying some serious extra $$ for overweight baggage fees.

As for buying two seats, I've never heard of this being done or officially offered in Europe. You may want to check with the airlines about their policies, but in theory it should not be a problem.

I'm a bit surprised at the fares you're quoting - if they're including taxes, you're getting a great deal. However, I fear they may be nett fares, which means you would be in for a surprise once you actually start booking.

Thank you... the fares I am quoting are with the taxes it says - I went all the way through to the final payment cc screen. I just came back from NYC and my bag was 45lbs, my guess is that it would be the same this time (last year, coming back on virgin it was 67lbs heh)

I love trains, my ride from berlin-amsterdam last year was great. When I go to bahn.de, no matter what I do, even if I pick 2nd class (which im not crazy about given my size), this is what I get for berlin-munich (for may 12)
2nd class - 96 euros, 1st class - 151 euros

from munich - venice:
2nd class - 88 euros (though I see a savings fare for a train a little later than i wanted for 30 euros in 2nd), 1st class - 135 euros

any differing opinions now? thanks!

Well, given all that, I would say book the LCCs IF (and only if) their baggage allowance is 20 kg. Your bag will be fine in that case.

The baggage allowance should be stated somewhere on the site, or perhaps somewhere during booking. If you can't find it on the English version, send me a PM and I will check the German versions for you.

Cheers,

Alex

the fares I am quoting are with the taxes it says

Then I'd book TXL-MUC right now because the price can only go up. You're not gonna find anything cheaper.

Easyjet runs 4 or 5 flights a day from London (Luton and Gatwick) to Berlin SXF. The early morning flight from Gatwick can be as cheap as £30 including all taxes and credit card charges. I'd pay extra just to avoid Heathrow.

Ryanair runs 3 flights a day from Venice Treviso to London Stansted. Wednesdays and thursdays are dirt cheap, the rest of the week is ridiculously overpriced.

The Ryanair bus from downtown Venice ito Treviso Airport is about 5 euros o/w, a bus/train combo costs even less.

Warning: Ryanairs bagage allowance is 15 (!) kg checked + 10 kg carry-on. Excess weight costs €8 per kg.

from munich - venice:
I see a savings fare for a train a little later than i wanted for 30 euros in 2nd

If it leaves at night you might as well fly, but if you can score a few hours of daylight riding through the alps, I'd take the train.

one note - I am flying from LHR - TXL because I will be arriving via virgin upper class earlier that morning. Virgin goes to LHR.

If I do the BA LHR-TXL it seems to make the most sense to do VCE-LGW with BA as well.

So i think i Have:

LHR - TXL - BA
TXL - MUC - DBA 65 EUR
MUC - VCE - Train - 30 EUR - train leaves around 10am so I guess I would get the views, I can't wait!!!!
VCE-LGW - BA

(then the UK train fun starts as I am going to Bath :)

Thanks everyone!

Wow - the DBA flight LCC allows up to 70lbs of luggage!!

It's amazing some of the fares out there. I am planning for December and am annoyed that I can't fix my itinerary now as LCCs seem to have flights loaded to Sept/Oct only. The Milan to Paris TGV is often available for 25 Euro which is crazy cheap! I am going to try to do this sector by train (anyone know if there are views on this train??). LHR-WAW on BA (after Clubbing it from YYZ into the Molton Brown Spa :)) then Central Wings WAW-MXP, the train to Paris and then probably EasyJet to London (want to try them out too and the other option is Bmi and they are not very liked by FTers these days - who knows what they might come up with next!). Europe can totally be done on the cheap these days!

the train to Paris and then probably EasyJet to London
Most people would just take the Eurostar between Paris & London

May do that as well. It will depend on fares. Their one ways are quite a bit more than airfare last I checked but it may be worth it to reduce the hassle factor.

If you can book 60 days in advance, Eurolines will bus you from Paris to London for as little as €9.

The bus and I don't speak the same language ;) :p

The Milan to Paris TGV is often available for 25 Euro which is crazy cheap!

Can you tell me where you found this? This seems really out of whack for the normal pricing structure.

Check here:

http://www.voyages-sncf.com/dynamic/_SvHomePage?_DLG=SvHomePage&_CMD=cmdHomepageUK&WB=HP

Not all dates will work. The further out towards 3 months you get the more of the cheapo seats are available.

I warned an american who worked for me last year to pay atention to LCC, he got well and truly stuffed carrying over weight stuff he really did not need to, but he thought that he ca get away with it in USA so should be ok in europe, he paid thousands - yes thousands

I don't think any LCC charges more than about 5 Euros per kilogram for excess luggage. So was he carrying more than an extra 100 kg above his allowed allotment?

Do you have a rough time for this? I will perhaps go to the bahn ticket station and might ask them if there are alternative routings or prices for your trip.

Also you need to take into account that Muc into/out of the city is an hour each with 8.80 Euro to pay each direction on the S-Bahn if you fly.

first of all, I would like to point out that DBA is no LCC!
Is is Germanys 2nd largest Carrier and it even works out well to offer connecting flights for airlines like ETIHAD etc. so they do stick to schedule and they do offer free food and drinks (even LH does only offer free drinks in Y). DBA is a all-Y carrier though.

And, even for a tall man DB 2nd class gives way more space (especially width and seat-row-distance) than any other carrier in Germany.
By no means may they compare at all to Germanwings (4U), easyjet, hlx or RyanAir which do put in as many seats as FAA-rules allow.

By the way, I would refuse to board a HLX a/c as they are the only carrier in the entire EU holding the 9 a/c 737 that are not equipped for CAT III landings.
So they do cut expenses towards safety.

Considering a flight in comparison to DB makes only sense under a timely manner. TXL-MUC does make sense, but MUC-VCE is really of no use.
A train is in fact the way to go, as all other posted already.

TXL-MUC by train would be around 6 hours. But as stated above, the S-Bahn-ride into downtown in MUC is 8.80€ and takes around 45 minutes.

Best wishes, and enjoy your time in Europe,

HamburgAround

Thanks for the info hamburg!

I am looking forward to the trip - now I need to start working on an itin for each city!

I am so excited about the train as I love trains - I hope 2nd class wont be a mistake.

I booked a hotel for Venice - so basically teh entire trip sans a couple trains in UK is booked!

You're welcom Allen,

on www.db.de there you may find a lot of different prices for train trips. in case you travel over a weekend and stick to the chosen trains (as in general with planes) you can get a 50%discount and you can purchase a ticket online, print it out and there you go.

try a search for "surf % rail international". that's offering different trips (varying by the starting point) to various european destinations starting from 19€ return!!!

In case you need any further help, just pm me or ask in here.

Instead of flying BA from LHR to TXL you may consider taking 4U (www.germanwings.com) to Schönefeld (one of the other two airports in Berlin). It must be available for less than 180$.

Best wishes,

HamburgAround

Hamburg - home of the US-soccer-team during world championship 2006 in Germany

Hamburg - home of the US-soccer-team during world championship 2006 in Germany

And they're already preparing the guest room: http://www.nola.com/sportsflash/soccer/index.ssf?/base/sports-2/1143003597233210.xml&storylist=soccer