Russia - Travel to Minsk

My husband and his father need to fly to Minsk on a family business in May. Lufthansa is the only airline that flies BOS-MSQ with only 1 stop (several other airlines use Belavia airline for the European segment, but my husband is dead-set against flying the Belarus national airline).

I've been checking for weeks, and the cheapest economy fare I could find for their dates is $905 (incl. taxes). I have never paid $905 for an economy ticket to anywhere in the world, so I'm quite upset. Lufthansa ran that 2-for-1 promotion (which expired yesterday), but I made the fatal mistake of not realizing that Q fare meant ANY economy ticket (I assumed it was just unrestricted economy). Their current promotion ($89 eurofare segments) makes things even more expensive.

There is only one daily BOS-FRA flight, and I'm afraid if I wait much longer, it will just fill up. I'd appreciate any ideas on itinerary, LH promotions, anything!!

Effective March 30th Lufthansa has a second
flight BOS- FRA. (This is definite since I am on it on the 31st)
Flight 421 departs BOS 8:40pm and arrives FRA at 10:45am...This will probably go to a
9:40pm departure with DST but arrive in FRA at the same time. There is also a non-stop direct to Munich 4-5 days a week leaving at 5:45 and arriving in MUC at 8:10am on flight
425 with numerous connections to FRA.(6:45pn w/ Daylight time)

The returns on these are FRA-BOS flt 420 Depart FRA at 5:45pm arrive BOS 7:50pm

The MUC-BOS depart MUC 11:25 ar BOS 1:55pm as flight 424

Effective March 30th Lufthansa has a second
flight BOS- FRA. (This is definite since I am on it on the 31st)
Flight 421 departs BOS 8:40pm and arrives FRA at 10:45am...This will probably go to a
9:40pm departure with DST but arrive in FRA at the same time. There is also a non-stop direct to Munich 4-5 days a week leaving at 5:45 and arriving in MUC at 8:10am on flight
425 with numerous connections to FRA.(6:45pn w/ Daylight time)

The returns on these are FRA-BOS flt 420 Depart FRA at 5:45pm arrive BOS 7:50pm

The MUC-BOS depart MUC 11:25 ar BOS 1:55pm as flight 424

How about getting a ticket to Frankfurt, and then an add-on using the Star Alliance Visit Europe fare? Sometimes that can be cheaper (this sounds like such a case).

VF

PS: You wrote of Warsaw as "the closest European city" -- wouldn't Belarus think of itself as being in Europe?

VillageFlyer,

You are absolutely right; Minsk was (and still is) a European city, at least as far as geography is concerned. I guess what I meant to say about Warsaw was that it's the closest easily-accessible city. I checked out the Star Alliance website for those European airpasses, and I presume they are the same as the "eurofares" in Lufthansa's latest promotion. At this point, with the taxes and all, the cost is the same or even higher than the single ticket (I'm not sure exactly how much tax they charge on those coupons). I'm hoping the fares to FRA drop, then it might be just the thing for us.

Billhar,

I just checked out that other flight, and, unfortunately, it arrives in FRA too late for them to make the connection to MSQ.
I did take the MUC flight just a few weeks ago, so I know that's an option, but at this point, I'm trying to minimize the number of connections.

Thanks!

[This message has been edited by helenka (edited 03-13-2003).]

If you can devote some time to research, you might see what other european cities you might go in & out of. The new Budget Travel magazine suggests flying into London and booking other european legs through some websites they mention.

JP

Edited to add: you might also consider an air/rail option to lower your price.

[This message has been edited by j379pa (edited 03-13-2003).]