Budget Travel - Shanghai to Atlanta via Europe

Hello, I'm a study-abroad student about to finish up a summer semester in Shanghai and I'm searching for the cheapest possible way to travel back to Atlanta via Europe so I can say I circumnavigated the globe.
Honestly I have no real agenda or desired route; the only place I particularly have in mind to stop at is in Stuttgart, Germany to visit a friend who offered me a place to stay. Besides that, I'm just looking to get home through this route for well under $2k. I've tried sites like AirBerlin and Lufthansa, but unfortunately they don't have any convenient dates available (I _have_ to fly out on the 20th, or possibly late on the 19th).
Does anybody have any tips?

My tip would be to set your stopover at Frankfurt instead and take the train to Stuttgart and back. That should save you a bundle.

Oh, and the 20th of what month?

This month (I know I'm kinda cutting it down to the wire), and thanks, I was actually just about to try that.

Air Berlin flies out of Beijing on the 20th, to Dusseldorf for about $635 (€404) oneway. Get the overnight train from Shanghai to Beijing on the night of the 19th, 499 yuan for soft sleeper or 317 yuan for soft seat (note the latest train you can take and still hope to catch the flight is the 19:44 from Shanghai). Once in DUS you can get a train to Stuttgart; note that German trains are much cheaper if you book online in advance on http://www.bahn.de . There are then many options for getting from Europe to Atlanta (since you are traveling oneway, hidden-city tricks on Delta might be a good option).

I presume your inflexible dates are fore visa reasons, in which case you might also consider getting a cheap flight to somewhere else in Asia and staying there a few days in order to have more flexibility for your transcontinental flight.

Air Berlin flies out of Beijing on the 20th, to Dusseldorf for about $635 (€404) oneway. Get the overnight train from Shanghai to Beijing on the night of the 19th, 499 yuan for soft sleeper or 317 yuan for soft seat (note the latest train you can take and still hope to catch the flight is the 19:44 from Shanghai). Once in DUS you can get a train to Stuttgart; note that German trains are much cheaper if you book online in advance on http://www.bahn.de . There are then many options for getting from Europe to Atlanta (since you are traveling oneway, hidden-city tricks on Delta might be a good option).

I presume your inflexible dates are fore visa reasons, in which case you might also consider getting a cheap flight to somewhere else in Asia and staying there a few days in order to have more flexibility for your transcontinental flight.

Air Berlin also flies from Shanghai to Stuttgart (via DUS) leaving on the 21st, which might be easier than dealing with the Shanghai to Beijing transit. Price is about the same (€424).

You may also want to check with consolidators in China, as I'd imagine there are some decent fares available locally.

Thanks all, I've been looking at these now and I think I can make something work. Actually, re consolidators, I had heard/from what I've seen you can't consolidate flights that originate in China; I have no idea why. At this point I think I'm going to go with AirBerlin for a flight on the 21st, and then figure out how to get back to Atlanta from there. Again, thank you, and if anyone else happens to have any tips I'd love to hear them.

PVG-STR is $525 on July 18, $711 on July 21, both Air Berlin. Other dates seem more expensive.

STR-ATL seems prohibitive, I'd rather swim. :)

You didn't indicate when you wish to return to the US. The cheapest trans-atlantic options I can think of would also be Air Berlin, but from STR to JFK, then you can figure out Atlanta.

Research on Air Berlin site.

This is not the season to be buying many 1-way tickets. If you can get a good deal on PVG-ATL, take it and plan a European trip another time.

STR-ATL seems prohibitive, I'd rather swim. :)

You didn't indicate when you wish to return to the US. The cheapest trans-atlantic options I can think of would also be Air Berlin, but from STR to JFK, then you can figure out Atlanta.


I got my PVG-STR ticket through airberlin for the 21st, but I was looking everywhere for STR-ATL and couldn't find one for under a thousand. I didn't even think to just try airberlin again and go through JFK or Miami - that's actually going to save me a lot of money, thanks so much for that.


This is not the season to be buying many 1-way tickets. If you can get a good deal on PVG-ATL, take it and plan a European trip another time.

So it seems ><; I've got my tickets now, though - I figured this would be my last chance to do anything of the sort for the next few years, so why not?
Thank you again for the airberlin tip! That really helped :D

what about shanghia to paris with AF and then paris to atlanta? can all be done with skyteam

what about shanghia to paris with AF and then paris to atlanta? can all be done with skyteam

The OP has presumably already departed. That said, even for dates next month, Air France from PVG to CDG is over $1600 oneway, so isn't really a viable alternative at all.

Hello, I'm a study-abroad student about to finish up a summer semester in Shanghai and I'm searching for the cheapest possible way to travel back to Atlanta via Europe so I can say I circumnavigated the globe.
Honestly I have no real agenda or desired route; the only place I particularly have in mind to stop at is in Stuttgart, Germany to visit a friend who offered me a place to stay. Besides that, I'm just looking to get home through this route for well under $2k. I've tried sites like AirBerlin and Lufthansa, but unfortunately they don't have any convenient dates available (I _have_ to fly out on the 20th, or possibly late on the 19th).
Does anybody have any tips?

last year, I've done ottawa-london heathrow-hong kong for less than 1400$. We took Air Canada then Air NZ.
pretty good trip but long layover in LHR