Ken hAAmer

I have a sudden need to get to the Mediterranean area later this week. Where precisely I'm going will not be known until the last moment. I seems to me that best plan would be to make arrangements to get to somewhere in Europe now, then make last minute arrangements to get from the European gateway to wherever it is I'm going.

Currently, it looks like the best bet is MXP (Milan, Italy) as there seems to be no advance reservation requirement for an HLWITS fare of CAD$1729+tax. I can manage the Saturday night stayover requirement. MXP also has the advantage of being the closest of the big gateways (LHR, FRA, CDG, etc) to where I'm going.

I hope to take AC for a number of reasons, not the least of which is the ability to upgrade and lounge access. Strangely as well, a preference to give AC the $$$ instead of someone else, especially given the current situation, also figures into the equation.

Thanks in advance for any advice.

BlondeBomber

I think LHR to Europe has the best deals on flights. You might want to check LHR plus the add on for European destinations. I think you could get a $1100 V fare for 7 day advance (may not be fast enough for you) plus a fare to your European destination that would be cheaper than Milan alone?

But if you need to go right away, then MXP is your ticket.

If you need more flexibility and know you will be there a week (or you want to spend a little vacation time there), I would opt for the YJE9 or something like that fare. It is more expensive (but may not be if you have to change both outbound and inbound). You can usually buy them to "add on" type destinations like GVA etc. I would check out the YJE9 fares (or something similar to several locations and see what you come up with, if you can tolerate the 7 days).

A YKE10 YVR to NCE is $2800 CAD and allows 2 stopovers.

No advance purchase requirement, totally changeable (with 7 day limitation of course).

A Flygirl

Ken, would this help? Could you work a preferred routing with this announcement?

From today's employee email:

Air Canada offers new codeshare flights to Spain. Air Canada has expanded its codeshare agreement with bmi British Midland to include flights to Spain. We will place our code on flights from London to Barcelona as well as Madrid. Cities now available via our codeshare agreement are: Glasgow, Belfast, Edinburgh, Leeds-Bradford, Tees-Side, Manchester, Brussels, Amsterdam, Barcelona and Madrid.

Ken hAAmer

I need to travel almost immediately, and stopovers will be out of the question. Mostly I was wondering if there was a better Canada-Europe fare with no advance purchase, or an AC destination deeper into Eastern Europe.

I could of course take a codeshare anywhere I want (almost). But I'm partial to AC metal, and the corresponding upgrades, so I have an aversion to codeshares.

FlyerAl

If you're willing to cheat on AC, US Airways offers award-winning Envoy Class service to both MAD and FCO.

What a wonderful part of the world - the wine, the food, the happy people. I wish I was going with you!

Fisch

FlyerAl: Too bad Ken lives in Vancouver and USAirways does not offer their "award winning" service into that city. Aside from that, it was a brilliant idea!

FlyerAl

Ken could always commute to SEA

Ken hAAmer

According to the US website, either US does not fly SEA-FCO, or does not offer anything other than economy class travel. Otherwise I'd be happy to try them, assuming you covered the difference in fare (and the extra little bit to do YVR-SEA-YVR.)

A quick check on Expedia suggests US Envoy class wouldn't be much more than CAD$10,000 more than an upgradeable AC H class ticket, which is only restricted in requiring a Saturday night (I'd be departing Saturday and not even arriving until Sunday, so not really a restriction) and a $100 change fee.

Andrew Yiu

I am sure the generous FlyerAl would be willing to offer you some of his precious upgrade certificates (if they are transferable) for you to try out the Award winning Envoy Class.

BlondeBomber

But Al does have a point about flying from SEA. AC H fare (3 day advance booking) is only $1200!!!! Min. Sat night stay!!!!

BlondeBomber

Fares ARE cheaper from LHR to various parts along the Mediterranean. e.g. You can get a 1 day advance booking on LH or BMI lHR-NCE for $180 CAD. MXP-NCE for short notice is $400.

ALso if you want to go to Gibraltar, LHR is the connection point.

sjharte

How about flying to STN (London Stansted) via AMS on KLM?

From STN you can hook up with cheap flights to variety of places on Ryanair (http://www.ryanair.com) or GO (http://www.go-fly.com).

These are low fares airlines on the Southwest model.

Ryanair are particularly good for Italy and the South of France.

Stephen

Shareholder

sjharte, you're a new comer to this part of FT, aren't you? You don't know our Ken very well. Economy Class, what is that? He may pay low fares, but he never, ever flies in the back cabin, or on a one-class airplane unless its Crossair or MidWest, or in some remote part of the world inaccessible otherwise.

mtacchi

Alright, now that the websavers are out you can get to LHR for next to nothing.

BlondeBomber

but websavers are not upgradeable. For only slightly more, you get upgradeable fares. If I am going to fly that distance (and I will this weekend) then I prefer to pay the extra $$$ (but not as much as After Burner pays )!