lili

Flying AA to some destinations in Europe a short train ride from where you really want to be is sometimes $400 cheaper (from SAN)

Is there an easy way to find these alternative cities?

Ex: Last year, wanting to go to VIE, flying to Prague and taking a $66 train saved me $400 and gave me a short visit to Prague.

Ex: Wanting to go to ZRH, flying into Stuttgart and out of ZRH is about half price ($700 vs $1100) Yes, flight over is through LHR, but SAN-LHR alone is $700. Note bene: Prices are approximate.

So I look at a map of Europe and spend hours punching in possible combinations. Is there a more sophisticated way? (Farecompare suggested Stuttgart, but no other alternatives.)

Thanks for any help you can give.

roadtripman

If you know your exact dates +/- a day, use the 300 mile radius tool on ITA. It's easy and effective. I've saved thousands of dollars using it.

Wexflyer

You might want to consider looking for an alternate airport at this side, rather than in Europe. Specifically, I mean LAX - often fares are considerably cheaper than from SAN, and you can sometimes swing direct flights.

lili

AH! Thanks, didn't know ITA had that feature. Will certainly check it out.

Wexflyer
I believe in my heart of hearts LAX to Europe should be cheaper, and LAX is not much further from where I live in north SAN, but the fares ex SAN or LAX are almost identical. SNA and CLB are even higher.

One of the cheapest fares I found today was SAN-SFO-LAX- codeshare on Alaska, or SAN-SJU-LAX on American Eagle then on to Europe or the east coast. Like I want to spend an extra 3-4 hours before starting the real part of the trip.

AA has apparently eliminated most of the SAN-LAX-SFO flights and now relies on Alaska direct flights, SAN-SFO. Sounds good until you notice the miles you don't get and the AC lounges that aren't there.

The result is, there are very few SAN-LAX flights these days, and one could wait at LAX for 3-5 hours before getting a commuter flight back to SAN. So flying out of SFO may be the way to go.....

a_fman

If you can get a flight that gets into LGW, then you have the opportunity of choosing between various low cost budget airlines as that is one of the budget hubs for London, such as Easyjet, but also BA do very reasonable prices in competition against these budget airlines and this does mean that you get into "real" airports, not those miles away....

krug

The main site I use for low cost carriers in Europe is www.skyscanner.net; www.easyjet.com is the main LCC option out of LGW (do avoid Ryanair unless you are very, very cost conscious...).

BA sale fares are in effect until tomorrow, Monday 23 January, so you might snag a bargain there, and you can upgrade at time of purchase to Club Europe for between $50-$100 each way (Terraces lounge access with free pour bar, champagne on request and free sandwiches, molton brown showers with freebies on request, wider seats in a 2-3 configuration (book side A-C), dedicated cabin, champagne in flight, proper tray service light meal, 40 tier point per sector and full BA Miles). Book at www.ba.com

ACArbeiter

here is a site that might help, finding alternative airports and airlines in Europe:

http://www.low-cost-airlines.nu/

Kibison

Add this one to your list:

http://www.whichbudget.com/

brp

Useful information and (another) BA advert all in the same post. Jolly good ^

Cheers.

elitetraveler

Interestingly, BA sometimes actually beats the LCCs on price. I was pricing a LGW-BCN/VCE-LGW in August vs. the same on EasyJet from STN and BA was actually cheaper.

brp

Oh, I'm not debating that at all. The info posted was helpful. Less so the full-on BA cheerleader ad portion, however

Cheers.