FelicitasKateri

I would like advice on how best for 1 person to travel BOS-GVA RT June 2021, D1 possibly. Comfortable flying Delta, getting too old and achy to travel Economy or Comfort Plus. So this is first time looking at a Fare of $3300+

Does anyone have advice? Fly to Paris and take a train? Suck it up and save up my money to pay? Do have Chase UR points and can save more.

JPG3392

Welcome to FT!

It's much too early to buy a ticket for June 2021, but when the time comes you might wish to consider flying Swiss BOS-ZRH. You can then either take a connecting flight to GVA or get a train to Geneva at the rail station underneath the terminal at ZRH.

Often1

I would not even start thinking about this for at least a year. Who knows who will fly to GVA in 2021 and what the hard and soft product will be and at what cost.

For the moment, it is not even bookable if you wanted it.

MSPeconomist

I'd vote for the nonstop plus train.

If you want DL, connecting through AMS tends to be easier than CDG, although you should also consider connecting through ATL or JFK to get a DL TATL nonstop to Switzerland.

FelicitasKateri

Thank you for the quick replies. I really like the Swissair nonstop plus train.

I was looking at June 2020 prices just to know what to expect.I am guessing less variation on higher class fares?

And asking so far in advance in case advice included getting a new credit card and banking reward miles.

DLATL777

Fly Swiss.

Repooc17

Another vote for LX.

Also, Delta is not one of Chase's transfer partners, but if you really want to fly Delta, you can transfer Chase points to VS (Virgin Atlantic) or AF/KL (Air France/KLM) and book Delta flights from their award portal.

As others have already mentioned, you can't really book anything for 2021 until a year prior.

Good luck.

Duke787

Fly LX. BOS - AMS/CDG is a really short flight (the direct GVA isn't much longer).

If you have UR you should look at UA.com and see availability that's going to be your best bet for the LX flights and is an easy and instantaneous transfer

yytleisure

misread

FelicitasKateri

Thank you all for the advice, I very rarely fly international.

Weekend Away

I've done ATL-CDG-GVA many, many times now. I've also done ATL-CDG-ZRH-(train)-GVA, and I've connected between GVA and CDG by both train and airplane multiple times. For my next trip to GVA, I would book via CDG/AMS over the TGV or SBB in a heartbeat. For one, the trains, even TGV, between GVA and CDG take significantly longer than a flight would. On the way to GVA you have to lug your bags from the airport to the train station and get a seat, same on the way home. You have to deal with this on the way to the airport. These seats aren't bad, and the walking to the train is somewhat nice after a flight over the Atlantic, but these are just like economy seats on a plane. On the way home, you'll still have to go through exit immigration and security at CDG, so you'd need to factor that into your timing. You aren't protected on your flight if the train is delayed and you miss your flight home.

For a USA-Europe Hub-Final Destination, I would ALWAYS pick flying over a train unless my destination didn't have an airport. The additional time on the train and dealing with my bags just isn't worth it. Even if I factor in the time it takes to get from the airport to my destination in the city I still come out ahead.

Regarding price, I can't offer anything here as I fly economy everywhere. But note that Intra-Europe flights have EuroBis and not a domestic first class seat like in the US. I'm not aware of a European airline that has a domestic first class seat.

MSPeconomist

IIRC SU and TK have wider seats in Eurobusiness class, and some European airlines sometimes use longhaul aircraft on medium haul routes that are at least arguably within Europe. For example, I've had KLM wide body aircraft on the AMS-SVO route while BA uses widebodies at times to TLV and probably other Eastern Mediterranean airports. I've also been on A3 narrow body aircraft between ATH and the Greek islands that have had two rows of wider seats but IIRC still a moveable curtain to define business class.

Some of the AF/KLM aircraft have 2-3 seating in coach (CityHopper?) and block the middle seat in the three side plus one of the two seats on the other side for Eurobusiness class. It's very nice if you get seating in the 2 >>> 1 side. It reminds me of FC in a CDJ-900 but of course with less pitch.