TravelingNomads

It's a summer flight that is direct, but it still seems high to me for an economy ticket. I've never flown with this airline before so perhaps that's a normal price for them? I'm aware that there are other airlines that do a similar route for less, but I'm specifically looking for a direct flight without stops. Thanks.

athome

That's the reason it is more expensive, as people are ready to pay more for a nonstop flight.

TravelingNomads

I understand, but it's more than double a similar flight that is only a couple of hours longer with a layover. I just wanted to see if anyone thought this was an average deal for this route that I should go ahead and act on or if it might be better to hold out for a few more days.

ISTFlyer

I always get €599 fares for IST-WAW-USA-WAW-IST bookings on Economy Class and €899 fares for Premium Economy Class and I'm flying them for the first time on May. The reason that $850 could be seem expensive for Y is that the system defines you as an Origin to Destination passenger on a route that is offered directly by one airline. Btw, athome has stated this in a much more basic way that I did.

TravelingNomads

Thank you. Maybe I'll keep calling the other airlines to see if someone else has specifics about our pets. So far no-one that we've called seems to know whether they can have a layover in another country if they're going with us as carry-on hence why we were looking for a direct flight to WAW. I don't want to risk them getting stuck somewhere while we go on or if we need a certain length of a layover then I want to make sure that we purchase tickets that adhere to that.

Edit: I should've specified that this is the price for a 1 way fair. The roundtrip was almost double. I've tried playing with 3rd leg destination cities that I wouldn't cry about if I accidentally missed, but so far no luck.

malmostoso

You should of course check, but I think in principle having a layover anywhere in the EU apart from the islands (UK and Ireland) should be fine for your pets.

Lufthansa is in general very good with pets, so you might want to check with them.

AlicorporateUK

TravelingNomads

Thanks for the advice. The other two options have us landing in the Ukraine or Denmark. One is a 23 1/2 hr layover and the other is a 2 hr layover. Neither sound ideal if we have to take them back through customs. If we don't then I'm fine with the 2 hr layover to save 50% on 4 tickets. At that point 2 of us could do a small upgrade for more leg room if needed with the cats. I called the airlines a couple of days ago, but as mentioned they didn't even seem to know their own policy. Just the generic carrier size and animal weight requirements. I'll keep working on it though.

AlicorporateUK

TravelingNomads

Thanks, I was ready to do it, but it turns out that they won't accept cats from the USA anymore. I found another decent flight, but it was via JustFly and $6,000 less than what other airlines including SAS was quoting me. After reading their reviews I'm feeling a little skeptical about using JustFly to book. Any personal opinions about them? Two other airlines are also off the table as of now for different reasons. So far, I'm down to LOT at $850 for a one way ticket x 4 + cats (no layover) or Aeroflot for $750 or so + cats (1 short layover, but you get an extra bag each which would be nice). I'm still hoping to find something a little better so I haven't booked yet. I appreciate everyone's feedback. In the past we've been able to take advantage of special deals, but this situation is different since we need specific dates.

MSPeconomist

happychic

Cannot comment on LOT airline, but I would suggest caution about booking on Justfly. This is my experience 3 years ago, so take it for what it's worth.

I found a really good fare on JustFly 3 years ago. I tried to purchase it, and got a Booking Confirmation immediately. The next day, I received an email:

I tried to call and was placed on hold for over an hour. Talked to two separate agents who could clueless about how to resolve the booking issue.

One week later, I received a cancellation email:

Overall I didn't lose any money but it was a huge waste of time for me.

TravelingNomads

I appreciate that. Justfly had the tickets for only $2200 for four tickets whereas the actual airline wanted $2200 per ticket. At first I thought it might have been a mistake fare, but after seeing all of the reviews claiming bait and switch with JustFly I don't think it's worth it. That's a great point about the visa also if something unexpected happens.

yurtripper

Ethnic here means Górale coming back to ensure their bacówki are still standing (and collect their govt cheques)? No on second thoughts that would be the RZE routing.