Boris

I am quite familiar with the Discover Europe Pass by Lufthansa for passangers from North America. Do other eurpoean airlines offer similar programs? where can I find out more?

Austman

SAS offer something similar and have prices listed at:

http://www.flysas.com/airpass.html

Basically, if you buy a transatlantic fare with them, they will offer one-way flights within their European network for around USD 125 each (USD 85 within Scandinavia and USD 115 for the Baltic).

The information is somewhat old, but with the USD strong against Scandinavian currencies, I doubt that prices would have changed much.


[This message has been edited by Austman (edited 04-15-99).]

Rudi

I know that SR (with Sabena/Austrian and Crossair) offer something - but as I can't use it myself (must be non european based costumer) I don't know any details - please find out with SR in US/Canada and tell us your findings here - thank you.

650

hello.
Here we go:

AUSTRIAN Airlines Visit Europe Fares
(For just $130 per flight coupon, passengers can fly to any European city served by Austrian Airlines, Tyrolean Airways, Swissair, Crossair, or Sabena).
http://www.austrianair.com/specials/visit-europe-fares.html
IBERIA Europass
(When you book on Iberia to Madrid, you can add London, Paris, Berlin, Rome and many other European cities to your itinerary for as little as $125 each
way. Or, for $155 each way, you can include Moscow, Cairo and TelAviv)
http://www.iberia.com/ibusa/special.htm#europass
KLM /NWA Passport to Europe
From $300 per person*
(KLM Royal Dutch Airlines and Northwest Airlines are pleased to offer an innovative and affordable way to see more of Europe /---/ Just fly to Europe on either KLM or Northwest qualifying tickets and you can take advantage of this time- and money-saving flight pass program to more than 90 cities in Europe, the Canary Islands, and selected destinations in North Africa. /---/Each coupon is good for one flight segment in economy class to destinations listed below served by KLM, (KLM City hopper, KLM UK, Transavia Airlines, Martinair, Regional Airlines, Maersk Air, or Eurowings).
http://www.nwa.com/vacpkg/europe/passport1.shtml

British Airlines
http://www.us.british-airways.com/holiday/ushols/docs/airpass.shtml
EUROPE BY AIR
http://www.eurair.com/
Each Europe by Air Ticket costs only $99 (plus tax) and can bring you to nearly 100 cities in over 20 countries. With more than a
dozen participating airlines Estonian Air,
Air Baltic, Spanair, Icelandair, Air One etc)
traveling with Europe by Air can get you to more of Europe than you dreamed possible!

best regards,
kr

jamiel

the nice thing about SAS (at least) is that you can book RIGHT UP TO THE TIME YOU LEAVE the United States--no advance purchase necessary--two years ago I flew on the UA promotion--40K miles for business class to Scandinavia on SAS during the winter--as i was checking in at ORD I mentioned to Mette (a great agent at ORD for SAS) that I wondered if I could get a HEL-ARN segment, as I was intending to take the ferry in the other direction, at the $85 fare. She said sure, and said "the ticket will be ready for you when you get to the gate--go into the lounge and we'll have it ready." I did, they did and it was an excellent trip. (OMNI--if I had it to do over again, I'd take the ferry in both directions--it was an absolute BLAST!!)

jl

Austman

Jamiel, we call those baltic trips 'booze cruises' here. As you will no doubt recall, the cost of alcohol in Scandinavia is a might high (outrageous is probably more accurate). It's cheaper on the boats and they have 'tax free' sales. They still will too after July this year (when it disappears within the EU). Incidently one of the companies, Silja Line, has a FF scheme! Well I guess it should be a FS (Frequent Sailor?) scheme. It's far more generous than any airline scheme that I know of.

Another advantage of the passes are that they are more flexible than regular cheap fares eg no Saturday night minimum stays and not lots of restrictions. So it's easier to plan your trips and easier to re-book them.


[This message has been edited by Austman (edited 04-17-99).]

Rudi

the equivalent for all Europeans visiting the US/Canada is called (with UA) Skypass: up to 8 flight-numbers (but only 2 of them transcontinental) with UA cost about $ 100-120 per segment. Practically all american/canadian airlines offer such Passes. The UA one is good duricn 60 days after the first use, and you have to start using it not later than 30 days after a transcontinental trip Europe - US with that carrier (or one of his alliance partners)

Celestar340

There are ones with ANSETT and QANTAS too but their fares are high compared to the US ones..A$275 oneway per sector based on 'zones' ie Perth to Sydney is one zone.

There is now also an "ASEAN" airpass valid on MH, SQ, TG, GA, BI, VN and PR for travel with the ASEAN nations only (HK not included). Fare is around US$150 per sector.

Then there's also the South African pass which you can include Mauritius!

Austman

Look under SAS topic Get Around Europe Summer Fares http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/Forum42/HTML/000021.html for details on one-way fares within Europe this summer on 20 of Europe's airlines.

Airlines include SAS, Lufthansa, British Midland, Spanair, Maersk and Luxair.

Celestar340

Thank you , Austman....

Question - does one have to travel on SK to be eligible for those fares? Or any of the STAR alliance partners? ie TG, LH .

Interesting thing about these 'airpasses'. Would you believe in Singapore, LH and SK do not sell the airpasses because it cuts down on their revenue? Yes, I actually heard that straight from the Sales Reps of LH who refused to sell these fares to me because they 'don't make enough money'. Other Asian cities have no problem selling these fares!

Austman

Celestar, I think these Summer fares are intended to be only for Scandinavians. But once you're in Scandinavia, anyone can buy the tickets. I plan to make good use of them this year. It's the only time you can buy these one-way sectors without being a student or under 26 years old.

michilo

more information concerning the

* Visit Scandinavia Pass (SAS) www.travel-overland.de/ap/scandinavia.html

* Baltic Pass (SAS)
http://www.travel-overland.de/ap/baltic.html

All available passes including North America, Ibero America, Australia, Asia, Africa:

http://www.travel-overland.de/airpass.html


Sorry, folks: only in German.