Europe --> USA - R/T 3-month pricing, change fees
Mar 19, 2012, 9:34 am
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Jun 2006
Posts: 23
Europe --> USA - R/T 3-month pricing, change fees
Hi,
Traveling back and forth from cities in Europe (e.g. Lisbon) to NY there are some nice advantages to buying the ticket in Europe. One big one is that your trip in Europe is flexible, since you are buying the ticket right before leaving. Thus a trip can be designed in Europe ad hoc, as anything from one week to a month or more, and you can decide your destination time and city. (Which in some cases is a wonderful flexibility.) When you buy R/T from the USA, your departure airport (and time) in Europe is fixed, by comparison you don't mind your USA airport as being fixed, since you only have one location in the USA !
Plus you do not have to try to change a ticket while traveling in Europe. There are advantages both ways, to be fair.
In booking from Lisbon, I noticed that one-way usually makes no sense, even on Aer Lingus (the best, $700 one/way) the round-trip is the same or just a couple of hundred more, and even if you have to tack on a change fee, you end up fine.
What is curious is that the 3-month window is so different, compared to anything 3 months-1 year. Right now, tickets Lisbon-->NY are under $700 R/T at three months, then the moment you get a week over 3 months, the price goes up to almost $1000. So it seems that if you have any hope of using the ticket in 3 months it makes sense to buy the ticket, even at exactly 90 days. If you leave earlier than the 3-month buy point, you simply pay a change fee on a good price, and maybe a bit more on the flight. Even if the total is $250, you end up ahead.
However, if you get close to the 3 months and you have to change, things get stickier. A lot depends on the airline policy. Best is if you do not have to chose another date, since you risk a higher fare (maybe) if they see the fare as a higher rate since it is retroactively not in the 3-month window (this is quite subtle) and the potential for ending up with two change fees, negating all advantages, and making you frustrated.
Which airlines are best at this ?
Right now good fares (per OneTravel) are on Lufthansa, United Airlines and Swiss, with also low, but a bit more ($75) on Brussels and TAP.
TAP also has a non-stop, but it is $200 more and into Newark, my preferences is a Queens airport.
So I would choose from those five airlines. Curious if they all force you to choose another date, or if any do like USA airlines often do, allow a ticket to be called up (I'm not flying yet) and not-used, and then available for use anytime within the one-year window. (Hmmm... I am presuming that a 3-month planned ticket does not have a 3-month expiration date, something else that would have to be checked.)
Anybody have experience on these issues ? Especially about buying in the 3-month cheaper range and then, if necessary, extending beyond the 3 months ?
Or (whether buying 3 months or the longer range) working with airlines like those above (or others) to have the least bureaucratic and expensive change fees, when you make the semi-inevitable change ?
Or is it too fluid to really say, ie. the airlines are all over the map even in their own policies ? There may be a web site discussing international change fees ?
Thanks.
Steven
Queens, NY
Note: in all these cases I presume it is a good idea to see if the good fare is available directly on the airline website, to avoid double bureaucracy. However booking through One Travel, Expedia, Vayama, etc. seems sound as well, with some possible advantages as well as disadvantages. Maybe we have some discussions of this I can find.
Traveling back and forth from cities in Europe (e.g. Lisbon) to NY there are some nice advantages to buying the ticket in Europe. One big one is that your trip in Europe is flexible, since you are buying the ticket right before leaving. Thus a trip can be designed in Europe ad hoc, as anything from one week to a month or more, and you can decide your destination time and city. (Which in some cases is a wonderful flexibility.) When you buy R/T from the USA, your departure airport (and time) in Europe is fixed, by comparison you don't mind your USA airport as being fixed, since you only have one location in the USA !
Plus you do not have to try to change a ticket while traveling in Europe. There are advantages both ways, to be fair.In booking from Lisbon, I noticed that one-way usually makes no sense, even on Aer Lingus (the best, $700 one/way) the round-trip is the same or just a couple of hundred more, and even if you have to tack on a change fee, you end up fine.
What is curious is that the 3-month window is so different, compared to anything 3 months-1 year. Right now, tickets Lisbon-->NY are under $700 R/T at three months, then the moment you get a week over 3 months, the price goes up to almost $1000. So it seems that if you have any hope of using the ticket in 3 months it makes sense to buy the ticket, even at exactly 90 days. If you leave earlier than the 3-month buy point, you simply pay a change fee on a good price, and maybe a bit more on the flight. Even if the total is $250, you end up ahead.
However, if you get close to the 3 months and you have to change, things get stickier. A lot depends on the airline policy. Best is if you do not have to chose another date, since you risk a higher fare (maybe) if they see the fare as a higher rate since it is retroactively not in the 3-month window (this is quite subtle) and the potential for ending up with two change fees, negating all advantages, and making you frustrated.
Which airlines are best at this ?
Right now good fares (per OneTravel) are on Lufthansa, United Airlines and Swiss, with also low, but a bit more ($75) on Brussels and TAP.
TAP also has a non-stop, but it is $200 more and into Newark, my preferences is a Queens airport.
So I would choose from those five airlines. Curious if they all force you to choose another date, or if any do like USA airlines often do, allow a ticket to be called up (I'm not flying yet) and not-used, and then available for use anytime within the one-year window. (Hmmm... I am presuming that a 3-month planned ticket does not have a 3-month expiration date, something else that would have to be checked.)
Anybody have experience on these issues ? Especially about buying in the 3-month cheaper range and then, if necessary, extending beyond the 3 months ?
Or (whether buying 3 months or the longer range) working with airlines like those above (or others) to have the least bureaucratic and expensive change fees, when you make the semi-inevitable change ?
Or is it too fluid to really say, ie. the airlines are all over the map even in their own policies ? There may be a web site discussing international change fees ?
Thanks.
Steven
Queens, NY
Note: in all these cases I presume it is a good idea to see if the good fare is available directly on the airline website, to avoid double bureaucracy. However booking through One Travel, Expedia, Vayama, etc. seems sound as well, with some possible advantages as well as disadvantages. Maybe we have some discussions of this I can find.
