Need help finding flights, confused and afraid :(
 

Hello my frequently flying friends, Im hoping you can help me out with this because I am getting pretty stuck. I want to take a cruise with my family that leaves from Barcelona, then arrives at Venice. The nearest airport is our own local SFO(San Francisco). Now here is where it gets tricky, one of the people coming has a huge fear of flying and would greatly prefer to takeoff/land as little as possible, in other words no plane connections. What I want to do is get as close to Barcelona as possible from SFO, and then use European trains to reach Barcelona. Likewise for returning from Venice, taking trains to the closest Airport that can get us back home to SFO.

Any help or points in a more correct direction would be greatly appreciated, thanks :)^

In theory, Paris is probably the closest city to Barcelona served non-stop from SFO, and Munich probably the closest to Venice.

However, I am assuming that it will be more economical to take a round-trip flight -- buying one-ways SFO-CDG and MUC-SFO will likely be much more expensive than, say, a round-trip to CDG, FRA, or MUC.

You should probably move this to the European Rail Travel forum, because what you're really talking about is trains to Barcelona and from Venice to the major air hubs. I don't know anything about trains in Europe, but I am sure that you can easily find decent connections to get you where you want to go. The trick will be to optimize time and cost.

Taking into account distances between Barcelona, Venice and any airport in Europe with direct fligths to SFO my choice would be, in that priority:
1. Zurich
2. Munich
3. Paris

All three have good train systems, but you should be aware, that most likely you will have to change trains at least once.

You could also go by train from SFO to ATL and fly ATL-BCN und VCE-ATL with delta :cool:

An open jaw ticket is based upon 1/2 a RT to 2 different cities. Exactly what one would buy in this situation. Please do not confuse the OP with the issue of 2 one ways (do not even suggest that he buy 2 one ways). The operative airline word is "open jaw" XXX-YYY AAA-XXX. BTW: An open jaw is a round-trip. This situation fits the rules for an open jaw without going into an explanation of what they are.

Thank you for all the quick and helpful replies.
I have a few questions so Ill just list them. If you can only answer the first 2-3 that's certainly fine too :)

1)Using the multi-city function of Kayak I am getting fares(albiet with layovers) of $1185-$1500 roundtrip per person, are these the "open-jaw" flights your talking about?

2)Is there any sort of tool I can use to find out all my flight options without taking a bunch of stabs in the dark with Kayak combination.

3)Anyone have an idea how more I will need to dish out to avoid connections?

4)Anyone else have experience with fear-of-flying and how friends/family overcoming it?

5)If you've happened to of flown on them in economy I'd love a quick 1-10 rating on
-Air Canada
-American Airlines
-Continental
-Lufthansa
-United

Thanks again :)

1. Yes
2. Nothing is easy, Kayak is not the best way IMO. Determine who flies non-stop SFO to where you want to go and return from. Call each airline and determine the cost of the open jaw on the days you need specifying the non-stops. The suggestion that the person take Amtrak to the East Coast while appearing somewhat facetious is probably the best since more options for non-stops exist to your desired cities. This also significantly reduces the amount of time in the air.
3. Prices change literally 100s of thousands of times per day. No idea and you will have no idea until you book it.
4. No idea.
5. Suggest that you go to the appropriate airline fora and do a search. Just like fares, there are 100s of thousands of opinions.

Finally I would recommend to convince that person to accept a non-direct flight.

All alternatives with either travel by train to the US-eastcoast or by train within Europe will cost you a lot of money, stress and a minimum of 2-4 extra travel days.

The smoothest way to fly seems to me with Swiss airlines SFO-ZRH-BCN + VCE-ZRH-SFO.

Finding routes: Google "ITA Software". Should be at the top of the lilst. Click it, and then click "Seach Airfares Now". You can't book flights there but you can get a very good view of who flies where and when for how much. To book, go to a travel site like Kayak, Orbitz, etc., or to that airline's site.

As others have noted, ticket prices change very, very often. You can go nuts trying to find the absolute lowest fare. So, don't nickel and dime yourself into distraction. The prices you quoted seem reasonable for round-trip California to Europe fares.

Sounds like your fear-of-flying companion is primarily spooked by take-offs and landings. If so, avoiding connecting flights makes sense. The tradeoff is that long flight from SFO and back again. (Strong suggestion: Assuming you're flying coach, if you have the chance to pay for seat upgrades -- to more legroom/width -- do it. Twelve hours or so on a plane is a long time, especially for someone who doesn't want to be there. Being more comfortable should help.)

This may be apocryphal, but I have heard that some folks have visited their doctor and been given tranquilizers/mood enhancers to ease their fear on flying days.

JUst to add the night train from PAris to Barcelona is excellent, but it is very pricey and takes about 11 hours with no stops or changes. It books up months in advance.

The regualr train takes about as long, with at least two changes along the way, is slightly cheaper, but it will add a huge amount of time to your travel.

I would go the Delta routes with the trains in the US.

Have the person afraid of flying go to his physician and get a script for a benzodiazepine sedative. I am not joking.

Absolutely. A college friend is terrified of flying and never flew anywhere (even drove from Chicago to San Francisco). Now he just gets a Xanax prescription before he goes and he flies all over the world.

Calling each airline is essentially doing manually and slowly what Kayak does automatically and quickly.

Your situation is complex enough that I would suggest you find a good travel agent and work with that person. Ask around for someone who knows about European train travel. It will be well worth the travel agent fee if you can avoid unnecessary hours on a train or a long layover in a weird airport.

First of all, I really think you need a travel agent. I'm an experienced traveler, and ex-airline employee, and even I get confused and somewhat overwhelmed in today's online air travel market.

In your search for the least number of takeoffs and landings, I think you are totally missing a very important factor - quality! It's a totally different experience flying nonstop on an uncomfortable flight vs a comfortable flight with one or more connections. There are vast differences in aircraft seating, comfort, food and onboard entertainment these days.

I'm planning a trip to Turkey in the near future from the Pacific NW, and I like a little comfort with my low cost ticket. I'm planning to fly via New York or Washington so I can travel on the Air France A380 jumbo (the world's most comfortable plane).

Sorry, I disagree with your ideas about fewest takeoffs and landings. My advice is to get your friend potted before the flight, and he will enjoy everything! (Air France is the only carrier serving French champagne in economy).

If the OP has a MasterCard World Premiere/Elite, he can use a concierge to handle this kind of request for free, I imagine. The concierge may in fact call up the travel agent him/herself.