Cheapest Way to Get from NYC-BOM - $$ + Miles
 

Hi everybuddy,

Here's hoping you can help me out -- I'm a student (read: poor and its the end of the year too) looking to get to BOM (or MAA if poss.) from NYC, May 26 - July 1 for the lowest $$$$ possible.

pluses +: 50,000 Virgin Atlantic Miles
Access to student fares
Willing to connect anywhere/fly any airlines
Somewhat flexible (+/- a few days on either end)
Can take stopovers in London.

minuses (-) : Really limited on the $$$, any savings will help!

ideas : NYC-LHR (student tix <$500 ), then LHR-BOM (VS miles + tax)
NYC-LHR (VS miles + tax), LHR-BOM (reg ticket)
NYC -- (other connection) ---BOM ?

Either way, I was hoping someone here might have some ideas as to how I can make this work out the best. Thanks people!

-k

Don't have any specific advice for you but a couple of thoughts.

-Cheaper excursion fares usually have a one month max. Your dates are for aout 35 days. When it comes down to paying for the flight that you decide to pay for, make sure to check fares for one month or less andadjust your dates if at all possible.

-You are going to have to rely on two things. Cheap flight availability and Award travel availabilty and try to find that magic spot where they overlap.
Not sure if london is a good bet because there is so much capacity NYC-LON or bad cuz it's summer.

Not sure about the VS program, but keep in mind that on some airlines, for 50K you can get to London or to Moscow or Istanbul... both a good bit closer to India and maybe cheaper.

Also, I would check out the Indian discount airlines Jet, etc. and see where they have cheap flights from, then see about getting there... might mean award tix to London, then EasyJet to Rome or something crazy like that.

-See if there is award availability or cheap tix all the way and try to barter somewhere your $$ for miles (or vice versa) that's generally against the rules, but people do it. (Check Craigslist for example)

Edited to add : And welcome to FT!

check out studentuniverse.com for decent student fares. i got from grb-lgw for 400.00 and they were charging 600.00+ on nwa website. try just getting into london and taking easy jet or another low cost carrier to final destination. you should be able to get some cheap airfare for students out of nyc on the site. im a student and you can get away cheap because of it.