Airfare
My husband and I are booked for Switzerland Crown Jewel on 9/17. I just started looking at flights. We live in upstate NY, plan to fly out of greater NYC area. I am shocked at costs from Zurich home. Any advice on booking flights to Geneva, home from Zurich would be appreciated.
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If you used a travel agent to book your Tauck trip, s/he will help you find the best solution. If you book direclty with Tauck, Tauck may be able to help you.
I use a travel agent and she does a good job of finding the best solution for me.
If you didn't use a travel agent to book your flight, a travel agent will help you but there will be a charge.
Matrix search is not bad - https://matrix.itasoftware.com/search but not as good as what my TA can do.
I start out with Google flight search - https://www.google.com/travel/flights?gl=US&hl=en-US
I use Google flights to find the cheapest tickets as well. Whatever you use though, the tickets you find today may be cheaper than the tickets you find tomorrow, unless the situation with Iran is settled and oil starts falling.
I agree with trying Tauck. You do not have to commit and there is no charge for asking. Good luck with your search.
And be aware, Tauck does not have access to all flights and classes of service. Best to do your homework, as well.
Is it worth the gamble waiting a few weeks in case the war situation improves and maybe prices come down. I’m concerned that any booked flights may also be cancelled if people stop flying for economic reasons.
It going to take more than a few weeks for the oil situation to get back to normal. It'll be months.
I bought tickets for my next Tauck trip which is in September.
Airlines hedge fuel prices by buying futures. They are just using the current prices as an excuse to gouge people.
I currently have to biz class trips to Europe booked, one in May and one in Sept. When I bought the tickets, they were in the usual 4-5K range. Those flights are currently 12K and 14K (though there are cheaper alternative connections available)!
(edited for typo)
Try Swiss air
I have found the foreign carriers less expensive, usually. Just can't always make seat assignments unless you pay for them.
Thanks for all the input. We were looking to book nonstop business class. Flight to Geneva on Swiss Air was about 2k - as expected. But flights home from Zurich were 6K per person, regardless of airline!! Ended up choosing Icelandair with a layover in Reykjavik - didn't see that coming.
It’s crazy that even if you have seat assignments and even in business class, you can be moved from your seats once on the plane. Recently, we were on a long haul flight and a family with young children were in business class. They had all been seated separately in business class. The flight attendants said the flight could not take off unless others were willing to move seats as it was illegal for the family with such young children to be separated. We were further away and not near each other anyway, but the people near the family were virtually forced to move seats. They were not happy but really had no choice. I am so happy to be able to afford business class these past few years, that I don’t care if I am near my husband or not, he can generally sleep for hours anyway, so we rarely communicate. In economy, it’s more important to be together.
I have always had great fares on Swiss Air recently. I just checked out round trip JFK to Geneva and home Zurich to JFK and came up with a 5089 total.
Has anyone flown domestically with JSX? Since I’ve moved, the more people I speak with, mention that they have flown with that boutique airline. The plus side is there are not any TSA lines and the negative side is, they are a bit more expensive.
LJX3 - Are you aware that Icelandair doesn't have a true business class (i.e., no lay flat seats)?
Just to add to the frustration, I am organizing some independent travel in Italy in June and looking at taxi fares for train station pick-ups or those special restaurants outside city centers.
40-50 euro one way for a 15 minute drive is what I am seeing.
Yes, I am aware Icelandic Air seats do not lay flat in business class. I don’t fall asleep easily while I notice other passengers Zzzzz easily. I have to take a sleeping pill in order to fall asleep.