The first in a series of posts to nail down our itinerary.
The schedule:
Thursday, May 17: Depart Chicago
Friday, May 18: Arrive Budapest
Monday, May 21: Depart Budapest, Arrive Vienna
Friday, May 25: Depart Vienna, Arrive Ceske Krumlov
Sunday, May 27: Depart Ceske Krumlov, Arrive Prague
Thursday, May 31: Depart Prague, Arrive Chicago
I've got airfare into Budapest and out of Prague at $1200/person
Boat from Budapest to Vienna at $150/person
Train from Vienna to Bratislava (round trip) at $75/person. That may be the international line, not the local line, which might be cheaper.
Train from Vienna to Ceske Krumlov at $130/person. There is a bus from Prague that is cheaper/faster, not sure if that's an option from Vienna.
Train from Ceske Krumlov to Prague at $70/person. Bus might be slightly cheaper.
Add that together and we have $1,625 per person in travel costs.
A Hungary-Austria-Czech Republic EuroPass costs $400/person. Slovakia doesn't seem to be included, so that would make our travel cost $1,825/person, so not really worth it.
https://pss.united.com/web/en-US/apps/booking/flight/reviewRevenue.aspx?sg=0&sgk=28162012-05-310640|9732012-05-311100&SX=0N1mN0tXl925SzGpmS01M9F
ReplyDeleteI'm finding this airfare as the cheapest on United for the days you have there. It's not bad. Although, I'm not sure what ideal is as far as times. They say that flights are cheapest on Tuesday afternoons. Not sure if there is some truth in that.
It doesn't want to show me the price or flight schedule in that link.
ReplyDeleteAh ok. Through Frankfurt there, back through Brussels. Attractive layovers. $1130 a person.
ReplyDeletehttps://pss.united.com/web/en-US/apps/booking/flight/reviewRevenue.aspx?sg=0&sgk=28162012-05-310640|9732012-05-311100&SX=0d7u3BvwIFdBVekC3x3ph8U
ReplyDeleteSame flights today are $1180 a person.
Do we think they're going to go up another $50 tomorrow? Or back down?
ReplyDeleteSeems the airline with the cheapest fare changes day by day.
https://pss.united.com/web/en-US/apps/booking/flight/reviewRevenue.aspx?sg=12&sgk=95142012-05-310935|9412012-05-311245&SX=034Zqvq37RD8StRkeYFBtnI
ReplyDeleteFlying into Prague and out of Budapest is higher at $1322 a person.
I thought they might be cheaper today given the "industry rule" that Tuesday afternoon is the cheapest time to buy.
ReplyDeleteOh, I thought that meant Tuesday afternoon was the cheapest time to fly, regardless of when you buy.
ReplyDeleteShows what I know.
I'm getting $1,080 through work's travel agent, although we are supposed to be getting a new one.
ReplyDelete6:26 departure from Chicago, arrive Budapest at 2:15.
Leave Prague at 9:31, arrive Chicago at 2:55.
Those the same flights you found through United?
KLM seems to have cheap fares today. Not sure if it's thru KLM directly or only for orbitz.
ReplyDeleteRound trip to Prague, connect in Amsterdam. Obviously we need to get from Prague to Budapest that day, but something to look into.
Go Team Reaska-Hritsuk Go!
I'm not seeing "cheap" flights on KLM via their site or Orbitz. ?????
ReplyDeleteI think the flights you mentioned earlier for $1080 were the ones that I was finding.
So where do we stand now? Still trying to find cheaper flights? Trying to change itinerary? What are you thinking?
I was mistaken, the cheaper KLM flights were for Monday or Tuesday travel.
ReplyDeleteThe CAIN fares are no longer valid, and I can't book two tickets at the same time anyway as far as I can tell.
We're not looking at two connections both ways for sub-$1000 fares on kayak. Those don't make me jump out of my seat and make me think we need to book asap.
I think we're set with itinerary. I'd keep playing with flights until we find something we like. What do you think?
I'm looking at round trip to PRG, BUD, or the into BUD and out of PRG plan (which is ideal), just looking at round trips in case they prove lucrative.
We can only go into PRG and out of BUD if we change dates or give up the Danube boat trip.
The flights that I found on Orbitz were two short layovers on the way to Budapest and one connection on the way back from Prague.
ReplyDeleteI'm ok with giving up the boat trip if it makes more sense to go into Prague and out of Budapest because of cost or to fly roundtrip to Prague and work our way through. Like you said, we can take a boat in other circumstances (Vienna to Bratislava) if we are dying to get some boat action. This boat will be different than the boat we took to Stockholm.
It looks like Lufthansa has 5 direct flights to Budapest everyday. The 7:15 is the first one, the next is 8:40, if our flight from Montreal is delayed.
DeleteHowever, Air Canada only operates one flight from Montreal to Frankfurt each day, so if we miss that one, we're spending the night in Montreal or flying to a different European destination, then onto Budapest. And then there's the luggage issue.
We would take a regional jet to Montreal and an Airbus to Frankfurt. Due to their size difference, I wouldn't be surprised if we need to get from Concourse C to Concourse B. I can't seem to tell how far apart those are.
You found those flights?
ReplyDeleteThose are no longer the cheapest flights on kayak. It changes this morning. Right now we have.
Leave Chicago at 1:20, arrive Budapest at 8:50. Short layovers in Montreal and Frankfurt.
Leave Prague at 6:40 am, arrive Chicago at 1:19 pm. 3 hour layover in Brussels.
$984/person. I forget if that's the same we found yesterday.
That might be the best we find, but I'm also not sure they're going anywhere. I could be wrong. If we think it's the best, lets book. Let's not book because "we want to be done".
Those short layovers make me kind of nervous, but I'm sure it will be fine. I also wouldn't want a long layover. I 1) don't trust O'Hare to take off on time and 2) worry about finding our way to a new gate in a foreign airport in like 20 minutes. But I worry about contingencies, it's what I do. You wing it.
So, if it's the best deal, we book it, hope the flight takes off on time, and I'll memorize the layout of the Montreal airport so we know where to go. Teamwork.
I saw the same flights that you found. Is that better?
ReplyDeleteEverything on United today isn't attractive and is more expensive. I worry about the rates going up on the flights on Orbitz, but then I worry about booking and something cheaper coming up. I'm not sure how that works. Orbitz has that price guarantee thing.
Maybe Tuesday afternoon is the day to book!
ReplyDeleteAre prices today higher than they were last week at this time? They are higher than yesterday, but I think airlines sometimes try to make you panic by randomly fluctuating prices.
Today it's $250/ticket more expensive for 1 stop each way. Yesterday it was like $100. To me, $100 is worth the peace of mind to not have to worry about two short connections. $250 is another story.
I would prefer one connection. If we can make it work, that's ideal. Maybe we can keep a record of what the airfare was on each day for a week and see where we land. It could just be the airlines messing with us.
ReplyDeleteThat's the point of this blog!
ReplyDeleteYou can look at the "Itinerary Update" thread, we discussed flights last week at this time.
But if you want to do something more formal, I'm all for it. I plan to monitor constantly.
Bing Travel and potentially other sites have "fare trackers" but generally only for round trip flights.
Managing on the blog is fine. That is the purpose.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.bakpakguide.com/travel-101/flights/top-ten-secrets-of-travel-agents-to-save-you-money.shtml
That's an interesting site. Didn't think about the cookies thing.
Those dirty bastards.
ReplyDeleteI have like 8 browsers on my computer. Time to start using them.
ORD 558 PM
ReplyDeleteMUNICH 950 AM
MUNICH 1110 AM
BUDAPEST 1225 PM
PRAGUE 640 AM
BRUSSELS 805 AM
BRUSSELS 11 AM
ORD 119 PM
$1121.49 PER PERSON
Not bad.
ReplyDeleteDo we want to book directly through the airline?
ReplyDeleteWe both seemed wary of orbitz before and that article you sent says you don't always get the rates they promise.
We should also double check baggage fees.
ReplyDeleteWe get one free checked bag on Swiss Air. Maybe that is the case on all international flights.
Interesting site.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.farecompare.com/
Looks like today's prices/flights on kayak are the same as yesterday.
ReplyDeleteI was going to check us in for our flights, but I don't have our passport numbers.
ReplyDeleteI can check us in at home, but we can't print our tickets cause our printer is broken.
We can print at O'Hare or try the e-boarding pass. I imagine it works the same for international travel.