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Discussion of Questions
1. What is your U.S. or Canadian departure city? Are you returning to the same one?
Fares are generally lower (and availability higher) from major airports where several carriers offer intercontinental service than from smaller ones. Also, fares are lower from airports not “prisoner” to one airline.
For example, if you live in Ottawa, and aren’t afraid of 2 hours on the train, you can often more than pay for your VIA ticket by flying from Montréal’s Dorval rather than trying to board a flight in Ottawa.
Feel free to give us a price differential, if that is appropriate. The more acceptable choices we have, even if you have a pronounced preference, the more likely we are to be able to find you what you want.
Example: if you live in New Haven, CT., and prefer Boston Logan to the New York airports, you might tell us something like:
“1st choice = Boston. 2nd choice = New York (any airport). I will pay up to $50 more each way to fly to / from Boston.” If appropriate, you could add: “I will be leaving my car at the airport from which I fly, so please fly me back to the same one.”
Jump to the question.
2. To where in Europe would you like to fly? And from which European city would you like to return to North America?
Discussion
We do not presume that you are flying directly to and from your trip, since over half of our guests tack on a pre- or post-trip visit (Venice, the Alps, Paris... indeed, we offer many such visits ourselves), or simply get horribly lost on their bikes (just kidding).
To see the airports closest to your trips’s start and end points, as well as suggested side visits, follow this link to a list of our trips, and their start and end cities. The discussion of travel to or from each city lists its closest airports.
You may pick different European airports for your outbound and return flights, so long as you are departing from and returning to the same North American city. Tickets allowing this are called “open jaw” tickets. If a single airline serves both of your European cities, buying an open jaw ticket will not usually increase the cost of your travel. So long as a single group of airlines (alliances like “Star Alliance” or “Skyteam”) serve both cities, the difference in cost between an open jaw and a straight round-trip ticket will be minor.
However, buying an open jaw ticket does restrict your choice of airlines (and thus the effects of any competition), since, in general, fewer airlines or “alliances” will serve both your outbound and return destinations.
And some people prefer to fly in and out of Paris, so to store luggage not needed on the bike trip in our Paris office. Or just to be in Paris :-)
Jump to the question.
3. What are your preferred eastbound (to Europe) flight dates?
Discussion
- Flights are overnight in this direction, landing in Europe in the morning. Thus if your trip’s “start date” is, say, July 4, you must depart the US on July 3 at the latest.
- “Weekend dates,” considered to be Friday and Saturday in this direction, cost an additional $20 - $25 for any given fare level.
- If your route is not served by non-stop flights, but your preferred North American airport does offer service by a European carrier, you will be faced with a schedule choice that may have some importance to your travel plans:
- Do you prefer a North American carrier, which will fly to its North American hub on the afternoon of your departure date, and then overnight to Europe, with an early arrival there? This will get in the way of a full day at the office. Or...
- ...do you prefer a European carrier, which will depart your local airport later, fly you to its European hub overnight, and make a morning connection on to your destination, with a midday arrival? This may land you at your trip’s gateway airport too late in the day to join your trip on that day....
- Fare codes, especially for peak summer dates, vary substantially from day to day. It may be possible to save $50, $100, or even more, by shifting your flight plans by a day (you will always reduce your fare by $20 - $25 by avoiding a Friday or Saturday flight). Any information you can give us about acceptable alternative dates is helpful. If shifting your departure also shifts your return, tell us that. Note that you must give us an alternate date in each direction to benefit from our Airfare Guarantee.
Jump to the question.
4. What are your preferred westbound (back from Europe) flight dates?
Discussion
- Flights take place in daylight in this direction, a 9-hour flight landing in North America just 2 - 3 hours after it takes off from Europe, at least based on the reading of a clock. We will only book flights that are compatible with your journey from your trip to the airport, and will ask for your approval before we book anything “tight.”
- “Weekend dates,” considered to be Saturday and Sunday in this direction, typically cost an additional $20 or $25 for any given fare level.
- Fare codes, especially for peak summer dates, vary substantially from day to day. It may often be possible to save $50, $100, or even more by shifting your flight plans by a day (you will always reduce your fare by $20 - $25 by avoiding a Saturday or Sunday flight). Any information you can give us about acceptable alternative dates is helpful. If shifting your return also shifts your departure, tell us that. Note that you must give us an alternate date in each direction to benefit from our Airfare Guarantee.
All else being equal, we generally book the latest possible return flights, since catching a 10a flight from Paris implies a 3a wake-up call in Dijon.... But if you have to be at work the next day, and prefer time at home to settle in, tell us that.
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5. Can you accept the “standard” conditions for ticket modification?
Discussion
Typical conditions for changeability / refundability of discount air tickets are as follows.
- Discount tickets are not refundable. Airlines have very different conditions regarding medical emergencies, but this is between you and the airline, and its behavior is unpredictable. Insurance is recommended....
- Outbound flight dates can be modified, typically for a fee of $200, and only on a space-available basis.
- Return flights can be changed once in Europe, typically for a fee ranging from $100 to $250, provided space is available in the same fare class.
If the tickets we find correspond to these conditions within $50, we won’t discuss the issue with you. If they are yet more constraining, we will go over their conditions with you before we book.
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6. Do you have a preferred airline (or, for frequent flyer mile accumulation, group of airlines)?
Discussion
There are several reasons to prefer a given airline or airlines. The most common is for accrual of frequent flyer miles. This would lead you to prefer an airline alliance (whose members all accord miles for each others flights) rather than a particular airline. Most airlines belong to one of three alliances, “Skyteam”, the “Star Alliance,” or “Oneworld.” If you don’t know which one yours is in, you can try this link to see. (Would someone please tell us if it stops working? Thanks.)
Travel professionals typically value points at about 100 per dollar. In our view, that may be on the high side. You earn 7,500 on a round trip from North America’s east coast to Europe. So, generally, you would not “rationally” spend more than $75 to earn points on a flight from the east coast. Exception: if you are a member of an “elite” program that ups the earnings figure, or you need the miles to attain an elite status that will help you with domestic travel, you may be willing to pay more to earn miles.
Note that Air France generally only grants one quarter of miles flown for discount tickets, and should be avoided if you are trying to earn miles on a Skyteam carrier. They also have the worst (most bureaucratic, when not downright nasty) ground service in the business at their Paris hub, though their in-flight service is among the best.
Indeed, there are considerable differences in on-board services (generally better on European carriers, except for Iberia), in reliability (not so good for Alitalia), and, obviously, in cultural familiarity. If you are headed for Switzerland, for instance, you can start your Swiss experience by flying Swiss....
We cannot help you with award travel. If you wish to get a ticket on points, you must contact your airline directly.
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7. What, if any, premium are you willing to pay for more direct (or otherwise easier) flights?
Discussion
Airlines offering the best service on a route will usually charge a premium for that service, compared to carriers which require a connection or more connections.
Conversely, a connection increases risk (you could miss it, or your luggage could), and increases travel time (by at least three hours each way, unless the connection is so tight as to be unreliable).
So... how much are you willing to pay to cut down on the number of plane changes?
If the difference in fare is $20 each way, you would rationally prefer fewer stops, all else being equal. How about if it is $50 each way? Or $200? Rational people could disagree on this....
Also, perhaps you are more concerned with reliability in one direction than in the other. Feel free to tell us that....
Jump to the question.
8. Do you have a preference between rail and air connections?
Discussion
You only need to address this if your trip start / end point is most closely served by an airport with only intra-European service (such as Florence, or Bordeaux). In this case, reaching that airport from North America will require a connection in Europe. The question is, do you continue your trip by train or by plane?
Obviously, if you are connecting in Finland for a trip in Italy, the continuing travel will be by plane. But if you are connecting in Switzerland and need to get to Florence, the choice is not so clear.
Want our advice? Well, here it is anyway. Don’t make any air connections you don’t have to, even if it costs a bit more, or takes a bit longer, to complete your trip by train. Get the closest non-stop flight you can, and take the train the rest of the way. We watch dozens of air connections go spectacularly wrong every year, with genuinely buzz-killing results that can take days to sort out.
Here is a concrete example. Flying between our offices in Philadelphia and Paris, the best fare is sometimes on United. United’s trans-Altantic takes off from their Washington DC hub. All of us at Blue Marble will pay Amtrak $50 to get from Philly to DC, even though United will give us the flight for free. The “free flight” goes wrong too often (delayed, cancelled, loses the baggage...). And even when it works, it requires that we start the trip from our office an hour earlier, despite a tough train-to-plane connection in Washington.
The flight also misses glorious views of Chesapeake Bay, and it doesn’t have a café car with tables and electrical outlets. And let’s not even start with 9/11. In Europe, where the trains frankly bare little resemblence to Amtrak’s, the choice is stark.
If you agree with our reasoning, give us any info you can on what you are willing to do. For instance: “I’m willing to add up to 3 additional hours of theoretical travel time, and up to $50 extra, to avoid the connecting flight.” In planning your travel, we will take into account the ease and cost of plane - train and / or airport - town center transfers. Or just tell us you are willing to trust our judgement....
Jump to the question.
9. Does your method of payment matter to you?
Discussion
Often the lowest fares are available through professional brokers, who charge for credit card use (3% is typical, 5% is not uncommon). They do so because the costs of credit card acceptance for travel suppliers can surpass the margins on the air ticket sold. So...
- If you must pay for your ticket with a credit card, tell us that up front. We will search accordingly, and propose a fare which takes into account the use of your credit card.
- If you would simply “prefer to,” but not at the cost of an extra charge, tell us that. But resign yourself to the fact that you will probably wind up paying by check.
- If you would like to pay with a credit card, but are willing to pay by check if it saves you money, tell us how much extra (3 - 5%) you are willing to pay to use your card.
Jump to the question.
The Questions
1. What is your North American departure city? Are you returning to the same one?
- Are there any alternate cities you are willing to consider to save money? How much would you have to save to shift to it / them?
- Do you need to fly out of and back to the same North American city?
2. To where in Europe would you like to fly? And where would you like to board your return flight to North America?
Are there any alternate cities you are willing to consider to save money? How much would you have to save to shift to it / them?
If you are flying out to and back from different cities, please list your alternates (and price points) to each. You may also give us a guideline like, “any city within 4 hours by train, so long as I save at least $20 per extra hour of travel.”
3. What are your preferred eastbound (to Europe) flight dates?
Please list any that are potentially acceptable, in order of preference. Note that you must give us at least two dates to benefit from our Air Fare Guarantee.
If you have any TIMING ISSUES (i.e. “I can’t take off before 7p since I am working that day,” or simply “I prefer a late flight because of planet alignment”), please tell us what they are.
4. What are your first choice westbound (back from Europe) flight dates?
Please list any that are potentially acceptable, in order of preference. If you would shift your return by a day to save money, give us an idea of how much you would need to save in order to shift. Note that you must give us at least two dates to benefit from our Air Fare Guarantee.
If you have any TIMING ISSUES (example: “I have to be in Chicago in time for a commuter train to Aurora at 10:40p”), please tell us what they are.
5. Are you willing to accept “standard” modification conditions for your ticket(s)?
6. Do you have a preferred airline(s)? Or, for frequent flyer point accumulation, do you have a preferred alliance?
- If you would like us to exercise our judgement in substituting for your preferred carrier, tell us why you prefer it (desire to earn miles, good service, politics, whatever).
- How much extra are you willing to pay to fly your preferred carrier(s)?
- How much extra would you spend to earn miles?
7. What, if any, premium are you willing to pay for non-stop flights (or for a flight which eliminates a stop in a multi-stop itinerary)?
- Please be sure to tell us the premium you are willing to pay per direction, and per eliminated transfer.
- Are there any reliability issues to which we should pay special attention? Such as, “I must be at my desk the next morning, please avoid the last flight of the night, or at least allow extra time for any connections.”
8. Do you have any preference between rail and air connections?
We assume that, all things being equal, you would opt for whatever was cheaper / theoretically faster. If you would like to privilige one of these two attributes, tell us which one. We otherwise value your time at about $25 / hour.
If you would like to throw a bit into the pot for reliability and / or comfort, both of which favor the train, tell us how much. The money may go to the railroad, but it may go instead to a more expensive air ticket, which puts you on a non-stop flight to a closer European airport, and thus avoids the whole issue.
9. Does your method of payment matter to you?
If you prefer to pay by credit card (rather than by check), tell us your price differential to do so.
Options:
- I don’t care how I pay, and understand that this probably means I will pay by check. Find me the best fare.
- I prefer credit card, but can pay by check if it saves me at least __________ per ticket (you may give us either a figure or a percentage).
- I must pay by credit card. Find me the lowest credit card fare.
Thanks (in advance) for your responses
The Blue Zoo
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