Flights in April + Tips

Hello everyone! I'm planning my backpacking trip to Europe. I'm wanting to buy my plane ticket soon. I was thinking of flying to somewhere in Spain or Italy in mid April. Right now, my options are pretty open. Where is usually a cheap place to fly into from Seattle? Again, I'm extremely open to most options right now. I just need to find a cheaper, one-way ticket. Any tips on the best city to fly into?

Also, any thoughts on the best travel insurance to use? I'll be traveling with about 2,000$ worth of camera gear, and I want to make sure it's well covered. Right now I'm thinking of getting the World Nomads Explorer insurance.

Again, I'm extremely open to most options right now. I just need to find a cheaper, one-way ticket.

The only way to find out is by plugging a number of airport destinations into a search engine... sorry!

Why a one-way ticket? Are you aware of the 90-day Schengen restriction?

London and Dublin are often mentioned as European gateways with cheaper intercontinental flights than others, but if you're bound for southern Europe, there's not much point in flying there - just like you probably wouldn't consider flying to Denver if you need to get to Seattle. So yes, the only option is to use a flight search engine.
If you do fall for a cheap deal to somewhere 1500 km from where you actually want to go, keep in mind that separately booked (cheap) transportation becomes worthless if your inbound flight delays and you miss your connection.

And indeed, you should keep the Schengen restrictions in mind; besides, there's a good chance that an onward ticket out of Schengen is required - if you cannot show one at the check-in counter in Seattle, you won't be allowed onboard. Most importantly though, two one-way tickets are almost always more expensive than a roundtrip or open jaw ticket. If you don't want to set your return date or last travel destination in stone, pay a little extra for a ticket with more flexibility.

Hi,
I'd suggest that you sign up with an airline that doesn't show up on most sites, Condor.
They function primarily as a charter airline, especially for tour groups. They're part of The Thomas Cook Group (UK based).
I haven't used them but at another time I flew with a similar airline from LAX to Paris (CDG)...it was 2003 and I got a fare of US$299.00 (all in) r/t. It was not the most comfortable plane but since a r/t trip with a regular carrier would have been $800 plus, I was happy to use it. I might have flown them again but they stopped offering flights from US WC.
How it works: They have a flight scheduled and most of the seats are booked by travel agents and tour organizers. There are always some unfilled seats. These are sold to the general public.
I did a search and right now a flight from Seattle (via Las Vegas)to Frankfurt.
Economy is $570.99 Premium economy 845.99
That is one way.
Here's the link, you can investigate yourself and see if it would fit into your plans. Most flights go to Frankfurt but if you save enough on the main flight you could find a budget flight after.
http://www.condor.com/tcibe/us/flight/flights
You might also want to subscribe to the weekly newsletters from Travel Zoo..
they often have specials listed for airlines which don't offer year-round services but want to attract customers when they restart one. I've seen some great deals from Air New Zealand (this is in the past), and others that most people wouldn't recognize.
Here's the site:
http://www.travelzoo.com/airfare/

I agree with the posters who mentioned having to have a r/t ticket...I've flown to and from France a dozen times and each time they made sure that there was a return flight. I know some people get around it by having a ticket to the UK or a non-Schengen country...
Good luck

Where is usually a cheap place to fly into from Seattle?

Bit of an odd question, if you think about it. You cannot get anywhere direct from anywhere. There are a limited number of destinations from Seattle. You can find these by visiting the Seattle airport website. Further limiting yourself to a continent, or even country, makes the task even easier.

Once you know the flights from Seattle, pick the cheapest one, if mere price is your only criterion.

Not that this is straightforward. The same airline flying to the same destination can have different prices, depending on the season, day of the week, how far in advance you reserve, any promotional fares offered, etc.

It may be that you cannot get directly from Seattle to where you want to go, forcing you to book an additional flight, or travel overland from your point of arrival. As others have said, picking the cheapest first flight from Seattle may not be an advantage if it requires additional travel expense to get to your final destination. So, even more work required to figure all this out.

You could do your own web-searching. However, since you are asking others anyway, why not go to a travel agent? They'll have all the booking software, can find cheap fares, find connecting flight combinations.

If you go to (say) Skyscanner,and put in your dates plus Seattle-(Italy)...it will give you most of the available options.

I'd guess that it is not very cheap,not direct,and either Rome (Italy) or Madrid (Spain) ;-)

Aribo, sorry, but how do you pay for a ticket that's less set in stone? I still believe a way one ticket is my best option. I'm really not sure when I'm going to return, and I don't believe any round trip ticket gives me enough flexibility. As for the 90 day rule, do you think it would fix it if I bought a flight/ferry/something ticket to the UK before I fly in? I'm pretty sure that would be usable as "proof" that I'll be leaving the Schengen zones.
Sorry for the confusion. I just didn't know if any cities in general were known for cheaper airfare. Also, I'm been searching primarily through STA travel. They seem to have the best deals. But I don't know if there's better options.

Any opinions on insurance?

I used STA even when I wasn't a student...(they had an office in the travel bookstore where I bought my books)...saved my sanity one trip when I had booked Air France LAX-CDG and got a call from my contact at STA...flight cancelled, take same flight next day. (Turns out AF didn't call ANYBODY). got there the next day to find out AF used Delta's computer system, couldn't use same flt #....hours and hours of waiting...I found out what was wrong before the desk agents (AF) did...courtesy of STA...I kept everyone else updated as we waited. STA made a lot of friends that day...I kept telling people, it's not just for students and teachers.
I'd say check with them on insurance also...just make sure you buy it within a short period of time after buying your ticket...
of course if you book a flight into the Schengen area and then take another flight to your final destination then the first carrier may see the second flight and think they don't have the responsibility for your departure...also...dress in your best...make a good first impression.

Back after some days.

I decided to follow my own advice, just to see what I'd get. I googled Seattle International airport. Within a minute I got the website, found their destination route map, noted that there are 4 (four) European destinations you can fly to direct from Seattle. The airlines flying those routes and links to their websites were provided. Another click, and within another minute I had a one-way 'lowest' fare deal currently on offer, Seattle-to-European destination. It took me less time than it takes to type this message.

That's it: those are the direct options. That info can serve as a cost baseline - something to compare with other so-called deals, helps you judge how a fare advertized at $xxx or €yyy compares with others in the price hierarchy. Also, you now have links to those airlines, keeping alert for any other promotional deals they offer.

As aribo already pointed out in post #2, any other possibility requires transfers, and transfers can cost time and/or money, depending on where you go. It also adds planning complications. As is usual in these situations, you now face the trade-off decision - trading off raw ticket price against other convenience factors.

One other tip (again, it's 'logical'), more or less an extension of what I already mentioned. If you want info about flights from Seattle, then ask locally -- even in the sense of a departure location forum -- not just at the destination end (here, in Europe). Not many people on this particular branch forum fly from Seattle, so it's all blind search.

A note on ticket price scanner sites. I've used them to test effectiveness at finding cheapest fares. Result: they don't guarantee that you'll find what you're looking for. Usually, I do better myself with variant of above strategy. Although, it depends on the tradeoffs you're willing to make. For example, I'm not interested in half-day layovers in an airport not close to where I want to go.

Any opinions on insurance?

Yes, get some. What is your concern?

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