Explore 10 European cities for less than $500 in airfare
University of Chicago Grad Student, Sayar Karmakar, loves a good challenge, and loves the power of the internet and doesn’t mind flying with no-frills; all of this added up to one enticing, self-imposed dare to find the cheapest flights possible. Let’s see how he did.
Tell us, Sayar, where did you go and how did you get there?
I flew from Chicago to Baltimore and then Baltimore to Frankfurt (by way of Reykjavik). Spent time in Frankfurt, then took a Flixbus to Paris and spent a day in Paris. From Paris to Lyon on a OUIGO TGV, and top tip on getting a deal was I changed the language from English to French and the ticket price dropped from €39 to €15. In Lyon I hopped on a Megabus to Marseille, and from Marseille I took a OUIBUS from SNCF to Barcelona, but I would suggest flying this route. Vueling has a flight that costs about €30, where my bust ride cost €34. Then from Barcelona I flew to Rome. From Rome, I traveled via Megabus to Pisa, and then Pisa to Florence by way of train on Trenitalia. From there off to Venice via Megabus, then to Paris on a Thello night sleeper train. From Paris I took a Eurolines coach bus to Cologne, then flew to Boston and then back to Chicago.
And you only spent $425 on flights for all of those places?
Yes! Chicago to Baltimore on Spirit for $64 (I did have some luck with Spirit who gave me $50 cash back) Baltimore to Frankfurt on WOW for $159 (Via Reykyavik) Barcelona to Rome on RyanAir for $38 Cologne to Boston on Eurowings for $164 Boston to Chicago on JetBlue for $53
When did you start planning your 10-city trip across Europe?
My trip started on June 10th and I bought my first ticket from Baltimore to Frankfurt on March 25th.
But you were flying from Chicago, weren’t you? Why did you buy Baltimore to Frankfurt first?
At the point when I began planning, I did a US to Everywhere search on Skyscanner, and saw countries in Europe had $99 fairs on WOW Air. There were two specific flights with that price; Baltimore (BWI) to Reykjavik or Boston to Reykjavik. I then searched Reykjavik to countries in Europe but there weren’t any flights available leaving within the day, rather I would have been in Iceland for an extra two days. From there, I found a flight on WOW for Baltimore to Frankfurt for $159 and voila!
What tricks did you use to find travel deals to plan such a jam-packed adventure?
I first learned about Skyscanner from a friend who told me about the ‘Everywhere’ search. It remains the single most amazing thing I have seen on travel websites and the thing I use most. But if you are flexible with your time of travel, you can search Skyscanner for the cheapest month. I searched Chicago to Everywhere in the cheapest month category and it gave me different countries, sorted according to price. I started planning from there.
If there was a first-time traveler to Europe that wanted to copy your trip, how would you suggest they use Skyscanner to find deals?
It requires some luck to find and combine so many unbelievable deals in one single trip. But if you are diligent and patient with your planning, and ambitious as well, anyone can do it. Here are a few tips:
Tip 1: Travel with a neck pillow! If you need to take an overnight bus to catch a flight from a different city don’t be afraid. I traveled from Paris to Cologne on a Eurolines coach and got about 6 hours in Cologne. That gave me a chance to explore the city as well before I had to catch my flight.
Tip 2: If luck is not with you for certain legs of a flight, I suggest expanding your search area. I will draw 200 miles around an airport to see if there are other airports or transportation deals I can find to connect me to my next stop.
Tip 3: Usually Europe is pretty well connected by bus and trains. But you can fly some amazingly cheap flights as well. RyanAir is the most popular but there are other low-cost carriers like Vuelling, Transavia, etc. I learned about these while searching on Skyscanner. I would suggest if you more or less know your itinerary try considering different airlines that you find on Skyscanner.
Tip 4: Set an alert! I joined 10 different cities with 5 different airlines on my trip.Skyscanner’s Price Alert is a must. And you have to set yourself a price threshold. Once the price goes down to that threshold buy it. The very last leg of my Eurotrip was from Boston to Chicago. I got that 1,000 mile trip for an amazing $53 with Jetblue. Just FYI, at this price I got free snacks, free drinks and free wifi for the entire 150 minutes of my flight!
This article was originally published on Skyscanner.com and is reposted here with permission.
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