Friday, August 14, 2015

[DEAL GONE] Grand Rapids (GRR) to Europe $660 or less round trip August thru December

UPDATE 8/21/2015:  This deal has expired.  Great airfare deals last a matter of days, hours, or minutes.

Some better-than-normal prices have been posted recently from American and Delta, and their alliance partner airlines.

Some travel websites are reporting that the deals are showing up for various large U.S. cities to several different big European cities.

Europe destinations with cheap 1-stop flights from Grand Rapids include:
  • Madrid
  • Brussels
  • Zurich
  • Amsterdam
  • Rome
  • Barcelona

Background articles:

What I discovered is that the same low pricing is displaying for flights from Grand Rapids to Europe!  GR has non-stop flights to Chicago (ORD) and Philadelphia (PHL), among others, starting the flight in GR is not adding to the price.  Many of these flights are only 1-stop each way.  One-stop flights to Europe for $650 round trip is a really good deal, especially in Aug/Sept, as summer airfares to Europe are usually much more expensive than winter fares.

Use Google Flights to search for the cheap airfares.  It is easy to plug in different airports and browse the calendar 2 months at a time to find the cheapest fares.

Sample itineraries: (all of these show 4+ seats available)

Thursday, January 29, 2015

Chicago to Dublin 13k Avios each way

Sweet spot on new British Airways award chart - ORD>DUB 13k Avios in Economy

UPDATE:  Apparently, off-peak is valid for BA metal only.  So ORD>DUB on Aer Lingus for 13k Avios each way probably isn't possible, UNLESS something changes as part of BA's recently announced acquisition of Aer Lingus.  *Fingers crossed*

The upcoming changes to the BA and Iberia award charts have been getting a lot of buzz the past couple days.

One aspect NOT getting any buzz is the zone 5 off-peak rate of 13,000 Avios each way on the new BA award chart.

Zone 5 is 3,001-4,000 miles.  Flights such as Chicago O'Hare (ORD) to Dublin (DUB) fall into this category.  (ORD>DUB is 3,673 miles per www.gcmap.com)

Current award chart zone 5 is 20,000 Avios (one way; Avios prices by segment so round-trip Avios pricing is a misnomer).

New award chart zone 5 is 20,000 Avios peak, 13,000 Avios off-peak.

Transfer Amex Membership Reward points to BA Avios by 1/31 to earn 40% transfer bonus.  Then book zone 5 economy flights after 4/28/2015 to get one-way to Europe for fewer than 10,000 Amex MR points!