The World's #1 Russian, Ukrainian & Eastern European Discussion & Information Forum - RUA!

This Is the Premier Discussion Forum on the Net for Information and Discussion about Russia, Ukraine, Eastern Europe and the Former Soviet Union. Discuss Culture, Politics, Travelling, Language, International Relationships and More. Chat with Travellers, Locals, Residents and Expats. Ask and Answer Questions about Travel, Culture, Relationships, Applying for Visas, Translators, Interpreters, and More. Give Advice, Read Trip Reports, Share Experiences and Make Friends.

Author Topic: Airfare - Summer 2010  (Read 25763 times)

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

Offline shakespear

  • Supporting Member
  • Member
  • *
  • Posts: 8136
  • Country: us
  • Gender: Male
  • Status: Just Looking
  • Trips: 20+
Airfare - Summer 2010
« on: May 11, 2010, 09:17:09 PM »
Anybody having any luck finding reasonable airfares for July/August travel to Moscow from midwest points of origin?  My initial search indicates that fares this summer are the highest they've been in over 10 years.

Has anybody found anything under $1000 RT?
"If you obey all the rules, you miss all the fun" - Katharine Hepburn

Offline RG

  • Member
  • *
  • Posts: 2416
  • Country: us
  • Gender: Male
  • Spouses Country: Now the US
  • Status: Married
Re: Airfare - Summer 2010
« Reply #1 on: May 11, 2010, 09:39:43 PM »
I'm not going to Moscow, but am seeing ~$1500 to Belarus, which is anywhere from a 35-50% jump.  I can drop it down a bit with playing with routes and carriers, but without going through Russia en route and taking over 24 hours, it's none too inexpensive.

Offline Wild Orchid

  • Member
  • *
  • Posts: 3682
  • Country: au
  • Gender: Female
Re: Airfare - Summer 2010
« Reply #2 on: May 11, 2010, 10:30:48 PM »
our airfares are all above $2500  :D Lucky I don't go anywhere this year except to Melbourne twice


Offline JohnnyBGoode

  • Member
  • Posts: 29
  • Gender: Male
Re: Airfare - Summer 2010
« Reply #3 on: May 12, 2010, 01:04:40 AM »
I noticed this too...I was hoping for a return trip back here to SPb in July but don't want to pay $2000. I might have to wait until the fall.

Offline skiingandrunning

  • Meмber
  • Member
  • *
  • Posts: 829
  • Gender: Male
Re: Airfare - Summer 2010
« Reply #4 on: May 12, 2010, 07:58:19 AM »
A lot of capacity has been cut in the last year between N. America and Russia (Delta cut their Atlanta flight and American pulled out of the market) so now that business is picking up again they can jack up the prices.

I'm leaving on May 27th (STL - SVO) and the best I could find was $999 (if I would have left a few days earlier it would have been around $900 (but I'm in agreement, I'm missing the cheaper fares we had the last few years).

Offline ECR844

  • Member
  • *
  • Posts: 7142
  • Country: us
  • Gender: Male
  • Searching for the word I will become
  • Status: Married
  • Trips: Resident
Re: Airfare - Summer 2010
« Reply #5 on: May 12, 2010, 08:01:00 AM »
If someone was looking for a trip during the height of high season they should have bought in Jan or Feb and perhaps sooner. I got tickets for $564.00 incl taxes in Feb.

Offline AnfieldRiot

  • Member
  • *
  • Posts: 676
  • Country: us
  • Gender: Male
  • Spouses Country: Russia
  • Status: Engaged
  • Trips: 10-20
Re: Airfare - Summer 2010
« Reply #6 on: May 12, 2010, 08:04:16 AM »
Anybody having any luck finding reasonable airfares for July/August travel to Moscow from midwest points of origin?  My initial search indicates that fares this summer are the highest they've been in over 10 years.

Has anybody found anything under $1000 RT?

 Most deals will be found using a Sat. stay over.  Singapore Air out of Houston is the best deal I've found for this month and next. Finding 989 r/t all in

Offline Olga_Mouse

  • Member
  • *
  • Posts: 3384
  • Country: ru
  • Gender: Female
  • Trips: Resident
Re: Airfare - Summer 2010
« Reply #7 on: May 12, 2010, 09:36:59 AM »

I'm not going to Moscow, but am seeing ~$1500 to Belarus, which is anywhere from a 35-50% jump. 




If someone was looking for a trip during the height of high season they should have bought in Jan or Feb and perhaps sooner. I got tickets for $564.00 incl taxes in Feb.


 :nod:  :nod: :THUB:
Leaving Russia is not an emigration, rather an evacuation.

Offline shakespear

  • Supporting Member
  • Member
  • *
  • Posts: 8136
  • Country: us
  • Gender: Male
  • Status: Just Looking
  • Trips: 20+
Re: Airfare - Summer 2010
« Reply #8 on: May 12, 2010, 09:42:07 AM »
I just heard from a travel agent that I trust that most of the major carriers RAISED their fares in order to try to recover money from the Iceland volcano travel halt.  The airlines lost billions in that natural disaster and hope to recover some of the loss.  But sales have been very disappointing after the fare hikes and she says the 'rumor in the industry" is that most major airlines will be rolling back their previously announced fare increases in the next 7-10 days.
"If you obey all the rules, you miss all the fun" - Katharine Hepburn

Offline ECR844

  • Member
  • *
  • Posts: 7142
  • Country: us
  • Gender: Male
  • Searching for the word I will become
  • Status: Married
  • Trips: Resident
Re: Airfare - Summer 2010
« Reply #9 on: May 12, 2010, 09:42:56 AM »
Anybody having any luck finding reasonable airfares for July/August travel to Moscow from midwest points of origin?  My initial search indicates that fares this summer are the highest they've been in over 10 years.

Has anybody found anything under $1000 RT?

 Most deals will be found using a Sat. stay over.  Singapore Air out of Houston is the best deal I've found for this month and next. Finding 989 r/t all in

"Anfield" part of what's taking "shakespear' over the grand is that he would need to take a domestic flight to IAH, ORD, JFK, ATL, IAD, or LAX. so he maybe finding lower fares but also taking a hit on the domestic legs he would need to coonect to the 'hubs'.

Offline shakespear

  • Supporting Member
  • Member
  • *
  • Posts: 8136
  • Country: us
  • Gender: Male
  • Status: Just Looking
  • Trips: 20+
Re: Airfare - Summer 2010
« Reply #10 on: May 12, 2010, 09:44:28 AM »
If someone was looking for a trip during the height of high season they should have bought in Jan or Feb and perhaps sooner. I got tickets for $564.00 incl taxes in Feb.

Just curious, what is your city of departure and when are you travelling?  Who is the carrier?
"If you obey all the rules, you miss all the fun" - Katharine Hepburn

Offline shakespear

  • Supporting Member
  • Member
  • *
  • Posts: 8136
  • Country: us
  • Gender: Male
  • Status: Just Looking
  • Trips: 20+
Re: Airfare - Summer 2010
« Reply #11 on: May 12, 2010, 09:50:47 AM »
"Anfield" part of what's taking "shakespear' over the grand is that he would need to take a domestic flight to IAH, ORD, JFK, ATL, IAD, or LAX. so he maybe finding lower fares but also taking a hit on the domestic legs he would need to connect to the 'hubs'.

Fares from DAY, CMH or CVG were running between $1600-$1850 just to Moscow including all taxes.

Aeroflot was the cheapest from JFK to VOG at $1200.  I was hoping I could find a separate ticket from DAY, CMH or CVG for less than $400 and come out about $200 ahead on the whole transaction.

"If you obey all the rules, you miss all the fun" - Katharine Hepburn

Offline AnfieldRiot

  • Member
  • *
  • Posts: 676
  • Country: us
  • Gender: Male
  • Spouses Country: Russia
  • Status: Engaged
  • Trips: 10-20
Re: Airfare - Summer 2010
« Reply #12 on: May 12, 2010, 09:56:47 AM »
"Anfield" part of what's taking "shakespear' over the grand is that he would need to take a domestic flight to IAH, ORD, JFK, ATL, IAD, or LAX. so he maybe finding lower fares but also taking a hit on the domestic legs he would need to connect to the 'hubs'.

Fares from DAY, CMH or CVG were running between $1600-$1850 just to Moscow including all taxes.

Aeroflot was the cheapest from JFK to VOG at $1200.  I was hoping I could find a separate ticket from DAY, CMH or CVG for less than $400 and come out about $200 ahead on the whole transaction.



   Try playing around with this software, it will get you deals that you normally can't grab through each carrier's website. http://matrix.itasoftware.com/cvg/dispatch

   As to my deal I found it was PBI to Houston to Moscow for under a grand.

   For what it's worth you may want to try looking for cheaper deals by flying into Frankfurt or Munich and then grabbing a Euro carrier over.  CO and DL have good deals to Europe at the moment but as we all know the volcano actvity puts you at risk if you go into central europe instead of flying far north right in Moscow.

   Good luck with your search

Offline ECR844

  • Member
  • *
  • Posts: 7142
  • Country: us
  • Gender: Male
  • Searching for the word I will become
  • Status: Married
  • Trips: Resident
Re: Airfare - Summer 2010
« Reply #13 on: May 12, 2010, 10:05:45 AM »
If someone was looking for a trip during the height of high season they should have bought in Jan or Feb and perhaps sooner. I got tickets for $564.00 incl taxes in Feb.

Just curious, what is your city of departure and when are you travelling?  Who is the carrier?

Shakey,

My itinerary is <Aeroflot> JFK-->SVO-->onward elsewhere in the FSU. This portion I got for 564.00 RT all in. I got a flight from BOS--->JFK domestic RT for $100.00 all in. When all is said and done I made out far below where they are pricing now including what I spent to get my visa.

Offline ECR844

  • Member
  • *
  • Posts: 7142
  • Country: us
  • Gender: Male
  • Searching for the word I will become
  • Status: Married
  • Trips: Resident
Re: Airfare - Summer 2010
« Reply #14 on: May 12, 2010, 10:42:57 AM »
**Perhaps the mods would consider making a conglomeration thread of various useful links folks can use when searching for deals on travel in this section? It seems we have a bunch of threads scattered throughout the forum and archives. we don't however have a single easy to find one

http://ruadventures.com/forum/index.php?topic=7418.0
http://ruadventures.com/forum/index.php?topic=3406.0
http://ruadventures.com/forum/index.php?topic=4947.0
http://ruadventures.com/forum/index.php?topic=104.0
http://ruadventures.com/forum/index.php?topic=8818.0
http://ruadventures.com/forum/index.php?topic=1046.msg11506#msg11506
http://ruadventures.com/forum/index.php?topic=6440.0
http://ruadventures.com/forum/index.php?topic=6168.0
http://ruadventures.com/forum/index.php?topic=150.0
http://ruadventures.com/forum/index.php?topic=6725.0**



"Shakespear,"

Here's a partial list of some of the less common travel search sites I use when looking for good deals. Unfortunately there isn't a single great site which consistently beats out all the others so one is left searching through a whole bunch as part of due dilligence to find the best deal.

 I really like ITA's matrix tool (when you click the link choose log on as a guest)as it gives me an idea of fare prices for the whole month and gives me the info I need as far as routing and fare codes to be able to call the airline or TA and occasionally even get a better price. This is also the tool 'Anfield' mentioned earlier above.


 My advice is just 'pound the pavement' and get the best deal you can. Here some of the more rare ones. Another great trick is to occasionally try the expedia for france and the UK as they tend of have a number of low and mistake fares where you can get phenomenal deals.

http://matrix.itasoftware.com/cvg/dispatch/prego;jsessionid=E6C0F90967680FBDF740A262DE9B3902
http://www.airfare.com/?adnetwork=af
http://www.airfareplanet.com/
http://www.lessno.com/default.aspx
http://www.skyauction.com/
http://www.farecompare.com/search/flyertalk.html?departure=BOS&fares=Both&carrierFilter=CheapestFarePerCarrierMarket&filter=ALL&ppm=9999&savings=99999&distance=0&sortby=price&p=1
http://www.airfareplanet.com/
http://www.sidestep.com/
http://www.economytravel.com/cj.html
http://www.bookingwiz.com/air.asp?process=new_search
http://www.airfarenow.com/engines/glavs/engine.php
http://www.mobissimo.com/search_airfare.php
http://www.cfares.com/showresults.cfr#
http://www.airlineconsolidator.com/
http://www.onetravel.com/Default.aspx?tabid=3624
http://www.cheapoair.com/
https://www.farebuzz.com/affiliates/Default.aspx?tabid=3303
http://www.militaryfares.com/
http://www.skyscanner.com/
http://www.dohop.com/
http://us.lastminute.com/index.html
http://travel.yahoo.com/
http://www.travelocity.com/dealsonamap
http://www.bing.com/travel/flight/flexibleTravel?tvl_t=graph
http://travel.travelocity.com/relevance/LowFareAlert.do
 

Offline RG

  • Member
  • *
  • Posts: 2416
  • Country: us
  • Gender: Male
  • Spouses Country: Now the US
  • Status: Married
Re: Airfare - Summer 2010
« Reply #15 on: May 12, 2010, 11:14:46 AM »
@Staff - I agree fully with ECRs suggestion.  I did pick up scattered links throughout RUA, but had never seen some of those Eric just posted until he was kind enough to send them my way previously. 

I don't know if maybe it's a single sticky thread, with links updated in the first post on occasion, and discussion within the thread itself, or some other format, but I think it's certainly worthwhile to try to update and maintain a single location for all of the various airfare sites and possibilities.

Offline shakespear

  • Supporting Member
  • Member
  • *
  • Posts: 8136
  • Country: us
  • Gender: Male
  • Status: Just Looking
  • Trips: 20+
Re: Airfare - Summer 2010
« Reply #16 on: May 12, 2010, 11:22:18 AM »
My itinerary is <Aeroflot> JFK-->SVO-->onward elsewhere in the FSU. This portion I got for 564.00 RT all in. I got a flight from BOS--->JFK domestic RT for $100.00 all in. When all is said and done I made out far below where they are pricing now including what I spent to get my visa. 

When are you departing?  First half or last half of what month?
"If you obey all the rules, you miss all the fun" - Katharine Hepburn

Offline ECR844

  • Member
  • *
  • Posts: 7142
  • Country: us
  • Gender: Male
  • Searching for the word I will become
  • Status: Married
  • Trips: Resident
Re: Airfare - Summer 2010
« Reply #17 on: May 12, 2010, 11:24:44 AM »
Thanks, "RG," :8) tiphat

"Shakey I wish you would have posted sooner as on May 10th Jet Blue ran a one day sale where all their routes were selling seats for $10.00! Bet that would have been helpful, eh?!

http://boardingarea.com/blogs/thewanderingaramean/2010/05/all-seats-all-flights-10-on-jetblue/
http://www.jetblue.com/deals/ten-years/?source=tznf (Link dead because the promotion is gone, perhaps you find it cached somewhere)

Offline shakespear

  • Supporting Member
  • Member
  • *
  • Posts: 8136
  • Country: us
  • Gender: Male
  • Status: Just Looking
  • Trips: 20+
Re: Airfare - Summer 2010
« Reply #18 on: May 12, 2010, 11:46:08 AM »
When are you departing?  First half or last half of what month?

The reason I'm asking is because such a price for RT JFK-SVO departures before June 5th are good but not exceptional.  Such a price for departures between June 6th and August 31 would be, without question exceptional.
"If you obey all the rules, you miss all the fun" - Katharine Hepburn

Offline ECR844

  • Member
  • *
  • Posts: 7142
  • Country: us
  • Gender: Male
  • Searching for the word I will become
  • Status: Married
  • Trips: Resident
Re: Airfare - Summer 2010
« Reply #19 on: May 12, 2010, 11:47:59 AM »
When are you departing?  First half or last half of what month?

The reason I'm asking is because such a price for RT JFK-SVO departures before June 5th are good but not exceptional.  Such a price for departures between June 6th and August 31 would be, without question exceptional.

No offense "Shakespear," but it's a question I'd rather not answer at this time.

Offline TwoBitBandit

  • Member
  • Posts: 274
  • Country: us
Re: Airfare - Summer 2010
« Reply #20 on: May 12, 2010, 11:48:02 AM »
Here's a partial list of some of the less common travel search sites I use when looking for good deals....

There's a couple of sites I use that weren't on that list.

This one is quirky and usually inferior to the others.  The reason I sometimes use it is that it covers a lot of the obscure carriers in the FSU.  If you're trying to figure out how to get from Nizhny Novgorod to Yakutsk, this engine will probably find you the best deal.
http://www.gotorussia.com/tickets.php3

I sometimes use the biggest of them all:
http://www.orbitz.com

Offline ECR844

  • Member
  • *
  • Posts: 7142
  • Country: us
  • Gender: Male
  • Searching for the word I will become
  • Status: Married
  • Trips: Resident
Re: Airfare - Summer 2010
« Reply #21 on: May 12, 2010, 12:14:23 PM »
For the folks from here who often connect through Moscow to other destinations in RU and elsewhere. Here's a newer airline that offers great flights cheap....

 http://www.avianova.com/index.wbp <Link in english>

For example one can get a flight from SVO to Volgograd for 500R, RT  :) :) HINT, HINT :) :)
From the end of June to July....

Offline ECR844

  • Member
  • *
  • Posts: 7142
  • Country: us
  • Gender: Male
  • Searching for the word I will become
  • Status: Married
  • Trips: Resident
Re: Airfare - Summer 2010
« Reply #22 on: May 12, 2010, 12:28:31 PM »
Here's a russian consolodator link that also has an english interface where you or your lady can also search for great deals to all sorts of destinations <prices in roubles>:

http://www.pososhok.ru/partner/english/home.html;jsessionid=457103AE51A406BFF651C8A4E01D8CDE.tomcat1

 :plane: :reading: :biggrin: :popcorn:

Offline shakespear

  • Supporting Member
  • Member
  • *
  • Posts: 8136
  • Country: us
  • Gender: Male
  • Status: Just Looking
  • Trips: 20+
Re: Airfare - Summer 2010
« Reply #23 on: May 12, 2010, 12:59:34 PM »
For the folks form here who often connect through Moscow to other destinations in RU and elsewhere. Here's a newer airline that offers great flights cheap....

 http://www.avianova.com/index.wbp <Link in english>

For example one can get a flight from SVO to Volgograd for 500R, RT  :) :) HINT, HINT :) :)
From the end of June to July....

Great link but doesn't fly on weekends.  I'm not too sure I'd get on a RUSSIAN airplane that only charges $10 each way for a 600 mile flight.  Can't be spending too much on airplane maintenance.
"If you obey all the rules, you miss all the fun" - Katharine Hepburn

Offline ECR844

  • Member
  • *
  • Posts: 7142
  • Country: us
  • Gender: Male
  • Searching for the word I will become
  • Status: Married
  • Trips: Resident
Re: Airfare - Summer 2010
« Reply #24 on: May 12, 2010, 01:02:02 PM »
Shakey,

Looks like they are flying newer airbuses

http://www.avianova.com/about/aircrafts/index.wbp

Our Fleet
Airbus A320

    * Airbus A320
    * Capacity: 180 passengers
    * Flying speed: 900 km/h
    * Non-stop flying distance: 4,900 km


What's scary about that???