I plan to travel outbound from Seattle to Cluj Romania with plane change in Amsterdam.
On the inbound flight, I would like to stay over in Amsterdam for 5-7 days.
I would like to know how to do this when I book?
I could get 2 separate RT tickets (Sea--Amsterdam and Amsterdam--Cluj Romaina), but this looks a lot more expensive.
Is there a way to do this booking one RT? or some other way for less $$$?
Many Thanks,
CJ
Try "multi city", SEA-Cluj, Cluj-AMS, AMS-SEA.
Yes. Flight booking websites and airlines typically have three choices: Round-trip, One-way and Multi-city or Multiple Destination or similar. Pick the Multi-city/Multiple Destination or equivalent. Start by selecting SEA - AMS departure date and pick the SEA-AMS flight. Then the date and flight AMS to Cluji, and lastly your return.
Ideally using an airline with code share you will be on one ticket.
And given that Cluj is not a top 10 destination you may have to talk to a real person, airline or travel agent.
I'm not sure what you are trying to do. Do you intend to fly SEA to Cluj (via Amsterdam) on the way there, then on the way back you want to fly Cluj to Amsterdam, stay a few days, then go on back to SEA? If so, you will probably need to book it as you suspected, as two RT tickets. I don't believe a multi-city booking will work because they won't allow a stopover of several days in the middle of the return leg.
Nancy understands my question correctly. I want to go from Seattle to Cluj (via Amsterdam) . When I rdturn from Cluj, I want to get off and stay 5 days in Amsterdam before flying from there to Seattle...
2 additional concerns, besides greater cosr if 2 RT tickets, are: When traveling Seattle to Cluj
A) How to aviod having to go through customs twice on the outbound flight...eg when land in Amstdrdam and then again in Cluj.
B) Also the added prolem of getting checked bag sent all way through to Cluj from Seattle...eg can a bag transfer be arranged if 2 RT tickets?
Thanks!
Price the multi-city SEA-Cluj and AMS- SEA and see what a one way Cluj-AMS would be. Maybe too expensive, but then you'd only go though immigration in AMS.
Hi CJ. I think one question that is causing confusion is understanding if/why you say you need 'with plane change in Amsterdam' on the outbound flight. Do you really mean that; i.e. is it critical that you go to and change planes in Amsterdam? If so, how long do you intend to stay? If not, then just look for a 3 leg multi city booking Sea - Cluj, Cluj-Ams, Ams-sea as suggested by in previous answer. Maybe there is some additional info you can provide that will help us better understand your goal. Enjoy your trip.
As other posters have noted, this is simply a multi-destination booking. Just looked it up on Travelocity, plugging in hypothetical dates, and it's showing that the outbound flight goes from Seattle to Amsterdam (with a 50 minute layover), thence to Bucharest, and finally to Cluj. The return flight from Cluj to Amsterdam also connects via Bucharest. Then, after a 5 day delay in Amsterdam the flight to Seattle is a non-stop. Total cost was $1572.
It's a quick turnaround in Amsterdam but doable.
Doing this as two or more separate round trips is really unnecessary. Would likely be much more expensive too.
The issue (as I see it) is that you'll be mixing and matching multiple airlines, and not necessarily code shares, which increases the chance that your checked bags may not arrive the same time you do. The solution would be to travel light on the outbound leg (carry on only) and maybe ship your larger bag ahead to Cluj, thus simplifying your entire ordeal. We've done that before with great success, and have found that the cost of shipping the bag was worth it for the increased mobility, not to mention our peace of mind.
You also should price this as an open-jaw flight Seattle-Cluj and Amsterdam-Seattle, and if this looks good, then separately via the budget airlines, which do have one way prices that are really "one-way" prices, see what the cost is to get from Cluj to Amsterdam, and compare.
As you are only connecting in Schiphol outbound I believe (someone will correct me if this is wrong) there should not be immigration/customs, but you will have both when you enter there on your return.
How critical is it that you pass through Amsterdam outbound? I just did a sample on ita matrix (https://matrix.itasoftware.com/) with a couple Tuesdays in October. For under $1200 you can fly SEATAC to Cluj, just not hubbing in Amsterdam. Skycanner.com shows Cluj to AMS via Bucharest for $198
Robert, how do you book a multi-city ticket with a five day gap in the middle of the return leg?
Hi Nancy, I'm looking at the Travelocity website (assume others are similar). Under "Flights" click on "Multiple destinations". You'll then see a menu presented that allows you to insert whatever airports and dates work for you. Opening up a week or more between your arrival and departure dates is pretty easy - used to do it all the time while traveling on business many years ago. Works for open jaws too, and doing it that way is usually (tho not always) cheaper than splitting the journey into several individual legs. The exception would be if you could find a discount carrier (Easyjet, Ryanair, etc) connecting two airports at a terrific rate, which might make it cheaper to just book the RT flight, as in this case, from Seattle to Amsterdam rather than all the way thru to Cluj, which is what Larry is suggesting above.
True that, Robert. I set this as I did so as to keep the outbound flight as a through-trip on one ticket, and not have to reconnect in Schiphol on the way Cluj. I just did the same trial, but your way, and found that separating this to two round-trips would cost more than above, as KLM is still charging almost the same for just a Seattle-Amsterdam RT, while having the same KLM flight to Cluj on a separate ticket, and with that same 50 minute transfer. It does not cost too much more than doing the open-jaw flight and a Tarom one-way from Cluj to Amsterdam, but it splits that outbound trip into 2 tickets.
You're right, Larry. Your way is better in this case. Does pay to shop around using different routing options. In this case it looks like a saving of over $150 versus the routing I suggested above. That should make him happy.
We don't need to get another long thread here about the problems of a missed tight connection due to different tickets!
Another thread for another day...
Thanks everyone for all the suggestions. You pointed out an important thing--If I do multi-city, I don't have to go via Amsterdam outbound which could open up more possibilities. I will also investigate talking w an agent to see If I do a RT that includes Amsterdam, can I arrange a 5 day stop over? If so, what is the cost?
CJ
cdel, please read through the responses again, and also other info on this and other sites regarding this. You cannot do a round-trip with a second stay-over in the middle of a leg. That makes it a three legged trip. This is booked via multi-city, which does not care how long each layover is. Or, conversely, you can do open-jaw, where your outbound trip ends at one city, and your return flight begins at a different city, with you on your own to make your own arrangement to how you get between those two cities (train, bus, another airline, does not matter).
Note that I already gave a suggested sample ticket (since I don't have any dates) via itamatrix for under $1400 as an open-jaw.
