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Another flight conundrum

Posted by (Seattle, WA, USA) on

High school Graduation gift trip for granddaughter to visit Venice, IT and Lisbon, PT with me and then she will connect with mother on Madeira, PT. Dates are: leaving Seattle on June 26 for Milan, take train to Venice, Spend 5-6 nights Venice with day trips, then fly to Lisbon spend 2-3 nights, then granddaughter will fly from Lisbon to Madeira to meet up with mom on July 4 and stay until July 11, then they will fly home to Seattle from Madeira. Mom’s flights are booked round trip Seattle/Madeira 7/4-11. I am continuing on the rest of my trip through Portugal and the UK. We would like mom and granddaughter to fly home to Seattle together.

I’ve searched on Google a multicity trip SEA-MXP and LIS-FUN and then a one way from Funchal>SEA for the same United flight as mom and I’m coming up with $1844 total. We will book the Milan to Lisbon flight separately using a low fare airline. I have also searched United airlines separately for a multicity and it’s coming up even more expensive.

There is a LOT at play here. Granddaughter wants to meet up with me for the Venice trip, mom has a small window for being away from work, and I would like to show granddaughter Lisbon before I continue on my further trip into Portugal and then the UK. All during summer - high season. GD starts college in September and at this point in time, is not sure which college she will attend. She’s been accepted to 3-4 colleges already (all on the West coast). So, you see my difficulty. Do you think I am researching these airfares correctly? Is there a better deal out there? I know, million dollar question.

Thanks for any advice and wisdom you might have.

Posted by
6230 posts

I'm trying to pinpoint exactly what you are asking. It seems that there are a series of flights for your granddaughter that you are trying to configure?

Seattle to Milan. Venice to Lisbon. Lisbon to Funchal. Funchal to Seattle. Is that correct? Wouldn't it be easiest to book a multicity ticket for the flights to and from Seattle? Then book low cost one way tickets for the 2 intra European flights?

Posted by
6418 posts

In your first sentence, what is "PT". Sorry if it's obvious and I'm missing it.

Posted by
1999 posts

It seems you are locked into a specific flight from Funchal to Seattle, and since that's the last leg, I don't know of any flight search engines that will allow you to pick the last leg first.

I would recommend searching United for LIS-FUN and FUN-SEA. And then you can use your favorite flight search engine to look for one way SEA-MXP. That might end up being cheaper than trying to book them all as a single ticket.

I'm not sure what the "a LOT at play here" is or how your granddaugher's college choices add to your difficulty.

Oh, and I got that PT is Portugal.

Posted by
6121 posts

This is what I would try for granddaughter
1) Multicity SEA - MXP / FNC - SEA (you could also try SEA to VCE / FNC to SEA). If you want her to be on mom’s United flight, I’d just search on United’s website.

2) One-way Venice to Lisbon (TAP flies this route)
3) One way Lisbon to Funchal (TAP, Easyjet, and Ryanair fly this route)

Posted by
1491 posts

Thank you all so much. I was making it more complicated than it was. And, I don’t really know why I mentioned the college business. Think I was going bonkers after spending several hours looking at multi city searches.

I think we have settled on a total cost of $1680 for multi-city.(Seattle-Venice and Madeira-Seattle) with separate one way inter-European flights.

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