Travel from Cincinnati area to Eastern/Central Europe

While mergers and alliances have dispersed the perception of airlines being hub-and-spoke focused, that centralization is still very much the reality. There are really very few "gateway" cities in Northamerica that will get one everywhere one wants to go non-stop.

I live just 100 miles from JFK, probably the airport with the most global non-stop destinations from North America. But getting to it is either a royal PIA (car, train, train, subway, Airtrain) for which I have to budget at least 5 hours or drive 2.5-3+ (most European arrivals land just before the miserable afternoon rush in NYC) hours plus astronomical parking rates.

I much prefer the short, calm drive through the woods to tiny Hartford/Bradley, where I always face a connection, sometimes two. Total travel time might be a wash, but the stress level is far lower. Airfares might be a tick higher, but I make that up in significantly cheaper parking. I plan comfortable connection times and relax in the airport with a G&T.

Although I normally try to discourage UK-lovers from pairing London with "The Continent", we found it paired well for a trip to Poland recently. We had other reasons to hit London, which we pass through at least every six or seven years. We have found that two-segment flights on Lufthansa have delivered us well to secondary destinations to begin or end a vacation. I think we did find a direct flight EWR-Warsaw, however.

It's not a direct answer to your question, but we put off Poland for years because it never seemed an "easy" add-on, despite many trips that included Germany, or even Czech Republic. You weren't specific about "Eastern Europe", but we did find that our Berlin-Budapest-Prague-Berlin trip connected pretty well. We did fly to Budapest from Berlin, and from Budapest to Prague.

Sheila, I think that driving to Chicago will continue to be your best option if you want to avoid layovers. The only other airports within a 2 hour drive are Columbus, Indianapolis, Lexington and Frankfort (I'm not counting Dayton) and none of them will offer nonstops to your destinations, as I'm sure you know.

It's a shame. I still remember the days when you could get non-stops to London and other major European cities from CVG. Not any more...

I wish I had a magic solution. I think it comes down to:

• Knowing all your options. Check fares for any discount airlines serving airports within driving distance. You may have to go to their individual websites to do that if they don't show up on the flight website you generally use.

• Exploring fares for the universe of destination airports that might be useful for your trip. On Google Flights, that means setting the destination as "Europe" and zooming in on the map to see whether an interesting option pops up. You can set the maximum number of stops you're willing to make.

• Being as flexible as possible about your itinerary.

• Being as flexible as possible about your travel dates.

• Monitoring fares for your trip over a period of time before buying your ticket unless you are confident you're seeing an unusually good fare. The goal here is to see the range within which your fare moves so you can avoid buying at the top price.

Living in Frankfurt and wanting to visit family in Columbus, Ohio used to be fairly easy when Delta had a hub in Covington. When that went away, it got tough. My solution was Air Canada from Frankfurt to Toronto, then their small commuter plane to Columbus. It was probably the fastest, easiest way to get to Ohio, though I think in the summer, Condor flies to Cleveland. That might be an option for you? Hard to believe that the capital of Ohio has no direct flights to anyplace in Europe.

Hard to believe that the capital of Ohio has no direct flights to anyplace in Europe.

It all comes down to the airlines dedicating equipment that can fly the overseas route and then having the customers who want to fly and pay the price so the route is profitable ... plain and simple economics.

Not sure how "creative" I am being.. But I checked Google Flights for CVG to Eastern Europe, 1 stop. Playing around with dates, I saw Warsaw, Budapest, Bucharest, Vienna, Prague and Dubrovnik all for around $1,100 next June. If you put in 2 stops, you can get almost anywhere in Eastern/Central Europe....

I just experienced similar challenge. I live in Charlotte and have enough miles for a ticket to Europe on American. I want to go to Prague and Poland in May/June but all the AA miles tickets to Prague or Warsaw are funneled thru Heathrow … so come with crazy $600 taxes/fees, plus take about 20 hours. I kept looking and playing around with a variety of options and was stunned to find RT to Frankfurt DIRECT (!!) for 55,000 miles. When I get closer to flight I’ll book a direct ticket FRA to Prague and Warsaw to FRA. This ended up saving me a good amount of flight time and about $350.
I know you’re buying your ticket - driving to Chicago is a good idea if you can get a cheaper flight direct or 1 stop. Another option that I often do, given that European flights out of CLT are insanely priced, even with multiple stops: I book 2 separate tickets- direct CLT to a NYC airport, which I can get for $200. And then usually direct (out of JFK or Newark) to Europe for 1/2 or 1/3 the price a ticket from CLT would cost. I allow 4-5 hours on both sides of flights to protect against delays. It’s a risk but this saves me $1,000 or more per trip and it always saves time, too, so it’s worth it.
Also, like I did, you might check flights from Cincinnati to Frankfurt, and then another ticket (or even train), to your desired destination.

Cincinnati has always been an expensive airport to fly out of because once Delta was the predominant airline. You now have Allegiant budget airlines and most of the major legacy carriers are represented. You can get to other large gateway airports that do fly non-stop to Europe.

But since you have Delta flying to Paris, see if you can take that flight for a reasonable price. CDG airport has a bunch of airlines that can connect you to virtually anywhere you want to go in Europe.

Sheila, we have the same problem flying from Kansas City. No current international flights except to Toronto. Which gives us the one option of flying via Toronto and last time I looked LOT airlines flew nonstop from Toronto to Warsaw. Because Toronto is further north than most US cities, it makes for a slightly shorter flight time to Europe.

all the AA miles tickets to Prague or Warsaw are funneled thru Heathrow

Since AA and BA (and others) are partners in OneWorld, you will see those flights listed since you can use miles on their metal

I kept looking and playing around with a variety of options and was stunned to find RT to Frankfurt DIRECT

CLT to FRA is actually a Non-stop (which in essence is a direct flight) ... but just so you understand the terminology, a Direct flight makes a stop but you don't change planes.

all the AA miles tickets to Prague or Warsaw are funneled thru Heathrow … so come with crazy $600 taxes/fees, plus take about 20 hours.

The trick with AA miles to to avoid BA if you can, especially transatlantic. Keep searching and rearranging to pick up the AA flights without the BA surcharges. There are plenty of AA flights that use Heathrow. If you look at the Middle East or Spain or South America for redemptions you won't have this problem.

but just so you understand the terminology, a Direct flight makes a stop but you don't change planes.

Yes, but this is mostly understood and a losing battle. Also pointing out that Virgin Atlantic lists nonstop flights as being direct in their website results so not a standard term across the English language.

Thanks all. Appreciate the brainstorming!