Oktoberfest - good route from California/west coast?

Consider flying Iceland Air and meet up in Seattle, with flights from your various cities on the West Coast using Alaskan Air. The flight from Seattle to Iceland is only 7 hours. From Iceland, you would then fly down to Munich.

First, be sure of your dates. Despite the name, Oktoberfest only ends in early October; it takes place at the end of September.

Second, do you have to fly as a group? It will be much easier if you each make your own flight arrangements, depending on what works best for each person.

Third, where to go to will depend on your interests. Do you want to see other parts of Germany or Switzerland (or some other country) before Oktoberfest in Munich? If so, flying into Zurich or Frankfurt makes sense. Otherwise, fly right to Munich (changing planes if necessary); don't detour to some place that doesn't interest you, but focus on what does interest you.

Fourth, if you do want to meet up and fly from the US as a group, there are nonstop flights to Munich from Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Vancouver (I know - Canada not the US) on Lufthansa. All other flights from the West Coast will involve a connection, either in North America or Europe. However, with one connection, the options are endless. Coming from the West Coast, it's easier and faster to connect in Europe. For instance, Portland to Amsterdam to Munich on KLM, or San Diego to London Heathrow to Munich on British Air. That's why I recommend everyone arranging their own flights; as you see, different routes and airlines are best for each situation to minimize travel time and connections. Those coming from LAX or SFO will have more options than those from other airports; for those with no nonstop service to Europe, they may want to connect in one of those, or else in the Midwest (say, Chicago or Detroit).

Of course, money factors in too. Some will prefer to save money, even if it means more connections (like Ms Jo's suggested route); others will prefer fewer connections even if it costs more. Yet again why I suggest that everyone make their own arrangements, so each person can decide for his/her self.

Flights to Europe involving connections should be booked on one ticket rather than as separate segments, so that if your plane is late causing you to miss the connection, the airline is responsible for putting you on the next available plane at no extra charge. If you're on separate tickets, you're responsible both logistically (you have to figure out what to do without airline assistance) and financially (you have to buy last minute tickets - potentially very expensive). For instance, if someone is flying Sacramento to Seattle to Reykjavik to Munich, make sure to book Sacramento to Munich as one ticket, not in separate pieces.

To find all your flight options, use Kayak: https://www.kayak.com/flights. Then try to book directly with the airline. It's easier to deal with them if anything goes wrong, rather than a third party such as Expedia.

To learn what destinations are served by which airlines from each airport (for instance, if you want to go nonstop to Zurich from the West Coast), look at that airport's Wikipedia page (that's how I learned about service to Munich).

Most important question of all: Have you found and booked accommodation in or around Munich yet?

Your final destination is MUC airport. From various places along the Westcoast you can fly either directly to MUC or to FRA or LHR where you could meet for the last, joint leg to MUC.

The cheapest train connections to Munich are of course German domestic. There are low-cost airlines serving various German airports: FRA, DUS, CGN, BER from the US: http://www.airberlin.com, http://www.condor.com, Wow Air, Iceland Air - you could even take Westjet from Canada to Dublin and Ryanair or Aer Lingus from Dublin to Munich.

Similar story for us, but we have most arrangements made, so maybe something helps for you...

Four of us are going (so far), all from the Midwest, most taking separate flights over, our flights get into Munich within an hour and a half on the Morning of Sep 15. We are doing our first night in Freising near the Airport, then moving to Tegernsee for the weekend, which is also Oktoberfest Opening Weekend. (You may find it easier to trace a train route out of Munich and find a place about a half hour away to look for rooms, unless you are a party all night type person and may not be able to navigate back) We will train in daily, but focus on Munich and the Parades rather than the Fest Grounds (you likely will not get a seat in the tents without reservations on Saturday and Sunday) then plan on hitting a tent or two on Monday (Weekdays, especially mid afternoon are good times to get a seat).

We are then moving on, making 2.5 to 3 weeks out of it, hitting some good beer towns in Bavaria/Franconia, heading to Stuttgart for Volksfest, then winding up in Prague.