It seems the flights to Spain aren't that quick and are usually nonstop. I've been looking at flights for a trip in October and the tickets are expensive and not very convenient in my opinion. I'm looking for suggestions and experiences from others that I may glean some information from you wisdom.
Thanks
Sue
Hi sue (san ramon, ca, usa)
you are in geographically challenged area as far as travel to Europe is concerned.
I would try search buying a direct to Madrid or Barcelona from Toronto or Montreal Canada first.
We have from Chicago direct daily flight to Madrid year round and Barcelona in the summer.
Where do you plan to fly from? What city in Spain? I looked at flying from SFO and I agree that there are no non-stops showing for the dummy date in October that I tried, so you'll probably have to settle for a 1-stop. I do see some not too horrible 1-stop flights that connect in London (LHR) for quite reasonable prices to either Madrid or Barcelona. Also what do you consider expensive? Are your flight days flexible?
There are some really inexpensive non-stops from LAX, so if you could cobble together a quick commuter flight from your airport to LAX you might be able to do it fairly easily for under $800.
The planes go as fast as they can. Teleporting would be nice I know.
Consider us souls in
Australia and New Zealand for whom a flight to Europe is 24 hours and $US 1200.
From SFO you have flights via ...
Paris with Air France
Amsterdam with KLM
Frankfurt & Munich with Lufthansa
Zurich with Swiss Air
London with BA
Dublin with Aer Lingus
Copenhagen with SAS
What airports are you willing to fly from?
What's expensive in your opinion?
Without knowing that we are just making wild guesses
We're flying to Barcelona, Spain from SFO next month on Turkish Air. You're right that it isn't convenient - we leave at 6pm and we chose to arrive in Barcelona at 11pm rather than spend the night in Istanbul and leave there early in the morning. Either way we lose one day. Also, we leave Barcelona at 6am. We've had early departures before but we're still not sure how we'll manage this one. But it was $650 RT each and we decided we'd suffer a bit for that price. I guess you have to see what you can get for what you're willing to pay.
You might want to consider flying out of the Oakland Airport direct to Barcelona on Norwegian Airlines. I believe they fly direct three times per week, here is the link:https://www.norwegian.com/us/.
Thanks everyone. I had thought of flying to London and taking a local flight to Madrid or Barcelona. The flights I have seen are around 1500-2000 pp. I consider that expensive. No direct flights which are annoying so we'll live with 1 stop. I prefer flying through any airport other than Paris. I'm not crazy about having to go through Istanbul. SFO has many nonstop flights just not to Spain. That's why I'm curious if anyone has suggestions.
Anyone know names of airlines out of London to Spain? Thank you.
I think you may be looking too early and the great fates just aren't out yet for your particular city to wherever you're flying in Spain. I would not get worried just yet. To get the best fares you need to be very flexible and be prepared to wait. There is no way that a flight in October should cost $1,500 to $2,000 - that's too much given that October is not even peak season. Either you're looking too early or perhaps your constraints need to be loosed up a bit (that includes time, date, airport, airline, and connections). I would track fares for a few months before getting worried (if you just started looking, then don't get overly worried). I also wouldn't rule out Turkish Air - it's an excellent airline and I've enjoyed the Istanbul layovers. You can make whatever you want of it, but I've made it work for me on several flights.
I use https://matrix.itasoftware.com to track flights. You can see a month out. By resetting the parameters, you can also see what difference minor or major changes make on the price.
You need to specify the city in Spain you want to go to in order to get all the airlines that fly there from London.
Also London has more than one airport with flights that operate internationally.
But probably Iberia (national airline of Spain)
British Airways
Vueling
Easy Jet
Ryanair
all have some kind of direct flight to cities in Spain
Also I second what Brenda
El Dorado Hills, CA
Try Norwegian Air From Oakland to Madrid
I see flight in October $549 roundtrip
If you're thinking of flying to London (or anywhere else in Europe) and then getting a separate flight on a separate ticket to Spain, be aware of all the potential pitfalls. Here's a good summary: https://www.tripadvisor.com/Travel-g41707-c207311/Newton:Massachusetts:Connecting.On.Separate.Tickets.html
And there's one complication that article doesn't mention. Almost all flights from the US to London land at Heathrow; many of the inexpensive flights onward from London to other European destinations use other London airports (counting Heathrow, London has six airports - as least as far as the airlines are concerned). You really need to allow a lot of time to change airports - or else build in a night in London between your flights.
On the other hand, there's nothing wrong with booking connecting flights all on one ticket; this is a true connection.
As to what you'll pay, there's simply no rhyme or reason any more. I just looked at some cities from New York in May 2017. Nonstop flights to Zurich were $369; nonstop flights to Geneva (usually similar price to Zurich) were about $1200, and even one stop flights were about $650 (and some had very long layovers, with total travel times of 30 hours). Why such disparity - who knows?
But, it's very common for cheaper fares to involve some inconvenience - long layovers, very early departures or late arrivals, geographic detours like Istanbul that lengthen the overall flight, etc. You have to decide how much "pain" you're willing to tolerate for a low airfare.
Look at Aer Lingus's website; they have flights from SFO to Dublin to Madrid, connecting in Dublin isn't too hard, and they often have very good fares without overly lengthy layovers.
I love how everyone has great ideas. We travel enough to be savvy and there's always something else to learn. I'll look at Norwegian out of Oakland and other options. Thanks!
Just for info Sue.... a flight from London to Barcelona is not "local"... they are in different countries thus it's an international flight too :))
Believe British airways bought Iberia a few years ago. It still flys as Iberia.
... nope, they merged into something called IAG... still, my statement above remains: the UK and Spain are two different countries, therefore it's an international flight.
Hi Sue - I feel your pain.... I live in Oklahoma (out of Tulsa), we have no convenient way to get to Europe. Always 2 or more segments or at least coming back to US. I am flying over to Paris out of Chicago end of may and return from Madrid via Dulles - Chicago - Tulsa.
Jazz Travels - evidently we are on the wrong airline in Chicago in June this year. My husband had a Tulsa to Chicago to Barcelona to meet up with me in June, but United cancelled the Chicago to Barcelona flight. Now he has to go Tulsa to Chicago to Dulles to Barcelona getting there and same coming back but it will be out of Madrid - Dulles - Chicago - Tulsa.
Life in small Midwestern town!!
Kim
Ha ha Enric. I guess I need to be more specific. Local to Europe is what I meant. They are different countries. I guess it's all perception because it is 800 km from san francisco to san diego in california vs about 1100 km from london to barcelona, 2 different countries. Sometimes we need a reminder.
I realize it's harder from the west coast (we use Newark NJ), but I find 2 segment flights on Lufthansa to be very efficient and comfortable.
I did look at Oakland and it seems the 2 airlines, Norwegian and Turkish look viable. I do like the looks right now to madrid and back. Could be the ticket. LOL
Yeah, Sue, aside the fact that they are different countries (=different sovereignties) distances here in Europe are also measured very differently. In many of the bigger countries 1000 miles can take you from one side of the country to the other... and in smaller territories, you're already somewhere else! My Dutch friends always joke about the Netherlands and recommend to observe the speed limit in the motorway, "so as not to leave the country inadvertently", in Monaco or in San Marino you can almost do that if you walk too fast, and here in Catalonia, those of us living in Barcelona, located right in the middle, can enjoy all sort of landscapes (very high mountains, beautiful golden beaches and picturesque coves, impressive wetlands and also large dense forests) on a "relatively" short drive.... not more than 4 hours tops, depending whether you drive west, north, etc... anytime of the year: sunbathing in the beach in summer, skiing in the slopes in winter, hiking the forests in spring... how cool is that, huh? :))
Check airberlin. Just found flight for days in October around 600. One stop Düsseldorf. That was San Francisco to Barcelona
SFO is also my home airport. The number of places you can get to in Europe on a nonstop is very limited. These days if I can get a flight to Europe for $1200 in shoulder season I think I am doing well. It's surprising how expensive flights are right now. The itineraries that I am looking at now are Krakow to Berlin, and Marseilles to Nice flying out of SFO and there have been closer to $1500 than $1000. You would think Spain, being so heavily touristed, would be economical but my own searches have also showed this not to be so.
Thanks everyone!
There are almost no non-stop flights from DC to Spain either except in the summer. My advice would be to do a one-stop. It's not that bad. Also as tempting as those rock bottom fares are for budget airlines, my advice is to book with one airline the whole way. I can't tell you the amount of times my plane was delayed or couldn't land because airport was so crowded with flights. I've used British Airways to go to Spain twice and haven't really had problems except for the French air traffic strike.
I start with AirMatrix as there are numerous perameters. I am surprised at your costs, as usually flying from Canada costs more than from the US and my flights in late October are around $1200 (Cdn) but were $1020 a week ago Sigh... Air Matrix will put in some airlines you don't find on Expedia or Travelocity. I did some trial flights and actually found I could fly to Granada (2 stops - Toronto and Madrid) for only a few dollars more than terminating in Madrid, and it saved me an in-country flight later on. I changed up the itinerary to suit. Also look at flying into one place and out another to save time and in country travel costs (or backtracking).
(btw - it is faster for me to fly to Madrid that it is to San Antonio, which I did in February. I feel your pain).
You could also look at purposely doing a stop over in say Paris, catch up on some sleep and then take an acceptable flight to 'wherever' in Spain. It pays to be flexible on travel dates and routes to save $$....if it doesn't rob too many extra vacation days.
EDIT: I should mention that AirMatrix allows you to also include airports within a chosen radius from say San Francisco. Does San Jose have an international airport?
