My son is studying abroad this summer in Belgium and must make his own airplane reservations. I've been checking the fares and it is $400 less to fly into Luxembourg rather than Brussels. Does anyone know anything about this airport? It appears like he would take the USAir flight to Zurich and then take a 1 hour flight to Lux. The flight times are good. How would he best get to Leuwen, a town located just east of Brussels? Thanks, Karen
Posted by
Freedonia
16004 posts
Karen, Luxembourg Airport is a fine airport but not necessarily that busy nor does it have cheap flights. In fact, no discount airline that I know of flies into Luxembourg (they fly to Saarbrucken which is nearby). Luxembroug Airport is three hours from Brussels.
Have you tried using sites such as Kayak.com or Dohop.com to find flights?
Perhaps if you tell us from what airport he's leaving and what dates we can help you.
Posted by
Chicago/Rural WI
811 posts
As for the Luxembourg airport, we've only flown into it once (on Lux Air, which is a fantastic airline), and it is very, very small. The kind of airport where you disembark from stairs off the plane and walk into the airport via the tarmac. I also recall it is situated a bit of a distance from the train station in Lux City. There is a bus to transport your son to the train station, and the info can be found HERE
Good luck!
Posted by
Danville, VT
12040 posts
I assume you meant "Leuven". It's a short train ride from Brussels. One point of emphasis, though. Leuven's station sits on the edge of town. If he has a lot of baggage, he'll probably need another form of transport to reach his lodging, either by taxi, or bus if he can knows Dutch and can figure out which line to take.
Posted by
Danville, VT
12040 posts
Addendum: Looking at the Deutsche Bahn website, it takes about 6 hours by train to go from the Luxembourg City airport to either Brussels or Leuven -it probably takes less than two hours to drive this distance. Add to the six hours the cost of a rail ticket, (versus a neglibley priced rail ticked and quick transfer between Brussels airport and Leuven) and I'll let you decide if it's worthwhile to take the long trek from Luxembourg City.
Posted by
OP
Metairie
23 posts
Thanks to all for your posts! He will be flying from New Orleans(MSY) and begins July 8-August 13, peek season. On itasoftware, the fare to LUX is just over $1000, where Brussels was over $1400. He's fine with going over a little early and taking trains as needed if this saves money, but we want to be reasonable. I have used kayak but will look at the other sites recommended. Your advice is greatly appreciated!
Posted by
Freedonia
16004 posts
When checking your flights, make sure you check which airports will be used (for the cheap fares, I was shown a return to gulfport), the number of changes of plane, the length of the entire trip.
Posted by
OP
Metairie
23 posts
Thanks again to all for your encouraging words!
I'll pass on this flight info into Luxembourg. The bus to the train station looks good. Then he can buy a train pass to the Belgium border and use the 10 pass campus package. It may permit him to travel to Brugges for fun during the off time. We'll have to get him back to Luxembourg to return home.....This could be a hassle but may be OK if he's had 5 weeks to learn about the area and maybe leaves the day before he's scheduled to fly home.
I'm still hoping the fares will go down for the more popular airports.