Flight Information...from Europe to the Pacific NW (Oregon)

Mostly you have going to have to do your own homework. First, there is no airport that is "known" to be cheapest. It varies a lot. HRow is generally considered expensive while Amsterdam, Frankfurt, Munich are considered more reasonable. However, the drop charge for leaving a car in another country would probably off set any savings. What did you do for your one way tickets earlier? Price the tickets both ways. There is always a slight risk to not using the return portion of a RT ticket. The airlines have the right to charge you for a one way if you don't use the return portion. But have never heard or read about that happening to anyone. Good luck.

When we left the USA, we went from Portland to Philadelphia, as we have family there. Then, we headed up to JFK, as it was cheaper to fly from JFK via Genova, Switzerland to Madrid (one way). We'll have a leased car that will allow us to drop off in any number of locations, so that may not be an issue. I've started to scope it out a bit on skyscanner, to see if one European country was cheaper than another, and it's kind of mixed.

Shari, IcelandAir is offer ing a great price on one-way flights from either Frankfurt or Paris in early August. Under $900. The routing is through to Seattle, and then to Portland on Alaska/Horizon, but the whole flight time is under 16 hours. Condor offered similar prices in June, from Frankfurt, but I don't see that one in August.

Thanks Lola. I'll take a look at that and bookmark it. I found some flights for the $700+ range from Madrid to Portland, but I think it was multiple carriers and like 35 hours.

"Most economical" will have two major variables: departure city and the airline itself. Check IcelandAir out of Paris or Amsterdam when you do your comparisons, they often will beat the major carriers - if you don't mind a stopover or two along the way.

Thanks Tom. That's two for Iceland Air...we don't mind a stop or two, depending on where and how long.

The Iceland air flights all stop in Rekjavik but the stopover is short and the total travel time to Seattle looks good. Some friends of ours are in London now after taking Iceland Air and said it was great. Their departure points on the continent are limited---Paris, Amsterdam, Frankfurt, London, maybe some others but one of them ought to work out for you. They do seem to be one of the few airlines that offers a decent one-way fare. Once you reach Seattle, you have various options for getting to your home in Oregon: the flight to Portland as you originally posted, or even a flight on Horizon to th eRedmond airport, just north of Bend.

If you do choose Iceland Air, just be aware they have pretty strict carry-on requirement, if that matters.

I too have been looking at Icelandic Air for flying from Seattle to Europe as their prices are the lowest I have found for Aug 31 travel. The only downside that I see in that airline is that they use 757's which only have one isle. On a flight as long as it is from Seattle to Europe, only having one isle, with all the competition for that isle space (think many, many flight attendants trips, folks heading for the bathroom, and those trying to get some exercise (like me), that can be a real problem for me. I am sure that one isle is fine with most folks given IA prices. If anyone has flown on IA recently where a 757 was not used, please PM me as I would still like to take them to save some scarce cash.

Thanks for the heads up on the luggage restrictions. We will have a lot of luggage, as you can imagine after living in Spain for nearly a year. What are the restrictions on IA? OK -- any other recommendations?

Iceland Air's baggage rules are here: http://tinyurl.com/43uk65h They allow two 70-lb checked bags per passenger, so I don't think you'll have any problem.

Shari, we fly out of the PDX airport and our choice is to fly Delta to Amsterdam as it is the only nonstop to Europe which is a 10 hr flight. If you choose connecting flights, it greatly increases the time and the possibility of not making connecting flights. Good Luck with your year.

Hi Jane - thanks! I'm from Bend, Oregon. I'll look into your suggestion. We often fly out of PDX versus Redmond, as it's a lot cheaper for us, even with a hotel stay and one-way car rental. Our other logistical issue to work on, once we finish here in Spain is to look into leasing a car for about 5-weeks, to drive around Spain and Europe. We purchased an economical and very small car to use, but we have to sell it before our residency cards expire in May. I may need to create another post to get ideas on long term car rentals!

As Jane said, Delta has a non stop from Amsterdam to PDX. It is nearly always more expensive than a flight that makes a stop on the way home. I prefer it though because of the time (10 hours). Check Delta's baggage limits, it's not that generous unless you're a business class person http://www.delta.com/traveling_checkin/baggage/checked/index.jsp August return is going to be spendy, one way or round trip (and you'll pay in euro or local currency because that's where your flight originates). A quick one way search for August round trip is EUR 1200, with stops. Skyscanner lets you search by month, that's probably your best bet. You might also look into shipping some of your belongings back to the US so you don't have to cart them around for 4-6 weeks, and on the plane home. Though this is likely expensive, if you choose a cheaper, slow method (I think that's all they have in Spain!) you can send your less valuable, less important things back ahead of you.

Also, I just checked Condor's website (hadn't heard of them) - they have flights from Frankfurt to Portland (via Seattle or Las Vegas) for $750-800 one way.