Thread: European Vacation*

Originally Posted by FOMTS

*I think that title has been taken ...

We're planning a nonrev adventure to north central Austria in mid-April. Our destination is about one hour north of Linz by car. What is the best way to get there?

Hubs to use/avoid?
Delta partners to use?
Is it nonrev on the OALs? Or ZED? Or Discounted fare?
Can we get train discounts?
What is "schnitzel" anyway?

We've done well stateside with nonrev so far, but we've only flown on Delta. Their routes get a little thin once you hit AMS and CDG (on the spaghetti map). Any advice would be most welcome. Thank you.

Hubs to use/avoid:
Use these in this order where possible: the ones used by your airline with seats, the ones used by an alliance carrier with seats (eg, DL employees generally get better rates on AF or KL, UA gets better rates on LH/SN, AA gets better rates on BA/IB since they're all in Skyteam/Star/OneWorld), and the ones used by any other airline with seats. Although, I've heard PIT and CVG have CDG flights on DL that tend to have seats. I think they have RDU-LHR as well, unless that was AA.

Avoid (again, in order) Airports with full flights, LHR (if possible. They have high departure taxes.) ... really, I would recommend anything with space, depending on what that may be. With that said, things change quickly, so beware! Strikes happen, for example, and passengers have to be rebooked somewhere. There are a LOT of people travelling in and out of Europe around that time, so expect long standby lists in advance.

OAL = Other Airline
ZED = Zonal Employee Discount (a standardized discounted fare for flying on OAL). Technically it's classified as nonrev still, even if you're paying a small amount. Also still standby, generally bottom of the list.

Train discounts for airline employees is something I haven't heard of, at least abroad. But I could be wrong.

You know chicken fried steak? Schnitzel is similar, but pork and with German flavors.