I am currently looking at plane tickets for a trip this summer for our fifth wedding anniversary. Wow, I can't believe its been that long. I am daydreaming of Amsterdam, Paris, Zagreb and Barcelona, but we'll probably narrow my list of like 40 places down to 2 based on airfares. I'm finding tons of fantastic fares. Some business class seats are less than coach, just because NOBODY searches for them assuming they are thousands of dollars. Well they are usually. But I can get me and hubby to Amsterdam from New York business class on British airways for less than $500 which is pretty amazing. And I can get us to New York on miles. Soooo tempted... I found even better deals through delta which is having 57% many of their European routes right now for economy class, but I really hate flying American owned airlines for more than 12 hours, the service just isn't the same.
One airline I won't be flying is Alitalia. Even though I can get San Francisco to Rome for $89! Long time readers understand my beef with the Italian train system. I have only posted so far about Me vs. Trenitalia and their booking system. The actual trip was even more of a hassle and ended up costing me a chocolate tour of Paris we had booked! Maybe I'll tell that story later. Well here is further proof that nationally owned transportation systems aren't always the most reliable, because honestly, they don't have to make a profit, they are bureaucracies that aren't accountable to share holders. Famous traveler and photographer/journalist Michael Totten has a blog where he posted just 2 weeks ago about his joys with traveling on Alitalia. My jaw was on the floor from nodding so hard. Cheap is good, but do your research, fare compare may get you a good deal, but go to the Flyer Talk forums to get real advice from the road warriors who aren't trying to sell you anything.
3/28/09
Europe Daydreams
