There is a low fare with either Star Alliance or OneWorld from Baltic country airports Riga Latvia RIX, Tallinn Estonia TLL and Vilnius Lithuania VNO starting at around $330 round trip to east coast or $500 round trip to west coast airports.
Oneworld Alliance flyers can ticket FinnAir via Helsinki or Air Baltic and British Airways via London to many USA airports as OneWorld Alliance options.
Star Alliance has matched with Lufthansa/United to various airports around the USA. New York is as low as $335 round trip and San Francisco or Los Angeles are $450 to $550 round trip. This fare is available for ticketing with United Airlines even in July, making for some advanced ticketing options for low fare summer travel to Europe.
Besides being a low fare to the USA for European residents, similar to the strategy I wrote about yesterday flying on cheap tickets from Europe to the USA, this deal allows a U.S. resident to ticket consecutive trips at low fares between Europe and the USA. Start your travel with a one-way ticket on Norwegian, Aeroflot, WOW or Icelandair to get from the USA to Europe or use miles for one way award travel to start.
Cheaper flights to Europe by starting in Europe (March 27, 2016).
American Airlines ticket for FinnAir flights
Riga RIX – Helsinki HEL – New York JFK
$386.16 Tuesday Sep 13 – Tuesday Sep 20
RIX-HEL-JFK-HEL-RIX = 8,709 flight miles or 9,233 miles for AAdvantage elite members with 500-mile minimum for RIX-HEL flight segments.
This Baltics deal was posted on SecretFlying.com yesterday as a Oneworld deal through London. The fare is lower traveling via London and British Airways, however, finding an itinerary that does not require changing airports from LGW and LHR is difficult when traveling through London.
Two advantages to booking this ticket with FinnAir flights is FinnAir economy O booking class earns 100% AAdvantage miles, however only 50% EQM. And bypassing London avoids a change of airport between LHR and LGW.
American Airlines ticket for FinnAir flights
Riga RIX – Helsinki HEL – New York JFK – San Francisco SFO
$520.46. Tuesday Sep 13 – Tuesday Sep 20
RIX-HEL-JFK-SFO-JFK-HEL-RIX = 13,881 flight miles or 14,405 EQM for AAdvantage elites. This ticket is better than the RIX-JFK ticket since all FinnAir flights post as AA codeshare flights for 100% EQM.
Star Alliance deals for July travel to USA from Vilnius VNO
I will be in Vilnius, Lithuania for my first ever visit for one week in April. I’ll post on the ground insights on Loyalty Traveler.
One of the deals I see from Vilnius is the ability to ticket Star Alliance flights to California for around $550 round trip, even in July. This makes for a good opportunity to travel to Europe in the spring and start a VNO-USA round trip returning to Europe in peak season July. Then, fly a second ticket from Vilnius to USA in July and return at some later date.
The problem with United.com tickets is the difficulty finding flights without Lufthansa K class, a no miles earning fare for Mileage Plus. You can earn 25% flight miles with Mile & More or SAS on LH Economy K flights or take the 5 miles/$1 standard earn rate for Mileage Plus.
United Airlines ticket flying Lufthansa, United and Brussels Airlines
Vilnius VNO – Frankfurt FRA – Seattle SEA – San Francisco SFO – Washington Dulles IAD – Brussels BRU – Vilnius VNO
$572.26 Sunday May 22 – Saturday July 2
The deal is you can return to the USA on a different ticket departing from a different Baltic airport or Scandinavian airport or another airport in Europe where there is a low fare date in July and return to Europe at some later date.
United Airlines ticket flying Air Canada, SAS and United
Oslo, Norway OSL – London LHR – Vancouver YVR – San Francisco SFO – London LHR – Oslo OSL
4,222 NOK = $497.32 USD Tue July 12 – Tue Sep 6
This is a way to ticket two trips to Europe now with a July summer trip included for about the same price that United is charging for one San Francisco to Europe July 2016 round trip ticket.
Norwegian flies between Oslo and Vilnius for low cost one way flights in May and September.
For a California based resident, Norwegian has flights under $300 one way in April and early May from LAX and OAK or use a frequent flyer award to begin travel. Unfortunately, it is getting too close to summer travel season and most really low fare dates in April and May on Norwegian for LAX, LAS and OAK departures are gone at this time. Getting a Norwegian low one-way fare back to the USA from Europe is easy in September.
Norwegian Airlines fares are as low as $278 for Oslo to Oakland in September.
This fare from Baltic countries to USA is another example of how USA resident frequent travelers to Europe can find huge airfare discounts by ticketing flights starting from Europe to the USA.
Use a low cost carrier for one way tickets or use miles to get to Europe and start cheaper ticketing. The more flights you string together at low fares for Europe-USA travel, the less your average cost of flights, after adding in the expense of getting to Europe to start and getting back to the USA after your last Europe-USA round trip ticket drops you off in some foreign land.
Loyalty Traveler – United Airlines nested tickets strategy for cheaper USA to Europe summer travel (March 25) ticketing strategy for when you want two trips to Europe in a short period.
Loyalty Traveler – Cheaper flights to Europe by starting in Europe (March 27) ticketing strategy for discount trip when you want more than two trips to Europe in a year.
Loyalty Traveler curated Airfare Deals and Google Flights and Kayak Explore tutorials.
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