More Airline Travel Updates

After lots of research, it looks like AirFrance or Delta are really the only airlines I can fly from Texas to Europe with Seymour. AirFrance teams with Delta for the USA portion of the flight and Delta allows pets in the cabin. Delta limits the number of pets in cabin to 4 for overseas flights and charges the same as AirFrance - $200 each way. It makes me realize what a smoker goes through. If you have a habit, you will be charged big time for it! Two hundred dollars to put my dog in a carrier under the seat seems excessive, but we are stuck with it if we want to keep our pets with us.

My next problem was trying to figure out the cheapest days to fly. One day difference can cost you an extra $1000. Since my dates are flexible, I found that Continental is a great place to put in your travel destination and the length of your trip and you can bring up a calendar that shows you the cheapest days to travel. After you look at Continentals site (sorry, they don't allow animals onboard for overseas flights) you can go to the airline that does allow animals and put in those same dates. I found that they are pretty much the same for all airlines. Doing that, I cut the cost of the flight on AirFrance from about $2500 to about $1250 (not including Seymour). You have to remember that they have limited seats for the lower prices so booking early is critical.

But the tricky part is that I have to first book my flight and then call the agent and give them my booking number. They will check to see if there is room for a pet. They have 24 hours to get back to you - and you have 24 hours to cancel your flight (from the time you booked it) without a penalty, so timing is everything. I haven't booked the flight yet since I won't be going until late summer and I have a few more things to figure out, but I know I will need to do it soon.

I am now leaning toward going to Italy - and when I checked flights, it was actually cheaper to go to Rome than to Paris - even though to get to Rome you have to stop in Paris! I know airlines frown on it, but why wouldn't one just book a flight to Rome even if they were going to Paris and as long as they just had carry on bags, get off and save money. I'm not advocating it, but it makes sense to me.