ljturco

Hello kind people,

You have been so helpful in the past, I am hoping that I can benefit from crowdsourcing my current problem.

My husband and I are going to Turkey and Greece in May/June, starting in Capedoccia and ending in Santorini. I bought our tickets to Istanbul "on sale" ($700) on Turkish Airlines. Now, we cannot seem to find reasonable flights home from Santorini or Athens. We live in Raleigh, North Carolina and there are direct flights from Athens to many of our East Coast hubs (JFK, Atlanta, Boston) but all of my searches are showing $1,400 minimum per ticket! One way!

I know other people out there talk about flying home from Santorini to Boston or New York via Zurich or elsewhere in Europe but everything I find wants to route us back through Athens and then the $1,400 to get home....

I have been checking flight prices for 8 months and they have not come down. I'm not sure what to do. Although it would be lovely to get stuck in Santorini, I'm don't think we could afford to live there for long

Any fare-finding tips out there? We travel internationally every year and I know that prices have gone way up, but this is ridiculous.

Thank you!!!
ljturco

J62

maybe this is a sign to stay there….

using google flights i see numerous options from Santorini to JFK or EWR for around $500.

and JFK or EWR to RDU for $100.

Putting them together seems to bump the price to $1400.

Other experts can give you advice how to get something closer to a $600 -700 total on one ticket - perhaps through an OAT like expedia

janisj

More re J62's post . . . If it was me faced with sort of problem, I'd just look for the cheapest fare from Athens to ANYWHERE on the east coast/southeast or maybe even the midwest/DFW/ORD etc. And then book a cheap short haul domestic flight to RDU. (or even conceivably - into CLT and renting a car to drive the 2+ hours to Raleigh)

KarenWoo

J62, I think that ljturco is saying the prices she is seeing are $1400 per person. If I am right, then what you found is a good deal. What you found is $600 per person, so $1200 for 2 people.

J62

Yes, $600pp sounds like a good deal. I did not try to fully go through the booking process tho... I've noticed in the past that fares that may show up on a search engine cannot be booked through reliable sources - hopefully others like gardy or others who know the ins and outs of booking systems will chime in.

I agree janisj, that's what I would do...Get to a US hub with frequent flights to NC and give myself enough time to make the connection. US airlines like AA, DL,or UA may allow same day standby, so if there are frequent flights, and you have time to catch an earlier flight, you may luck out.

But getting across the pond with your wallet intact is the key....

J62

Just for grins I tried to actually book something.....Those $600 fares are through some online agent I've never heard of and wouldn't touch with a 10 foot pole..

I am able to book a flight on the Aegean website for about $900 Santorini to Newark. Since Aegaen is a Star Alliance alliance member it may (or may not) offer you some protection booking an onward albeit separately booked flight on United fron Newark to RDU.....

If you got stuck in Newark, you could probably afford just to stay there.......(jk)

J62

Thisis whatI see on Aegean
The Athens to Newark non-stop if an Emirates flight, so you could also try to book through them. They aren't Star Alliance (or any alliance), but they do partner with UA.

ljturco

Thanks so much, everyone!
Yes, I am seeing $1,400 per person, not for the two of us!! I can find reasonable fares from Athens to the states (although not on any of the direct flights I want), but once I add Santorini and Raleigh, then it is $1,400 pp. For our outbound flight, we are using points to get to JFK and then I got a good price to Istanbul, so I was hoping to do the same thing in reverse, but for some reason, direct flights from Athens to any East Coast US hub are twice the price as US - Istanbul.

J62 - thank you for sending the Agean itinerary! I am not familiar with all the European airlines and I don't think they come up on my searches. We love Emirates

Sassafrass

Anytime you are booking one way tickets, IMHE, you end up with some that are excruciatingly costly.
Before booking to,Turkey, had you looked into multi-city?
Some things to try. You said you travel internationally every year. For awhile, we were also and knew we were going to be in a situation such as yours, needing only to come home from Italy. Well, I noticed that RT from Italy to the US was only $100.00 more than one-way from Italy to the US and I could book the return for up to a year out, I booked a RT from Naples to the US with a return to Naples. Yes, you will then be in need of tickets to the US again, but with time to sort it and many more options, even the option of continuing the RTs from Europe. Nobody cares that the trips may be overlapping. It sounds crazy at first and our trip seemed a but convoluted (we were able to make a couple of stops in places we had been wanting to visit), but it really wasn’t.
In general, RT eats up more money than it saves going from the US, but if you can turn it into two trips, it can work.

Another thing to try, fly from Santorini to Naples, Rome or Venice (or the country you plan to visit next year) and home from there. Look to see where the cheapest one way is from Europe to the US, then check flights to there from Santorini.
Good Luck

J62

Adding to sassafras’ thoughts, heres a list of all the destinations you can fly to from Santorini

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santor...tional_Airport

you could try to piece together an itinerary that gave you a day or 2 layover on one ticket just about anywhere, then fly home from there on another ticket. Even places like Dublin could work.

with all the flight options out of Santorini there are lots of choices

ms_go

I'm not sure when in June you're trying to return, but Lufthansa is starting service between Frankfurt and Raleigh-Durham on June 6, and I've seen some good introductory deals for the route (we got good business class award tickets through United Mileage Plus for July). I just searched on the Lufthansa site for a one-way Santorini to RDU in June and found some days with 661 Euro fares.

neckervd

ms_go has by far the best solution.
The fares are similar from Bodrum (577 EUR), Dalaman (677 EUR), Izmir (605 EUR)
for people who prefer typical Greek Islands like Rhodos, Kos, Patmos, Samos, Chios to overpriced "Disneyland" Santorini.

ljturco

I am overwhelmed by the amount of help! Thank you so much. I will try out each and everyone of these tips, and surely something will work out so that we don't have to pay $1,400 per ticket! For info, we need to leave Santorini on June 9 and can spend the night somewhere/anywhere, continuing home on June 10. Thanks again!

HappyTrvlr

I am sure you will find a less expensive option. After this, you won’t want to go to Santorini again!

HappyTrvlr

I am sure you will find a less expensive option. After this, you won’t want to go to Santorini again!

ljturco

Lufthansa is the winner! Thank you so much ms_go! I would never thought of that on my own. I found Santorini.- Frankfurt direct flight and Frankfurt - RDU direct flight (amazing because there are very few direct flights to RDU from Europe ) for under $1,000 each - could have been even less (like $750) if I were willing to change planes more often or do Economy Basic. I am extremely happy and especially to have only one plane change between Santorini and home. Amazing! Interestingly, this option never came up on any search - even on the Lufthansa website. They wanted to route me through Munich first, then to Frankfurt. I had to type in Santorini - Frankfurt independently and then Frankfurt - RDU as a separate ticket. Strange the way the algorithms work.
Thank you again to everyone who helped me with this.

ms_go

Great! Glad it works for you. I learned about the new FRA-RDU route recently when I was looking for award tickets through United and saw abundant business class saver awards throughout the summer and fall, which is pretty unusual. We are in the Chicago area and have a lot of international options - but we also have family in Chapel Hill and were able to use this for a combined family visit and vacation in Europe. Enjoy your trip!