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From: shaprkg@sdcrdcf.UUCP (Bob Shapiro)
Newsgroups: net.travel
Subject: Re: Transatlantic Airfare Question
Message-ID: <1752@sdcrdcf.UUCP>
Date: Sun, 10-Feb-85 15:37:59 EST
Article-I.D.: sdcrdcf.1752
Posted: Sun Feb 10 15:37:59 1985
Date-Received: Tue, 12-Feb-85 14:24:25 EST
References: <1223@ihuxm.UUCP> <11310@watmath.UUCP> <140@cylixd.UUCP>
Reply-To: shaprkg@sdcrdcf.UUCP (Bob Shapiro)
Organization: System Development Corp. R+D, Santa Monica
Lines: 37
Summary: 

In article <140@cylixd.UUCP> elf@cylixd.UUCP (Leonard Bottleman) writes:
>In article <11310@watmath.UUCP> srradia@watmath.UUCP (sanjay Radia) writes:
>> Are there any experts on transatlantic airfares out there? Currently,
>> the standard advance purchase non-stop round trip fare from Chicago to
>> London (Heathrow) is 709 dollars (travel midweek in April).  The same
>
>You might want to contact a travel agent. I just bought TWO round
>trip tickets from New York to Heathrow for ~830 dollars (PAN AM).
>The total cost of airfare from Memphis to London for two people was
>about 1130 dollars, which is about 565 dollars each. You can probably
>do better than that from Chicago, since a large part of the cost for me
>was to get from Memphis to New York!
>

   Careful on your advice. Most of the major airlines are currently running
specials to London BUT they require you to leave prior to April 1. I believe
the original comment said that the travel was in April.

   The intent of the original article was to point out that fares from the
US to overseas are not the same as overseas to the US. In that respect the
writer is correct. The problem is a little tricky sometimes. e.g. Unless you
are going on one-way fares it still may not be as good as a round-trip fare.
Also certain countries require proof of a round-trip ticket in order to obtain
entry. This is typically not true in non-communist European countries.  Since
you buy the ticket at a foreign currency you are subject to fluctuations in
the conversion rate if you want a refund. This might make or lose money for
you. Some countries have special taxes for fares bought in their countries. So
the money you save can be completely eroded in taxes.  Certain promotions for
discounts are only good for tickets out of the USA. I think the TWA Poleroid
discount is an example.

   HOWEVER, it is free to ask. So whenever you are going overseas, you should
check out the possibility that buying your return ticket in the currency of
a foreign nation might save you money.


			Bob Shapiro